Generate Existing Ground Profile
2 methods still exist for creating and storing an Existing Ground Profile. This page describes the New Method. See also the instructions for the Traditional Method.
The newest procedure for creating or (now referred to as "drawing") the ground profile has been completely rewritten. The new procedure allows for not only storing the ground profile into COGO, but also the ability to draw it (graphically) without actually using Design and Computation Manager directly.
YOU MUST HAVE THE FOLLOWING:
- A horizontal alignment (Chain) stored in COGO.
- A .TIN file.
Open a MicroStation 2D design file and invoke the Draw Profiles tool via the pulldowns, (as shown below):
APPLICATIONS > GEOPAK ROAD > PLANS PREPARATION > DRAW PROFILES
... or use the Draw Profiles icon, (as shown below):
When the dialog box (below) appears, Select the Job Number and Chain. You'll notice that unless you already have a profile cell placed in the design file, all fields will be ghosted out except for the 2 icons to the right of the Job Number and Chain fields. You must place a profile cell before you can create a profile.
Click on the Dialog Profile Cell Control icon as shown below:
The Profile Cell Control dialog appears as shown below. Click on Place Profile Cell:
The Place Profile Cell dialog appears (shown below) along with the Profile Cell attached to your cursor awaiting placement.
The beginning station should populate automatically. I'll skip the Elevation field for now.
The Horizontal and Vertical scales are normally set as shown below.
Now for the Elevation settings...
This tool is still fairly new and the only way that I know of to set the Elevation and the "Cell Range" Top Elevation and Bottom Elevation is to invoke the DTM tools and "Read" the Contours. The DTM tool will display the Minimum Z and Maximum Z values of the TIN file. Those values will help you in setting the three elevation fields on this dialog.
Once the dialog is completed, data point in your design file somewhere where the profile cell won't interfere with other previously drawn graphics.
The profile cell origin should look similar to the graphic illustrated below. The profile cell text parameters are set by the active MicroStation text settings:
The "Draw Profile" dialog is composed of 3 pulldowns and 3 tabs.
The "File" pulldown
Options supported on the Files menu are:
- Load
- Append
- Save
- Save As
- Exit
The File options are utilized to "remember" more dialog settings than the dialog resource file. The default extension is .prd.
In a subsequent session, open the Draw Profiles dialog for the same project. The dialog box is automatically populated with the contents of the resource file. Next, load the settings by selecting the File > Load command. When switching from one profile to the another, all settings of the previous session are maintained.
The "Edit" pulldown
The Edit options are toggled off / on by each selection of the option. Only one option may be active at any given time, therefore, if an option is selected, the previous active option is deactivated.
The three options are detailed below:
- Cut Rows - Cuts a row from the list box into the buffer. Note that unless the line is pasted back into the list box, the information is deleted from the list box and no longer displayed.
- Copy Rows - Copies a row from the list box into the buffer. This can be utilized if several rows have similar information. Rather than manually entering every line into the list box, a line can be copied, pasted, then modified.
- Paste Rows - Pastes a row from the buffer into the list box for subsequent editing.
The "Update Options" pulldown
The options are toggled off / on by each selection of the option.
The check to the left of the option indicates the option is active.
Only one option may be active at any given time, therefore, if an option is selected, the previous active option is deactivated.
The four options are detailed below.
- Delete Existing Elements and Redraw - When this option is activated, any profiles previously drawn with this tool are deleted and profiles are drawn.
- Delete Non-modified Elements and Redraw - When this option is activated, any profiles previously drawn with this tool are deleted and new profiles are drawn.
- Draw on Top of Existing - When this option is activated, any previously drawn profiles are ignored and a new set is drawn, resulting in two profiles.
- Query - When activated, the user is prompted each time the Draw is clicked.
The user must select one of the three options and press the Apply button to commence processing. Pressing the Cancel button closes the dialog with no subsequent processing.
The "Surfaces" Tab:
The Surfaces tab defines the surfaces utilized as source data when drawing profiles. Multiple surfaces from a variety of sources can be drawn in a single processing.
Each surface to be drawn must be added to the list box. This is accomplished via the action/edit buttons on the right side of the dialog. Each surface draws a profile. When a line is added to the list box, the profile is drawn.
Note: clicking on the Draw toggle in the list box deletes or redraws the profile.
The dialog is broken into 2 parts, with the 2nd part, (Details) containing 4 parts, (as shown below):
- The "Collection" window
- Details
- Display Settings
- Filter Tolerances
- Station Limits
- Offsets
The "Collection" window:
As with all GEOPAK "collection" windows.... this is where the user can easily see what parameters have been added/modified/removed for processing. Once the "Details" have been completed, the user clicks on one of the 4 icons to the right of the window for the parameters to be "collected".
Multiple surfaces from a variety of sources can now be drawn in a single processing.
The 4 "collection" icons are represented as follows:
- To "Add Surface Settings", simply complete the "Details" portion of the dialog and click on Add Surface Settings.
- To "Modify Line", complete the "Details "portion of the dialog, highlight the surface already collected and click on Modify Line.
- To "Remove Surface", simply highlight a collected surface and click on Remove Surface.
- To "Store Surface in COGO" Stores the profile into the COGO database. When pressed the dialog below appears:
An input file and 3D Profile String can also be created on the fly if desired.
Details:
In the "Details" portion of the dialog, the user may browse to the location of the TIN file via the "Browse Tin File" icon, or simply type in the name.
Several methods are now available for extracting the ground profiles:
- Triangles (Recommended option) This option creates/stores a VPI at each break in the TIN surface.
- Break Lines
- POT
- Increment
- Even
- Display Settings:
The Display settings (symbology for the ground cross sections) can be set 2 ways:
- By Level Symbology - Select this option by setting the Display Settings option to "By Level Symbology". Next simply double click on the element (as shown below). Adjust the settings in the "GEOPAK Set Feature" dialog, click on OK and select one of the 4"collection" icons at the far right of the Collection window, explained earlier.
- By Feature (Recommended option) - Select this option by setting the Display Settings option to "By Feature". Click on the "Browse Feature" icon and the D&C Manager is invoked. An item for Ground Profiles has been setup named EXPROF Existing ground profile under CHAINS/PROFILES > WFL, as shown below:
- Filter Tolerances:
The recommended Filter Tolerances in WFL are 0.10 and 0.03 (as shown below):
- Station Limits:
When the Chain field at the top of the dialog is populated, its beginning and ending station are displayed in the Station Limits group box. The defaults may be utilized if the entire profile is drawn. However, manually entering stations or clicking Set Start/End Station buttons and graphically identifying a location is supported.
- Offsets:
Vertical or Horizontal Offsets may be specified in terms of master units (i.e., feet or meters). The Horizontal Offset is the distance offset from the Chain. Once the horizontal location for the profile is determined, the data source is utilized to determine the profile. Any Vertical Offset is applied after the profile is generated from the source data.
- Voids:
The Void Plot Parameters specify the element symbology of the existing ground lines being generated which are located within a void in the model.
The "COGO" Tab:
Multiple profiles may be drawn by populating the tab, then utilizing the edit buttons on the right side of the list box. Each time one is added, it is drawn within the active profile cell.
The functionality of the remainder of the dialog are very similar to the Surfaces tab.
The "Projection" Tab:
A good example where this would be used would be if you wanted to draw a profile that was created from chain "B" .... on to a profile cell created from chain "A".
The functionality of the remainder of the dialog are very similar to the Surfaces and COGO tabs.
To draw the profile using Design and Computation Manager... see Display the Vertical Alignment