Hey Denny;
While I read all of the posts in the thread, sometimes all of them get to
different parts of the gray matter. So sometimes I don't have total recall,
and I'm responding to the post just read. I've obviously caused you to take
offense, and I apologize for my hastily worded post. If you would allow a
suggestion for your continuing endeavors...
It seems to me that in the scenario just described by you, other than by
collecting as-construct field topo after the last grading operation, you
could just use the Paste Surface in Terrain>Edit Surface on a copy of the
last existing ground surface to update your current existing surface to
include your last Finish Grade surface. That way you would have the closest
approximation of the project surface as it progresses.
Then just archive the previous Existing Ground, unless you want a lengthy
TME window.
--
Don Reichle
Hacker Engineering, Inc.
"King of Work-Arounds"
LDT & CD 2004
C3D 2004 SP1
On HP Pavilion a367c
2.80 Ghz/512MB RAM
XP PRO - SP2
"Denny Gray" wrote in message
news:11736670.1101134802505.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum2.autodesk.com...
Don,
Apparently, you didn't bother to read this entire thread, specifically my
previous post on 11-18. The only reason I got in on this discussion was to
emphasize the importance of having a base surface that represented actual
ground conditions. I deal with stockpiled limestone, and unfortunately,
that's also one of those materials where the inventory material is the same
as the base material. The only thing that separates the product from the
yard base is the gradation. The volumes in the piles are dynamic,
therefore, I constantly have to deal with a "creep" of the base surface over
time - mostly upward. Inventory calculations almost always reflect a loss
of material, because of the material mysteriously transforms from product
into yard base. I have to deal with piles that are pushed up against each
other, piles that are pushed over the berm at the edge of the yard area and
flow into ravines, piles dumped over ledges and banks, truck built piles,
conveyor built piles, piles over reclaim tunnels, material changing places
on the yard ....etc. Therefore, I know all too well about the importance
of an accurate base surface in calculating an accurate volume. And the
funny part is, my company is not even interested in the volume - they want
it in tons. Well, that's an entirely different can of worms, because there
is no such thing as a perfect density value. The QC guys have their
numbers, based on lab specs, but that doesn't reflect real life. Moisture
content, compaction, gradation are all variables that are, in my opinion,
much more arguable than the volume measurement. Again, that's why I think
you must make your best estimation of the base surface, because the volume
measurement is the most accurate, scientific, and defineable aspect of the
inventory process.
Denny Gray