Microstation v.8 DGN files are created with the unit 'international foot' by default

Description

Microstation® software, produced by Bentley Corporation, uses the international foot for data creation by default. The international foot is defined as exactly 0.3048 of a meter.

The U.S. survey foot, which is defined as 1200/3937 of a meter, is more commonly used in the United States.

Cause

The difference between the international foot and the U.S. survey foot is 6.0960121920e-7 m, or 0.0000006096012192 m.

This difference can become significant when multiplied by the False Easting or False Northing values used in the State Plane Coordinate System.

Solution or Workaround