REVIT- Imperial or Metric

[RabbitHole]

As I have been trained and schooled in Metric and now having to deal with Imperial on the otherside of the world, I thought I would open this one for discusion. Hope it is ok for admin that I post in this category. ???

How do you deal with metric to Imperial conversion on a project that is allready started? And VICE VERSA?

How would you solve this combination? Siteplan required in Metric and building model in imperial?

I dont like the hard conversion and I dont like rounding to much.

These are just a few to start the discussion.
On a whole different level: WHY NOT JUST GO ALL METRIC ALL OVER?

[gdoherty0102]

The way that I have done it in the past is to keep the project units in the system I am most familiar with. Then made a set of dimensions that were metric and used both metric and imperial dimensions when dimensioning things to make sure that the dimensions were correct in one, but made sense in the units I am used to.

[Dave Jones]

As I have been trained and schooled in Metric and now having to deal with Imperial on the otherside of the world, I thought I would open this one for discusion. Hope it is ok for admin that I post in this category. ???

How do you deal with metric to Imperial conversion on a project that is allready started? And VICE VERSA?

How would you solve this combination? Siteplan required in Metric and building model in imperial?

I dont like the hard conversion and I dont like rounding to much.

These are just a few to start the discussion.
On a whole different level: WHY NOT JUST GO ALL METRIC ALL OVER?

first comment: Night Mare!
second comment: accumulative errors!!

I've never had to do this in Revit but have several times in AutoCAD. Whatever your base dimensional units are will be accurate (given that your model is accurate) but the "alternate" units could be inaccurate. It would seem to me that a metric base with an imperial alternate dimension would be worse than the other way around which is what I've had to deal with in the past. I now refuse to do alternate units in these cases. Do they want metric or imperial. They can have one or the other but not both.

[JCM]

I think this is a pretty difficult subject to tackle given that in the different units there are usually different rules of thumb for the typical dimensions of a particular object. As you prob. well know, for example a door in the US is typically 6'-8" , 7-'0", etc.
If you convert this to metric it equals 2032 mm 2134mm. But in reality a typical height in the metric system will be rounded off to a more precise measurement say 2030mm, 2100mm . Therefore I would advice that you work in the units that are required for the project, but stick to one system to avoid any discrepancies. Those millimeters and fractional inches, when converted add up pretty quickly specially when dealing with large projects

These are just a few to start the discussion.
On a whole different level: WHY NOT JUST GO ALL METRIC ALL OVER?

I used to work for a company that did project mainly in South America and Mexico and they used the Metric System. (LOVED IT !)
I wonder why the US doesn't adopt it. It is just so much easier and there is less confusion when you have to tell someone build the wall at the midpoint of ____ dimension

1. in metric sure 20m / 2 = 10 yay! done
2. in imperial ummm 65' 7 3/8" / 2 = ummm ummm ... Hey John What is 65' 7 3/8" / 2 ?? John: Just google it

[RabbitHole]

Well I have had a few projects whith each situation required. But this here is to see if someone out there has an awesome solution. (kom kom Martjin)
We have a standard in our office that siteplans are done in seperate file in Metric units. This is then linked into the Building model which is an Imperial file. Seems to work ok for now.
What do you do when you have two clients in one building? One beeing a Hotel that requires Imperial drawings and the other client an international developer that wants Metric.
This one hurt me for about three months continuously.
How would link these if the base of the highrise is shared and then the tower becomes a specific use.?
Just some of the things we have to deal with as Revit support.

[mdradvies]

Well, If you ask me: link the files.

If you think about it, the actual measering system (and thereby the default dimensioning of the elements) is based on the location of the project. Let's say you're building a highrise in Holland, with the first 20 floors for an American hotelcompany. It doesn't matter if they want the drawings dimensioned in feet and inches, the doors will still be ordered in Holland, so the height and width will be based on our standards. That is, I don't think that they will pay 20% extra just to see nice American door widths.

Therefore: you should model in compliance with the buildings placement and materials you use. If you need another dimensioning system: link the file, and place new dimensions.

[RabbitHole]

Or I should just move back to the Metric WORLD like you said.
I get what you saying but here in Canada we caught between to standards. Rather irritating.

[hypnox1]

We're old fashioned here in America and like to base our measurement system off of a kings body parts that died 300 years ago to confuse the world rather than use a system that makes sense.

(Personally I prefer the metric system)

[mdradvies]

We're old fashioned here in America and like to base our measurement system off of a kings body parts that died 300 years ago to confuse the world rather than use a system that makes sense.

(Personally I prefer the metric system)

One could hardly tell...

[Alex Cunningham]

LONG LIVE THE KING.... wait....