PowerGeopak SS4 with ORD tech: I want to show and existing sidewalk/driveway/parking lot along a roadway in cross-section. The driveways/sidewalk are not perpendicular to the road and are independent of the road. Some driveways/sidewalk turn on themselves in a serpentine fashion when viewed from the road. I have not been able to determined how to get these to appear in the cross-section using templates using PowerGeopak SS4 with ORD tech. Any suggestion on how to approach this?.
The key this (and other similar) questions is to remind ourselves that we are making models now with cross-sections as by product. Back in the day, for GEOPAK users, we designed cross-sections and the model was a by-product, assuming you had sufficient patience and need to develop a model from cross-sections.
So, the answer is: This particular driveway needs to be modeled just like a side road. In my opinion, ALL driveways should be treated as side roads and actually modeled rather than trying to trick something into the cross-sections. One or two bullet proof civil cells will be key to efficiency. Then the process is:
Yes, I know, this is potentially a LOT of alignments. Not a big deal here in TN since driveway alignments and profiles must be labeled on plans anyway. But for some of you on some projects this is potentially multiple hundreds of alignments which you have never needed before.
How long does it take for the above workflow? Assuming you have a good civil cell, it takes me about 10 minutes per driveway. On a large urban project, it takes a week or so just for driveways.
What's the up side?:
I have heard various rumblings from various people that suggest a civil cell for driveways should be possible which does not require the alignment and profile. However, I have never seen one which actually works and I would be very surprised if current civil cell technology is robust enough to make the necessary decisions.
Robert Garrett Senior Consultant
www.envisioncad.com
Thanks, that is the direction I was expecting to take.
There is another option, but it can be time consuming. Create a bunch of terrain elements using the 3D elements that represent sidewalk edges as breaklines. In some cases, they can be boundary types, to prevent stray triangle edges. Then apply a surface template representing the existing sidewalk distance. Repeat for driveways/parking lots. Then when sections are cut, the surface templates will show as existing thickness. I cannot take credit for this - a long time GEOPAK user who worked with us on our Ss4 workspace came up with this technique. We have a small set of element templates that are defined for use with the surface templates, so we get dashed lines for any existing pavement and solid for proposed.
Charles (Chuck) Rheault CADD Manager
MDOT State Highway Administration
Thanks, I tried this and it works for my needs.
This is the method I have been using as well. Agreed... It may take longer then using a Civil Cell but I get the exact result I desire and at this result is more important to me than speed.
Tom Cox IDOT District 6 Cadd / GIS Manager
So the civil cell I mentioned is just what you have done. I don't use a civil cell from the ORD installation, I make my own. Not that I don't trust anyone else but...well...actually, that is the case. I don't trust anyone else. :-)
You don't need to muck about in DGNLIB files or anything, just make it right in your project. Using the first driveway, design it long hand as per the steps Chuck describes. Then make a civil cell from this first driveway and plop it onto all the rest of the driveways.