From Civil 3D, use the Connector for ArcGIS to gather existing data to create road surfaces.
Transcript
00:00
This video series will focus on workflows and best practices for creating a roadway project.
00:09
We'll begin by demonstrating the ArcGIS Connector by gathering existing data for the project,
00:15
and we'll also create surfaces from different data sources.
00:19
GIS data is generally available from owners or public agencies.
00:24
We can create an ArcGIS map that will link directly to the county's live database.
00:31
In this case, we can connect to Douglas County.
00:34
Once we've added the layers that we want, we can actually view the map under the My Groups tab in ArcGIS.
00:41
So, this connection between ESRI and Autodesk gives users an expanded library of data that can be sorted, classified,
00:49
and imported into their own project files.
00:53
In Civil 3D, we begin by defining the project coordinate system for a blank file.
00:58
The project we are showing here is in Colorado State Plain, Central Zone, in US feet, in the United States.
01:06
Once the coordinate system is set, we can save the file to our project folder on BIM 360 Design.
01:13
Then, we can start adding layers and elements to our drawings from ArcGIS.
01:18
So, under the Insert tab, we'll select the Autodesk Connector for ArcGIS.
01:23
This will take us to the ArcGIS view space where we can identify the project area.
01:29
We have a few options to select our area, but for now, we'll just draw a rectangle around the area of interest.
01:35
Under the Public tab, we can search for any data that's available to us in our area of interest.
01:41
Here, we can view the roadway center lines near our project, as well as several other data maps that are available to us.
01:49
We can also refine our search for more detailed items.
01:53
In this case, we can search for traffic data and view the layers that are associated with that map.
01:59
It looks like we've got quite a few of those.
02:02
When we select My Groups, we can view the items that were created previously.
02:08
So, when we choose the Douglas County map, we can see several layers of information that we can import.
02:13
For now, we'll just use the roadway center lines and simply select Add to My Design Project.
02:19
These lines will be imported into the drawing, and once that's loaded, we can view the line work.
02:27
Now, these items were brought in as alignments, and we can actually see the geometry in the Prospector tab.
02:35
We can also bring these in as feature lines as well, but we would need to specify that in ArcGIS before we add the items.
02:43
There's a number of other items that we can add to our drawing.
02:45
We have access to contour data, flood maps and airport clearance maps, rivers, trails, and a few other existing features.
02:53
We want to include the data that may impact our design and provide as much detail as possible about existing conditions.
03:01
Some of those items will be the 100-year floodplain that's shown here
03:05
as well as any parcel or property data or right of way maps that we have access to.
03:12
All of this data could be vital to include in the base mapping for our project.
03:17
Now, in the next part of the workflow, we're going to create a surface from contour data that we downloaded from the county.
03:23
We will set up the new drawing in the same way where we identify the coordinate system and save that file to our folder on BIM 360.
03:34
These contours were imported with the map import feature, and we use the data from the downloaded files
03:40
to add elevation to the contours.
03:43
Checking here, we can see that the lines do have the correct elevation information.
03:47
So, with the line work set up with the correct elevations, we can create a new surface, and we'll call this EG, for existing ground.
03:57
So, under the definitions options, we can right-click to add contours to our surface.
04:03
We have a few options here to control the surface creation.
04:07
We can also describe the items that we are importing.
04:10
For this surface, we want to include all the lines from our contour map, so once that surface processes,
04:17
we can view the contour data and compare it to the map lines.
04:20
We can do this by selecting the surface properties of our surface and changing the contour display interval.
04:28
We'll actually turn off the imported contour lines as well.
04:33
So, once a surface has been inspected, we can now make it available to other team members by creating a data shortcut.
04:40
That data shortcut folder has been set to reside on BIM 360.
04:45
So, we simply select the surface, and now we can see that that will be available for use in the project.
04:52
Civil 3D can also create a surface from 3D Poly Lines, or feature lines.
04:57
And in this example, we have a number of brake lines that represent existing edges of pavements, or cut and fill lines as well.
05:03
And we want to add those to our surface.
05:06
We will call it Brake Lines.
05:08
Similar to the last surface where we have a number of options, we'll actually select brake lines and provide a description for those lines.
05:17
We could describe each line that we add to the surface, but in this case, we'll use the same description for all the lines that we import.
05:24
Once all those lines are added to the surface, we see that we have some triangulation that needs to be cleaned up.
05:29
Here, we want to display the surface with contours and triangles.
05:33
This will allow us to delete some of those extra triangles.
05:37
So, we do that by selecting Edit Surface and Delete Line.
05:42
Any lines that we cross will be removed from the triangulation.
05:46
Once our surface is complete, we'll add this to our data shortcut list of surfaces available as well.
05:53
And now that's ready for other team members to access.
05:57
So now, I would like to demonstrate how to combine these surfaces when they're referenced into a new drawing.
06:03
We can add each surface to our file.
06:06
Once we've added the surface, I'll just double-click the mouse wheel to zoom to the extents of the surface.
06:11
Then, we'll add the next surface and see that they overlap.
06:15
I’m just adding these as data shortcuts.
06:17
So, for this step, we want to actually create an empty surface file and combine those files.
06:23
And so, we'll call that new surface combined.
06:25
We’ll go down to edit options and select Paste Surface.
06:29
First, we want to choose the existing ground surface.
06:33
Then, we can add the brake line surface after we've added the first one.
06:37
We can continue to add surfaces to this combined surface if needed.
06:43
We can see that those break lines were added nicely to our existing surface.
06:48
If we need to remove any of these elements, we can just simply choose Edits in the options tree and select the surface from the list to delete.
06:56
Surface does not immediately update, but we can see that there are warning messages that indicate that the surface needs to be rebuilt.
07:02
So, once it's been rebuilt, we can now see that those brake lines are gone, and we can add boundaries, or hides to the surface if needed.
07:10
When we add the surface, we'll select Hide from the drop-down option.
07:15
From the Command line, we can actually choose Surface and then specify the surface that we want to act as a hide boundary.
07:21
This works great for any areas of the surface that we need to be clipped, or hidden, or may act as a boundary.
07:27
There are a variety of other modifications that we can actually make to the surface depending on the data that is available to us
07:33
and what kind of modifications we need to make to the surface.
07:36
So, we could use a similar workflow if survey or LiDAR data needed to be added to the surface.
07:42
There's a number of other surface creation options that exist, including creating a surface from point clouds or from GIS data,
07:51
and the prompts for creating each of those options are similar to the ones that we followed in creating these surfaces.
00:00
This video series will focus on workflows and best practices for creating a roadway project.
00:09
We'll begin by demonstrating the ArcGIS Connector by gathering existing data for the project,
00:15
and we'll also create surfaces from different data sources.
00:19
GIS data is generally available from owners or public agencies.
00:24
We can create an ArcGIS map that will link directly to the county's live database.
00:31
In this case, we can connect to Douglas County.
00:34
Once we've added the layers that we want, we can actually view the map under the My Groups tab in ArcGIS.
00:41
So, this connection between ESRI and Autodesk gives users an expanded library of data that can be sorted, classified,
00:49
and imported into their own project files.
00:53
In Civil 3D, we begin by defining the project coordinate system for a blank file.
00:58
The project we are showing here is in Colorado State Plain, Central Zone, in US feet, in the United States.
01:06
Once the coordinate system is set, we can save the file to our project folder on BIM 360 Design.
01:13
Then, we can start adding layers and elements to our drawings from ArcGIS.
01:18
So, under the Insert tab, we'll select the Autodesk Connector for ArcGIS.
01:23
This will take us to the ArcGIS view space where we can identify the project area.
01:29
We have a few options to select our area, but for now, we'll just draw a rectangle around the area of interest.
01:35
Under the Public tab, we can search for any data that's available to us in our area of interest.
01:41
Here, we can view the roadway center lines near our project, as well as several other data maps that are available to us.
01:49
We can also refine our search for more detailed items.
01:53
In this case, we can search for traffic data and view the layers that are associated with that map.
01:59
It looks like we've got quite a few of those.
02:02
When we select My Groups, we can view the items that were created previously.
02:08
So, when we choose the Douglas County map, we can see several layers of information that we can import.
02:13
For now, we'll just use the roadway center lines and simply select Add to My Design Project.
02:19
These lines will be imported into the drawing, and once that's loaded, we can view the line work.
02:27
Now, these items were brought in as alignments, and we can actually see the geometry in the Prospector tab.
02:35
We can also bring these in as feature lines as well, but we would need to specify that in ArcGIS before we add the items.
02:43
There's a number of other items that we can add to our drawing.
02:45
We have access to contour data, flood maps and airport clearance maps, rivers, trails, and a few other existing features.
02:53
We want to include the data that may impact our design and provide as much detail as possible about existing conditions.
03:01
Some of those items will be the 100-year floodplain that's shown here
03:05
as well as any parcel or property data or right of way maps that we have access to.
03:12
All of this data could be vital to include in the base mapping for our project.
03:17
Now, in the next part of the workflow, we're going to create a surface from contour data that we downloaded from the county.
03:23
We will set up the new drawing in the same way where we identify the coordinate system and save that file to our folder on BIM 360.
03:34
These contours were imported with the map import feature, and we use the data from the downloaded files
03:40
to add elevation to the contours.
03:43
Checking here, we can see that the lines do have the correct elevation information.
03:47
So, with the line work set up with the correct elevations, we can create a new surface, and we'll call this EG, for existing ground.
03:57
So, under the definitions options, we can right-click to add contours to our surface.
04:03
We have a few options here to control the surface creation.
04:07
We can also describe the items that we are importing.
04:10
For this surface, we want to include all the lines from our contour map, so once that surface processes,
04:17
we can view the contour data and compare it to the map lines.
04:20
We can do this by selecting the surface properties of our surface and changing the contour display interval.
04:28
We'll actually turn off the imported contour lines as well.
04:33
So, once a surface has been inspected, we can now make it available to other team members by creating a data shortcut.
04:40
That data shortcut folder has been set to reside on BIM 360.
04:45
So, we simply select the surface, and now we can see that that will be available for use in the project.
04:52
Civil 3D can also create a surface from 3D Poly Lines, or feature lines.
04:57
And in this example, we have a number of brake lines that represent existing edges of pavements, or cut and fill lines as well.
05:03
And we want to add those to our surface.
05:06
We will call it Brake Lines.
05:08
Similar to the last surface where we have a number of options, we'll actually select brake lines and provide a description for those lines.
05:17
We could describe each line that we add to the surface, but in this case, we'll use the same description for all the lines that we import.
05:24
Once all those lines are added to the surface, we see that we have some triangulation that needs to be cleaned up.
05:29
Here, we want to display the surface with contours and triangles.
05:33
This will allow us to delete some of those extra triangles.
05:37
So, we do that by selecting Edit Surface and Delete Line.
05:42
Any lines that we cross will be removed from the triangulation.
05:46
Once our surface is complete, we'll add this to our data shortcut list of surfaces available as well.
05:53
And now that's ready for other team members to access.
05:57
So now, I would like to demonstrate how to combine these surfaces when they're referenced into a new drawing.
06:03
We can add each surface to our file.
06:06
Once we've added the surface, I'll just double-click the mouse wheel to zoom to the extents of the surface.
06:11
Then, we'll add the next surface and see that they overlap.
06:15
I’m just adding these as data shortcuts.
06:17
So, for this step, we want to actually create an empty surface file and combine those files.
06:23
And so, we'll call that new surface combined.
06:25
We’ll go down to edit options and select Paste Surface.
06:29
First, we want to choose the existing ground surface.
06:33
Then, we can add the brake line surface after we've added the first one.
06:37
We can continue to add surfaces to this combined surface if needed.
06:43
We can see that those break lines were added nicely to our existing surface.
06:48
If we need to remove any of these elements, we can just simply choose Edits in the options tree and select the surface from the list to delete.
06:56
Surface does not immediately update, but we can see that there are warning messages that indicate that the surface needs to be rebuilt.
07:02
So, once it's been rebuilt, we can now see that those brake lines are gone, and we can add boundaries, or hides to the surface if needed.
07:10
When we add the surface, we'll select Hide from the drop-down option.
07:15
From the Command line, we can actually choose Surface and then specify the surface that we want to act as a hide boundary.
07:21
This works great for any areas of the surface that we need to be clipped, or hidden, or may act as a boundary.
07:27
There are a variety of other modifications that we can actually make to the surface depending on the data that is available to us
07:33
and what kind of modifications we need to make to the surface.
07:36
So, we could use a similar workflow if survey or LiDAR data needed to be added to the surface.
07:42
There's a number of other surface creation options that exist, including creating a surface from point clouds or from GIS data,
07:51
and the prompts for creating each of those options are similar to the ones that we followed in creating these surfaces.
