I may be doing something fundamentally wrong. Going back to when I first started using OBM, the tutorial said to bring in the .alg file that you need. This would copy in the alignment "live" from the InRoads .alg file. I've always done it that way. But then I see where you can bring in a reference file instead. What is the best way? If I have the alignment live in my file and the InRoads file is updated how will my live alignment be updated? Can I modify it to match the updated InRoads alignment?
Thanks, Eric
Yes, if you use the "old" InRoads native tools for creating alignments and profiles and save to .alg files, then they must be imported into OBM. But if the users create the alignments and profiles using the newer "Open Roads" tools for alignment and profile and these are saved in DGN files, then these DGN files with alignment and profile can simply be referenced. The OpenRoads tools have been introduced quite a few years back, but again it depends on the data that you have to work with, and the tools that were used to create the civil elements.
Eric, Using the Civil elements in a reference file is the recommended best practice. You can certainly modify your imported InRoads alignment once it is imported and in your OBM file, but depending on the complexity of the alignment, we may introduce unnecessary errors.
One other suggestion is to rename the alignment in your file, attach a reference with the alignment, and then try to use the Alignment command (Ribbon Tool Bar > to switch and push the bridge to the referenced alignment. Please try this with a test/backup file, before attempting on your data file.