SURVEXPORT(1)

📦
version 1.4.22 · 7 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💫 SURVEXPORT(1) — the Survex girlies' conversion corner 💫

okay so bestie, welcome to survexport, a genuine icon from the Survex manual (that's manual section 1, iykyk). she converts a processed survey data file to another format and honestly? she ate. ✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

survexport — convert a processed survey data file to another format 🦋

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

survexport [OPTIONS] INPUT_FILE [OUTPUT_FILE]

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so the input formats she supports are literally all the ones the Survex "img" library handles — that's Survex .3d, Survex .pos, Compass PLT and CMAP XYZ files. no cap, that's the whole list. 🫶

And right now the output formats she can give you are CSV, DXF, EPS (Encapsulated PostScript), GPX, HPGL for plotters, JSON, KML, Survex POS files, and SVG. obsessed. 🎀

Also! survexport can produce Compass .plt files, which were mainly meant for importing into Carto. And this part is genuinely sad — the principal author of Carto has sadly died, and it seems Carto is no longer actively developed. 😭 But we've left this support in place in case it's useful anyway — the generated files can, for example, be used with Compass itself, though they are rather crudely structured. 🫠

📍 POS Format 📍

The POS format is a Survex-specific format containing a list of stations with coordinates (ordered x,y,z [East, North, Up]) and complete names. In old versions of Survex it was produced by the (now removed) 3dtopos tool. Since Survex 1.2.19 it can be generated by survexport or by aven's export feature. 💖

The header line is translated to the user's language, but it always starts with ( and ends with ). no exceptions bestie.

While it's not a requirement of the format, in .pos files created by Survex the stations are sorted by name such that numbers occur in the correct order (so 2 before 10 — the way that's even possible, love that for us). Numbers with a prefix and/or a suffix are sorted by the prefix as a string, then the number part as described above, then by the suffix as a string, so you'd get:

040.sv8
040.sv8a
040.sv8b
040.sv8c
040.sv9
040.sv10
040.sv11
40_entrance_tag
40b_entrance_tag

🧵 DXF Format 🧵

DXF export separates Splays, Surface legs, Surface points, survey legs, and survey stations onto separate layers. Splays will export dotted, and surface legs dashed. This is not currently configurable. periodt. 💅

👑 OPTIONS 👑

  • -s, --survey=SURVEY — only load the sub-survey with this prefix 🔍
  • --scale=SCALE — scale (50, 0.02, 1:50 and 2:100 all mean 1:50) 📏
  • --bearing=BEARING — bearing (90, 90d, 100g all mean 90°) 🧭
  • --tilt=TILT — tilt (45, 45d, 50g, 100% all mean 45°) 📐
  • --plan — plan view (equivalent to --tilt=-90) 🗺️
  • --elevation — elevation view (equivalent to --tilt=0) ⛰️
  • --legs — underground survey legs 🦵
  • --surface-legs — surface survey legs 🌳
  • --splays — splay legs ✨
  • --crosses — station markers ❌
  • --station-names — station labels 🏷️
  • --entrances — entrances 🚪
  • --fixes — fixed points 📌
  • --exports — exported stations 📤
  • --cross-sections — cross-sections 🔪
  • --walls — walls 🧱
  • --passages — passages 🕳️
  • --origin-in-centre — origin in centre 🎯
  • --full-coordinates — full coordinates 🌐
  • --clamp-to-ground — clamp to ground 🪨
  • --defaults — include items exported by default 🎁
  • -g, --grid, --grid=GRID — generate grid with spacing GRID metres (default 100) 📊
  • -t, --text-height=TEXT_HEIGHT — station labels text height (default 0.6) 🔤
  • -m, --marker-size=MARKER_SIZE — station marker size (default 0.8) 📍
  • --csv — produce CSV output 📄
  • --dxf — produce DXF output 📐
  • --eps — produce EPS output 🖨️
  • --gpx — produce GPX output 🥾
  • --hpgl — produce HPGL output 🖊️
  • --json — produce JSON output 🧩
  • --kml — produce KML output 🌍
  • --plt — produce Compass PLT output for Carto 🗂️
  • --pos — produce Survex POS output 📍
  • --svg — produce SVG output 🎨
  • --help — display short help and exit 🆘
  • --version — output version information and exit 🔢

🫶 SEE ALSO 🫶

aven(1), cavern(1), diffpos(1), dump3d(1), extend(1), sorterr(1) — the whole friend group, go say hi 💜

Copyright 1998-2025 🌈

and that's the tea bestie — this page is dated Jun 23, 2026, from the Survex manual (section 1), and honestly? iconic. mwah. 💖🎀🦋✨

📦 where this page comes from