Identifying areas of widening

[neilyj666]

I'm working on a windfarm access road (5m wide with widening at bends to 8m) and I need to identify the areas of widening.

I've got the centreline alignment and created the 2.5m offsets to each side. I have also created widenings on the insides of the bends using the widening tools and used a linear taper at entry and exit. I now need to hatch up the portions where the road has been widened to demonstrate compliance with the specification and the only easy way I can see is to export to autocad and use the hatch tools (not tried to hatch between alignments).

Whilst this works it isn't dynamic so if the alignment is adjusted the widening alignments are also moved but the hatching remains.

is there an easier way to do this?

[neilyj666]

Stopped the Acad process and tried this again and the hatching seem to be following the alignments as expected

I'm going to try Joe's method in Post 20

[peterfunkautodesk]

If it was me, I'd use the corridor method as well.

Cheers,

Peter Funk

Autodesk, Inc.

[Joe-Bouza]

Neil, note a cl profile is required to get the corridor started I used a dummy layout in this sample but you would be better off with a sample of a surface profile. I didn't have a surfa available at the time

[neilyj666]

Joe - Thanks for the drawing, the corridor method does seem to be the best method.

I'll have a play around with the drawing you provided and see if I can apply to my situation

[Joe-Bouza]

Good luck. let me know how it goes

[neilyj666]

just curious how you've set up your sub assembly; in my case I only really need a very simple trapezoidal section

[Joe-Bouza]

I added all the other subs to demonstrate the power. You can do it with a general link on the offset node.

I did it with an offset only because i recently discovered how easy it is. the offset assembly is more important if you have to honor baseline stations. A simplified way would be a regular assembly run along your widen alignment  and target an inside edge alignment, FL or pline or from the inside out either way works

[fcernst]

"..Stopped the Acad process and tried this again and the hatching seem to be following the alignments as expected..."

No, it's not stable Neil.

It will follow it around for a little while, but then it loses its Associative property after a few movements. Try grip-editing the Parent Alignment origin and pull it back a couple hundred feet, etc.,, etc.

[neilyj666]

Just playing with the corridor method - more initial set up required but likely more stable...??

[Joe-Bouza]

Try not to be in too much of a hurry to do it quickly <G>

[neilyj666]

Had some success so far - a robust naming system for the alignments, standard offsets and widening offsets is a must...:)

[Joe-Bouza]

Ditto

[neilyj666]

Using my original "Export to AutoCAD" method I could easily use fields to label the widenings with areas, how can I label the widenings using the corridor method?

[Joe-Bouza]

Got me there. Although QTO could probably do it. This may not be the best but you can extract the FL and shrinkwrap.

[neilyj666]

Both methods ("semi dynamic" hatching and corridors) have their advantages and disadvantages, so I expect I will use both methods depending on the situation, complexity and likelihood of alignment changes...!!!!

[Joe-Bouza]

Understood. The nature of our work is constant change isn't it.

unfortunately, somethings the developers didn't include require more programing knowledge than the average user has to fit every situation. You should be able to extract areas from a corridor and native tools should be robust enough to read the objects. Seems straight forward to me -perhaps someday?

[Joe-Bouza · Accepted solution]

Neil

I got to thinking about the area query and realized that Parcels may be an option. All you need to do is put the alignments in a site and you get a robust hatch and area for the widen areas

change the ext to dwg

[neilyj666]

I've tended to stay away from parcels after getting a seriously corrupted drawing and losing a day's work when using 2011.

That said though, I think this parcel method looks like a winner; dynamic and no corridors to build and maintain...:)

Have a Kudo...

[Joe-Bouza]

I know what you mean, but I think most of the problems come by way of poorly drawn parcels and two alignments should fair ok IMHO

[neilyj666]

I just tried the parcel method by moving my alignments to a site and the parcels were automatically created. .. 🙂