FeedThe first thing I do when building data
April 15, 2009 in Chad's Posts
In my last article, I brought up what I consider to be an important point for anyone who builds data. Since it was not the focus of the article, I brought it up in passing. I would like to dwell on it for a moment here.
The first thing that I do when I get a project is delete all 3D surface data provided by the engineer in electronic format.
There have been times in the past, especially on a big project, where the engineer provided alltheir work electronically to us; including all surface work still intact in the provided files. While it may be tempting for some to use this as the basis for their data work, before I do anything else with the project, all the linework and points representing the engineers surface are deleted out of my project file.
Our clients are paying us to build data that will not only be clean and complete in the field, but is also devoid of design errors. The only way to accomplish both of these goals while building data is to build all the data yourself. If you use any portion of the engineers surface, you are assuming that it is clean, complete and error free. Since engineers do not build their surfaces with machine control in mind, this is a very, very risky assumption.
Instead of taking this chance, I choose to eliminate the easy way out up front and instead use the engineers design plans and electronically provided linework as the basis for my work. This not only keeps me honest with my clients, but it also ensures that the entire project has passed a second set of eyes and is clean, complete and ready for machine control.
- Chad
April 30th, 2009 at 8:04 am
I recommend the same. Since engineers design with a 2d plan in mind, any surface or 3d data is usually interim data used to create a pretty picture. It is also usually part of a prior revision as surfaces are not up dated real time in engineers cad file. (Yes I know about Carlson Roadnet, Civil 3D and Terramodel. I’m talking mainstream engineering.)
May 29th, 2009 at 6:24 am
Your point is the most critical part of the difference between the engineering community and the 3-D automation data providers. Paper plans are just that, a picture of the project. A quality 3-D model must be created from scratch or 2-D to assure its accuracy since the machine will recreate any flaws. Most veteran data providers have experienced trying to shortcut building a surface only to spend countless hours reviewing someone elses work under a deadline to realize that building from scratch is the most accurate and efficent in the end. The engineering community is making strides since the move to machine control has become more mainstream, but quality modeling is still a time consuming task done until recently by a small number of providers correctly.