COGO Reader - How do you get it to read curves (radius and arc lengths)

[JonM32]

How do you get the COGO reader to read this line and curve data?

I've been able to convert it to text in Adobe PDF since the COGO reader never seems to be able to read text off surveys. When I run the tool, the lines come through with some formatting changes on my end. However, the Curve information does not come through in the reader and I'm not sure how to enter or format things to have the tool generate the curves for this easement.

Any help is appreciated!

[Rafael_Bombacini · Accepted solution]

@JonM32 

It’s great that the COGO Reader is picking up some of the tabular data. However, this tool isn’t really designed to interpret survey tables directly. The COGO Reader is specifically meant for parsing metes and bounds legal descriptions, which typically include a defined starting point, bearings and distances, and a clear end point.

In contrast, many survey plats, list lines and curves without a narrative structure or spatial context. That's likely why the curves aren’t being processed correctly by the tool.

For working directly from survey plats, the best approach is to use the Traverse tool in ArcGIS Pro. This allows you to manually follow the sketch or geometry from the plat and enter lines and curves interactively.

That said, if you wanted to rewrite the curve data so it could be interpreted by the COGO Reader, you would need to convert it into a legal-style sentence. For example, a curve table row might become:

"Curve to the left(or right), chord bearing S 71°41'50" W, radius 13.00 feet, arc length 13.02 feet."

[JonM32]

@Rafael_Bombacini 

Thanks for the information! Good to know the limits of the COGO reader and what it's able to read.