Exporting Vertical Design Data to the Field

TBC Work Processes (Info Only) TBC - Field Data Work Processes
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When you elevate linework using vertical design and wish to retain the 3d information associated with those linestrings for staking in the field. Please be aware that currently the vcl format does not include the vertical information of those lines.

In order to retain vertical information associated with those lines you will need to use a combination of the TTM format for surface information and the DXF format for the 3d line information.

It is important to note that the DXF format does not support true 3d curvilinear lines and will coord your 3d linework to approximate 3d arcs. If this limitation is an issue for your staking accuracies then we would suggest that you use the line’s location as the horizontal control and the TTM surface built from your curvilinear lines as the vertical control.

Creating the design on your siteworks application would be as follows:

  • use the TTM as your design file
  • use the DXF containing your 3d lines as the design map.
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The 3D information will be in the VCL file if you open it back up again in TBC it is just that Siteoworks extracts data out of the VCL file for use and I don’t believe it uses the TBC engine fully to achieve that so it cannot interpret the Vertical Design because it converts the linework data into a DXF like form and that form doesn’t support 3D curves or Vertical Design.

To use data generated by a Vertical Design you will need to output it as a DXF (2D with curves or 3D chorded lines) and a TTM surface file. This will be the case until Siteworks fully supports the VCL file through use of the TBC engine to read it and do the calcs. This is how it was done with Terramodel PRO files for roads which is still the best solution on the market for road staking in SCS900.

VCL could be so good and so smart if it was used well

Alan

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