CADD Engineering Standards - Ohio Department of Transportation

207.2 Text Size
January 18, 2013
Standard text sizes have been defined to ensure uniform legibility of all plan sheets. Standard text size
refers to the size of the text on the finished plot, not the text size in the design file. The correct design file
text size is dependent upon the intended plot scale. ODOT standard text sizes for the finished plot scale
are shown in the following table:
Text Type Plotted Text Size
Normal 0.14”
Subtitle 0.17”
Title 0.20”
Main Title 0.25”
To calculate text size used in a MicroStation design file for various scaled plan sheets use this method:
(Text Size) x (Plotting Scale) = Design File Text Size
Example: 0.14 inch x 20 feet/inch = 2.8 feet
Text sizes smaller than the Normal text size are not acceptable.
For all Roadway plan sheets and Geotechnical Exploration sheets, the preferred method to set the text
size is by use of the Model Annotation Scale parameter. See section 207.4 Text Styles for more
information.
Text placed in the sheet model for bridge detail sheets should normally be placed at a scale of 1. For
more information on the use of design models and sheet models, see section 303 References.
207.3 Text Line Spacing
In general, Text Line Spacing should be one-half (0.50”) the text height. The spacing between lines on
summary, sub-summary, general note sheets and charts is generally equal to the minimum text size.
Note: If needed it is permissible to use Text Line Spacing equal to the minimum text size.
Text Line Spacing distances is now relative to the Text Height. In the previous versions of MicroStation
these distances were an absolute value in master units. If the text height changed dramatically, the
spacing could become inappropriate. Now, if the text height changes the spacing adjusts relative to the
change in the text height. The Text Line Spacing is now a factor of the Text Height.
For example with the scale factor set at 0.50” (one-half) the Line Spacing for ODOT’s Text Styles would
be as follows:
Normal Text Size 0.14” x Line Spacing 0.50” = a Line Spacing of 0.07”
Sub-Title Text Size 0.17” x Line Spacing 0.50” = a Line Spacing of 0.085”
Title Text Size 0.20” x Line Spacing 0.50” = a Line Spacing of 0.10”
Main Title Text Size 0.25” x Line Spacing 0.50” = a Line Spacing of 0.125”
ODOT CADD Engineering Standards 43