Walkthrough

Coordinate systems — reference vs working grid

geoDB has two coordinate-system settings, and they answer different questions. Knowing which is which saves real confusion.

The reference CRS — "what grid does my data arrive in?"

When you create a project you declare a reference CRS: the grid your incoming coordinates are usually in — a UTM zone, a state plane, or plain latitude/longitude. It's the default the import screens assume, and each imported record also remembers the grid it was actually declared in, so mixed-grid projects work fine.

Your original coordinates are never touched

Import keeps your coordinate values exactly as you entered them, in the grid you declared — for a UTM import that means an easting and a northing. This is why your data tables label the columns "Lon/Easting" and "Lat/Northing": the pair carries whatever your declared grid uses, and holds true degrees only when that grid is plain latitude/longitude (WGS84). The converted WGS84 copy lives separately and is what maps and 3D read. Nothing is overwritten, so there is nothing to "fix": if data was imported with the wrong grid declared, re-import it with the right one — never edit the coordinate values themselves.

The working grid — "how should 3D and exports lay things out?"

The coordinate-system page (Project Settings → Coordinate System, or step 3 of the setup wizard) sets the binding local grid: the projected CRS, origin and rotation used for drill-hole desurveying, local coordinates, the 3D scene, and Blender/QGIS/Leapfrog exports. Three ways to set it:

  • Auto-calculate — picks the right UTM zone from your data's location and a tidy southwest origin. Its "coordinate range" check reads point features (collars, samples); a project whose extent is polygons-only will honestly say it can't judge the range — the CRS and origin are still valid.
  • Manual entry — choose the CRS with the searchable picker and set the origin and rotation yourself.
  • Mine grid calibration — for historic data recorded in a pre-GPS local mine grid. Provide at least three control points known in both the mine grid and GPS, and geoDB computes the transformation; data imported as "Local Mine Grid" re-projects through it.

Why skipping it bites

Setting the working grid also computes your project's coverage bounds. Skip it and desurveying, local coordinates and 3D stop working — and the elevation step can't run ("no coverage area defined") until you come back to it, from the dashboard's setup card or project settings.