Last updated July 28, 2026
Traverse reduces survey field notes into drawn points. You set up the instrument position and a backsight, then work through the observations, and it plots each point and numbers it — the arithmetic that turns a page of angles and distances into geometry, done for you.
A second program then extracts the point numbers and coordinates back out, to screen, to a file or to a printer, so the reduced data can go somewhere else. Between them they cover both directions: notes into the drawing, and coordinates out of it.
Five files, all of which matter
The archive’s own documentation lists what should be in it, which is a good sign — you can check nothing has gone missing over the decades.
- TRAVERSE.LSP — the note reduction program itself.
- TRAVEXT.LSP — the extraction program, for getting data back out.
- PN.DWG — the point block that the main program inserts. Without this on the search path, plotting a point fails.
- POINT.TXT — a template file used by the extraction side.
- TRAVERSE.DOC — the documentation, worth reading first.
Put all five in one folder on AutoCAD’s support file search path. The two LISP files will load without the others, and then fail the moment they need them, which is the confusing way round for a problem to present itself.
One thing it does on loading
Worth knowing because it is unusual and slightly impolite. TRAVERSE.LSP switches command echo off as soon as it is loaded, before you have run anything.
Most routines do that inside the command, where it belongs, and put it back afterwards. This one does it at the top of the file, so merely loading the program changes your drawing environment. If AutoCAD goes quiet after you load this and you had not run anything yet, that is why — set CMDECHO back to 1.
The two commands
- TRAVERSE — the note reduction. It starts by asking which point the instrument is at and which point you are backsighting to, which is how a traverse is set up in the field, then asks for a text height for the point labels.
- TRAVEXT — the extraction. It asks whether you want spaces or commas between the fields, and whether the output goes to the screen, a file or the printer.
The comma option is the useful one now. A comma-separated file drops straight into a spreadsheet, which was less obviously the destination in the early nineties than it is today.
The printer option, on the other hand, expects a printer attached the way DOS-era software expected one. Choose screen or file.
How to load it
Unzip Traver.zip into one folder, put that folder on the support file search path, and load both LISP files with APPLOAD. Read TRAVERSE.DOC first — it is a proper document rather than a readme, and a survey routine is not something to work out by trial and error. Our AutoLISP guide covers loading and the search path.
Step-by-step usage
- Work on a copy, and read the documentation before you start.
- Type TRAVERSE. Answer the instrument point and backsight point prompts.
- Give a text height for the point labels, then work through your observations.
- When the points are plotted, type TRAVEXT if you want the coordinates out.
- Choose comma separation and a file, then open the result in a spreadsheet to check it.
Check the plotted result against a known point before trusting a full traverse to it. Survey work is exactly the kind where a routine that is nearly right is worse than no routine at all.
Compatibility notes
No date in the files; the documentation refers to the package having been distributed as an ARC file, which places it in the DOS era. Written-for rather than tested-on.
Plain AutoLISP with no dialog boxes and no Express Tools calls, so nothing requires the full product; LT users on LT 2024 or later, the release that brought AutoLISP to LT, should be able to run it. See what runs on AutoCAD LT. The file output side is the part most worth testing first, since file handling is where old routines most often stumble.
Download
| Name: | Traverse Note Reduction |
| Description: | An AutoLISP program for surveyors and civil engineers for traverse note reduction. |
| Type: | AutoCAD AutoLISP Routine |
| Author: | Fred |
| File Size: | 4 Kb |
| Cost: | Free |
| Worked on: | AutoCAD |
| Download File: | Traver.zip |
Related routines
- ImportXYZ — the reverse trip, bringing coordinates in from a file.
- COGO bearing and distance label — annotate the traverse once it is plotted.
- CIVILINE — draw a boundary line from a distance and bearing.