Create Survey Strings


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Introduction

This command creates linework connecting COGO Points by joining points in a select Point Group.  Civil 3D or Civil Site Design COGO points and point groups can be used to create Survey Strings.

In order for this command to run the user needs to specify two things:

  1. The points to include.  This is done by selecting a Point Group.

  2. The point descriptions to use for creating linework, including 2D polylines, 3D polylines and surface breaklines.  This is managed by a Survey Line Set Table.

It is usual to initially join common points in sequential (point number) order.  Users can elect instead to connect points in the order that they were created (order of points in the imported points file, if Import Points is used to create the Civil Points)

The Survey String Manager form can be used to edit the order of joining COGO Points, for the case that points have been picked up 'out of sequence'.

Civil 3D Users and Point Groups

All Civil 3D point groups listed are named with (Civil 3D) appended to the suffix.

Civil 3D Users and Large Point Numbers

Programatically, it is not possible to edit Civil 3D COGO point numbers when the point number exceeds 2147483647.  For these cases, the software can be set to read and write to the Civil 3D Point Name property for creating Survey Strings, instead of Point Number.

Note: If 'Point Name' is used to manage the Civil 3D points, do not change the Civil 3D Point Number.

Details

Upon selecting the command the following form is displayed:


 

Point Group

 Select a Point Group for the list of Civil Points that should be connected with survey lines. 

Survey String Set Table

 Select a Survey Line Table that describes which Codes (point descriptions) should be connected with Survey Stringwork.

Order by Point Number

 Tick on to connect Survey Strings by ascending point number, per Point Description. 

Launch Survey Manager

 Tick on to open the Survey Line Manager form immediately upon creation of the Survey Lines.

Use Civil 3D Cogo Point 'Name' as Point Number

 Tick on to read the Civil 3D Point Name property for creating Survey Strings.
Note: Only enabled in Civil 3D.

Arc to Chord rate

 Type in a value for the offset distance between a true arc between points and the chords around that arc.  Chords are created to support surface triangulations.

Settings

 Establishes display and performance settings for the Survey Line Manager.  The following form will display:


 

General

  

   Performance Mode Count

 Sets the number of points in the drawing to trigger display performance mode.  Performance mode changes anti aliasing and quality of label redisplay.

   Select Colour

 Sets the colour used to display selected objects in the Survey String Manager and 2D Viewer windows.

Stringing

  

   Arc to Chord Rate

 Type in a value for the offset distance between a true arc between points and the chords around that arc.  Chords are created to support surface triangulations.
Point Label Display  

   Label Zoom Level

 type in a value for the zoom level to trigger display of the point labels. 
0 will permenantly enable the trigger and always display point labels
Larger integer values will allow more zooming in before the point labels display

   Label Font Size

 Type in a value (in pixels) to display the point label text

   Show Point Number

 Tick on to display the Point Number as part of the point labelling in the Survey String Manager form

   Show Point Code

 Tick on to display the Point Code as part of the point labelling in the Survey String Manager form

   Show Point Elevation

 Tick on to display the Point Elevation as part of the point labelling in the Survey String Manager form

   Font Colour

 Pick a font colour for the point labels

   Use Layer Colour

 Tick on to adopt the layer colour for the points created in the drawing

   Back Colour

 Optional background colour to apply behind each point label - this i represented by a rectangle behind the text

   Back Transparency

 Type in a value between 0 (opaque) and 100 (fully transparent) to display the Back Colour
Marker  

   Show Marker

 Tick on to display a marker for each Point

   Marker Size

 Type in an integer value for the size of the marker

   Marker Coolour

 Set a coluour to use for display of the point marker.

Set as Default

 Edits made in this form are for the current drawing. Click on this button to assign these settings to all future jobs.
Reset Resets this form to adopt the Default settings for all inputs.

OK

 Create the Survey Strings

Create Survey Strings

 Creates linework in the drawing connecting the Civil Points contained in the selected Point Group and as per the Survey Line Table.

Note: Civil 3D users will be prompted to confirm the surface to add Breaklines to, where the Code/s have been set to create a Breakline as per the Survey Line Table.  The following form will display:


 

   Code Set

 Select a Code Set.
The Code Set is required for Civil Site Design to interpret the Civil 3D point descriptions and apply the assigned Survey String Table.

   Civil 3D Surface

 Select a Civil 3D surface to add the Breaklines to. 

   Use Breakline File (FLT)

 Toggle on to add all the Breaklines to the surface using an import file.  This is by far the fastest way to add Breaklines to a surface.  
If unticked, single Breakline entries will be added to the surface, each named to describe the Survey String (Survey Strings are named using the Point Code and Survey String number).

OK

 Add the Breaklines to the selected Civil 3D surface.