Frank Boston's Activities

Filter points from LiDAR upon import to terrain model (or before?)

Frank Boston — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 15:27:55 GMT

I have LiDAR of an irregular stone object that I'm attempting to bring into Power GEOPAK as a terrain, using the "Create from Point Cloud" tool. It's working well, but my data needs cleaning up. In the process of importing, GEOPAK reports it filtered out 90% of the original data, which seems fine (approx. 4M points to approx. 400K). But I have many tiny spikes in the resulting surface. There are too many to clean up by hand (I've tried). Are there any parameters I can use during the import process that might smooth the surface, or at least remove isolated spikes? I'm also working with Leica to see if there is any way to clean it up in Cyclone before attempting this with GEOPAK. Or are there other tools to smooth the data and remove noise before I import it?

(Edited for clarity and cross-posted from the GEOPAK | InRoads | MX | OpenRoads Forum.)

Any advice would be helpful!

Thanks,

Frank Boston, Michigan DOT

Filter points from LiDAR upon import to terrain model

Frank Boston — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 20:18:54 GMT

I have LiDAR of an irregular stone object that I'm attempting to bring into PowerGEOPAK as a terrain, using the "Create from Point Cloud" tool. It's working well, but my data needs cleaning up. In the process of importing, it is filtering out 90% of the original data, which seems fine. But I have many tiny spikes in the resulting surface. There are too many to clean up by hand (I've tried). Are there any parameters I can use during the import process that might smooth the surface, or at least remove isolated spikes? I'm also working with Leica to see if there is any way to clean it up in Cyclone before attempting this with GEOPAK.

Any advice would be helpful!

Thanks,

Frank Boston, Michigan DOT

Google Earth Integration Problem

Frank Boston — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 17:25:55 GMT

Hello - I have a user who has used the Google Earth tools with Power GEOPAK for some time. Recently these tools stopped working. I'm really not familiar with the tools, but I cannot replicate this user's problem because nothing seems to work for me. We have not had access to Google Earth for several years. Now that we have it, we have Google Earth Pro. I have two questions. (1) Does Google Earth Pro work the same with these tools, or is the API different perhaps? and (2) is it possible that there is something in the workspace that is "breaking" this integration? (We are using Power GEOPAK SS3 v08.11.09.722.)

Thanks for your time.

Frank Boston, Michigan DOT Survey Support

Attaching Streaming WMS Imagery in MicroStation (Power GEOPAK)

Frank Boston — Wed, 19 Jul 2017 20:03:09 GMT

I believe I've discovered a small bug in the MicroStation WMS imagery raster attachment process. After choosing an image dataset at our server, it saves the *.xwms file ok, but doesn't attach it. If, however, I try to attach the *.xwms file as a separate step it works fine. I eventually discovered that if the folder name (or presumably any part of the path) contains a comma (",") it stops reading the folder name during the "attach" part of the "save and attach" step. Since the comma doesn't prevent the "attach" operation, only the attach portion of the "save and attach" operation, I think it should be listed as bug. MicroStation can obviously save the *.xwms file to that folder, and open it, but apparently it fails if done during the same step. In the image shown here, the folder name is actually "E:\Work\Squaw Creek, New Buffalo, Berrien Co".

We're using Power GEOPAK SS4 Priority Build version 08.11.09.885, MR 2.1.

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Delta Terrain Model Crashing

Frank Boston — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 12:21:28 GMT

I have been attempting to create a Delta Terrain Model from two existing surfaces. It crashes every time. I've gone through most of the exception log, but since I don't know exactly what I'm looking for this hasn't been very helpful. Are there any "standard" fixes for this problem? My file is only 5.5MB.

I'm using Power GEOPAK V8i SS3 version 08.11.09.722.

I've recreated the surfaces a few times; no change.

Thanks,

Frank Boston

Michigan DOT

Design Survey Support

Terrain Model Issue

Frank Boston — Wed, 08 Apr 2015 14:56:01 GMT

I have seen a particular terrain model issue crop up for several users. I already know what the fix is; but I want to understand how this keeps happening, and to try to prevent it.

We are using Power GEOPAK SS3 for the time being, version 08.11.09.722.

I have a DGN with an overpass. The bridge deck lines are included in the terrain model, but are marked as "do not use". The points making up the line are also marked "do not use". The terrain triangles are clearly using some of the points on this line as triangle vertices (but not all). I see no difference in the data for points which are being used and those not being used.

I can find no combination of locking/unlocking the terrain, activating/deactivation survey processing rules which makes this terrain act "live". The only thing that works properly is drawing a linestring around part of this deck, and adding to the terrain as a "hole". The triangles correctly shift to show this hole. Triangles outside of this hole are still where they were, either correctly on the ground or incorrectly up on the deck. Triangles inside the hole are correctly removed.

Changing the deck line to a "breakline" instead of "do not use" adds even more triangle vertices, which is based on our stroking tolerance setting. Changing back to "do not use" merely reverts to the previous incorrect terrain.

There are no underlying lines or points at these locations. All levels are turned on. All field book data is being shown, both "all point features" and "all linear features" checked "on".

Since an exterior clip boundary has already been created, deleting the terrain model and creating a new one from the field book resolves the issue completely. So, I know how to fix it, but not how to prevent it.

If anyone has seen this and has any ideas, please let me know! (I can upload the DGN if anyone thinks they would like to see it.)

Thanks,

Frank Boston
Michigan Dept. of Transportation
Design Survey Support

Terrain Model vs. Terrain element

Frank Boston — Mon, 09 Feb 2015 20:22:02 GMT

What is the difference between a "terrain model" and a "terrain" element? We have just been discovering that terrain elements may be created under certain circumstances, and we would prefer that it doesn't occur. The only solution we've found is to drop their complex status after the fact. It's interesting that they do not show up under Project Explorer at all. Element Info shows their true status. Refer to screen cap below - this shows a "terrain" element.

Thanks!

Frank Boston, Michigan DOT Survey Support

Media File Icons - Can they be toggled on and off & how about batch additions

John Lobbestael MDOT — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 13:11:07 GMT

Using PowerGEOPAK SS3 08.11.09.674

When I attach a media file to a survey point in "Survey" it is indicated by an icon on the point, which when you scroll out obscures the point. Is there a quick toggle to turn these on and off so they don't cloud the drawing?

Also is there any functionality to add media file links in mass if the file name matches some characteristic of the point information?

Multimedia files attached to points in Power GEOPAK SS3

Frank Boston — Mon, 10 Nov 2014 15:21:53 GMT

In Power GEOPAK SS3, in the survey tab of project explorer, under "Default" is a check box labeled "Multimedia Files". I don't see that toggling this check box has any effect. Can anyone explain its purpose?

Frank Boston
Michigan DOT, Design Survey Support

SS3-OpenRoads-Civil Standards>Project Settings>Survey

Corey Baird — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 17:53:41 GMT

We are having a problem reading the Civil Standards>Project Settings>Survey>GDOT setting from our ProjectSettings.DGNLIB. Our seed file has somehow gotten a ‘Setting’ entry and all it will read is this setting and we are unable to delete this setting. We have another seed file that doesn’t have this and when this ‘Setting’ is gone everything works fine when we create a field book under the survey tab and import a CSV file. The seed file that is causing us problems has a couple days work adding Survey filters that we don’t want to lose. Can anyone help us with this. I have attached the seed file, a dgn file with our CSV file imported and several of the DGNLIBS and other we are using in for open roads that may help in troubleshooting this.

communities.bentley.com/.../SS3_5F00_OpenRoads.zip

Export Terrain Triangles as DGN Graphics in SS3

Frank Boston — Thu, 28 Aug 2014 14:47:36 GMT

Hello -

We are currently using Power GEOPAK V8i SS3, version 08.11.09.674

When exporting triangles as DGN Graphics, the only way I've found is to right-click on the field book and select Export then DGN Graphics. First we turn off all of the survey data by unchecking the field book in the Survey Tab of Project Explorer. By doing that, only the triangles and exterior clip boundary are visible, and exporting the DGN graphics works fine.

We have found a couple of situations where this workflow fails. First, if there are multiple field books, it doesn't seem to matter which field book you right-click on. The triangles reflect that they came from the "all fieldbooks" terrain element. The problem is, that it doesn't make sense that you can't right-click on the actual terrain model in the Civil Model tab. With multiple field books, having the menu under any fieldbook is redundant and misleading; it is a terrain feature that is being exported, after all.

The second issue we've found relates to the features exported. When you click on export DGN Graphics, the dialog box that opens has this text in the title bar: "Save visible survey data to". The idea of "visible survey data" relates to whether you have unchecked the field book in survey data. Once you uncheck it, all that is visible are the triangles. However, if your DGN file contains elements that are NOT in a field book, there is no way to turn these features off. Turning off the relevant levels has no effect on the exported data; the levels which are turned off are exported along with the triangles. Those levels in the resulting file are turned off, but the data is still there. Yes, we can easily turn off the terrain triangles and clip boundary and delete the unwanted features, but we shouldn't have to go through that extra step.

Perhaps there could be a simpler way to export triangles, which is not dependent on turning off survey data.

Thanks,

Frank Boston

Michigan DOT Survey Support