A method of controlling a self-propelled civil engineering machine, the civil engineering machine including a reference point, the method comprising: (a) presetting of a geometrical shape for a structure to be produced or the ground to which changes are to be made; (b) determining with a hand held field rover a position of at least one identifiable point of the preset geometrical shape in a reference system which is independent of the position and orientation of the civil engineering machine; (c) determining curve data defining a desired curve, on the basis of the preset geometrical shape for the structure to be produced or the ground to which changes are to be made and on the basis of the position of the at least one identifiable point of the preset geometrical shape in the reference system which is independent of the position and orientation of the civil engineering machine, the desired curve being that curve along which the reference point on the civil engineering machine is to move in the reference system independent of the position and orientation of the civil engineering machine; (d) determining data which defines a position and/or orientation of the reference point on the civil engineering machine in relation to the reference system which is independent of the position and orientation of the civil engineering machine; and (e) controlling the civil engineering machine with a machine control unit, as a function of the curve data defining the desired curve, in such a way that that the reference point on the civil engineering machine moves along the desired curve; wherein during step (b) the hand held field rover is separate from the civil engineering machine, and after step (b), data representing the position of the at least one identifiable point of the preset geometrical shape are transferred from the hand held field rover to the machine control unit. (a) presetting of a geometrical shape for a structure to be produced or the ground to which changes are to be made; (b) determining with a hand held field rover a position of at least one identifiable point of the preset geometrical shape in a reference system which is independent of the position and orientation of the civil engineering machine; (c) determining curve data defining a desired curve, on the basis of the preset geometrical shape for the structure to be produced or the ground to which changes are to be made and on the basis of the position of the at least one identifiable point of the preset geometrical shape in the reference system which is independent of the position and orientation of the civil engineering machine, the desired curve being that curve along which the reference point on the civil engineering machine is to move in the reference system independent of the position and orientation of the civil engineering machine; (d) determining data which defines a position and/or orientation of the reference point on the civil engineering machine in relation to the reference system which is independent of the position and orientation of the civil engineering machine; and (e) controlling the civil engineering machine with a machine control unit, as a function of the curve data defining the desired curve, in such a way that that the reference point on the civil engineering machine moves along the desired curve; during step (b) the hand held field rover is separate from the civil engineering machine, and after step (b), data representing the position of the at least one identifiable point of the preset geometrical shape are transferred from the hand held field rover to the machine control unit.