Setting COGO point elevations on a terrain model (draping) in ORD Connect

Does ANYONE know how to set a the elevations of a collection of civil geometry points (COGO points??) to be that of a named terrain model in ORD Connect?! I see the question asked many times, with the answers all coming from "If you use the InRoads tool _____," or "Using GEOPAK tool _______" — but I am NOT using those products; I am using ORD 2019 R1 and am desperately trying to find out how to do this seemingly very simple task.

Alternately, I would appreciate it if someone would simply say "You can't do that in ORD/Connect" if that is indeed the case. Seems a simple enough task, though.

Thanks to all in advance.

Parents
  • Hi Ken,

    Have you tried the Geometry > Points > Modify Points tool? It can add elevations to your Points using Alignments, Terrains, Meshes, etc.

    Regards,

    Mark


    OpenRoads Designer 2023  |  Microstation 2023.2  |  ProjectWise 2023

  • Very first (and second, third, etc) thing I tried, but it had no effect whatsoever. I even tried moving my points into the terrain model file directly and tried it there, still no joy. I would have thought that this particular tool would have done it, but apparently not. I tried selecting individually, pre–selecting and responding with a data–point to accept, all that . . . it just wouldn't update.

    But thanks, though. Any other ideas? Perhaps I'm not using the tool correctly. Let me know if I should post some files or anything, I'll be glad to. All I'm trying to do is set the elevations on a bunch of points on each of three surfaces, one at a time. Then run a report to ultimately wind up with an Excel file of Northing, Easting, and Elevation for each of the three surfaces for the same XY points (I need them at differing stages). I don't really need the points in the design model, I just thought that would be easier than analyzing the surface and writing down the elevations for 92 points, X3! So my plan was to drape them on the first surface, generate Excel 1. Rinse, lather, repeat for the three surfaces, then dump the points. 

    I made them as points under SURVEY, so perhaps that was the wrong approach? I'm not yet an expert on the "new way," so any guidance you or anyone may be able to throw my way is greatly appreciated! We could do this all day long back in the InRoads days, but I no longer have that installed, nor do I want to go backwards.

    Thanks a bunch for the thoughts . . .

  • How did you add the elevations - and why? All Ken needs is the elevations in a report (as far as I can see).



  • Tried that as well, but the report is staggered in rows, which makes me have to delete the rows I don't want to get columns of the elevations shown. I need to get the elevations from the "Analyze Elevation" report into the same as the points report (just columns that I can readily use in Excel.

    I did find a solution, but not the one I wanted . . . I just dumped them out to Excel with their initial elevations, took them over into Carlson Civil and draped them there on each of the surfaces. Took about 5 minutes for all three surfaces. THAT's the kind of efficiency I want out of ORD/Connect, so I remain hopeful!

    Thanks.

  • Nah, I had them as 3D points, tried them also as 2D, both independent of the terrain model geometry file and within it. I can't seem to hit upon the right combination. Surely someone, somewhere, knows how to drape points onto a surface?!?! Tough enough to drape elements by having to use the "Profile" tools, but OK, I can see it. But it forces you to make an alignment that way, when all we sometimes want to do is draw a 2D line, drape the ends on a surface and lower it 4 feet to use as a waterline. Simple stuff, really.

    So I did hit on a solution, but not my preference . . . I just dumped the points out to Excel with their initial elevations and too it into Carlson Civil, imported the points into a coordinate file, set their elevations by surface model (three times, one for each surface, transferred to Carlson via LandXML), then report the coordinates out to Excel and voila! Took about five minutes total. That's the kind of ease of use I'm looking for with ORD/Connect, so I remain hopeful . . .

    Thanks!

  • Ken

    You can easily amend the report XSL file to get the following - I selected 5 points, and ran the report, and then just switched to a different report style.



  • I'm confused - what I do is create points using the Geometry tools, either have the Elevations from Terrain/Mesh option set or use the Modify Points tool to get elevations from a Terrain and then generate a Report using the 3d points that were created (as selecting the 2d ones don't give me elevations)?

    Regards,

    Mark


    OpenRoads Designer 2023  |  Microstation 2023.2  |  ProjectWise 2023

Reply Children
  • Well, perhaps this is the crux of the issue: I created the points in a fieldbook as Survey elements (COGO points, perhaps??) because I had to select the centers of a series of circular steel pipe piles (in the file as cylinder solids). This set their elevations forever and always to the elevation of those centers, and I wanted to be able to update their elevations with a terrain model. Much like the Geometry tools suggest. I suppose I needed to create them using the Geometry tools, but I didn't know that when I started. 92 points later, I was hoping to just pick a tool to let me drape them on a surface. Like InRoads (and presumably GEOPAK, MX as well) used to let me do. I was looking for that tool.

    Plus when I have the points in a fieldbook, I can very easily dump them, or turn off their visibility, etc.

    Thanks, I'll check things out and try to always use the geometry tools. 

  • All I did what use MicroStation Place Active Point (or SmartLine, for that matter), selected the elements and ran the report - as I thought that the terrain elevations were wanted (Ken did say "I don't really need the points in the design model").



  • Certainly true as to what I needed. But getting back to the original question as an aside worth chasing down . . . shouldn't it be a fairly common surveying practice to set a bunch of COGO points to a new surface to derive a new set of elevations? This is usually how we compute stakeout points, by taking what were either 2D or previous Existing Ground 3D points and elevating them to a final grade surface so we can establish cut and fill when we stake out the points.

    Seems it should eb a bit more straightforward than it seems to be.

    Thanks, all, and I will keep investigating.