I'm pretty sure I've done this before and I simply cannot remember the sequence of doing so. I have a base topo and am overlaying a final fill plan. Wanting to calculate the remaining fill, normally I'll calculate the area of each 5' contour in sq.ft using a planimeter. I take average between each contour and get a cu.ft. then cu.yd. if needed.
Can't this be done in InRoads by importing these shape surfaces for each contour? What are the steps? I am drawing a blank...or I'm mistaken and I've not done this in InRoads.
Thx for your help.
Are your contour lines drawn in 3D?
Yes. Each 5' contour line is on it's proper elevation in 3d. :)
I've gone into InRoads and tried File>Import>Surface
Named the surface
Load from: Level
Use Element Elev
Feature Style: Contour
Point Type: Contour
From there ( I'm not even sure that part is right ) I try and triangulate...but it gets all jumbled up...not like I would expect.
your contours do cross each other
Regards
Frank
since 1985: GIS, CAD, Engineering (Civil) Senior Consultant : [Autodesk Civil 3D , Esri ArcGIS, VertiGIS: in previous days : Bentley MS V4 - V8i, GeoGraphics, Bentley Map V8i, InRoads, HHK Geograf, IBr DAVID] : Dev: [C, C++, .NET, Java, SQL, FORTRAN, UML][direct quote by: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_Schmidt]: "Wer Kritik übel nimmt, hat etwas zu verbergen"Wer Grammatik- und/oder Rechtschreibfehler findet, der darf sie behalten :-)
Yes...and maybe I'm trying to skip a step and shouldn't. What I'm doing is superimposing a grading plan onto the existing topo to figure cut or fill using the Average Area Method normally done physically with a planimeter. What I'm thinking I need to do is to create a base surface and a design surface to compare using InRoads...I think I am trying to skip that step.
I thought InRoads would figure that the contours made an enclosed area, the area within an egg, if you will, with the contours being the egg's shell that when viewed 2 dimensionally, contours will/may cross...I don't know, I'm still trying to wrap my head around this. Thanks for your continued help.
Try to work with InRoads surface objects after you biult the surface. with your contours, use the surface design commands your grading,after that the evaluation tools will help
The general workflow should be:
The problem that I see is that you are not starting with the correct contours in step one. These contours are crossing each other. The straight lines have been drawn in and I'm not sure what they are supposed to mean, but I do not believe they are valid contours.
Unknown said:Use the command Evaluation > Volumes > Triangle Volumes to compute the cut and fill volumes between the two surfaces.
In addition to Jacquelyns' pretty good hints, you need to create two different surfaces to use Triangle Volumes!
Jacquelyn and Frank,
Thanks so much for your time and help on the matter. I thought I had been able to load those contours, when using the Average End Areas and a planimeter, but obviously not. I did go and create two surfaces ( which takes a bit longer ) to get my fill volume or earthwork between the lifts and the base topography, but is much more accurate. I also learned that InRoads has changed a bit in this version V8i so I was also using the Evaluate commands wrong. I've learned a few things and I think I've been able to streamline the process a bit more. Thanks again.