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mw Joined: 01 Sep 2004 Posts: 2	Posted: Wed Dec 30, 2009 4:00 pm    Post subject: Topography wish list Hi I've been using Powercadd now for 20 years and Wild Tools since it came out. However, in the past I always used MacRoad, which then became Highroad, for plotting survey info, drawing cross sections, calculating volumes etc. Unfortunately this program has fallen by the way side. So I have lately started using the Topo tools and looking at the Topography tools from Paulo. Whilst the tools, so far, seem very good they are missing a few things which I need. The first is the ability to find out where a slope from a construction might intersect an existing surface. For instance, if I wish to construct a road across a topography it may be in cutting or on an embankment. I need to be able to go from the edge of that road at a certain slope until the ground surface is intersected to find the limits of the embankment or cutting. The second item on my wish list would be to calculate volumes between two terrain models or between a terrain model and a datum plane. Any chance that these may be incorporated into the next release of these tools ? _________________ malcolm
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Alfred Scott Joined: 15 Apr 2004 Posts: 771 Location: Richmond, VA	Posted: Thu Dec 31, 2009 8:59 am    Post subject: Malcolm, If I understand the problem, the first problem can be solved with the Grading tool in TopoTools. You set it up for a slope and then click on a point with a Z height then drag away. You can see the height change as you move the mouse, so you would drag till you get the height you are after. There are other options as well, but right off I don't remember what they are. I have Cut & Fill on my list of things to do, but I am opposed to the idea of creating terrain model objects for the simple reason that once you do that, you have to build an entire CAD program of tools to deal with these objects, and this is what makes the typical topo program so difficult to learn and use. Instead, I want TopoTools to just 'see' the terrain and let you work on it without getting into a mode. That's the way the Topo Breakline tool works, and it's a major departure from how all of the typical programs work. On Cut & Fill, I want it to compare two layers, one the existing and the other the design and then calculate all the volumes. Please do get Paolo's Topography Tools. I've been working closely with him and he has created the ability to import topo survey data and I want to leave this capability in his hands and not to create any more overlap than we already have. And also Paolo has created some specialized tools for dealing with topo points, so you can select topo points above or below a given height, etc. As you are using TopoTools, I'd like to work directly with you on this, if only to use some of your files and see what sort of problems you are dealing with. So can you send me a private email with your contact information to me at alfred 'at' seqair.com Thanks, Alfred
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ftribel Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 299 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Sat Jan 02, 2010 6:40 pm    Post subject: Alfred and mw, Maybe a simple modification could help, with the topo-section tool : imagine the tool trace a different curve for each layer. Having a existing layer, andd a project layer. Then, on the same section, you get a cut on the existing and the projected grounds. And, to calculate the volumes, you just calculate the surface of the polygons between the two profiles. Such a section each meter, decameter or kilometer, then mw put the results in an excel file, and all the volumes are calculated.
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mw Joined: 01 Sep 2004 Posts: 2	Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 1:56 am    Post subject: ftribel I like the idea of being able to draw different surfaces on different levels and have the section tool draw both (or as many as you have visible layers). This would not only allow existing and design surfaces to be shown but also different strata below ground eg from an interpolation of boreholes. If the section tool worked like the line tool so you could snap perpendicularly to a line and also centre over the line by hitting the space bar then this would also make it easy to draw a series of cross sections Lastly, if the section line could also follow a curve or polygon so that you could draw a profile along a curved road for instance then you would have pretty much all that you would need malcolm _________________ malcolm
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ftribel Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 299 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 11:14 am    Post subject: An example, made with 2 layers, 2 kind of topo lines (existing and project), then 2 sections and I added manually polygons and areas. I beg most of that work could be done automatically ?? Sections    Filesize:  105.31 KB  Filename:  Capture d’écran 2010-01-03 à 19.12.38.png  Viewed:  65 Time(s)
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ftribel Joined: 14 Apr 2004 Posts: 299 Location: Paris, France	Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2010 11:19 am    Post subject: Oh ! Alfred, drawing all that lines, I used the z-needle tool with an increment of 1 meter. I had to click on every line one by one. Could you add to it the click and slide function, with the increment ??
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