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Hi TBC Users,

Wondering if anyone knows how to auto extract toe and crest linework from a design quarry/mining pit?

I was thinking along the lines of altering the view properties by shading by slope range to identify berms

i.e from this

to this:

Then somehow generate boundaries around each exploded berm surface

Am i barking up the right tree or does anyone know another method to do this?

@Alan Sharp the geospatial guys @Steven Sheppard and @neil harvey thought you might be able to best comment on this.

TTM sample data attached.

Thanks

I assume the Benches / Haul Roads are not at specific Elevations so

contours wont work (if that is the case), if they are at specific datums

you could use Contour at Elevation to create those (that might work).

You could also explode the Surface to create the TIN Model as Linework (use

Explode TML) and then you could delete edges you dont want and then join

the lines you leave behind

Doing what you did to shade by Elevation - I dont know an easy way to put a

boundary around that to create linework that you need

Alan

Hi Alan,

Thanks for the response.

Being a design pit the benches are at flat elevations, so contouring may work here.

Suggestions for this process please?

The haul roads into the pit will be the challenge as they vary in elevation, though being a design would typically be a set gradient.

We did try the Explode Surfaces Macro, then recolouring 'wanted' segments to a particular colour and then joining all segments based on that colour.

Still a bit too manual for my liking.

Thanks again, maybe other users have a suggestion?

You can also try Select by Elevation on the exploded surface elements -

that may allow you to find the bench elements. COntour at ELevation will

create you contours at a specified elevation that may track the benches -

however they may track the middle of the bench rather than the edges - or

track back and forth across the benches because they are flat - hard to

tell.

Without the data it is hard to give you any further ideas because I cannot

try any other options to see what may work without building a dummy data

set that may or may not reflect your actual data scenario.

Alan

On Wed, Jul 31, 2019 at 6:09 PM gareth@hlgs.com.au <trimble@jiveon.com>

Select by Elevation worked to pull out the benches.

Join lines to create the haul road

For each bench I made a surface and DTM edge to create the boundary line and then delete the surface If not needed

Can use track region if you draw a box around each bench to find the outside line of the bench

Will share back shortly - ~ 20mins work

Alan

Sent from my iPhone

Gareth

I did the following to create this

1. Selected the TTM and used the Explode Surface TML to convert it into 3D Lines
2. Used Select by Elevation for each Bench - entered values like Min 499.9 to Max 500.1 to select the lines that have elevation 500 and named the lines selected as 500 for example and placed them on a Layer called Datum 500 etc.
3. Once the Bench lines are on a Layer I did the following on each Bench layer
   1. Draw a Rectangle around the lines selected and isolated
   2. Use the Track Region Outline to find the Outside line and inside line (click between the rectangle and the outside lines of the bench and then repeat for the inside lines by clicking inside the "hole" in the middle of the data - this creates 3 lines - a copy rectangle plus the Outer and Inner Boundary lines - You can delete the rectangle that was created and re-layer the original rectangle to next datum layer to repeat for each datum. You want to name the lines created e.g. D500 and then after creation use the Change Elevation Command to Elevate them to the Bench Elevation i.e. 500. Repeat for each Bench - this gets you all the Bench Linework.
4. I used the Join Line command to join the edge lines of the haul road together - we don't have any tool that threads through lines to join them automatically (that would be a cool tool but very hard to get right I am sure) - that did not take long though

All in all this took ~15 to 20 mins to do - for a Pit this size that is pretty good I would think ....

Hope it helps - that is one beer at least you owe me!

Alan

If we are talking about getting paid in beer.....

I just modified the ExplodeSurface macro to only include triangle edges when the difference in slope is larger than a specified angle. Then you get this.... (white lines were extracted from surface, you will need to join the segments together)

Just use TmlStatus to get the latest version of the macro.

Great work Gary. You probably connected the dots but, this was the case I was asking about on the last TML call. Looks like a fantastic addition to the TML libraries. 

Shep

You always get paid in Beer buddy - good work

Alan

Thanks Alan and Gary,

I will have a play with your processes and macros.

If you want beer I have just kegged up a nice ESB, perfect for the ashes.

(i might need a few to see me through)

So next time you are in Australia you're welcome to it

For now I have given you some likes and helpfuls instead.

Thanks for the help

So after a bit of testing both methods work well.

Alan I will give you credit as your colours look prettier.

Although 20 minutes manually, if this were written into a macro it would significantly less.

I guess its time to dust off the C# books and get cracking.

Gary, macro works great thanks for the add in.

To join the lines up I enquired the min and max elevations (eg 450 - 550),

Selected by Elevation using the above range,

Join lines,

Done.

One function I couldnt enquire in TBC was the berm angle (vertical angle) to nominate the Break Angle 

In mining its typically expressed from a 90 deg Zenith

eg a steep wall is about 60 deg.

Are there any ways to measure this?

Cheers

Just use a small angle ie 20 degrees - what it is doing is really finding

triangle sides that make a breakline in the original model as opposed to

triangles that fill in flat or undulating areas - so if you put in 20

degrees or even 10 degrees that will find the sharp edge breaks line along

the Haul Road or along the bench edges, but will not find the edges of

triangles that cross the benches or haul roads etc. - it will also miss

triangle sides in the Bench Slopes as they dont break over sharply

Alan

On Fri, Aug 2, 2019 at 12:53 AM gareth@hlgs.com.au <trimble@jiveon.com>

Awesome work Gary,

recently we get a lot of TTM, LandXML or IFC without additional CAD line work which we have to process and make some SCS900/Siteworks/GCS900 designs from and at least show some breaklines or better have them included as 3D lines.

With your updated macro that is now only a mouse click away.

Thanks

Ronny