topic Network Drawn using polylines into a network with lines in AutoCAD Forum

Network Drawn using polylines into a network with lines

Anonymous — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 14:45:55 GMT

Hi All

I have got 2D AutoCAD drawings of some power distribution networks.

For some analysis purpose, I need to extract the network data, in a way that the whole network can be described using a graph with nodes and links.

Each edge/link can be defined using start and end x,y coordinates.

EX: start x start y end x end y

The data extraction is okay. However when I am converting the polylines in to lines using the command EXPLODE, since the width information will be lost,

the connectivity of the network has also been lost.

Therefore I have to manually connect some of the lines (Stretch) to make it back to the network it was.

the networks are huge and doing this manually takes a long time.

Can someone please help me if you know an easy way to convert all these polylines into lines without losing the connectivity of the network.

Many thanks!!!

Sara

Re: Network Drawn using polylines into a network with lines

john.vellek — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 18:45:21 GMT

HI @Anonymous,

Is it possible to attach a small portion of your drawing so I can better understand what you are trying to do? Also, do you do this analysis on the entire drawing or only parts of it at a time?

Is there a reason you can't keep the polylines intact?

Please hit the Accept as Solution button if my post fully solves your issue or answers your question.

Re: Network Drawn using polylines into a network with lines

elshawadfy — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 04:00:48 GMT

Hi @Anonymous,

I guess you're exploding the poly line to have the points repeated in the start and end rather than have the points mentioned only once??

If I where you, I'd keep the polylines intact like @john.vellek said, and export the poly lines normally, and in excel copy both columns x,y once more to x2,y2, and delete the first record from x2,y2 shifting cells up.. and delete the last record from x1,1y1 shifting cells up ( if there are other PLs) ..

Another work around if you still need lines exploded is to group them after exploding (g from the command line, then groupedit to rename if you want) and .. and you can store the thickness data in the hyperlink or the thickness property to be able to extract it later..

(If you're going to use thickness be ware of the 3D snab, you'd better disable Z in snaps)

Regards..

Re: Network Drawn using polylines into a network with lines

Anonymous — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 09:14:31 GMT

Hi John,

Many thanks for your reply!

I should say that I am new to AutoCAD.

Here I have attached a sample of a drawing.

I want to do this analysis to the entire network(There are different layers for different voltage levels of the network) I choose one layer at a time. Also there are almost 100 networks I have to work with.

The problem I see in extracting polylines is, there are no coordinates being extracted at the bending points and intersection points. Which is key to my graph theory based analysis.(each line segment and joints and branching points are required with coordinates ). Polyline gives a connected sequence of line segments created as a single object. That is why I am trying to explode them to convert in to lines.

Could you please try to 'explode' the network I am sending and zoom in to the connection points. Then you may see the disconnection of the lines, I think because of losing the width information. Is there a way to keep them intact?

I really appreciate your support.

Thanks again!

Re: Network Drawn using polylines into a network with lines

john.vellek — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 14:39:59 GMT

Hi @Anonymous,

I tried using CONVERTPOLY on the lwpolylines let them explode nicely and all the ends appeared to meet properly. Then I was able to extract the information.

I have attached a sample extraction. Please let me know it this is what you are looking for.

Please hit the Accept as Solution button if my post fully solves your issue or answers your question.

Re: Network Drawn using polylines into a network with lines

john.vellek — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 15:24:39 GMT

HI @Anonymous,

I am checking back to see if my post helped you with your problem. Please add a post with your results so other Forum users can benefit.

Please hit the Accept as Solution button if my post fully solves your issue or answers your question.