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Tip of the Week #28 - Staking Cut/Fill Data

By Joseph Blecha posted 02-16-2018 21:37

  

The Surface Cut-Fill Map visualization can be used for comparing surfaces, reference elevations, and in conjunction with the Earthwork Report volume computations, but did you know the Cut-Fill Map can be used to stake cut and fills in the field?  Here’s how:

With a reference or initial surface and final surface in your TBC project, select the Cut/Fill Map command in the Surfaces tab.

In this example, the initial surface is a reference surface at a fixed elevation - 1695m - and a finish grade surface model of a simple two-lane corridor with shoulder and sidewalk on both sides.  Be sure that the shade map and label grid are checked to be created.  Select an appropriate grid spacing. 1m interval is selected in the above example.

Executing the command creates the Cut/Fill Surface as well as a 1m by 1m grid, as shown below:

Turn the Cut/Fill Map surface off in the View Filter Manager, leaving the grid only.

Note that the grid consists of a color, denoting cut/fill; a tick mark at the point location; and a label showing the elevation cut/fill value:

 

In the Edit tab, select the Explode command and select the Cut/Fill grid.  Exploding results in creating a CAD point for each grid point.  Turn the Cut/Fill map grid layer off (which is Layer 0 in this example) for an isolate view of only the CAD points.

 

Selecting a single CAD point property reveals that the color, layer, and grid coordinate exist for each.  

Note that the grid elevation is the delta between the initial and final surfaces.  A positive elevation is fill, a negative elevation is cut.  These points can either be exported to a CSV or DXF for use in Trimble Access field software for staking, useful to denote areas of pavement, for example, that need to be milled.

Enjoy!

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