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Alignment Points

This section describes how to use alignment points and alignment point areas.

The alignment point is the origin of the coordinate system used for the devices inserted on the drawings. The location relative to the alignment point is used when exporting 3D-BIM elements or calculating distances between devices.

Make sure you set a location for the alignment point that will be easy to locate on all of the floors of the building and that will not move during the course of the project. A corner of the building, a column, or the intersection of two architectural grids lines are all examples of good alignment point locations.

Multiple Alignment Points​

A drawing can have more than one alignment point. The first alignment point inserted is used for all devices on the drawing. Additional alignment points are inserted with boxes, called alignment point areas, around them. All devices in the alignment point area are associated with the corresponding alignment point. Any devices not inside an alignment point area are associated with the first alignment point.

The following example shows a drawing file with multiple alignment point areas and floor plans. Notice how an alignment point area is drawn around the second alignment point.

Common Alignment Point Information​

The values that can be specified for alignment points are listed below.

  •  Elevation: The elevation of the alignment point. Typically, this is the height of the floor. Device elevations are relative to this elevation. See the Elevation section for more information.

For example, consider a second floor area with light fixtures. The elevation of the alignment point is set to the height of the floor, 14'. The elevation of each light fixture is set to the elevation relative to the floor they are on, 8'. The height of the light fixtures when exported or used for distance calculations would be the sum of the two heights: 14' + 8' = 22'.