Polynomial Regrade Command
Command Licensing and Default Menu Location
- The Polynomial Regrade command is part of the RPS Tool Shed Toolbox
- The command is located on the Tool Shed macros menu ribbon
- The command is located in the Piling menu group
Command Description
Automatically generates polynomial best fit lines through selections of pile locations for solar farm array regrading purposes. Provides a detailed analysis of the deviations between the original points and the created 3D lines and reports to Excel, PDF or on screen color coded labeling of the points.
First Release
March 2023 v5.80
Update History
Command Interface Description
The Polynomial Regrade command dialog looks as follows
Command Overview
The Polynomial Regrade command is going to create best fit lines through design pile locations to provide a smooth regrade surface for each of the selected solar arrays. The command will generate a report showing the delta Z values between the regrade line and each point that can be output to Excel or PDF. The command will also label all the points with values selected by the user.
If you make the selection of the array polygons and the points before running the command, they are pre populated into the Points and Boundaries selection locations in the dialog.
Points:
Select the pile location design points that you wish to compute the regrade lines for. The selector will only allow selection of points so no need to isolate just the point data for selection.
Boundaries:
Select the solar array table boundaries. This is used to group the selected points into arrays, and then those points are sorted into an order based on the selected direction (see below). The selector will only allow the selection of closed lines - so no need to isolate just the line data for selection.
Polynomial Settings
Polynomial order:
Select the polynomial degree that you want to apply for the regrade lines that are being created.
A polynomial order of 1 will provide you with a straight best fit line between the points, orders of 3 or 4 will typically produce the best results minimizing the Z deltas while providing a smooth regrade line, whereas greater than 4 will better fit the points with smaller delta Z values, but will have more vertical curvature through the points which is likely to be less desirable.
Adjust polynomial order:
Check this box if you want the computations to automatically try to fit the correct polynomial order to the points in each array to achieve the tolerance that you are looking for. Note, this will take longer because each set of points needs to be tested multiple times to find the suitable result. This will also tend towards higher degree polynomials which may be less than desirable.
This process starts at the polynomial degree that you define e.g. 3 and ends at Polynomial degree xx where xx is the number of points in the array being analyzed. The regrade lines will always be created using the polynomial line that had the best fit of the data (whether that passed or failed tolerance).
Polynomial Layer:
Select the layer on which you want to draw the regrade lines that get created. The normal New Layer control and layer list filter controls apply.
Tolerance:
All points are tested against the resulting regrade line using the value entered here. The report will highlight the lines that pass or fail tolerance and will color code the labels generated based on their Pass (Green) or Fail High (Red) or Fail Low (Blue) status. The tolerance is a +/- value.
Direction:
The direction is the order into which the points within each solar array boundary will be sorted. The general thinking is that solar farm piles are typically placed North to South or South to North, however in some cases they may be placed at a skew angle to North so you may wish to order them West to East or East to West in some situations. Select the order required. The polynomial lines that get created will have their direction determined by this setting.
Label Points
All of the points will be labeled at the point location when you check the Label points checkbox. When enabled, define the label that you require on each point using the Label Point editor (click the pencil icon to edit the label content). You can label the points with any or all of the following values
Point Name
Point Elevation
Polynomial Regrade Line Elevation
Delta Elevation (Point to Line)
You can prefix or suffix each label with user defined text as needed.
Label text style:
Select the text style for your point labels. Define a text style using the Text Style Manager from the Drafting Menu or the RPS Text Style Manager from the Tool Shed Menu. Make the text a size that when combined with the Plan Scale setting (Project Settings - View - Plan View - Plot Scale) create text items that are readable and that do not overlap
Label Layer:
Select the layer on which you want to draw the regrade labels that get created. The normal New Layer control and layer list filter controls apply.
Additional options
Block name template:
If the solar array table boundaries are unnamed, they will get automatically named when selected and used in this command (for reporting purposes). This will allow you to more easily correlate the report data with the arrays for the project. The numbering scheme goes from West to East first and then from North to South second. You can define how you want the boundaries named.
For example BlockName {row} - {col} will create names like BlockName 1-2 for the array in the first row and in the second column. The column numbering is determined from the column furthest to the West in the selected data. The Row numbering is determined from the furthest North row in the selected data.
Plot origin line checkbox:
When checked, a simple multi segmented line joining the design points together in sequence in the defined direction will also be generated.
Origin line layer:
When you elect to create the origin lines, define the layer onto which those lines will be drawn. The normal New Layer control and layer list filter controls apply.
Export Excel
Once the computations have been completed and the on screen report has been generated, you can export the results to Microsoft Excel by clicking this button.
Print Report
Once the computations have been completed and the on screen report has been generated, you can print the results to a printer or a PDF file by clicking this button.
On screen report
The on screen report is displayed in the Results pane and is divided into the boundaries that you selected. Each point in each boundary is listed, and the delta z between the point and the regrade line displayed. The point ID is hyperlinked to the TBC graphics. Click on the Point ID to move the graphics to that point directly when troubleshooting the results. You can also copy the on screen report data to the clipboard and paste it into Word or Excel as an alternative approach to generating the report.
Command Tips
The command Tips pane shows you how to access Help for the command (this web page) and also any other useful tips that may be helpful. You can minimize the Command Tips pane using the orange arrow in the top left corner of the command tips pane.
Header Commands
- RPS Help
- RPS Settings
- Takeoff Lines
- Smart Edit
- Adjust Linestring Elevation
- Advance Select
- Select by Layer
- Explore Object
- Create Surface
- Add/Remove Surface Members
- Create Surface Edge Breakline
- Add/Remove Surface Boundaries
- Profile Viewer
Apply
When you tap apply, the regrade lines and labels will be computed and drawn in the graphics, the results will be generated and reported, and you can elect to run the Excel or PDF report output. The command will ready itself for another selection set and repeat process execution. If you do not want to make a second selection and repeat the process tap Close to finish the process.
Close
Closes the command without further execution.
Video Demonstration
The following video shows how to utilize the Polynomial Regrade command
Use Case Videos
The following videos show the use of the Polynomial Regrade command in a work process context
Feedback and Enhancement Requests
If you would like to provide feedback on the use of the Polynomial Regrade command or to request enhancements or improvements to the command please click Reply below.