Ground Topology - Captured and Integrated

Capturing Ground Topology

1. The ground topology whether captured by ground and/or aerial survey can be imported into the system via a flat text file ( with extension “.xyz”) representing the co-ordinates “x, y, z” of survey points. Using the data in this file, the system allows the user to extract ground points within a certain domain and store this domain , giving it an identification name “ Ground Plate Id ” that can be referenced within the project file. Many ground plates could be generated from the same flat file.

2. Simply put , a ground plate captures how the user wants to represent the ground topology within a segment of the road and/or the site of a bridge structure. Associated with the identity of each ground plate, the system also stores information on how the surveyed data could be filtered to generate contour lines that represents the domain of interest. Although the parameters that control the filtering of data are all defaulted by the system, the system allows the user to edit such parameters to improve the accuracy and to view the impact of such change on the contour line representation.

3. Ground plates could be viewed and manipulated in many ways to best view the contours in 2-D or 3-D

How is it Integrated?

The ground topology information is integrated with other modules in the system, namely alignment control, profile control, road surface geometry and bridge modules. This allows the user to identify ground elevation at any location to assist him in computing information such as volumes of cut and fill, road clearance, foundation elevations, etc.