Obtain profiles of features other than the centreline.
Use a range of Offset values to define the profile.
Use a Point Code to define the profile.
You should start Ezicad, either pick db.ex5 from the Recent Job List, or use File, Open to open “db.ex5” in the folder named “....\Ezicad\tutor”
When the job opens you will be given the plan view, but since we do not yet have coordinates of the points, the plan view will be largely empty. (All the points have zero values for East and North coordinates, so are clustered in one corner)
When you entered the data for job EX5, you may or may not have
noticed that there was a level taken 9 metres to the left of the centreline (
an offset of -9) and at 10 metres to the right of the centreline (an offset of
10) at most, if not all cross sections.
The reason for this is that it is proposed to erect a fence down each side of the road at these particular offsets, and the fencing contractor had asked for a profile showing both fence lines profiled against one another.
You should pull down the Road menu, and
then select the Natural Criteria option that will present a further list of
options available as seen in the screen at right.
Select the Profile Parameters option.
Note, as an alternative, you could have selected the Icon marked with an “R” on the icon bar. This “R” refers to the “Reference” lines, and a reference line is simply defined as a line joining points with the same attribute on the natural surface.
Either way you select it, the screen shown at right will appear.
This screen shows the default parameters which the program uses unless instructed otherwise, and it defaults to a Road Number of 1, with the reference profile being defined by an Offset, with a default offset of zero indicating a centreline.
Now it is time to set up the details of what we wish to plot for the fencing contractor.
First concentrate on Line 1 on the table.
Leave the check box ticked to indicate that we want it to be ON.
Since all the values are on Road 1 you need to leave the Rd No set to 1.
The “Layer” column should be left blank unless you need to restrict the profiles to points on a certain layer.
Look at the column titled “Defined By”. Here you will see the word Offset is displayed, and since we wish to define the left fence line by an offset value of -9 that is appropriate to our current needs.
Move the cursor now into the column marked Max, and type in -9 followed by the Tab key to move out of the field.
Now it is time to specify the right hand
fence line, so move the cursor down to Line 2 and check the box to turn it ON.
Next enter a Road Number of 1, and then skip over the layer column.
This time, use the pull down option in the “Defined By” column and you will see a list of the different parameters that can be used to define a profile, as appears in the screen at right.
While this current example only uses the standard offset value to define the profile, sometimes the data you receive is not as well ordered as that supplied for this example, and you need alternative means of defining the profile, and we take this opportunity of making you aware of the other means of defining a profile.
The attributes that may be used are as follows;
Offset - the points you wish to profile are all at a single offset from the centreline
Offset Range - the points you wish to profile do not all have the same offset, but they all have an offset which falls into a definable range AND there are no other points which lie within that range. Here you need to enter both a Minimum and a Maximum value to define the range.
Point Code - the points all have a unique Point Code
Description - the points all have a unique description.
String Name - (go up on the slider bar) the points are all on a particular string.
Note that the items at the bottom of the list all prefaced with “DH” are used for profiling design heights, rather than the natural surface heights. (This gives you the ability (when you get more proficient with the tool at your disposal) to create a design section template, store those proposed design points in the job and then profile them to make doubly sure that for example the drain will actually drain to the points required.)
In this case we have a single Offset value,
so select “Offset” and enter a Value of 10.
The screen should now appear as seen at right.
At this stage you should pull down the Road menu and select the Display & Plotting option followed by Display Profile, and you should get a screen which appears similar to that below.
Providing your display appears similar to
that shown, you can now proceed to prepare for plotting.
If for some reason your display does not appear as shown, go back and carefully check the Profile Parameter screens to ensure that values you have used are the same as shown.
When you are ready to proceed, again call up the Profile parameter screen, and this time select the box in the “Plot” column on Line 1.
A window will pop up as seen at left below allowing you to specify a pen colour and a linetype to be used.
If you select the “Pen” box, another window like the one below centre will pop up to offer you a palette of pen colours to choose from , so choose a colour to suit.
If you select the “Line” box, a window displaying available linetypes will appear as seen in the screen above right.
In this case there is not a great deal of point in using fancy linetypes to plot a simple profile, but you can be creative if you wish, and select something other than a solid or a dashed line.
Normally however, when plotting relatively simple profiles such as these it is usual to use a solid line and use a different colour to differentiate between the distinct profiles.
Note the field named ‘Line Width’ at the top of the screen. This allows you to draw thicker lines by simply increasing the value you set for the line width.
Once you have finished playing with the colours and linetypes you should take notice of the field entitled “Box Number”.
If you look at the skeleton drawing of a profile below, you will see that each value to be drawn needs to be assigned a “box number” to write the values in.
As you can see, the boxes are numbered sequentially in an
upwards direction, starting from 1 at the bottom
.
While there are many different formats in use within the Surveying/Engineering Profession, it is quite common to put the value for chainage at the bottom of the profile ie in Box 1, and then organise the other values above it, and that is what we will attempt to do here.
We will place Chainage in Box 1, the values of the Left Fence in Box 2 and those for the Right Fence in Box 3.
Since we are currently defining the left fence and it is already shown in Box 2 no intervention is required.
Select OK to return to your parameter screen.
Next you should select the “Plot” box on Line 2, and again select a colour and linetype as you see fit.
You should enter a Box Number of 3 for this line as it is the right fence, and then select OK until the parameter screen is closed down.
Now either select the Profile Plot Parameter Icon (that’s the L with
pencil attached) or pull down the Road menu and select Display and Plotting
followed by Profile parameters to get the screen below.
You will see that the parameters are the same as those we used when we plotted a profile of the centreline in the previous example, and since they worked there, they should be more than adequate here as well.
You will however need to alter some of the labels to be placed in the boxes, so select the Format box and the screen below will appear.
You should fill in the screen to the values
that appear adjacent, and then select OK to close the parameter screens.
Now you are ready for a plot, but you may need to use Print Setup to make sure that you have your plotter selected with A1 paper.
Once that is done, you can obtain a Print Preview, which should appear as shown on the below, and if it does, you may care to plot it out on the plotter.
