First let me say your boss is an a$$. How can he expect you to do a job
without the proper training. I would really like not to answer this to
hopefully force the instruction to happen, but I know what you're going
through and it probably wouldn't happen anyway. Ok, there's my rant...on to
the problem.
You should be able to use the online help files for clarification of any of
the following items. Try the tutorials for how to create a surface. This
should tell you a bunch about breaklines too. I think they had tutorials
back in R2.
First you need to have a surface (TIN, or DTM) built. To do this you need
3D data in the form of:
a) survey points
b) 3d lines / polylines
c) existing contours
and many others
Breaklines are applied to a surface to tell the software where there are
physical breaks in the grade of the ground. The top or bottom edge of an
embankment would be an example. Another would be the centreline of a road.
Breaklines aren't related to contours, but they sure affect how they look if
they aren't applied to the surface properly.
Breaklines can be 2d or 3d. If you use 2d polylines connected from point to
point, this creates a Proximity Breakline. Land Desktop gets the proper
elevation from the point data. 3D breaklines, or Standard Breaklines are
created using 3dpolylines or 3d lines. They do not have to be connected
with points. Land Desktop gets the proper elevations from the vertecies of
each segment.
Once the surface has been created, click the Surfaces (or Terrain - I can't
remember...it's been a while sonce R2) and Import Contours.
That's about all I can say. Without either formal training or some serious
tutorial time, Land Desktop iss not the easiest software for someone to just
pick up. Especially if they aren't starting with a Civil background.
Good Luck,
Matt