Trimble Business Center

 View Only
Expand all | Collapse all

Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

  • 1.  Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

    Posted 08-15-2019 13:49

    I need to create points on along the edge of pavement and top back of curb that reference the centerline alignment. Example: points at station 1+00, 2+00, etc.



  • 2.  Re: Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

    Posted 08-15-2019 14:30

    In your edit linestring box you pick Station/Offset instead of coordinates or Point ID.  Then select your reference alignment and you're set to create a linestring.  Create end points at Station + offset

     

    Edit:
    Whoops, I read your post a little too quickly.  You can use this method to create a line where you want the points then snap points to this line.  Or you can create points at a line's stations in the Create Points dialogue box.  Put your cursor in the Northing line and right click and select "Offset" then  "Offset Line."

     

     

    Then select the alignment, station, and offset and hit OK.  The correct Northing and Easting will be input into the create point coordinates.  

     



  • 3.  Re: Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

    Posted 08-15-2019 14:58

    Are you looking for 3D information that's tied to TBC and EOP? If your EOP and C&G is all the same width as the road you could use the "Create Points at Intervals" command. It would be nice to be able to select an alignment you want to reference for station information then just choose the TBC or EOP line and have them generated along the interval you choose. 

     

     

    I'm not sure of a quick way off the top of my head to elevate the points to the line elevation though.



  • 4.  Re: Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

    Posted 08-16-2019 04:46

    If you have the alignment and the Linestring(s) you could do any of the following

     

    1) Create a Corridor and reference the Linestring if 3D Line already

    2) Create a Template

    3) In the Template create an instruction that uses Offset (2D Line if a Polyline) or that connects HAL to EOP if a 3D Linestring Referenced to the corridor 

    4) Look at the properties f the Template and change the Template Interval from Project Setting to This template and then set the interval to what you want e.g. 100'

    5) Explode the Corridor Surface Model that was created from the Instruction(s) above - you will have Linestrings that have nodes every 100' but also wherever the original Line had nodes also - so maybe not exactly what you want.

     

    Alternatively you can as the others stated above use Linestring and switch from Coordinate Mode to Station and Offset Mode and then you can pick your HAL and create Points (using a linestring to do so) by entering your required Station values and for offset use the Perpendicular snap to find the point on your original line to derive the correct offsets.

     

    If you know the offsets - you can also just enter the Station, Offset values into Excel and use the Station, Offset, Elevation importer to bring the points into the project.

     

    If you label your HAL at the interval required you will also create Tick Lines - those Tick Lines you could Elevate using Data Prep Tools to the Linestrings (elevate by Crossing Lines) (provided the Tick Lines are long enough - if not use Trim / Extend to make them long enough) and then create points at the end points of the Tick Lines for example using Create from CAD - that can be quite a quick way to create 3D points at uniform intervals along a road

     

    You can also run the Station, Offset, Elevation report, select the HAL, the Lines and the Interval that you want and then that report opens in Excel - convert it into a Station, Offset, Elevation Format (Header line is TBC Excel, Report Lines are P, S,O,E,D or S,O,E,D) and then import the edited file back into TBC and create Points not Stored Cross Sections using the Station Offset Elevation Importer.

     

    I agree that a faster way to do this would be a dedicated command to create points at Stations defined vs a HAL and at Offsets either manually entered or along selected linestrings / polylines - but in the meantime the above all work as possible solutions to your problem

     

    Alan



  • 5.  Re: Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

    Posted 08-20-2019 07:51

    My best workaround was to create alignment labels every 100', and make the tick lines 2".  That made them long enough to extend past the back of curb.  I then elevated the tick lines to cl, eop, and tbc.  I then created points at the intersections of the tick lines and the cl, eop, and tbc lines.  Turning off all of the snaps except "intersection" made pretty quick work of that.  That seemed to be by far the quickest way.



  • 6.  RE: Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

    Posted 03-02-2021 11:20
    Is there a decent way to do this yet? Can't believe how much trouble it is to create points along EOP at alignment station intervals + at grade breaks...

    #beforenewfeatures ​​



    ------------------------------
    steve schuler
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

    Posted 03-03-2021 06:45
    There is now a macro that speeds up adding points  using an alignment called "Sta/Offset Points".  You are able to click an alignment and start typing your station and offset.  It takes steps away from create point, then using the offset line over and over every time you want to create the next point.  These are actual points and do not look like nodes you will see when creating points.

    ------------------------------
    Francisco Guerrero
    ------------------------------



  • 8.  RE: Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

    Posted 03-04-2021 01:30
    I'm not sure how that macro speeds the process up? It's actually quite a bit slower than other workarounds.

    ------------------------------
    steve schuler
    ------------------------------



  • 9.  RE: Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

    Posted 03-03-2021 07:32
    I export the linestring (EP etc.) as an .RXL, you will hit all the HPI's and VPI's as you advance station ahead. If you need to stake intermediate stations, create VPI's along the linestring at required interval before export. Pick the Linestring then drag along you CL that is station labeled for placement. Pick any offset in real time as you stake.  In your cad background map copy the CL stations over to the EP line as a reference to label your stakes.

    Not perfect but gets away from creating points and works for me anyways.

    Good Luck!

    ------------------------------
    Thomas Mauriello
    ------------------------------



  • 10.  RE: Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

    Posted 03-04-2021 01:47
    As someone who uses Topcon field equipment an .RXL doesn't do me much good. But I agree in that handling this with field software is my personal method to get this done as well. The problem is as someone that preforms data prep for many different contractors, running many different types of field software, with varying proficiencies in that software; leaves me stuck with finding workarounds for a simple task that is extremely common in data prep and modeling while using a program that's designed for just that.

    ------------------------------
    steve schuler
    ------------------------------



  • 11.  RE: Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

    Posted 03-03-2021 09:14
    Rockpile has a tml that creates xlines similar to how terramodel did.  I would use that to create xlines at your desired interval and alignment points, then use the create points from CAD command to create points at the intersections of your xlines and curb lines

    ------------------------------
    Wayne Welshans
    ------------------------------



  • 12.  RE: Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

    Posted 07-08-2021 09:01
    Why is the answer to EVERY question I look up to BUY TMLs? I'm done with TBC

    ------------------------------
    Mark Matthews
    ------------------------------



  • 13.  RE: Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

    Posted 07-10-2021 03:29
      |   view attached
    If you can run Macros have a look at the attached one.
    Unzip the file into "C:\ProgramData\Trimble\MacroCommands" and restart TBC.

    ------------------------------
    Ronny Schneider
    ------------------------------

    Attachment(s)



  • 14.  RE: Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

    Posted 07-28-2021 22:16
    I can't get the macro to show up in the command list. I unzipped to macro folder. any idea why?

    ------------------------------
    steve schuler
    ------------------------------



  • 15.  RE: Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

    Posted 07-28-2021 23:33
    Which TBC version are you running?
    You're positive that you can run macros? You need as minimum the "Survey Advanced" Licence.

    But you don't get any error message during the TBC start?

    Can you find it using F12 and typing in the macro name "SCR_CreatePointsOnXlines"?

    If that works you should also be able to find it via the "Customize the Ribbon".

    If you haven't customized your ribbon, you could also quickly run "Set Ribbon Tabs" on the Support-Tab and "Reset to defaults"

    ------------------------------
    Ronny Schneider
    ------------------------------



  • 16.  RE: Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

    Posted 08-02-2021 15:22
    Ronny, I'm running ver 5.2. I can run macros and get no error on startup. I extracted your 3 macros to the "MacroCommands" folder and it created their subfolder within it. I have searched command for "SCR" and "_" and cannot find any of them. I've added macros like this in the past but not sure why it's not working. Thanks for helping!

    ------------------------------
    steve schuler
    ------------------------------



  • 17.  RE: Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

    Posted 08-02-2021 18:28
    Hi Steve,
    that's a rather old TBC version from 2019 or so. I started creating macros from 5.32 onwards. I'll have a look tonight. I'll have to download and install that old version first and see if I can pinpoint the issue.

    ------------------------------
    Ronny Schneider
    ------------------------------



  • 18.  RE: Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

    Posted 08-03-2021 04:56
      |   view attached
    Hi Steve,
    I got a lot of errors when starting TBC 5.20.
    Main reason was that I reference a lot of assemblies in the beginning of the macro, that aren't necessarily used in this one. But it makes bugfixing easier when Trimble changes names or location of assemblies like they did with the change to 5.50.

    Anyway, I removed the references that don't exist in 5.20. And I also found and fixed an issue with computing the grade changes from 3D Polylines from DXF files.

    Attached the fixed version that works in 5.20 and 5.51. I renamed everything, so delete the folder of the buggy version.

    ------------------------------
    Ronny Schneider
    ------------------------------

    Attachment(s)



  • 19.  RE: Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

    Posted 08-04-2021 17:12
    Edited by steve schuler 08-04-2021 17:28
    @Ronny Schneider  Thanks Ronny! I really appreciate you taking the time to do that! I had to get rid these lines to get it to load:

    ​from Trimble.Vce.Data.Scanning import PointCloudRegion, ExposedPointCloudRegion

    from Trimble.Vce.Geometry import Triangle2D, Triangle3D, Point3D, Plane3D, Arc, Matrix4D, Vector2D, Vector3D, PolySeg, Limits3D, Side, Intersections, RectangleD, Primitive, PrimitiveLocation, Conversions

    from Trimble.Vce.Interfaces.PointCloud import IExposedPointCloudRegion


    Are these functions needed for the macro to work correctly? I wonder why they were a problem. I'm going to try to get some basics and see if I can get your other 2 macros to load also. Thanks again for taking the time to help me. Really appreciate it.

    Edit: When I tried to run it I got this error. 



    ------------------------------
    steve schuler
    ------------------------------



  • 20.  RE: Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

    Posted 08-04-2021 18:27
    Hi Steve,
    you're welcome. The code blocks I had to develop for this macro I could nicely use in two more Macros in the meanwhile.

    With the latest ZIP I've send you it is not necessary to delete lines.

    You also deleted too much, especially the whole line
    from Trimble.Vce.Geometry import Triangle2D, Triangle3D, Point3D, Plane3D, Arc, Matrix4D, Vector2D, Vector3D, PolySeg, Limits3D, Side, Intersections, RectangleD, Primitive, PrimitiveLocation, Conversions

    In that macro you need the objects Point3D, Vector3D, Intersections.

    With new TBC versions the developers create new class/object libraries or rename/regroup them. That means that in newer TBC versions we have more built-in functions at our disposal than in older ones. But trying to import them during the macro start in an old TBC version will throw an error. Vector2D i.e. was obviously only added after 5.20. Of course that could be caught and handled with exception monitoring.
    But since I'm not a paid for developer and mostly write the macros for myself I don't usually test older versions. Everybody around me is using the same/new version as well.

    Most of the other imports are not necessary for this macro, but as I wrote before it makes bugfixing in the future easier for me. I'm at around 45 macros now. I keep one comprehensive import block with all the objects I might have ever used, even just during development. It's way more than necessary but if Trimble changes names or locations in future TBC releases again then I only have to replace the whole import block in all macros. That is still laborious but much quicker than fixing each macro import block line by line.

    ------------------------------
    Ronny Schneider
    ------------------------------



  • 21.  RE: Create Points Along A Line That Reference an Alignment

    Posted 08-03-2021 08:51
    Hi Michael, Have you considered using the Corridor station and offset report to compute coordinates along a line that is left or right of an alignment. The report can be exported to a CSV. Unfortunately you need to parse the file to get the points on the line.
     
    I keep hoping the routine will be modified to save the computed points in the TBC project

    ------------------------------
    Lee Lovell
    ------------------------------