Surveying Tutorial

CONTENTS
Chapter 1 – Introduction

Getting Started……………………………………………

System Requirements……………………………….…....

Installing Surpac Vision………………………………….

Learning More about Surpac Vision……………………..

Where to Start…………………………………………….

What you will need……………………………………….

Chapter 2 – Surpac Look and Feel

Chapter Introduction……………………………………...

Surpac Profiles………………………….…………………

Surpac Logicals…………………………………………...

Surpac Short Cuts…………………………………………

Surpac Key Definitions……………………………………

Creating Toolbars…………………………………………

Chapter 3 – Database Basics

Database Basics……………………………………………

Surface Surveying Database……………………………….

Underground Surveying Database…………………………

Chapter 4 – Surface Database Creation

Create a Surface Survey Database…………………………

Manually Entering Station Records………………………..

Automatically Loading Station Information……………….

Surface Traversing…………………………………………

Chapter 5 – Underground Database Creation

Create an Underground Survey Database…………………

Manually Entering Station Records………………………..

Automatically Loading Station Information……………….

Underground Traversing…………………………………...

Chapter 6 – Viewing and plotting survey stations

Viewing survey stations on screen……...…………………

Constrained survey station viewing.………………………..

Editing records in the surveying database………………….

Deleting records from the surveying database…………….

Creating a survey station report……………..…………….

Exporting station information to a string file..…………….

Creating a plot with Autoplot………………..…………….

Creating a traditional plotting map for survey stations..…...

Creating a tradition plotting entity for survey stations …….

Sending your plot to a printer or plotter.……..…………….

Chapter 7 – Processing Data Recorder Files

Processing an input file….……………..…………………

Processing an input file with station survey………………

Direct download of survey data…….…..…………………

Chapter 8 – Producing Set out Notes

Setting the styles of string files…..……...…………………

Controlling set out order…………..………………………..

Setting point labels……………………..…………………..

Creating set out report………………………...…………….

Chapter 9 – Graphical String Editing

Basic string editing…………...…..……...…………………

More basic string editing…………….……………………..

Adding spot height information………..…………………...

Chapter 10 – File Import and Export

Importing a GIF image…………...…..……...……………..

Tiling a DTM with a GIF image……..……………………..

Registering a GIF image.……..………..…………………...

Digitising onto a DTM surface……………………………..

Importing a DXF file……………………………………….

Chapter 11 – DTM Creation

Creating a Simple DTM.……...…..……...…………………

Creating a DTM with crossing breaklines…………………..

Chapter 12 – Volume Calculations

DTM Surface to Surface Volumes.……...…………………

End Area Volume Calculation………………….…………..

Volumes by Elevation (Bench)…….…..…………………...

Calculating Tonnages with DTM Files...…………………...

Chapter 13 – Stability Monitoring

Adding a prism table……………...……...…………………

Loading data into the stability table………………….……..

Clearing data from a table………….…..…………………...

Displaying the movement graphs……....…………………...

Outputting the graphs as GIF images……………………….

Create a text report of prism movements……………………

Chapter 14 – Least Squares Adjustment

Entering observed data…………...……...…………………

Survey Network Adjustment..………………….…………..

Survey Network Adjustment results.…..…………………...

INTRODUCTION
Getting Started
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Surpac Vision is a professional mine planning and production tool. Using the tools within Surpac Vision, it is easy to manage all
aspects of pre and post mining, for a range of deposits and mining methods.

Surpac Vision provides advanced engineering, geological and surveying tools for mining professionals. It has applications for all
stages of the mine life cycle, from resource estimation, planning and operation, to remediation of a site. An integrated system, it
dramatically improves the flow of technical information from all mining professionals.
Surpac Vision is fully customisable. You can create your own menus and toolbars, screen layout, keyboard shortcuts,
automating tasks using the TCL scripting language, or even create your own Surpac Vision functions using the TCL scripting
language.

System Requirements

The following hardware and software is required to run Surpac Vision.

For Microsoft Windows:

o An Intel Pentium III processor or equivalent, 350 MHz or faster (PIII 500 recommended), running Windows 95, Windows 98,
Windows ME, Windows NT version 4, Windows 2000 or later. (Windows NT version 4 and Windows 2000 recommended)
o 128 MB of random access memory (RAM), 256 MB recommended, plus 80 MB of available hard disk space.
o A 4 MB or greater graphics card, using a colour monitor capable of displaying at 1024 x 768 pixel resolution, with 16 bit
colour.
o A CD ROM drive.

Installing Surpac Vision

Follow these instructions to install Surpac Vision onto a Windows computer.
To Install Surpac Vision :

1. Insert the Surpac Vision CD into the computer’s CD-ROM drive.

2. The CD should autorun, and display the installation form. If this does not happen then follow these instructions.

o In Windows, choose Start > Run. Click Browse and choose the Demo32.exe file on the Surpac Vision CD. Click OK in the
Run dialog box to begin the installation.
 1. Select the Install option from the first screen that is displayed once the Surpac Installation has started.

• Select the Surpac Vision option from the installation list.

• On the first install screen, select the next button to begin.
• The next form is the licence agreement. You should read this. By clicking on the Yes button you are agreeing to the licence agreement and
all of its conditions.
To continue you must click on Yes.
• Next you must select the installation directory for Surpac Vision.
By default Surpac Vision will be installed into your C drive, but this can be changed by clicking on the Browse button, and
selecting another directory, or drive.
Click on the Next button once you have selected the directory for Surpac Vision to be installed to.
• The next form allows you to select a previous copy of Surpac and have any custom files copied from that version and placed into the new
installation
• The next form allows you to select the components that will be installed. If you wish to install all of the components, including the tutorial
files, scroll down to the bottom of the list, and make sure that all of the selection boxes have been ticked, then click on the Next button.

• The next form gives a summary of the directories and files that will be created and installed. Click on the Next button to start the
installation.
• Surpac Vision will then be installed onto your computer.
• Once the installation is complete, click on the Finish button. You will be able to double click on the icon that is placed onto your desktop to
run Surpac Vision.
• If you encounter any problems contact your nearest Surpac office.

Learning more about the Surveying Tools in Surpac

The Surpac Vision package contains a variety of resources to help you learn more about the surveying tools quickly, and
become proficient in using the Surpac Vision functions that relate to surveying. These resources include on-line HTML help
pages that appear in a web browser, and a printable manual.
Surpac Vision Help
The Surpac Vision HTML help pages provide comprehensive information about all of the Surpac Vision features. These
browsers are strongly recommended for viewing the Surpac Vision on-line help.
 o Netscape Navigator 4.0 and later or Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 and later.

If you use a version 3 browser, all of the content is still available, but some of the features may not function.
Netscape Navigator 4.72 can be installed from the Surpac Vision CD free of charge.
Surpac Vision on-line help includes the following components.

o The table of contents enables you to see all information organised by topics. Click on top-level entries to view subtopics.
o The index, like a traditional index, can be used to find important terms and go to related topics.
o Search allows you to find any character string in all topic text. The search feature requires a version 4.0 HTML browser with
JAVA enabled.

To search for a key word, simply type the word in the text field.

image1.gif

To search for files that contain two keywords (for example layers and styles) separate the search terms with a plus (+) sign.
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Surpac Vision Surveying Manual (Printed Manual)
The Surpac Vision Surveying Manual training manual provides a printed alternative to the Surpac Vision HTML Tutorial. It covers
the same topics, but in a printer friendly version.
Surpac Vision Support
For technical support about any aspect of Surpac Vision you can contact your local Surpac office by telephone or e-mail. For
telephone numbers and e-mail addresses, you can consult the back of the training manual, or go to the Surpac web site at
www.surpac.com .

Where to start
This guide includes information for at a variety of levels. To get the most out of the documentation, start by reading the parts that
are relevant to your level of experience.
For Surpac novices
If you are new to Surpac, or new to the Surveying tools, the best place for you to start, is chapter 1, and then progress through
the chapters in the numbered order. It would also be a good idea to go through the Principles tutorial before work through this
tutorial, to get more of a background in Surpac.
The principles tutorial, and all other available tutorials can be accessed from the Help > Tutorials menu within Surpac Vision.
For experienced Surpac :
If you have used Surpac before, but are new to the Surveying tools found within Surpac Vision, then the best place to start is in
Chapter 3, where you will cover creating a survey database. From there you can progress through the various surveying
chapters and exercises contained within the tutorial.
If you have used Surpac before, and have also used the surveying tools in Surpac before, you would be best served selecting
the chapters that apply to you, on a case by case basis. Each chapter has been designed to be independent of the next, so you
can easily work on any chapter in the tutorial, without the need to work through the previous chapters.
What you will need
To use this tutorial you will need to have the training files installed on your machine. Using the default installation of Surpac, the
files will be installed under the following folder
C:ssi_v4.0-Mdemtrainingsurvey
If this folder does not exist or the files have not been installed, you will need to do this first.
The training files can be installed from the Surpac Vision CD by following these steps.

1. Place the Surpac CD into your CD drive and allow it to start.

2. From the main installation screen, select the Install button.
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3. From the install options, select the Surpac Vision option.

 image4.gif

4. You are now going to modify the current installation. Select the Modify option, and then click on the Next button.
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5. On the next form you must un-select all of the options that are currently ticked. You only want to install the training files, which are
the very last option. You will need to scroll down on the list to see this option. Check the training files option, and then click on the
Next button.
 image6.gif

6. You will not need to copy any custom files, so make sure that the None option is selected, and then click on the Next button.
 image7.gif

Surpac will now install the training files required for this tutorial. These files are zipped up, and need to be unzipped before
they can be used. To do this you will need a piece of software that will allow you to unzip files.

7. Locate the directory that the training files for the surveying tutorial have been copied to, and unzip the files.

Once the files have been unzipped, you can now follow through the tutorial using the correct training files.
CHAPTER 2
Surpac Look and Feel
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Surpac Vision has seen the introduction of a new interface, making it much more intuitive and easy to use. The new interface
has a familiar look and feel, with typical Windows style drop down menu’s and tool bars.

Along with the new look of the interface, there is also now the ability to customise the look and feel of Surpac, through displaying
context specific menu’s and tool bars, by setting the screen to display the parts of the software that you do or do not use, or by
creating your own menu’s and tool bars.

Exercise 1 - Surpac Profiles

With the release of Surpac Vision, a new concept has been introduced to allow each user to have their own Surpac look and
feel. This is done through the use of Profiles.

A profile allows a user to display parts of the screen in a set way, and have Surpac remember these settings the next time the
software is started. A typical example of this is where a person may be working with a particular set of functions. To speed up
work, the specific menus and toolbars can be displayed directly on the screen so that it is not necessary that a menus tree is
needed.

A set of standard profiles have already been created for use, but custom created profiles can also be created at any stage.

What you will learn

In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o How to use standard profiles.

o How to create a custom profile.
o How to start Surpac using a selected profile automatically.

• Standard Profiles
When Surpac is started you are prompted by a form to select a profile for use in this session of Surpac.
1 Launch Surpac Vision.
You are prompted to select a profile. Leave as <no profile> and apply the form.

image1.gif
Note – you can apply a form in 3 ways. By clicking on the apply button, by pressing the Enter key or by pressing the F2 key.

Surpac will start with the default display. The standard display has two menus at the very top of the screen, the Main menu, and
the Applications menu the next down. Below that are the default tool bars. The first tool bar is the Status Items tool bar, and then
below that is the Main toolbar.
image2.gif
2 Exit Surpac, and once closed, launch Surpac Vision again.
When prompted, select the survey profile.

image4.gif
Now when Vision starts, the software will automatically display a slightly different set of menus and toolbars.
This has been done as the survey profile was created to display the menus and tool bars that are specific to using the surveying
tools in Surpac.
image2.gif
Once a profile has been started, if you wish to display or hide any menu or toolbar you can by right clicking on the right hand side
of any menu or toolbar and then select the menu or toolbar that you wish to show.
• Custom Profiles
If you have certain menus or toolbars that you wish to be displayed most or all of the time, you can do this by creating your own
profile. This will allow you to select the profile when you launch Surpac Vision, and have the screen displayed in the format that
you set. This includes the size of the graphics region, the size of the file menu and the size of the message window.

1. Right click to the right any menu or toolbar to display the list of default menus and toolbars.

image7.gif
2. Hide the Edit tool bar by clicking on the Hide option at the top of the list, or by clicking on the Edit option to remove the tick further
down the list.

image5.gif

3. Now display the Solids menu.

Now you will save the current screen set-up to your own profile. You can give it any name you wish but do not use spaces
in the name. If you want a gap between words it is recommended that you use the underscore character.

4. Click on the File > Save > Profile.

 image8.gif

5. When the Save Profile form appears, enter in the name you wish to give your profile.
 image9.gif

Note – You should never overwrite the default profiles. This will make it difficult to recover the standard profiles, and may
also be overwritten by an updated installation of Surpac Vision.

6. Once the profile has been saved, you must close Surpac Vision, and then launch the software again.
7. When prompted, select your new profile and then press apply.

Surpac Vision will now start with the same screen set-up, as when you saved your profile.

Once you have created a profile, you can have Surpac automatically save the screen set-up for you when you exit. In
doing this, the menus and toolbars that you had displayed the last time you were using Surpac will be remembered.

8. Choose Customise > Auto save window layout

image10.gif
Activate the function by checking the box.
Now when you shut Surpac Vision, the screen layout that you have displayed at the time of exiting will be saved to your current
profile.
• Launching Vision with a set profile
You can set Surpac Vision to start with a selected profile, which means you do not need to choose it when you launch Vision.
You must make a change to the Surpac Vision icon for this to work.

1. Right click once on the Surpac icon, and select Properties.

 image11.gif

2. Select the shortcut tab at the top of the form.

3. The change needs to be made at the very end of the Target line.
image12.gif

It is very important that there is a space between the end of the translate.ssi and the start of the –profile switch, and then
another space between the switch and the profile name.
 translate.ssi -profile my_surpac
4. Click on OK and launch Surpac Vision.

When the software starts, you will not be prompted for a profile, and it will automatically be used in setting the screen set-up.

Exercise 2 – Surpac Vision System Files

Within Surpac Vision there are several ways to customise the software to make your work easier and quicker. This includes
creating Surpac logicals, making your own key short cuts and by allowing you to record macros or scripts to automate certain
functions.
What you will learn

o Create and use Surpac logicals.

2.1 Surpac Logicals

Logicals in Surpac are a method of mapping a directory, where it is given a name, and pointed to a specific directory on you
computer or network. This is done to simplify recalling files, especially when there is a very long path name, as is often the case
with a computer network.
There are two kinds of logicals that can be used within Surpac, system and user.
Surpac sets up system logicals when the software is installed, and they are kept in the file translate.ssi. These logicals are
required by the software for Surpac to work, and should not be edited. An example of the translate.ssi file is shown below.
image13.gif
Note – It is recommended that you never add your own logicals to the translate.ssi file. This is because, when a newer version of
Surpac is installed the translate file may be overwritten and your logicals may be lost.
User logicals have been created to simplify the locating of data. In this exercise you will create a logical that will point to the
Survey training directory under the Surpac demonstration directory.
To make use of custom logicals, a file to hold them must first be created. This must be done using a text editor, and it is
recommended that the file be named logicals.ssi.
The easiest way to do this is to create a blank file using a text edit and then naming it correctly. In this case you will use
WordPad, but you can use any text editor you wish to use.

1. Go to the Windows start button and then start WordPad by going to Programs > Accessories > WordPad
2. Save the new document that is opened by default by going to File > Save As. The file will need to be saved to the etc directory of the
copy of Surpac Vision that you are using.
 image14.gif

3. Make sure that the Save as type is set to Text Document.

Now you can enter the logical that will be used by Surpac for the survey training files. The format is the same as the
translate.ssi file.

4. Enter the logical definition as show in the following image, and save the file again. Make sure at the end of the logical line that you hit
the Enter key to get to the next line down.
 image15.gif

Note – Your Surpac installation may be different to that of the examples shown in the images, due to having a different
version of the software, or by selecting a different installation path when you first install Surpac. You must keep this in
mind when setting logicals, and setting other system parameters.

Now that you have added the logical, you must start Surpac again to be able to use the logical.

5. Close the current session of Surpac and then launch the software again. The profile you select will make no difference to the logicals.
6. Enter the following into your logicals file.

There are several methods you can use to see if a logical is working correctly. One easy way is to look on the file
manager, towards the bottom, where your logicals will be listed.

7. Locate the SURVEY logical and set it as your work directory in the file manager.
 image16.gif

8. Right click on the SURVEY logical name, and select the Set as Work Directory option.
image17.gif
If this works then your logical has been set up correctly.
If this does not work, then you will need to check that the path names you entered into your logicals.ssi file are correct, and that
Surpac is looking in the correct directory for the logicals.ssi file.
Once the logicals are working, they can be used to recall files from any folder without the need to change to a specific directory.
Exercise 3 - Creating Surpac Shortcuts
For many years now, you have been able to initiate functions within Surpac with the use of keystrokes, or as they are known,
short cuts. These short cuts can be one or two keys, or can involve typing out an entire word. For as long as you have been able
to use the short cuts, you have been able to customise them, or even create you own. As well as running Surpac functions a
short cut can also run a script.
What you will learn
 o How to use Surpac short cuts.
o How to create Surpac short cuts.

3.1 Surpac Short Cuts

Surpac short cuts, or as they are also know, a Surpac alias, can be used, by simply typing in the few letters that are used for
each specific function. You do not have to use these short cuts if you do not wish to, but in some cases can speed up your usage
of Surpac. These short cuts are typed into the function chooser section on the top tool bar.

image19.gif
When you use any function, the function name is shown in the function chooser field, with its default Surpac short cut shown in
brackets at the end of the function name.
A common short cut that is used is the recall file short cut, which is RF.

1. Type RF into the function chooser and then hit apply (F2 or Enter)

This will open up the recall file form, which you can then fill out to recall a file.

Another option you have is to create a short cut of your own for any Surpac function. In the following exercise you will
create a short cut for the move point function.

A list of the current default short cuts is kept in the file short.mst in the C:ssi_V4.0-Mshareetc directory. This file is one of
the Surpac alias files.

2. Open the short.mst file with a text editor.

 image20.gif

Once the file is open, you can scroll down the list to view the short cuts.

There are several options available when you wish to create your own short cuts. The first is to simply add them to the
current short.mst file. There is a danger in doing this, in that, if you upgrade Surpac at a later date, the short.mst file may
be overwritten, and as a result, your short cuts lost. As a result, we would recommend that you create a separate short
cuts file, and add your short cuts to this.

As with the previous exercise, the simplest way to create this short cut file, is to a new file from your chosen text editor,
making sure it is named correctly.

3. Start WordPad, and use the Save As function to save the file as my_shotcuts.mst.

As with the logicals file, the alias file must be saved to the etc directory of your copy of Surpac.

The format of the new short cut file needs to be in the same format as that of the short.mst file, with the chosen alias on
the left in quotes, and the command name on the right, also in quotes.
 The name of the function on the right of the short cut is a name controlled by Surpac. If you wish to find the correct name
for a function, view it in the command chooser in Surpac Vision by running the functions using the menu or toolbar first.

In the example you will create 2 short cuts. The first will be for drawing all of the strings on screen with the sting numbers
displayed, and the second will be for hiding a segment by clicking on it. Try these functions out first to see what the
command names are.

4. Select Display > Strings > With string numbers

This will show you that the function name is Draw Strings.

5. Select Display > Hide Strings > Segments by selection

This will show you that the function name is Erase segment by selection

6. Enter in the command name to the right of the alias name, making sure that you use spaces between the two, and that there are double
quotes around the function name as you can see in the following image.
7. At the end of the line, press enter to move down to the next line.
8. Save the file as my_shortcuts.mst.

Now you must tell Surpac that you are going to be using another alias file. Within Surpac it is possible to use up to nine
alias files, all containing short cuts.

9. In Surpac Vision choose Customise > Default Preferences

10. Click on the Alias tab to the right of the form.
11. On the third line, Alias Three, use the browser to locate your alias file.
 image21.gif

Once you have filled out the form with the correct path and name of your alias file, press apply.

For Surpac to recognise the new short cut, you must close the software, and then restart.

12. Exit Surpac Vision.

13. Launch Surpac Vision.
14. Recall the file "ORE392.STR" into graphics.
15. Type "ES" into the Command Chooser and then click on one of the segments. That segment will then be erased.
16. Type "DRS" into the Command Chooser, and then press Apply to the form that is displayed without making any changes. The
segment that you erased will now be re-drawn, and all of the string numbers will also be displayed.

Exercise 4 - Keymaps
As well as being able to create your own Surpac short cuts, you can also assign functions or scripts to individual keys, or a
combination of keystrokes. An example of this are the function keys, which, by default, have certain functions assigned to them,
such as F2 to apply. If you wish, these can be customised to run any function you wish.
What you will learn

o How to assign a function to a key or set of keystrokes.

• Assigning Function Keys

In this exercise you will make the F7 function key recall a file. All of the key information is stored in a file called keymaps.ssi,
which is kept in the C:ssi_v4.0shareetc directory.

1. Open the keymaps.ssi file with a text editor.

2. Scroll down the list of key information until you find the function key definitions towards the bottom of the file.

image22.gif

In this file you can see that all of the function keys at the top of the keyboard have been assigned a function. The
exception to this is the F10 key, which is reserved by Windows, and cannot be assigned a function.
 The next step is to change the function that has been assigned to F7.

3. On the line that defines the F7 key, add the following, making sure that all parts line up.

image22.gif

For the changes to be recognised you must close Surpac and then re-start the software.

4. Save the text file as keymaps.ssi and then close the file.
5. Exit Surpac Vision.
6. Launch Surpac Vision.
7. Press the F7 key.

The recall file form should be opened.

As well as assign functions, you can also run scripts from the function keys on the keyboard.
Exercise 5 – User Created Tool Bars
As well as being able to customise the Surpac interface by displaying the menu’s and tool bars that are specific to the work you
are doing, you can also create your own menu’s and tool bars, with and function, or script on them.
What you will learn

o How to create your own toolbar.

5.1 Creating a toolbar

In this exercise you will create you own toolbar, with varying functions placed on it, and have it displayed when you start Surpac
Vision with your profile.

1. Choose Customise > Customise menus/toolbars

Surpac will take a few moments, and then display the Modify menus and tool bars screen.
 image24.gif

To create a custom toolbar, you will need to add it to the user toolbar area.

2. Click on the User Toolbar area, and then click on the New option on the menu.

image25.gif

A new toolbar will be created, with the name Toolbar_1. The next step is to rename the toolbar to what you want it to be
named.

3. Click on the new toolbar name, Toolbar_1, and then click on the Edit option on the menu.

This will allow you to rename the toolbar.

4. Enter the new name of My_Toolbar, and then press the Enter key.

Note – Do not use spaces in the toolbar names. If you want a break between words, use the underscore character.

Now you can start to add the functions you wish to have on your toolbar. The easiest way to do this, is to copy the
functions from the already existing Surpac toolbars.
5. Navigate up the toolbar and menu tree, and open the Surpac default toolbar list. Then open the Edit toolbar.
6. Highlight the functions that you wish to add to your toolbar, in this case the following functions

ƒ Point Delete
ƒ Segment Delete
ƒ String Delete
ƒ Segment Reverse
ƒ String Reverse
ƒ Segment Close
ƒ Segment Join
ƒ Segment Break
ƒ Point Edit
image26.gif
Once the functions have been highlighted that you wish to add to your toolbar, you can copy them to your customised toolbar.

1. Highlight the function names, and them click on the Copy option on the Menu.
2. Move down to your toolbar name, and highlight the My_Toolbar name.
3. Click on the Paste option on the Menu.

The functions will be added to your custom toolbar. If you wish to change the order of the buttons, you can click on the
function and use the Move Up and Move Down options on the menu.

4. Click on the Point Edit function, and use the Move Up tool on the menu to place it above the Segment Reverse function as shown in
the following image.

image27.gif
 If you want to have a break in the icons on the toolbar, you can use a separator.

5. Copy a separator from the default Edit toolbar, and then paste in after, the String Delete function, and then another after the Point Edit
functions, and then after the String Reverse function.

image28.gif

Once you have added the functions you wish to be on your toolbar, you will need to Apply the Modify Menus and Toolbars
form.

6. Apply the Customise form.

As this is first time this toolbar has been created or edited, Surpac will ask you which profile to save the toolbar to. In this
example you will use the profile you created earlier called My_Profile.
7. Select you profile from the list, and then Apply the form.

Surpac will tell you that you will need to re-start Surpac for the toolbar to be recognised.

8. Close Surpac
9. Launch the software again, and select the My_profile from the list.

Surpac will now start with your new profile being displayed. It should look something like the following image.

image29.gif

You can now add further functions to your toolbar.

10. Choose Customise > Customise menus/toolbars

11. Highlight your toolbar
12. Click on the New option on the menu.

You will be presented with a form that is asking what kind of a function will be associated to the icon you are going to
place on the toolbar. In this case, you will be creating an icon for the bearing and distance function.

13. Fill out the form as shown in the following image, and then Apply the form.
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The Image that you use is entirely your choice. You can use any image from the list of those available in the browser list,
or you can create your own icons.

The tip is the piece of text that will pop up when you hold your mouse over the icon, and can say whatever you like.

14. Add another separator above the Bearing and Distance function, and then Apply the form.

The new icon will be added once you have applied the form. Try a few of the icons out, and also, hold you mouse over the new
icon that you have added to see if your tip works correctly.
What you have covered
This chapter has covered some of the Surpac basics for helping you to customise Surpac, and make it even easier to use. The
topics you should now have a good understanding of are listed below.
 o Surpac Profiles
ƒ Using the standard Surpac profiles
ƒ Creating a custom profile
ƒ Starting automatically with a profile
o Surpac Logicals
ƒ Setting up custom logicals
o Surpac Short Cuts
ƒ Using Surpac short cuts
ƒ Creating custom short cuts
o Surpac Key Definitions
ƒ Customising key commands
o Custom Toolbars
ƒ Creating a custom toolbar

If you are unsure about any of the above topics you can review these topics at any stage.
Where to next
The next chapter will cover the basics of the Surveying Database within Surpac. This will also cover some very basic database
theory.
CHAPTER 3
Database Basics
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Surpac Vision has the ability to create several different kinds of databases, including databases for Surveying, Geology,
Underground Ring Design and Scheduling to name but a few.

This chapter will cover the topic of the Surveying database, and some of the basic theory behind databases.

Exercise 1 – Database Basics

This section will give you an overview of databases, with particular emphasis on how the database is used for surveying in
Surpac Vision.

What you will learn

In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Basic database examples.

o Survey database format for surface and underground cases.

• Basic Database Examples

A database is a system that allows the storage and manipulation of data, and the retrieval of information based on that data. A
good example of a simple database is a telephone book. Below is a table that represents a list of terms that can be applied to the
telephone book in relation to a database.
Surname First Name Address Suburb Phone

Francis Kate 29 Goldfish Ave Salisbury 2583454

Gates John 14 Guppy St Elizabeth 2643245

The following terms can be applied to the telephone book.
Table – Is the telephone book itself, where there is a single table that defines the entire set of data.
Field – Name, address, suburb and the phone number are all fields inside of the table. A field is generally represented by a
column in a table.
Record – A single line going across a table represents a record. It is made up of interrelated fields defined by the table structure.
Index – Is the arrangement of the records in an ordinal manner. In a telephone book, the index is the Surname field. An index
speeds up queries, sorting and grouping.
• Surveying Database
The Surpac Vision surveying database allows you to create and maintain both surface and underground survey control
databases. Once the survey stations have been stored in the database, you can enter your field observations either using the
keyboard, or through a variety of data recorders.
This ensures correctly formed string files, which can then be used for volume calculation, plotting, visualisation and 3D model
creation.
Surpac adopts a set of mandatory database table structures for all of its databases, whilst still allowing some flexibility to include
additional user defined fields within each database. This means that there are certain fields which must exist within the database,
such as a station name, but extra fields containing any kind of information can be created and used.
There are 2 types of surveying databases within Surpac Vision. A database for surface survey stations, and another for
underground survey stations.
Each of the surveying database types available within Surpac Vision are made up of a single database table, with several sets of
mandatory fields in each table. Each of the table types will be covered individually.
Surface Surveying Database
The underground surveying database is made up of a single table. The database can be named anything you wish, but the table
name has a set name of stations.
The mandatory fields required for the stations table are listed below, with a brief description provided for each.
Field name Data type Description

station_id Character Survey station name

area Character The station location or region

Y Numeric Station Northing

X Numeric Station Easting

Z Numeric Station Elevation

Optional fields Optional User defined

The mandatory fields for the table are already partially defined and meaningful defaults are provided for each of the mandatory
fields. The field names and field types for the mandatory fields cannot be changed.

Underground Surveying Database

The surface surveying database is made up of a single table. The database can be named anything you wish, but the table
name has a set name of ugstations.
The mandatory fields required for the stations table are listed below, with a brief description provided for each.
Field name Data type Description

Station_id Character Survey station name

Station_fr Character Station backsight

Level Character Location or level of station

Y Numeric Northing

X Numeric Easting

Z Numeric Elevation

Z_back Numeric Elevation of station on the roof

Z_floor Numeric Elevation of station on the floor

Elev_diff Numeric Elevation difference used in

differential survey

Rec_brng Numeric Stored bearing from set up station

to backsight station

Optional fields Optional User defined

The mandatory fields for the table are already partially defined and meaningful defaults are provided for each of the mandatory
fields. The field names and field types for the mandatory fields cannot be changed.
What you have covered
This chapter has covered some basics for databases, and the fields that Surpac must have for both the surface database and for
the underground database. You should now have an understanding of the following topics.

o Database basics
o Surface database format
o Underground database format
If you are unsure about any of the above topics you can review these topics at any stage.
Where to next
The next chapter will take you through creating a surface surveying database.
CHAPTER 4
Surface Surveying Tools
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Surpac Vision will allow you to use several different database formats, including Microsoft Access.

This chapter will take you through the creation of a surface database, and then show you how to add station information once the
database has been created.

Exercise 1 – Create A Surface Database

This section will take you through creating a surface surveying database.

What you will learn

In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Creating a surface surveying database.

o Making use of optional fields

• Creating a Surface Surveying Database

The work for the tutorial will be using all of the files located in the default training folder, which can be installed from the Surpac
Vision CD. This directory will typically have a path similar to that listed below.
C:\ssi_V4.0\dem\training\survey
The file will be located in a zip file called survey.zip. The directory that these files are unzipped to will not affect the tutorials.
1. Right click on the right side of the menu and make sure the Surveying menu is displayed.

image1.gif

2. From the Surveying menu, select Survey Database > New/Open

 image2.gif

3. Enter a name of "Surface" for the database name.

image3.gif

The name you choose to give your database is entirely your decision, but it is recommended that you do not have spaces
in the name. If you wish to separate two words in the database name, use an underscore, i.e. my_database.

Surpac will then display a form telling you that it could not find a database called "surface". You then have the option to
press Apply to create a database with this name, or cancel to stop creating the database.
 image4.gif

4. Click on the Apply button to continue creating the surface database.

image5.gif

The next form that is displayed allows you to select whether the surveying database is to be used for surface or
underground applications, and the type of database that you will be using. There are several options under the database
type field, with "paradox" just being one. Another option would be to use Microsoft Access.
 image6.gif

The advantage of using "paradox" is that you do not need any other software to use the surveying database. If you want
to use some other database types such as Microsoft Access, you must have that piece of software on your computer to
be able to use that type of database for your survey station information.

5. Select "paradox" from the list, and also make sure that the survey type is set to surface, and then click on the Apply button.

The primary difference between a surface surveying database, and an underground surveying database, is use of
backsight checks in processing survey data. The underground database will store, and enforce backsight information,
such as the reverse bearing, while the surface database does not store or use any of these checks.

The next form that is displayed will give you the option of being able to add an optional table to the database. In the case
of a surveying database, the only type of additional table that can be added is called a prism table, which is used for slope
stability monitoring.
 image7.gif

At this stage you will not add an optional table.

6. Apply the optional tables form without making any changes.

The next form is a very large form where all the fields to be used in the database are defined.
image8.gif
 The form is split into 2 parts.

The top half deals with the mandatory fields, or the fields that must be created for Surpac. The bottom half deals with user
created fields, such as who the surveyor was, when the survey was carried out, and so on.

image9.gif

The mandatory fields are automatically placed into the form, and given meaningful values. You can alter some of these
values if required, such as the number of characters you can use for the survey station name. In this case you will not
make any changes to the mandatory fields.

For both mandatory and optional fields, there are field parameters that need to be defined. A table is used below to
describe what these field parameters are.

Field This is the field name. The name of a field should not
have spaces, and in some cases will not be able to use
 some reserved words such as "if" or "for".

Type This describes the kind of information that can be

entered into this field, such as character (text),
numbers or a date format.

Nulls If you want to have the option of allowing this field to be

left blank, then the box should be ticked. If you want it
so that information must be entered into this field, then
leave the box un-ticked.

Length This is the length of the field in characters that you are
going to allow to be entered in. It must be large enough
to include the decimal point and decimal places when
using a field type of real.

No Dec This is the number of decimal places to be used for a

field type of real.

Case This is the case of any text that is to be entered into a

field. This is only required if the field type is character.
The survey database is case sensitive, so a station
name of x100 is different to a station of X100.

Low Bound This is used with a numeric field, and defines the
lowest value that will be accepted by the database in
the field.

High Bound This is used with a numeric field, and defines the
 highest value that will be accepted by the database in
the field.

Phys or Virt This is not used in a surveying database.

Reference This is not used in a surveying database.

Valid Entries This defines if a set input is allowed. If this field is used,
only the sets of entries listed will be allowed by the
field. An example of this would be for a station type, ie
;PEG;PILLAR;PIN and each valid entry must be
preceded by a semi-colon.

image10.gif
The optional fields are there to allow you to enter data that may be required on a specific basis, and are useful for providing extra
information that you may wish to extract from your database. An example of this might be when a survey was carried out, or who
carried out the survey.
• Enter the optional fields as shown in the previous image, and then click on the Apply button.
The database will now be created. Surpac Vision will notify you of the database being created in the message window, and will
also automatically connect you to the database.
image11.gif
Surpac will also show you that you are connected to a database, by placing a small icon at the bottom of the screen, with the
database name also shown. This icon will remain at the bottom of the screen until the database is closed.

image12.gif
Once you have been connected to the surveying database, you will now have access to the various surveying tools within
Surpac vision.
As you used a paradox format in this example, several files will have been created in the process of making the surveying
database.
The first file that is created, no matter what kind of database type is used, is the *.sdb file. In this case the file will have been
called surface.sdb. This file defines all of the fields and tables in the database for Surpac. It is an ASCII file and can be edited
with any text editor, but should only ever be edited by an experienced user.
The other files that have been created are specific to the database type that was chosen, which in this example was paradox. In
the directory that you are working in, a new folder will have been created called surface.pdx. The start of the folder name will
come from the name of the database that you chose, and the pdx extension for the folder signifies that it is a paradox database.
Within the surface.pdx folder there will be a further 4 files. These files are the paradox tables that have been created by Surpac
for you. These files should NEVER be modified with a text editor.

image13.gif
If in this example you had chosen to use a Microsoft Access database format, the files that would have been created would have
been the surface.sdb file, and a surface.mdb file. To do this however, you would need to have a copy of Microsoft Access as
mentioned earlier.
Exercise 2 – Data Entry to the Surface Database
This section will take you through entering data into your newly created surface surveying database.
What you will learn
In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Manual data entry

o Automatically loading data

• Manually entering surface stations into database

This exercise will take you through entering station information manually into your surface surveying database.

1. Make sure you have the Surveying menu displayed.

2. Make sure you are connected to your surface surveying database.
3. From the surveying menu, select Stations > Insert records

image14.gif
 From the next form, you can control some of the data entry using the template that is displayed.

image15.gif

The template values that have been entered will automatically increment the station_id value by one each time you move
down a line on the data entry screen. So if the station_id value is X1, when you moved down to the next line, the
station_id would automatically become X2, and so on.

The area line on the template screen has been given a value of "=". This will automatically place the value for a given
field, and copy it down to the corresponding field each time you move down a line. So if you were to give the area a value
of PIT, when you move down to enter in a new line, the value PIT would automatically be placed into the area field.

Using these tools you can greatly increase the efficiency of your data entry, and also help to eradicate data entry errors.

4. Fill out the template form as shown in the previous image, and then click on Apply.

The next form you will see is the data entry form.
 image16.gif

5. Enter the first line as shown.

 Moving down to the next line can be done in several ways. The first is to use the TAB key to move from field to field,
which will then move you down to the next line.

The next method is to position the mouse pointer in any part of the grey area in the data entry table and then click with the
right hand button on the mouse. This will give you two options, to ADD a row, and to select a set number of rows.

image17.gif

6. Using one of the options, move down to the next line and continue the data entry.

Note – If you use the ENTER key, it is that same as clicking on the APPLY button.

7. Fill out the remaining lines as shown on the following image and then click on Apply once you are happy that the data has been
entered correctly.
image18.gif
If you have added an extra line and wish to remove it from the table, you can right click on the line number on the left hand side
of the form and select the REMOVE option.
image19.gif
Once you have applied the form, the message window will inform you of how many rows, or records have been added to your
database.
This method of adding stations to your database, is fine if you only have a small amount of stations to add, but if you had many
records to enter into the database, this method would be slow, and can be prone to human error.
A better way to place your station information into the database would be to automatically load the data from a digital file into the
database.

• Automatically loading station information

This exercise will take you through the tools that will allow you to automatically load digital data into your surface surveying
database.
To be able to do this, you must have your survey station information in a digital format, such as in a spreadsheet, or text file, or in
another database. This example will work on taking station information from a spreadsheet CSV file, and placing it into the
surveying database.
First you will view the station information that will be loaded into the database in a text editor.

1. Find the "surface.csv" file on the file manger in Surpac Vision.

2. Right hand click on the file with your mouse, and select the EDIT option
image20.gif

This will open up the surface.csv file with your default text editor. You can use any text editor you wish, which you can set
in the Surpac Default Preferences under the Customise menu.

The text file should look something like the following image.

image21.gif

There are a few things that are important to take note of in this text file.

The first thing is the format of the file. Each piece of information is separated by a character, in this case a comma "," .
Using the comma, we can now say that each piece of information is in it’s own column, so the station_id is in column 1,
and the y is in column 2, and so on.
 Another important thing to look at is the order of the information in the file. The database that you have created has the
fields in a set order, and when we load the data into the database, we must tell Surpac what goes where. The order of the
information in the text file is not the same as that of the database, which we will deal with shortly.

Another good way to view a CSV file, is to open it with a spreadsheet, such as with Microsoft Excel.

3. After you have finished viewing the surface.csv file, close the text editor.

Now you can load the data into you surface database.

4. From the Surveying menu, select Survey Database > Import Data

image22.gif

The next form will prompt you for the name of a format file for loading the data into the database. As yet, this file does not
exist, so you must create it. By default, Surpac will place the name of the database into this form.

The format file is used to describe the type of data that you are going to load into the database, such as if the file has any
characters separating each column of information, and also the order of the information.
 The name of the file can be anything you wish, but do not use spaces for the name.

image23.gif

5. Enter format file name as shown in the previous image, and the click on the Apply button.

Surpac will not be able to find this file, and will produce a form asking you if you wish to create this file.

image24.gif

6. Apply the form to create the format file.

 image25.gif

The next form is where you select the tables in the database that you are going to load information in to, and also the type
of text file that is being used.

In this example there is only a single table, which is your stations table.

The format of the file is free format, as each piece of information in the surface.csv file, is separated by a character, in
your case a comma. Make sure that the correct delimiter is used.

The space fill field is not used in loading data into a table.

In some text files, there may be the case where text information is highlighted using some character set, such as double
quotes. In this example there is no text qualifying characters set so it can be left as none.

7. Apply the form with the values set as shown in the previous image.
 The next form is used to tell Surpac what order the data in the text file is stored. This is very important, as if the incorrect
data is loaded into a field it will either lead to errors in the loading process, or the database will then have incorrect
information in the various fields.

image26.gif

Notice the order of the columns in the form. This is telling Surpac, when loading data using this format file, that it is going
to get the information from column 8 in the text file, and place it into the station_type field in the database.

8. Fill out the form as shown in the previous image, making sure the order of the columns is correct, and the click on the Apply button.
image27.gif

The final form in the loading process is where you tell Surpac which text file contains the information. It is also where you
select the number of errors that will be allowed, and the loading type to be used.

An error will occur if an action takes place that breaks the rules you have previously set up in defining the database, and
of selecting which columns are to be loaded to which field in the database. If you were to try and load a piece of text into a
numerical field in the database, you would get an error. This is just one example of some of the errors you can get.
 When you apply the form to load the data, you will get 1 error from the text file. This will come from the top line in the text
file, which contained the column headings in the surface.csv file. A report after the loading process will tell you about this
error.

The loading type controls whether you are adding new information or updating information that is already in the database.
Insert is used if you are adding new records into the database, and update is used for records that are already in the
database. The maximum errors allowed is a way of stopping a load if there are many errors, and should always be set to
a number relative to the number of records being loaded.

9. Fill out the form as shown in the previous image, and then click on the Apply button.

Once the loading has been completed, a report will be generated, informing you of the status of the completed load.
image28.gif

In this case, the report should tell you that 5 records were added to the database, and that 1 record was rejected.

The record that was rejected you knew about before the load. It was the header line of the text file, and failed for several
reasons. The first being that the station_id field in the database will only accept upper case characters.
 When a record, or series of records are rejected, a new file is created containing these records. This file is given the same
name as the database, with the extension *.rej. So in this example, you should now have a file in your current working
directory called surface.rej. This file can be edited with a text editor, renamed, and then used to try and load the data to
the database once the problems have been fixed.

10. Once you have viewed the log file, you can close it.

The format file that was created is also kept for future use. This file uses the name you chose for it with the extension of
*.dsc. So this file will also be in your current working directory called load_surface.dsc. This file can be used again if you
have a text file in the same format as was just used, and it means that you do not have to create a new format file each
time you want to load data.

The database will now have a total of nine stations in it. Four of the stations you entered manually, and five you loaded
automatically.

11. From the Surveying menu, select Stations > View table
 image42.gif

12. Apply the select table form without making any changes

image43.gif
All of the stations that are currently in the surface database will be displayed.
image44.gif
• Surface traversing
The final method that you will cover for inserting station information into your surface surveying database, is to use the traversing
function. In this way, using the field observations, you can have Surpac calculate your station coordinates, and place them
automatically into your station database.

1. From the Surveying menu, select Surface surveys > Surface traverse

image29.gif

The next form is where you give the traverse function some basic information that will be placed onto the final traverse
report. It is also where you give the traverse report a file name, and this report will be created in a Surpac *.not format.

2. Fill out the form as shown in the following image and then click on the Apply button.
image30.gif

The traverse form is a large form, and is broken into smaller parts with the use of tabs at the top of the form. The first step
is to tell Surpac which stations are going to be used in the traverse, and also that you must give the new survey station a
name.
image31.gif

For the traversing functions in Surpac to work, you must already have the backsight and set up stations as records in you
database. If this is not the case, you must enter them before you can continue.

image32.gif

For this traverse, the backsight station will be P100, and the set up station will be P101. Both of these stations are already
in the station database, and as a result of this, when you enter their names into the station name fields, the coordinate
information for them will be automatically placed into the form.

The foresight, or new station, will be P104. At this stage, you must also provide an instrument set up height, and a target
set up height.

The instrument, and target set up heights are always recorded from the station to the reference point. In general, for a
surface station this will result in the distance being a positive value. In the case of an underground survey station where
generally you would be set up under the station, the value would be negative.

Station P101 is a pillar, and as such the instrument height is very small, in fact the distance from the bottom of the
instrument to the reference point on the instrument.
Fill out the reference information for the set up stations, and then move to the horizontal angle tab on the form.

There are two methods you can use for entering the horizontal angles, reiteration, and repetition.

The reiteration method is where horizontal angles are observed when using a theodolite which permits both the upper and
lower plates to be clamped. An example of this kind of instrument is most modern electronic theodolite, where generally
there is only a single plate.

The method involves setting up on a single point O, and then measuring an angle from point A to point E, and then
repeating this several times to obtain an average for an angle.

image33.gif

The repetition method is where a single angle is measured several times, such as measuring from the backsight to the
foresight n times, and then having the sum of the angles as x. The average is then determined by calculating the average
of x / n. The use of this method of observing horizontal angles is performed when the theodolite does not permit clamping
of the horizontal plate of the theodolite. An example of the kind of instrument used in this method is the Wild T2.

In this example you will use the reiteration method to enter the observed horizontal angles.
 image34.gif

3. Enter the angles as shown in the previous image.

The angles have been turned using the face left and face right principle. This is where an angle is turned from the
backsight to the foresight with the vertical scale of the theodolite on the left hand side of the instrument as you look
through the telescope. Once this angle has been recorded, the telescope is flipped over, and an angle recorded with the
vertical scale on the right hand side of the instrument. This will give 2 angles, which can then be averaged.

4. Once the angles have been entered, click on the Mean reiteration angle button to calculate the average horizontal angle.

It is important to make sure that there are not any extra lines in the angle table, as these will be included in the average. If
this has happened, click on the line number with the right hand mouse button, and remove the line.

Once the horizontal angles have been calculated, you can now click on the Vertical angles tab.
 image35.gif

5. Enter in the observed vertical angles, and then click on the Mean forward angle button.

This will then calculate the mean vertical angle.

6. Enter in the observed slope distance.

All of the observed values have now been entered into the surface traversing form.

7. If all of the entered information is correct, click on the Calculate coordinates button at the bottom of the form.
 image36.gif

Surpac will now calculate the coordinates of the new survey station, and the values will be placed at the top of the form for
viewing, before advancing any further.

image37.gif

8. If you are happy with these results, you can now click on the Apply button.
image38.gif

The next form is the information that is going to be added to the database automatically. Only the mandatory fields will
have any information filled out automatically. If you wish to alter, or add any information here you can do so.
 image39.gif

9. Fill out the optional fields as shown in the previous image, and then click on the Apply button.

This information will then be added to the surface surveying database. The traversing function will also automatically step
to the next traverse leg. If there are no further legs in this traverse, click on the cancel button.
 image40.gif

If there are, it is just a matter of continuing on, as with the previous exercise.

10. Click on the cancel button when the traversing form is displayed again.

Once you click on the cancel button, Surpac will produce a *.not file, with the name that you selected at the beginning of the
traversing exercise. This report will give you a summary of all of the inputs that you entered, and the resultant information also
displayed on the report.
image41.gif
This report can then be printed out for your records if required.
What you have covered
This chapter has covered the creation of a surface surveying database and then adding records to that database using several
methods. You should now be familiar with the following topics

o Surface surveying database creation

o Manual data entry
o Automated data loading
o Surface traversing

If you are unsure about any of the above topics you can review these topics at any stage.
Where to next
The next chapter will take you through much the same exercises but as they apply to the underground surveying database.
CHAPTER 5
Underground Surveying Tools
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Surpac Vision will allow you to use several different database formats, including Microsoft Access.

This chapter will take you through the creation of an underground database, and the method that can be used to enter data into
the database, once it has been created.

Exercise 1 – Create an Underground Surveying Database

This section will take you through creating an underground surveying database.

What you will learn

In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Creating an underground surveying database.

o Making use of optional fields

• Creating an Underground Surveying Database

The work for the tutorial will be using all of the files located in the default training folder, which can be installed from the Surpac
Vision CD. This directory will typically have a path similar to that listed below.
C:\ssi_V4.0\dem\training\survey
The file will be located in a zip file called survey.zip. The directory that these files are unzipped to will not affect the tutorials.

1. Right click on the right side of the menu and make sure the Surveying menu is displayed.

image1.gif

2. From the Surveying menu, select Survey Database > New/Open

 image2.gif

3. Enter a name of "UG" for the database name.

image3.gif

The name you choose to give your database is entirely your decision, but it is recommended that you do not have spaces
in the name. If you wish to separate two words in the database name, use an underscore, i.e. my_database.

Surpac will then display a form telling you that it could not find a database called "ug". You then have the option to press
Apply to create a database with this name, or cancel to stop creating the database.
 image4.gif

4. Click on the Apply button to continue creating the surface database.

image5.gif

The next form that is displayed allows you to select whether the surveying database is to be used for surface or
underground applications, and the type of database that you will be using. There are several options under the database
type field, with "paradox" just being one. Another option would be to use Microsoft Access.
 image6.gif

The advantage of using "paradox" is that you do not need any other software to use the surveying database. If you want
to use some other database type, such as Microsoft Access, you must have that piece of software on your computer to be
able to use that type of database for your survey station information.

5. Select "paradox" from the list, and also make sure that the survey type is set to underground, and then click on the Apply button.

The primary difference between a surface surveying database, and an underground surveying database, is use of
backsight checks in processing survey data. The underground database will store and enforce backsight information, such
as the reverse bearing, while the surface database does not store or use any of these checks.

The next form that is displayed will give you the option of being able to add an optional table to the database. In the case
of a surveying database, the only type of additional table that can be added is called a prism table, which is used for slope
stability monitoring.
 image7.gif

At this stage you will not add an optional table.

6. Apply the optional tables form without making any changes.

The next form is a very large form where all the fields to be used in the database are defined.
image8.gif
 The form is split into 2 parts.

The top half deals with the mandatory fields, or the fields that must be created for Surpac. The bottom half deals with user
created fields, such as who the check distance, and the station status.

image9.gif

The mandatory fields are automatically placed into the form, and given meaningful values. You can alter some of these
values if required, such as the number of characters you can use for the survey station name. In this case there have
been changes made to the default values. The length of the level field has been increased to 15, and the z_floor and
elev_dif fields have had the nulls box ticked.

For both mandatory and optional fields, there are field parameters that need to be defined. A table is used below to
describe what these field parameters are.

Field This is the field name. The name of a field should not
 have spaces, and in some cases will not be able to use
some reserved words such as "if" or "for".

Type This describes the kind of information that can be

entered into this field, such as character (text),
numbers or a date format.

Nulls If you want to have the option of allowing this field to be

left blank, then the box should be ticked. If you want it
so that information must be entered into this field, then
leave the box un-ticked.

Length This is the length of the field in characters that you are
going to allow to be entered in. It must be large enough
to include the decimal point and decimal places when
using a field type of real.

No Dec This is the number of decimal places to be used for a

field type of real.

Case This is the case of any text that is to be entered into a

field. This is only required if the field type is character.
The survey database is case sensitive, so a station
name of x100 is different to a station of X100.

Low Bound This is used with a numeric field, and defines the
lowest value that will be accepted by the database in
the field.
High Bound This is used with a numeric field, and defines the
highest value that will be accepted by the database in
the field.

Phys or Virt This is not used in a surveying database.

Reference This is not used in a surveying database.

Valid Entries This defines if a set input is allowed. If this field is used,
only the sets of entries listed will be allowed by the
field. An example of this would be for a station type, ie
;PEG;PILLAR;PIN and each valid entry must be
preceded by a semi-colon.

image10.gif
The optional fields are there to allow you to enter data that may be required on a specific basis, and are useful for providing extra
information that you may wish to extract from your database. An example of this might be when a survey was carried out, or who
carried out the survey.
• Enter the optional fields as shown in the previous image, and then click on the Apply button.
In the case of the underground database, the rev_brng field is stored in radians. In this example, the text file that you will import
has the bearing stored as both radians, and as degrees, minutes and seconds.
There will be an example of how to convert data from degrees, minutes and seconds to radians later in the tutorial.

image11.gif
Surpac will also show you that you are connected to a database, by placing a small icon at the bottom of the screen, with the
database name also shown. This icon will remain at the bottom of the screen until the database is closed.

image12.gif
Once you have been connected to the surveying database, you will now have access to the various surveying tools within
Surpac vision.
As you used a paradox format in this example, several files will have been created in the process of making the surveying
database.
The first file generated, is created no matter what kind of database type is used. This file is known as a *.sdb file. In this case the
file will have been called ug.sdb. This file defines all of the fields and tables in the database for Surpac. It is an ASCII file and can
be edited with any text editor, but should only ever be edited by an experienced user.
The other files that have been created are specific to the database type that was chosen, which in this example was paradox. In
the directory that you are working in, a new folder will have been created called ug.pdx. The start of the folder name will come
from the name of the database that you chose, and the pdx extension for the folder signifies that it is a paradox database.
Within the ug.pdx folder there will be a further 4 files. These files are the paradox tables that have been created by Surpac for
you. These files should NEVER be modified with a text editor.

image13.gif
If in this example you had chosen to use a Microsoft Access database format, the files that would have been created would have
been the ug.sdb file, and a ug.mdb file. To do this however, you would need to have a copy of Microsoft Access, as mentioned
earlier.

Exercise 2 – Data entry to the Underground Database

This section will take you through entering data into your newly created underground survey database.
What you will learn
In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Manual data entry

o Automatically loading data

• Enter underground stations into database

This exercise will take you through entering station information manually into your underground surveying database.

1. Make sure you have the Surveying menu displayed.

2. Make sure you are connected to your underground surveying database.
3. From the surveying menu, select Stations > Insert records
image14.gif

From the next form, you can control some of the data entry using the template that is displayed.

image15.gif
 The template values that have been entered will automatically increment the station_id value by one, each time you move
down a line on the data entry screen. So if the station_id value is X1, when you moved down to the next line, the
station_id would automatically become X2, and so on.

The level line on the template screen has been given a value of "=". This will automatically place the value for a given
field, and copy it down to the corresponding field each time you move down a line. So if you were to give the level a value
of DEC, when you move down to enter in a new line, the value DEC would automatically be placed into the area field.

Using these tools you can greatly increase the efficiency of your data entry, and also help to eradicate data entry errors.

4. Fill out the template form as shown in the previous image, and then click on Apply.

The next form you will see is the data entry form.
 image16.gif

5. Enter the first line as shown.

It is important to notice that when entering data manually for the rev_brng field, that it is entered in degrees, minutes and
seconds format.

Moving down to the next line can be done in several ways. The first is to use the TAB key to move from field to field,
which will then move you down to the next line.

The next method is to right hand click on any part of the grey area in the data entry table, and then click with the right
hand button on the mouse. This will give you two options, to ADD a row, and to select a set number of rows.

image17.gif

Using one of the options, move down to the next line and continue the data entry.

Note – If you use the ENTER key, it is that same as clicking on the APPLY button.

If you have added an extra line and wish to remove it from the table, you can right click on the line number on the left
hand side of the form and select the REMOVE option.

image18.gif
 Once you have applied the form, the message window will inform you of how many rows, or records have been added to
your database.

6. Click on the Stations > View table option on the surveying menu.

image19.gif

The next form will give you an option as to which table you wish to view. In this example, there is only one table you can
view, the ugstations table.
 image20.gif

7. Apply the form without making any changes.

This will allow you to view all of the records in your database.

image21.gif

8. Once you have viewed the station information, you can click on Apply or cancel to close the form.

Notice that the rev_brng field has been converted to radians automatically.
This method of adding stations to your database, is fine if you only have a small amount of stations to add, but if you had many
records to enter into the database, this method would be slow, and can be prone to human error.
A better way to place you station information into the database would be to automatically load the data from a digital file into the
database.
• Automatically loading station information
This exercise will take you through the tools that will allow you to automatically load digital data into your underground surveying
database.
To be able to do this, you must have your survey station information in a digital format, such as in a spreadsheet, or text file, or in
another database. This example will work on taking station information from a spreadsheet CSV file, and placing it into the
underground surveying database.
Firstly you will view the station information that will be loaded into the database in a text editor.

1. Find the "ug.csv" file on the file manger in Surpac Vision.

2. Right hand click on the file with your mouse, and select the EDIT option

image22.gif

This will open up the ug.csv file with your default text editor. You can use any text editor you wish, which you can set in
the Surpac Default Preferences under the Customise menu.

The text file should look something like the following image.
 image23.gif

There are a few things that are important to take note of in this text file.

The first thing is the format of the file. Each piece of information is separated by a character, in this case a comma "," .
Using the comma, we can now say that each piece of information is in it’s own column, so the station_id is in column 1,
and the station_fr is in column 2, and so on.

Another important thing to look at is the order of the information in the file. The database that you have created has the
fields in a set order, and when we load the data into the database, we must tell Surpac what goes where. The order of the
information in the text file is not that same as that of the database, which we will deal with shortly.

Another good way to view a CSV file, is to open it with a spreadsheet, such as with Microsoft Excel.

3. After you have finished viewing the ug.csv file, close the text editor.

Now you can load the data into your underground database.

4. From the Surveying menu, select Survey Database > Import Data
 image24.gif

The next form will prompt you for the name of a format file for loading the data into the database. As yet this file does not
exist, so you must create it. By default, Surpac will place the name of the database into this form.

The format file is used to describe the type of data that you are going to load into the database, such as if the file has any
characters separating each column of information, and also the order of the information.

The name of the file can be anything you wish, but do not use spaces for the name.

image25.gif

5. Enter format file name as shown in the previous image, and the click on the Apply button.
 Surpac will not be able to find this file, and will produce a form asking you if you wish to create this file.

image26.gif

6. Apply the form to create the format file.

image27.gif
 The next form is where you select the tables in the database that you are going to load information to, and also the type of
text file that is being used.

In this example there is only a single table, which is your ugstations table.

The format of the file is free format, as each piece of information in the ug.csv file, is separated by a character, in your
case a comma. Make sure that the correct delimiter is used.

The space fill field is not used in loading data into a table.

In some text files, there may be the case where text information is highlighted using some character set, such as double
quotes. In this example there is no text qualifying characters set so it can be left as none.

7. Apply the form with the values set as shown in the previous image.

The next form is used to tell Surpac what order the data in the text file is stored. This is very important, as if the incorrect
data is loaded into a field it will either lead to errors in the loading process, or the database will then have incorrect
information in the various fields.
 image28.gif

Notice the order of the columns in the form. This is telling Surpac, when loading data using this format file, that it is going
to get the information from column 12 in the text file, and place it into the rev_brng field in the database.

8. Fill out the form as shown in the previous image, making sure the order of the columns is correct, and the click on the Apply button.
image29.gif

The final form in the loading process is where you tell Surpac which text file contains the information. It is also where you
select the number of errors that will be allowed, and the loading type to be used.

An error will occur if an action takes place that breaks the rules you have previously set up in defining the database, and
of selecting which columns are to be loaded to which field in the database. If you were to try and load a piece of text into a
numerical field in the database, you would get an error. This is just one example of some of the errors you can get.
 When you apply the form to load the data, you will get 1 error from the text file. This will come from the top line in the text
file, which contained the column headings in the ug.csv file. A report after the loading process will tell you about this error.

The loading type controls whether you are adding new information or updating information that is already in the database.
Insert is used if you are adding new records into the database, and update is used for records that are already in the
database. The maximum errors allowed is a way of stopping a load if there are many errors, and should always be set to
a number relative to the number of records being loaded.

9. Fill out the form as shown in the previous image, and then click on the Apply button.

Once the loading has been completed, a report will be generated, informing you of the status of the completed load.
image30.gif
 In this case, the report should tell you that 32 records were added to the database, and that 1 record was rejected.

The record that was rejected you knew about before the load. It was the header line of the text file, and failed for several
reasons. The first being that the station_id field in the database will only accept upper case characters.

When a record, or series of records are rejected, a new file is created containing these records. This file is given the same
name as the database, with the extension *.rej. So in this example, you should now have a file in your current working
directory called ug.rej. This file can be edited with a text editor, renamed, and then used to try and load the data to the
database once the problems have been fixed.

10. Once you have viewed the log file, you can close it.

The format file that was created is also kept for future use. This file uses the name you chose for it with the extension of
*.dsc. So this file will also be in your current working directory called load_ug.dsc. This file can be used again if you have
a text file in the same format as was just used, and it means that you do not have to create a new format file each time
you want to load data.

The database will now have a total of 34 stations in it. Two of the stations you entered manually, and 32 you loaded
automatically.

11. From the Surveying menu, select Stations > View table
 image19.gif

12. Apply the select table form without making any changes.

image20.gif
All of the stations that are currently in the underground database will be displayed.
 image31.gif

13. Click on Apply or Cancel to close the form once you have finished viewing the underground stations.

• Underground traversing
The final method that you will cover for inserting station information into your underground surveying database, is to use the
traversing function. In this way, using the field observations, you can have Surpac calculate your station coordinates, and place
them automatically into your station database.

1. From the Surveying menu, select Underground surveys > Underground traverse.

image32.gif

The next form is where you give the traverse function some basic information that will be placed onto the final traverse
report. It is also where you give the traverse report a file name, and this report will be created in a Surpac *.not format.

2. Fill out the form as shown in the following image and then click on the Apply button.
image33.gif

The traverse form is a large form, and is broken into smaller parts with the use of tabs at the top of the form. The first step
is to tell Surpac which stations are going to be used in the traverse, and also that you must give the new survey station a
name.
image34.gif

For the traversing functions in Surpac to work, you must already have the backsight and setup stations as records in you
database. If this is not the case, you must enter them before you can continue.

image35.gif

For this traverse, the backsight station will be ODE2, and the set up station will be ODE4. Both of these stations are
already in the station database, and as a result of this, when you enter their names into the station name fields, the
coordinate information for them will be automatically placed into the form.

The foresight, or new station, will be ODE5. At this stage, you must also provide an instrument set up height, and a target
set up height.

The instrument, and target set up heights are always recorded from the station to the reference point. In general, for a
surface station this will result in the distance being a positive value. In the case of an underground survey station where
generally you would be set up under the station, the value would be negative as it is in this case.

For this traverse, you will not be using the reverse checks, reverse vertical angles or the reverse distances.

Fill out the reference information for the set up stations, and then move to the horizontal angle tab on the form.

There are two methods you can use for entering the horizontal angles, reiteration, and repetition.
The reiteration method is where horizontal angles are observed when using a theodolite that permits both the upper and
lower plates to be clamped. Examples of this kind of instrument are most modern electronic theodolites, where generally
there is only a single plate.

The method involves setting up on a single point O, and then measuring an angle from point A to point E, and then
repeating this several times to obtain an average for an angle.

image36.gif

The repetition method is where a single angle is measured several times, such as measuring from the backsight to the
foresight n times, and then having the sum of the angles as x. The average is then determined by calculating the average
of x / n. The use of this method of observing horizontal angles is performed when the theodolite does not permit clamping
of the horizontal plate of the theodolite. An example of the kind of instrument used in this method is the Wild T2.

In this example you will use the reiteration method to enter the observed horizontal angles.
 image37.gif

3. Enter the angles as shown in the previous image.

The angles have been turned using the face left and face right principle. This is where an angle is turned from the
backsight to the foresight with the vertical scale of the theodolite on the left hand side of the instrument as you look
through the telescope. Once this angle has been recorded, the telescope is flipped over, and an angle recorded with the
vertical scale on the right hand side of the instrument. This will give 2 angles, which can then be averaged.

4. Once the angles have been entered, click on the Mean reiteration angle button to calculate the average horizontal angle.

It is important to make sure that there are not any extra lines in the angle table, as these will be included in the average. If
this has happened, click on the line number with the right hand mouse button, and remove the line.

Once the horizontal angles have been calculated, you can now click on the Vertical angles tab.
 image38.gif

5. Enter in the observed vertical angles, and then click on the Mean forward angle button.

This will then calculate the mean vertical angle.

Now you can click on the Target heights & distances tab.
 image39.gif

6. Enter in the observed slope distances, and the target heights as shown in the previous image.

All of the observed values have now been entered into the underground traversing form.

7. If all of the entered information is correct, click on the Calculate coordinates button at the bottom of the form.
 image40.gif

Surpac will now calculate the coordinates of the new survey station, and the values will be placed at the top of the form for
viewing, before advancing any further.

image41.gif

8. If you are happy with these results, you can now click on the Apply button.
image42.gif

The next form is the information that is going to be added to the database automatically. Only the mandatory fields will
have any information filled out automatically. If you wish to alter, or add any information here for the optional fields, you
can do so.
 image43.gif

9. Fill out the optional fields as shown in the previous image, and then click on the Apply button.

This information will then be added to the underground surveying database. The traversing function will also automatically
step to the next traverse leg. If there are no further legs in this traverse, click on the cancel button.
 image44.gif

In this case, there is a second station to add to the traverse, which has the name of ODE6.

10. Enter the new station name, and then click on the horizontal angles tab.

image45.gif
11. Fill out the horizontal angles as shown in the previous form, and then click on the Vertical angles tab.

image46.gif

12. Enter the vertical angles as shown on the previous image, and then click on the Target heights & distances tab.
 image47.gif

13. If the observation data has been entered correctly, click on the Calculate coordinates button towards the bottom of the form.

image48.gif

14. Once the coordinates have been calculated, click on the Apply button.
 image49.gif

15. Fill out the optional fields as shown in the previous form, and then click on the Apply button.
16. Click on the cancel button when the traversing form is displayed again.

Once you click on the cancel button, Surpac will produce a *.not file, with the name that you selected at the beginning of the
traversing exercise. This report will give you a summary of all of the inputs that you entered, and the resultant information also
displayed on the report. In this case, it will provide a report for both of the stations that were added in the traverse.
image50.gif
This report can then be printed out for your records if required.
What you have covered
This chapter has covered the creation of an underground surveying database and then adding records to that database using
several methods. You should now be familiar with the following topics

o Underground surveying database creation

o Manual data entry
o Automated data loading
o Underground traversing

If you are unsure about any of the above topics you can review these topics at any stage.
Where to next
The next chapter will take you through viewing the station information, and producing hard copy output of the survey station
information, such as plotting, and station reports.
CHAPTER 6
Viewing, editing and plotting survey stations
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Once you have created a surveying database, you can then make changes to the information that is contained within the
database, and also extract information from the database.

This chapter will cover editing records in your database, and also extracting information in various formats for use in other areas
of Surpac Vision.

Exercise 1 – Viewing stations on screen

This section will cover viewing the survey stations that are in you database in the graphics environment in Surpac Vision.

What you will learn

In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Viewing all stations in graphics

o Viewing selected stations in graphics

• Viewing all station in graphics

1. Connect to your surface database.

2. From the surveying menu, select Stations > Display stations from database.
image1.gif

A form will be displayed, asking you which area to use, the symbol to use, and the colour to be used.

image2.gif
3. Click on the Apply button without making any changes.
4. Once you have clicked on the Apply button the first time, then click on the Cancel button.

All of the survey stations that are stored in the surface database will now be displayed on the screen.

image3.gif

Once the stations have been drawn, you can rotate the image on the screen in the same way you would rotate a string file
with the left mouse button.

5. Click on the icon on the toolbar to reset graphics.

 image4.gif

Now you will repeat the same exercise, but this time you will select the symbol and colours that you prefer.

6. From the surveying menu, select Stations > Display stations from database.
7. On the Define stations form, click in the arrow at the end of the Marker symbol field.

image5.gif

8. Scroll down the list and select the symbol that you wish to be drawn for the survey stations.
9. Then click on the arrow at the end of the Colour field.
 image6.gif

10. Select the colour you wish the survey stations to be drawn.

Notice the tabs at the top of the colour form. You can select a colour in four different ways.
 image7.gif

11. Once you have filled the form out, and are happy with your selections, click on the Apply button.
12. Once you have clicked on the Apply button once, then click on the Cancel button to close the Define stations to be drawn form.

The stations will once again be drawn on the screen in graphics.

 image8.gif

13. Click on the recall file icon , and recall the string file PIT994.str.
image9.gif
image10.gif
This will show the survey stations in relation to the mine.
image10.gif
As well as being able to display all of the stations in the database, there are times when you will only want to see the stations in
a specific area. The area field in the database can be used to do this.
• Constrained viewing in graphics
The station viewing form can also limit the number of stations to be displayed on the screen. This is especially useful if there are
a great number of stations in the database, and you only wish to view the stations in a specific area.

1. Click on the icon on the toolbar to reset graphics.

 image4.gif

2. Recall the file PIT994.str into graphics.

image12.gif

3. From the surveying menu, select Stations > Display stations from database.
 image13.gif

4. Enter in an area name, as shown in the previous image, and then click on the Apply button.

This will now show the station P104 in the bottom part of the pit. As there is only one station with the area name of PIT,
only that station, P104, will be drawn.
image14.gif

The Define stations to be drawn form will be displayed again. This gives you the opportunity to draw stations from another
area.
5. Change the Area field to MINE, and then click on the Apply button.

image15.gif

6. Once you have clicked on the Apply button a second time, then click on the Cancel button to close the Define stations to be drawn
form.
image16.gif

Exercise 2 – Editing records in the database

Once the station information has been entered into the database, it is also possible to make changes to the information that is
stored within the table. This is especially important where the information for a survey station has changed, such as if it has been
resurveyed, or destroyed.
What you will learn
In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Editing records in the database

o Deleting records for the database

• Edit station information in the database

If you do not have the final image from the previous image displayed on screen, go to back to section 1.2, Constrained viewing in
graphics, and work through the exercise to display PIT994.STR and the stations from the area PIT and MINE.

1. Use you mouse to rotate the image on the screen.

 image17.gif

You should notice that station P103 is well above the pit floor. This station obviously is not in the correct position. The
reason for this is that in the process of developing the mine, this station has been destroyed.

Rather than remove the station from the database, you will change the area that it is currently associated with to show
that the station has been destroyed.

2. From the surveying menu select Stations > Edit table

image18.gif

3. Apply the Select table form without making any changes.

image19.gif

On the following form, you can make changes to the records in the database table. The changes will only be made if you
click on the Apply button. If you click on the Cancel button, no changes will be made to the database.
image20.gif
 4. Change the Area value for station P103 from MINE to DEST for destroyed.

The reason that the entire word destroyed cannot be entered is that this field has a limit of 6 characters, which was set
while creating the database.

5. Once you have made the change, click on the Apply button.

Now when you select to display the stations in the MINE area, station P103 will not be included.
• Deleting records from the database
The option that is available for station P103, is to remove it entirely from the database. This will help to stop it being used by
mistake in any calculations.

1. From the surveying menu, select Stations > Delete Records

image21.gif

The next form that is displayed is where you select which stations are to be deleted.
 image22.gif

2. Enter in the values as shown in the previous image and then click on the Apply button.

The record could also have been deleted easily using the constraint

area = DEST

3. From the surveying menu, select Stations > View table, and follow through the options to display the table.
image23.gif
Station P103 will no longer exist in the table.
Once a record has been deleted, it is permanent. It is always a good idea to be 100% sure when removing records from the
database.

• Creating a station report

Surpac Vision will allow you to generate a report of the stations that are currently held in your database. The report will be
created in a Surpac *.not file, which can be viewed with any text editor, and also included on a Surpac plot.

1. From the Surveying menu, select Reports > Note file of stations.

image24.gif

The next form is where you enter a name for the resultant *.not file. You can use any name you wish for the report, on the
condition that there are no spaces in the name.

image25.gif

2. Enter the report name as shown in the previous image, and then click on the Apply button.
 The next form that is displayed gives you the opportunity to constrain the report. Using this form you can limit the amount
of stations that will appear on the report. The constraint can also be saved, and then re-used at a later date. This is good if
your constraint consists of several lines, as demonstrated in the following image.

image26.gif

3. Fill out the form as shown on the previous image, and then click on the Save option on the right hand side of the form.

image27.gif
 You can give the constraint a name, which you can then use again at a later date.

4. Enter the saved constraint name and click on the Apply button.

Once you have clicked on the Apply button, you will be taken back to the Define query constraints form.

5. Click on the Apply button on the define query constraints form.

Surpac will then create the report, and automatically open it with your default text editor.

image28.gif
The report can then be printed, or used in a note entity in the plotting module of Surpac Vision.
The saved constraint that was created will be placed into a file, and added to your current working directory. The file has the
extension *.dbc. So in this example, the file north_mine_area.dbc will have been created in your current working directory.
• Exporting station information to a string file
As well as generating a report from the database, a string file of the stations can also be created.
This file can then be used for plotting out the positions of the stations.

1. From the surveying menu select Reports > String file of stations
 image29.gif

The next from is where you enter in the name you wish the string file to be called. You can also select what string number
you would like to use for the station string.

image30.gif

2. Enter the name of the string file as shown on the previous image, and then click on the Apply button.

If you wish to use a constraint that you have saved previously, or enter a constraint, you do so on the next form.
image31.gif

In this case you will enter a constraint to only extract a string file for the stations in the MINE and PIT areas.
 image32.gif

3. Fill out the constraint as shown on the previous image, and then click on the Apply button.

The message window will inform you that 7 points have been written to the string file.

4. Recall the SURFACE_STNS1.STR to graphics.

image33.gif

When the stations are displayed on the screen, you can control the way they are displayed using the string styles, so that
rather than the file being drawn as a series of line, each station will be drawn as a symbol, and with various pieces of
information displayed around each point.

First you will find out what information is stored in the string file.
5. Select Inquire > Point properties

image34.gif

6. Click on any one of the station points in the string file.

The information for the point that you clicked on will be displayed in the message window. You should see that all of the
fields from the database have been placed into the description fields of the string file. The station_id has been placed into
D1, and the area has been placed into D2, and so on.
 image35.gif

Using the Surpac string styles, you will now display string number 99 with a symbol, and with the station name drawn next
to the symbol.

7. Select Customise > Display properties > Strings and points

image36.gif

The string styles from will then be displayed.

 image37.gif

8. Scroll down to the bottom of the list, and then click on the grey square to the left of the string number at the very bottom.

image38.gif

From the pop up list that is displayed, select the Add option.

image39.gif

A blank line will be added to the bottom of the form.

9. Scroll down to the bottom of the form so that you can see the new line that has been added.

image40.gif

10. In the Range field enter in the sting number that you chose, in this case string number 99.
11. In the Label field enter a label name.
12. In the Drawing Method field, enter in the style as shown in the previous image.
 The drawing method shown is not on the pull down list. So to use the drawing method as shown, you must type it in from
the keyboard. The pull down list is not a definitive list, but rather several examples.

13. Click on the Line box, and select the properties option

image41.gif

The form that is displayed gives you the option of setting various styles for any given string. In this example it is only the
colour that you will change.
 image42.gif

14. Click on the Colour Edit button, and select the colour that you wish to use to draw the survey stations, and then click on OK.
15. Once you have selected the colour to be used, click on the OK button, and you will be returned to the main string styles form.
16. Click on the Markers field, and select the properties option.
 image43.gif

This from allows you to select which symbol, and the size of the symbol that is to be used in drawing the survey station.

image44.gif

17. Select the symbol that you wish to use for the survey station and then click on the OK button.

The styles have now been set, and should look something like the following image.
 image40.gif

If you want these styles to be used each time that string 99 is recalled into graphics, you will need to check the Save
styles when form is applied option in the bottom left hand corner of the form.

18. Make sure the styles are going to be saved, and then click on the Apply button.

The way that the string file is being drawn on the screen in graphics should change immediately, and now whenever you recall a
string file and the default set of string styles are being used, string 99 will be drawn in this way.
The screen should now look similar to the following image.
image45.gif

• Creating a plot with Autoplot

In This exercise you will plot survey station information directly from the graphical screen using the Autoplot function
Note – You must be licensed to use Autoplot to work through this tutorial. If you are not licensed to use Autoplot, proceed to the
next exercise to use the traditional Surpac plotting tools.
Before you begin you will tell Surpac to automatically open any plot file created by Autoplot to be opened automatically in the plot
preview window.

1. Select the Customise > Default Preferences menu

 image62.gif

2. Select the Plotting tab at the top of the form.

image63.gif
 In the bottom right hand corner of the plotting options pane, you can set the action for Autoplot.

image64.gif

3. Set the action to Plot Preview, and then click on the Apply button.

Any plot created using Autoplot will now automatically open in plot preview.
Now you will create a plot using the Autoplot function.

1. Make sure you are connected to your surface surveying database.

2. Select to display the survey stations from the Stations menu
 image46.gif

3. Enter the Area to be displayed as MINE, and select the symbol and colour that you wish to have plotted out from the options available.

image47.gif

You should now have the survey stations displayed on the screen. Next you will also display the string file of the mine
working area.

4. Recall the PIT994.STR file into graphics by clicking on the file open icon .
image9.gif
 image48.gif

5. Click on the Zoom All icon to resize the files on the screen.
image49.gif
 image50.gif

6. Start the Autoplot function by clicking on the Autoplot icon , or by going to the Plotting menu, and selecting Autoplot.
image51.gif

image52.gif

The next form you see is the Autoplot form. Here you will set up how you wish the information to be plotted by entering
such parameters as the scale, paper size and so on.
image53.gif

The first option you have is setting the scale of the plot. At the very top of the form there are 3 plot methods available. In
this example you will be setting the scale by typing it in, using the manual scale option. This is the default option.

image54.gif

Next you must select the scale to be used. In this example you will be creating a plot at a scale of 1:1000, on an A0 sheet
of paper. On the right hand side of the form, a table is displayed. This table is used to indicate the scales that should be
used for different paper sizes and different paper orientations.
 image55.gif

The table tells you that for the information that is currently displayed on the screen, for an A0 sheet of paper, using a
landscape orientation, a scale of 1:851 should be used. This is the scale that Surpac suggests to fit all of the data onto the
paper. As this scale is not practical (you do not have a scale ruler with 1:851 on it), you should use the next most practical
scale, in this case 1:1000. If you want to fit all of the information currently in graphics onto the piece of paper, you must
increase the scale of the plot.

7. Enter an X scale of 1000, and also a Y scale of 1000. Then select a sheet size of A0 with an orientation of Landscape.

image56.gif

Next you must select the reference coordinate grid that will be drawn over the top of the string and station information.
The YX options will place an N (northing) next to the Y coordinate on the plot, and an E (easting) next to the X coordinate
on the plot. The A0 and A3 option will give different text sizes, based on the size of an A0 sheet, and an A3 sheet.

The NMA0 title block is design to be placed in the bottom right hand corner of the page, with 4 lines of text that can be
added.
 image57.gif

8. Select YXA0 for the grid and NMA0 for the title block.
9. Apply the Autoplot Presentation Parameters form.

The next form you see is where you can enter 4 lines into the title block. This can be any text you wish, but there is a limit
on each line as too how much can be entered. You can also leave the lines blank if you wish.

image58.gif

10. Fill in your title block and then click on the Apply button.

The next image you will see will be the data on the screen in graphics, but with a dashed line displayed around the edge.
The dashed line is the edges of your piece of paper.
image59.gif

The sheet border can be moved using a combination of the left mouse button and the right mouse button.

The left mouse button will allow you to pan the sheet across the screen, while the right mouse button will allow you to
rotate the page around the bottom left hand corner of the page.
 11. Once the page is positioned correctly, press the F2 key or the ENTER key to Apply the function and proceed to the next step.

image60.gif

The next form you see gives you the option to set the spacing of the coordinate grid reference lines that will be drawn
across the page. It is also possible to select 3 different line types for the grid lines.

By default, the grid spacing for the Y and X axis will be 10% of the scale that you selected, in this case 1:1000.

12. Select the line type you wish to have, and then click on the Apply button.

Surpac will now create the plot file and display it in the plot preview window.
image61.gif
All colours within Autoplot are controlled from the graphics screen. If there is a green string in graphics, that will become a green
line in plot preview.
There are cases where a colour in graphics is not defined in the plotting area. If this is the case Surpac will attempt to match it as
best it can, but if it cannot be matched Surpac will make the line black on the finished plot.
If you wish to add more information to your plot using Autoplot, you must first display it on the screen in graphics in the way that
you wish to see it on your plot.
The first step is to find out about the information in the string file such as the string number, what information is in the description
fields and which description fields are going to be used.

2. Click on the Inquire > Point Properties function

image34.gif

3. Click on any point on the string file currently displayed on the screen.

The information for the point you have clicked on will be placed into the message window.
 image65.gif

You should see that the string number for the stations string is 99, and that there are several description fields. On our
plot we are going to have a station drawn with a symbol, and the station name above the symbol, and the station elevation
below the symbol.

Based on this, the station name is in the first description field, or as it is referred to in Surpac, the D1 field. The station
elevation is stored in the Z field from the coordinates of the station.

4. Recall the PIT994.STR file into graphics and append it to the file that is currently on the screen.
 image66.gif

Note – You can also append a file by dragging it from the file manager, and holding down the Control key at the same
time.

The plot will also have the string file of the pit on it as well. The string numbers are not so important for this file.

Firstly you will create a map of the pit string file, using one of the basic entities that is provided with Surpac Vision.

5. Select the Plotting > Map > New option from the menus.
 image67.gif

6. Enter the name of the map as SURVEY PLAN as shown in the next image, and then click on the Apply button.

image68.gif

It is possible to have spaces in the names of maps and entities.

 image69.gif

7. Click on the white box below the Entity heading, and then click on the browsing arrow at the end of the field to see a list of available
entities.
 image70.gif

8. Scroll down the list and select the LINE entitiy.

Next you must tell Surpac which string file you wish to plot out. The Location and Id Number are next to each other.

9. Enter the PIT994.STR file into the form for location and ID.

In the case of the PIT994.STR file, you will want to plot all of the strings. To do this, in the string range field, you can enter
in the range of the strings in the file if you know them, or leaving the field blank will plot all of the string in the file. In this
case you will leave the fields for the string and segment range blank.

10. Once the entity name and string file have been entered into the form click on the Apply button.
11. Click on the Plotting > Process Map menu option
 image71.gif

12. In the Process Map form, select the name of the map that you have just created, SURVEY PLAN, and then click on the Apply button.

image72.gif
The Plot Presentation Parameters form is where you control the scale of the plot, what page size will be used, the
orientation of the plot and so on.
image73.gif
 The first thing to look at is the table on the right hand side of the form. This table tells you what scale to use for various
sheet sizes. The scale that is displayed is the scale that should be used to fit all of the data onto the piece of paper.

image74.gif

In general, the scales that are displayed are not practical to be used directly, and you would use the next most practical
scale. In the case of the plot that you are creating, you will be creating a plot on an A0 sheet.

The table shows that for an A0 sheet, and using a landscape orientation, you need to use a scale of 1:764 to fit all of the
data onto the A0 piece of paper. Obviously 1:764 is not practical (you don’t have a scale ruler with this on it), so you would
use a more realistic scale of 1:1000. If you want to fit all of the data onto the page, your scale value must increase.

13. Enter a scale of 1000 for both the X and Y fields.

 image75.gif

Next you must define the sheet options for the plot.

image76.gif

14. Click on the browsing arrow at the end of the Sheet Size field and select AO from the list of options.

image77.gif

The Border and Drawing area should be left as the default.

15. Click on the browser at the end of the Grid field, and select the YXA0 option.
 image78.gif

The YXA0 grid, will display a coordinate reference grid on the plot. The YXA0 grid will place an N (northing) next to the Y
value of the grid, and an E (easting) next to the X value of the grid. The A0 option at the end means that the text size of
the coordinate values will be set with an A0 sheet of paper in mind.

16. Select the NMA0 title block from the list of default title blocks.

image79.gif

The NMA0 title block is a title block that will be positioned in the bottom right hand corner of the page. It is possible with
this title block to enter 4 lines of text after you have clicked on the Apply button for this form
17. Make sure the orientation of the plot is set to Landscape Centred.

image80.gif

The landscape centred option will place the centre of the string files being plotted, in the centre of the page.

18. On the bottom right hand corner of the form, make sure you have ticked the box to display the plot after processing.

image81.gif

This will open the plot directly in plot preview once Surpac has created the plot file.

19. Once you have filled out the entire form, click on the Apply button.

The next form you are shown is the interface to the title block. Using the NMA0 title block, you can enter 4 lines of text. It
is also possible to leave the line blank if required.
 image82.gif

20. Enter in your lines for the title block and then click on the Apply button.

image83.gif
 The next form you see gives you the option to set the spacing of the coordinate grid reference lines that will drawn across
the page. It is also possible to select 3 different line types for the grid lines.

By default, the grid spacing for the Y and X axis will be 10% of the scale that you selected, in this case 1:1000.

21. Enter you grid line spacing, and then click on the Apply button.

Surpac will now create the plot file, and then automatically open the plot file in the plot preview window.
image84.gif
The plot so far will have just the pit drawn. The next step is to create an entity to draw the survey stations, add that entity to the
map, and then process the map again.
• Creating a traditional plotting entity for survey stations
You now will create an entity to draw the survey stations with a symbol for the position of the station, the name of the station
above the symbol, and the elevation of the symbol below the station.
1. Close the plotting window if it is open.
2. Select the Plotting > Entity > New menu option

image85.gif

3. Enter the entity name of SURFACE STATION, and then click on the Apply button.

image86.gif
 You want the same action to be applied to each point in the survey station string file. As this is the case you will use a
Point operation.

4. Click on the Point Operation tab at the top of the form.

 image87.gif

5. Click on the Use point operations check box, and then click on the Use this operation check box under tab 1.
image88.gif
 It is possible to have several things being done at once by using the numbered tabs at the top of the form. In the case of
the survey station entity, you will use tabs 1 to 3. One tab will draw the symbol for the station, another for the station
name, and the third for the station elevation.

The first thing you will define is the symbol for the survey station.

image89.gif

6. Click on the arrow at the end of the attribute type field, and select the symbol option.

This tells Surpac that you are going to display a symbol of some description in relation to every point in the string.

image90.gif
 You should notice that when you do this that the next three field on the form become grey. This is because they do not
apply to displaying a symbol.

7. Click on the arrow at the end of the symbol field, and select a symbol name from the list.

image91.gif

Next you will define the position and direction of the symbol

image92.gif

8. Select no for fill symbol at the top of the position and direction area.
 If you have a symbol that is a closed shape, such as a circle or a square, you can fill it with a solid colour by selecting yes
in this option.

9. In the Direction field, click on the browsing arrow, and select none from the list.

image93.gif

A direction of none means that the symbol will be drawn in the exact position that the station is. In the case of the station
name and station elevation you will offset them from the station position using a different direction.

Once you select a direction of none, the rest of the fields in this section will be greyed out, as they do not apply to this
direction.

Next you will define the text properties of the symbol. This refers to the height, angle and justification of the symbol.
 image94.gif

The height of the text will be in millimetres on the plot.

10. Enter a text height of 10mm, and the remainder of this section can be left as the default.

image95.gif

The final section to fill out is the priority and the pen number.

The priority determines how important a piece of information on the plot is. The higher the priority, the more important it is.
Surpac priorities range from 1 to 125. 1 is the least important, and 125 is the most important.

You will want the station symbol to be relatively important, so you will make the priority above 100.

The pen number sets the colour of the station. In this case the pen number is not that important at this stage.

11. Enter a priority of 101 and a pen number of 1.

 image96.gif

12. Once the entire form has been filled out, click on the Apply button.
 Now that you have created an entity, you must add it to your map definition.

13. Select the Plotting > Map > Edit menu option.

image97.gif

14. Select to edit the SURVEY PLAN map

 image98.gif

You must add a line to the map definition to use the entity that you have just created.

15. Right hand click on the grey area below the first line, and select Add.

image99.gif

16. Enter in the SURFACE STATION entity, and the SURFACE_STN.STR file, using string number 99, and then click on the Apply
button.
 image100.gif

Now that you have added a new line to your map, to see the new information on your plot, you must process the map
again.

17. Select Plotting > Process Map

 image101.gif

18. Select to process the SURVEY PLAN map and the click on the Apply button.

You will only need to make one change on the plotting presentation parameters form, and that is it to check the box to
display the plot after processing.

19. Check the display after processing box and then click on the Apply button.
image102.gif
20. Click on the Apply button for both the title block form and the grid line form without making any changes.

Surpac will now display the plot, showing the symbols for the survey stations as well as the lines for the pit. You may have
to window in to see them clearly.

image103.gif

Now you will add the station name above the symbol, and the station elevation below the symbol. You will do this by
editing the entity that you have just created.

21. Select the Plotting > Entity > Edit menu option
 image104.gif

22. Select the SUFACE STATION entity from the list.

image105gif
23. Select the point operation tab at the top of the form, and then click on the second tab to define the operation for the station name above
the station symbol.

In this case the information you are plotting is being kept in a description field. This means that the data source, and the
positions will be slightly different.

24. From the Attribute type, select the field option, and enter the String file field as the D1 field.

image107.gif

There are no decimal places from the D1 field containing the station name, as it is a piece of text, as opposed to a
numerical value.

Next you will define the position of the station name.

25. Select a direction of angle from the list of direction options.

 image108.gif

A direction of angle uses a system like a compass. The value is pointing to the top of the page, 90 to the right, 180 to the
bottom and 270 to the left. You want the station name to be above the symbol of the station, which means you will need to
use a direction of 0.

The Dist from point is how far away from the centre of the symbol the text will be placed, in the direction of the selected
angle.

26. Enter an Angle from point of 0, and a Dist from point of 10.

Now you must select the size of the text, and it’s priority.
 image109.gif

27. Enter a Text height of 5, and leave the remaining fields as they are.
 image106.gif

The priority will be kept the same as that of the symbol, and also the pen number. Leaving the priority of the two
operations as the same, and having them both above 100, means that they will not clash each other off, but will both be
drawn, even if they are in the same place.

28. Now that you have defined the station name above the symbol, you can also add the station elevation by clicking on tab 3, and filling
out the form as shown in the next image.
 image110.gif

29. Once you have filled out the two new operations for the station name, and the station elevation, click on the Apply button.
 You must now process the map again to see the extra parts of the entity that you have just added. You do not need to
alter the map, as it is the entity that you have altered, and the map is already using the entity definition.

30. Select the Plotting > Process Map menu option, and then click on Apply for each form, making sure that you check the box to open
the plot after processing.

The plot will be opened in the plot preview window, and you should now be able to see the station name, and the station
elevation.
 image111.gif

The final step is to make the survey stations a different colour to the rest of the plot. To do this you must use a different
pen than the pen used to draw the rest of the plot. At the moment, the station entity is using PEN 1, which by default is
black.

There are 2 ways that this can be done. The first is to edit the entity so that it is using a different pen number. The
problem in doing it this way is that each time you want to use a different colour you would have to edit the entity. The
second way to do this is to add an extra piece of information to the map, called an entity modifier.

31. Select Plotting > Map > Edit and edit the SURVEY PLAN map.
32. At the end of the SURFACE STATION entity name type in /PN20, which tells the software to use pen 20 rather than pen1.
 image112.gif

33. Once you have added the entity modifier, click on the Apply button and the process the map again.

image113.gif

You can control the colour of pen 20 in the plotting window.

34. Select the Plotting Colours > Pen colour properties option in the plotting window.
 image114.gif

image115.gif

35. Scroll down the list to pen 20.

36. Click on the colour next to pen 20, and pick the new colour from the list of options.
image116.gif
 image117.gif

37. Select your colour, and then click on the Apply button.

Once you click on Apply, the plot will update immediately, showing the new colours. These pen colours will now be used on all
plots that your produce, that is pen 20 will be the colour that you have selected.

image118.gif

• Sending your plot to a printer or plotter

Now that you have created your plot, you will want to send it to your printer or plotter.
 1. From the plot preview window, select the printing icon .
image51.gif

There are several ways to send a plot file to a printer or plotter. This will go through 2 of the more common methods. The
first is to let Windows control the plot destination.

2. Select the plot device as Windows, and then at the bottom of the form, select the printer or plotter you wish to use.

image119.gif
If you click on Apply, the plot will then be sent to the printer you selected.
The second option involves selecting a specific driver to plot the file.
1. From the plot device field, select the browsing arrow, and scroll down the list. You will need to select a plot driver that is compatible
to your printer or plotter.

As an example, if I have a HP750 plotter, as you can see by scrolling down the list, there is no specific driver for this
plotter. But you can use the HP650C driver, as they are compatible.

image120.gif

2. Check the Plot now box

3. Check the Use Windows Spooler option.
 image121.gif

4. Select the printer or plotter that you wish to use, and the number of copies you want.

Clicking on the Apply button will then send the plot to the destination device.
Remember, sending an A0 plot to an A4 printer will not work.
CHAPTER 7
Processing Data Recorder Files
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Surpac Vision will allow you to process survey information directly from your total station or data recorder. This can be done by
processing the observation information on your computer, or connect directly to your survey instrument to download (from your
instrument) or upload (to your instrument) information.

Exercise 1 – Processing an input file

This section will cover processing of an input file that you have already downloaded from your total station or data recorder.

What you will learn

In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Processing an input file

• Processing an input file

In this exercise you will process an input file from a Leica total station using the TPS1000 file format. For notes on the TPS1000
file format consult the Surpac Online help.
To be able to process an input file of any format you must have a survey database, and also have the survey stations that you
used in the survey entered into the database. This input file is for a new area, and as such the database that you have used in
the exercises so far cannot be used.

1. If you are connected to a surveying database, close the database.

image1.gif

In the training directory for the surveying tutorial there is a macro that will create a surveying database with 2 survey
stations for the area that we wish to be working in.

2. Click on the macro playback function on the toolbar .

image3.gif

3. Enter the QUARRY_DB.TCL file name in the filename field, and then click on the Apply button.
 image4.gif

Surpac will create a surveying database called QUARRY, which will be in your file manager.

4. Click on Survey Database > New / Open.

 image7.gif

5. Enter the name of the new surveying database, QUARRY, and then click on the Apply button.

image8.gif

Surpac will open, and connect to the database.

Now that the database has been opened, you can process the input file.

The input file, as mentioned earlier, has come from a Lecia total station, in TPS1000 file format. The input file is called
SURVEY1.INP, and can be viewed with a text editor.
 6. Find the SURVEY1.INP file in the file manager, and then right hand click on the file.

image9.gif
Surpac will open the file with your default text editor.

image10.gif

7. Once you have viewed the input file, close the text editor.

For information on the various codes used in the TPS1000 file format, consult the Surpac Online Help.

Now you can process the input file.

8. Select Data Recorders > Leica TPS1000

 image11.gif

9. Enter the name of the input file, SURVEY1.INP, and give the JobArea a name if you wish, and then click on the Apply button.
 image12.gif

10. Enter the name of the Surveyor if required, and the survey date, then click on the Apply button.

image13.gif

The surveyor field can be left blank, but the date field must be filled out.
11. Click on the Apply button to confirm the processing of the surveying job.

image14 .gif

The job name can be left blank if required.

12. Click on the Apply button to continue the processing.

image15.gif

The confirm further process form gives you the ability to selectively process one or more jobs from a single input
file. In the case of this input file there is only a single job.
13. Enter a name for the string that is going to be created once the processing is complete, and then click on the Apply button.

image16.gif

Once you have clicked on the Apply button, Surpac will process the input file, and the message window will tell you
the name of the file that has been created, and how many points were processed.

image17.gif

Now that the input file has been processed, and the string file has been created, you can view it in graphics.

14. Select File > Open > String / DTM file

image18.gif
 image19.gif

15. Select Stations > Display station from database

 image20.gif

16. Select a colour for the survey stations and then click on the Apply button.

image21.gif
17. Once you have click on Apply once, click on the Cancel button.

image22.gif

18. Recall the file QUARRY1.STR, and append if the file on the screen.
image23.gif
image24.gif

Exercise 2 – Processing an input file with station survey

This section will cover processing of an input file that has a new survey station and an ordinary survey.
What you will learn
In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

ƒ Processing an input file with station information

Processing an input file with a station survey

In this exercise you will process an input file from a Leica total station using the TPS1000 file format. For notes on the
TPS1000 file format consult the Surpac Online help. As well as having the normal survey information, this input file first
adds a station to the database.

7. Make sure that you are connected to your QUARRY surveying database.
8. Select Data Recorders > Leica TPS1000

image25.gif

9. Enter a job name, and use the SURVEY2.INP file for the processing, than click on the Apply button.
 image26.gif

The SURVEY2.INP file contains multiface survey station information, as well as data from a normal survey. Open
the file with a text editor to view the format of the input file. To see other file formats consult the Surpac Online
Help.

10. Enter your name as the surveyor, and edit the date if required, and then click on the Apply button.

image27.gif
11. Confirm the job name, and then click on the Apply button.

image28.gif

12. Click on the Apply button to confirm and then continue processing.

image29.gif

13. Enter name of SURVEY2 for the new string file, and enter a purpose if required, and then click on the Apply button.
image31.gif

The next form that is displayed has the confirmation details of the survey station that will be added to the surveying
database, based on the survey information within the input file.
 image32.gif

If you wish you can make changes to the values before you click on the Apply button. This information will be
added directly to the survey station table within the database.

14. Click on the Apply button without making any changes to the values.
As with the previous exercise, information is placed into the message window about the processing of the input file.

image33.gif

As well as this, a traverse report is generated and opened with you default text editor.
image35.gif

You can now view the new station information and the new survey information on the screen.
15. Select Stations > Display stations from database

image20.gif

16. Select a colour to be used in displaying the survey stations and then click on the Apply button.
 image36.gif

17. Once you have clicked on the Apply button once, then click on the Cancel button to close the form.
 image37.gif

18. Recall the file SURVEY2.STR onto the screen.

image38.gif
 image39.gif

19. Recall the file QUARRY1.STR and append it to the files currently on the screen.
image40.gif
image41.gif
Exercise 3 – Direct Download of Survey Data
It is also possible to download information directly from your total station or data recorder.
What you will learn
In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

ƒ Set up requirements for downloading directly to Surpac

Direct download of survey data

When downloading directly from some surveying instrument to Surpac, there are certain set up parameters required.
These consist of set up information for the survey instrument, and for the computer that you are downloading to. Each
instrument and computer combination will be slightly different, but the Surpac Online Help has examples of the set up
information for a range of popular surveying instruments.
Once the communication parameters between the computer and the instrument have been set up, there is a two way
communication in place, and Surpac can ask the instrument for a job to download and upload data.
See more info in the Data Recorder Reference Manual
CHAPTER 8
Creating Surface Set out Notes
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Surpac Vision will allow you to create notes for setting out in the field, either by creating a printable report, or by creating a digital
file that can be uploaded into your total station or data recorder.

This chapter will cover creating setout notes for an ore block in an open pit situation.

Exercise 1 – Setting the styles of string file

This section will cover setting the styles on your sting file to make it easier to view, and then decide on the order of setout.

What you will learn

In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Setting polygon string styles

• Setting polygon string styles

Using the string styles you have the ability to control how a particular string, or even file looks on screen. This can go a long way
to making your job both easier and faster, as you can recognise important information simply by the way it looks.
1. Recall the string file ORE392.STR from the file manager and display it in graphics.

image1.gif

You should have a string file on the screen that looks something like the following image.
 image2.gif

Each segment represents an ore block. Each ore block has a corresponding string number, so string number 1 represents
the low grade blocks, string 2, the medium grade blocks and string 3, the high grade blocks.

The colours of the lines that are used for the block outlines can be controlled totally using the Surpac string styles. In the
style you can also give a closed segment such as these a colour fill.

2. Select the Customise > Display properties > Strings and points
image3.gif

The next form that is displayed is used to define the styles of a string in graphics.
image4.gif

The first step is to enter a label name, and then select the drawing method. The label name can be used when a legend is
required in graphics. This can be displayed on the left or right hand side of the screen.

The drawing method tells Surpac how to display the information on the screen. In this case you will select polygon from
the list, as this will display the ore block with a colour fill.

image5.gif

Next you will select the colours that you wish to use for each string number. The colours are broken into 2 parts, one for
the line and the other for the colour fill. The two colours do not have to be the same. The Line column defines the colour of
the string, and the Polygon column defines the colour of the fill.

image6.gif
3. Fill out the first three lines of the styles form, strings 1, 2 and 3 as shown and then move to the bottom of the form.

Before you click on Apply, make sure that you change the name of the styles file to be used at the bottom of the form.

image7.gif

This will save this set of styles to a new file that can then be used only for certain string files, not for every file. This gives
you the ability to have string number 1 display in a certain way in one string file, but in a totally different way in another
sting file.

4. Change the styles file name as shown in the image above, and then click on the Apply button.

Note – If you clicked on Apply before you changed the name of the styles file, go back to the display properties form, and
change it now.

Once you have clicked on Apply, the changes to the styles of the string file will take place immediately.
image8.gif

Note – It is only possible to display colour fill for sting files in graphics when the elevation of each point in a segment is the
same, or as you would say, the file is coplanar.

To see the labels that you added, you must use one of the display tools.
5. Select the Display > Strings > With colour fill menu item

image9.gif

6. At the bottom of the form, set the location for the legend, and give the legend a name, as shown on the following image, then click on
the Apply button.
image10.gif
You should now have a legend on the left hand side of the screen in graphics, describing the colours.
image11.gif

Exercise 2 – Controlling setout order

This section will cover digitising a line to allow the setout to be carried out in a specific order.
What you will learn
In this exercise you will cover the following topics:
 o String digitising
o Displaying strings

• Controlling setout order

Now that the data is displayed on the screen you can control the order that the points will be placed in the setout report by
digitising a line that tells Surpac the order for setout.

1. If you have not already done so, open the string file ORE392.STR into graphics.

To help with the digitising, it would be easier if you could see the strings and a marker for each point, but not the colour fill.

2. Go to the Customise > Display properties > Strings and points menu.

image3.gif
3. Select a marker to be used for the first three strings.

image12.gif
 image13.gif

4. Select a marker to be used for string 1, 2 and 3, and then click on the Apply button.

This will not remove the colour fill from the polygons, you will do this with the display functions.

5. Select Display > Hide everything

 image14.gif

This will hide everything on the screen.

6. Select Display > Strings > As lines

 image15.gif

7. Apply the form without making any changes.

image16.gif
 Now that you have just the lines, you will also display the point markers to help with the digitising.

8. Select Display > Point > Markers

image17.gif

9. Apply the form without making any changes.

image18.gif

You should now have your ore blocks displayed something like the following image.
image19.gif

Now you can start to digitise a line that will control the order for the points in the setout report. The most convenient order
is going to be different in each case, but in general you will want to be moving in a consistent direction, such as starting at
the top, and then moving south. This is what you will do in this example.
 Set the digitising string number to be 10 by clicking on the set string button on the Main toolbar.

image20.gif

10. Make the string number 10.

image21.gif

image22.gif

When using the digitising tools, you will be snapping on to the points that already exist in the ore blocks.

11. Click on the digitising select button .

image23.gif

12. Now start clicking on the points in the order that you would set them out.
image24.gif

Note – if you need to window in, do so, then to start the digitising function again, you just need to click on the digitise
select function, and the segment will be continued.
13. Digitise all of the points on screen.

The final shape of string number 10 will be something like the following image.

image25.gif

Now that you have digitised your setout string you will save this to its own file.
 14. Select the save icon , or use File > Save > String / DTM
image26.gif

15. Give the file the name of SETOUT392, as shown in the next image. Make sure that you fill in the string range number in the last field
to save only string 10.

image27.gif
Exercise 3 – Setting point labels
This section will cover setting the point numbers for the setout report using the point labels function.
What you will learn
In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Setting point labels

• Setting point labels

When you produce the report, you will have a point number for each of the setout points. The point number can be controlled
and set using the point labels function.

1. Click on the Reset graphics button to close all of the files currently open.
image28.gif

2. Recall the SETOUT293.STR file into graphics.

3. Select the Create > Point labels in > Segment
image29.gif
There are 3 labelling options.

o Layer – this will label everything in the current graphics layer

o String – this will label everything with the selected string number
o Segment – this will label all of the points in the selected segment
In this case as there is only a single segment, you will use the segment option.

1. Click anywhere on the digitised segment, and then hit the Esc key.

With the segment option, you can click on several segments, and label the point for all of the selected segments.

image30.gif

The description field is where the numbers will be placed.

A prefix may be used, such as for a sample number or hole number. This will be placed in front of the number.

You can alter the start number as you wish, and the number can also include leading zeros. This mean that point number
5, would be stored as 00005, using a number width of 5.

2. Apply the form without making any changes.

 You see that the numbers are displayed on screen once you have clicked on the Apply button.

image31.gif

3. Click on the Inquire > Point Properties menu, or use the icon on the Main toolbar.
image32.gif
 4. Click on any point on screen.

The inquire point properties function will then place information about the point that you clicked on into the massage
window.

image33.gif

This shows that the point number has been added to description field number1 (D1).

5. Save the file, giving it the same name.

image34.gif

Exercise 4 – Creating setout report

This section will cover creating the setout report.
What you will learn
In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Creating the setout report

• Creating setout report

Now that you have set the string file up with the point numbering that you desire, in the order that you would set the points out in,
you will now create a report to give you the setout information.
The setout information can be done based on either bearing or angle information. To make sure that you have the correct setout
information, you will display your survey stations on screen, and use them to create the report.

1. Open your surface surveying database.

image35.gif

2. Display your survey stations on screen.

image37.gif

image37.gif

You should now have your survey stations displayed around the setout string as shown in the following image.
 image39.gif

Now you can create the setout report.

3. Select Inquire > radial setout notes.

image40.gif
 image41.gif

Give the report a name of SET392, and fill in a purpose if required.

The report can generate information based on bearings or angles from points. In this example you will use angles, and it
will be used for the entire segment. In this way you will only have to click on the segment once, and not each point. If you
wish to enter a reference angle you can do so.

As the survey stations are currently displayed on the screen, you will use them by clicking on them.

Finally you will want to use the numbers that were set up in the first description field.

4. Fill out the form as shown in the previous image and then click on the Apply button.
 Now you must click on the survey stations that you want to use as your reference points. First you must click on your
backsight station, and then your set up station.

5. Click on station P103 for the backsight point.

6. Click on station P102 as the set up point.
7. Click on the setout string and then hit the Esc key on the keyboard twice. First to tell Surpac that you are not going to select any more
segments, and then second to tell Surpac that you want to generate the report.

The report will be created in a note file format, and will look like the following image.

image41.gif
CHAPTER 9
Graphical Editing of Data
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Surpac Vision has many editing tools, which makes it a very powerful tool. Any information that you have in Surpac can be easily
manipulated in many ways. This section will cover some of the simple graphical editing tools that are available.

Exercise 1 – Basic string editing

This section will cover some of the basic sting editing tools that are available.

What you will learn

In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Renumbering string and segments

o Breaking strings and segments
o Joining strings and segments

• Basic string editing

On the basis that you have a current master file of your surface operation, you will now add the latest survey information to the
file.
1. Recall the file QUARRY1.STR into graphics.

Surveyingimage1.gif

Now you will recall the survey pickup string file and append it to the current file in graphics.
2. Recall the file SURVEY1.STR into graphics and append it to the current file.

image2.gif

You should now have the 2 files on screen. The survey file shows that in the bottom of the pit, the face has advanced
south.
 image3.gif

You will need to do some editing of the various strings and segments to join the new survey information into the master
file.

3. Display all of the point markers by selecting the Display > Point > Markers menu item, or by clicking on the display markers icon
.
image34gif
 image5.gif

4. Apply the form without making any changes.

 image6.gif

5. Window in on the area where the new survey information is.

image7.gif
image8.gif

The different coloured string help in working out what must be edited, and what does not need to be edited.
6. Use the Inquire > Point properties function, or the equivalent icon , and then click on the different coloured strings.
image9.gif

You should see that strings number 1 and 2 make up the master file, where in general, string 1 is a crest and string
number 2 is a toe.

String 17 is the crest of the new survey information, and string 18 is the toe of the new survey information.

The first editing that you will do is at the northwest end of the new survey information.

7. Window in further to the northwest end of the survey information.

image10.gif

You want to join the new information to the current information, in the process removing parts of the current information
that has been excavated.
 You will start by editing the crest information, which is string 1 and 17. To make it easier, you will hide all of the other
strings.

8. Select the Display > Hide Strings > In a layer menu function, or the equivalent icon from the toolbar .
image12.gif

image11.gif

9. Apply the form making sure that you enter in the correct range to leave only string 1, and string 17.
image13.gif
 image14.gif

Now the screen is less cluttered, and it will be a much easier job to edit the strings.

Before you can join the new information to the current information, you must remove the part of string 1 that has been
excavated. You will do this by using a function called segment break after point.

This function will break a string in the direction of the point numbers. So to help you will display the point numbers for
string 1 and string 17.

10. Select the Display > point > Numbers menu item.
 image15.gif

11. Enter 1 and 17 into the string range, and the click on the Apply button.
image16.gif
 image17.gif

You should be able to see that string number 1 (the white string in this example) is number from the bottom of the screen
to the top of the screen. In this case you will want to break the segment at point number 55.

12. Select Edit > Segment > Break after point.

 image18.gif

Surpac will now prompt you to select the segment to break.

13. Use your mouse to click on string number 1, close to point number 55.
image20.gif

The line will then be broken in the direction that the segment is numbered, in this case, towards the top of the screen.
 image21.gif

Now you will repeat the exercise with the other end of the new survey information.

14. Window out from the current position, and then window back in to the other end of the new survey information.
 image22.gif

You will repeat the same exercise but at the other end of the new survey information. This time when you break the
segment, you will click close to point number 38.

15. Select the Edit > Segment > Break after point, and then click on point number 38 for string number 1.
image23.gif

The segment will now break towards the new survey information.
 image24.gif

Note - It is very important that once you have broken the segment you must press the Esc key to stop the Segment break
function.

16. Zoom out so that you can see the entire area of the new survey data.
image25.gif

You should see that the segment of string 1 that you have broken, is now a segment on it’s own. This segment is no
longer required as this area has been excavated. As a result of this you will delete this segment.
17. Select Edit > Segment > Delete and click on the segment of string 1.

image25.gif
image26.gif

Note - It is very important that once you have deleted the segment you must press the Esc key to stop the deleting
function.
image27.gif

Now that the segment has been deleted, you can join the new information to the current information. Before you can join
the segments, you must make sure that all segments that are to be joined have the same string number.

You will renumber the current information to string 17, rather than renumbering the new survey information to string
number 1.
18. Window in on the northwestern part of the new survey information.

image28.gif

19. Select Edit > Segment > Renumber and then click on segment that you have broken.
image29.gif
image29.gif
image30.gif
The segment that you have clicked on will change to the same colour as that of the current colour of string number 17.

image31.gif
When joining segments together, to help you should know where the start and end points for each segment are. The easiest way
to find this out is to display the string numbers.

1. Select Display > Strings > With string numbers

image32.gif

1. Enter a string range of 1 and 17 and then click on the Apply button.

image33.gif
 image34.gif

When displaying the string numbers, the number appears at the start of the segment. So if there is a number at one end
of a segment this is the start. While if there is not a number at an end of a segment, then this is the end of that particular
segment.

When joining segments together, as well as the two pieces having to be the same string number, you must join from the
end of one segment to the start of another segment. In this case we can say, from where there is no string number, to
where there is a string number.

2. Select Edit > Segment > Join

 image35.gif

You must now click on the two end points of the segments that you want to be joined together. Make sure that you go
from the end of the first segment, to the start of the next segment.

3. Click on the segment end where there is no string number displayed.

image36.gif
4. Then click on the start of the segment you wish to join to, where the string number is currently displayed.

image37.gif

Surpac will then join the two segments together.

image38.gif
 Before you go any further you should save the file.

5. Select File > Save > String / DTM file

image39.gif

6. Enter a new file name of QUARRY2 and then click on the Apply button.

Now you will join to two southern segments together.

7. Window out, and then window in on the southern area of the new survey data.
 image40.gif

The process is the same. You must make both segments the same string number, and then join them together.

8. Select Edit > Segment > Renumber and click on the segment of string 1 that need to change its string number.
 image41.gif

9. Make the string number 17, and then click on the apply button.

image42.gif
10. Make sure you hit the Esc key to stop the renumbering function.
11. Select Edit > Segment > Join, and then click on the end of the top segment, where there is no string number.

image44.gif

12. Now click on the start of the bottom segment, where the string number is.
image45.gif

Surpac will then join the two segments together.

 image46.gif

The editing of the new survey information is now complete. The last step is to save the string file.

13. Select File > Save > String / DTM file

image47.gif
Exercise 2 – More basic string editing
This section will cover some of the basic sting editing tools that are available.
What you will learn
In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Renumbering string and segments

o Breaking strings and segments
o Joining strings and segments

• Basic string editing

Now you must repeat the same exercise for the toe string, which is string number 18.

1. Click on the Zoom All icon , to see everything on the screen.

image48.gif
 image49.gif

At the moment you cannot see all of the strings. So you will display them, and them hide the string you will not be working
on.

2. Select Display > Strings > With string numbers, and make sure the string range is blank.
 image50.gif

3. Select Display > Hide Strings > Strings in a layer

image51.gif
4. Window in on the area of the new survey information.

image52.gif

5. Select Display > Point > Markers, and enter a string range of 2 and 18.
 image53.gif

6. Select Display > Point > Numbers, and enter a string range of 2 and 18.
 image54.gif

7. Window in on the northwest area.

 image55.gif

8. Select Edit > Segment > Break after point, and then click on string number 2 (the blue line in this example) close to point 1731.
image56.gif
 image57.gif

9. Select Edit > Segment > Renumber, and then click on the top part of the segment you have just broken.
image58.gif
 image59.gif

10. Enter a new string number of 18.

11. Select Display > Strings > With string numbers, and enter a string range of 2 and 18.
 image50.gif

12. Select Edit > Segment > Reverse, and then click on the top part of the broken segment.

image60.gif

13. Select Edit > Segment > Join, and then click on the bottom part of the broke segment, where there is no string number.
 image61.gif

14. Now click on the segment where the string number is displayed.
 image62.gif

image63.gif

15. Window out, and then window in to the other end of the new survey information.
 image64.gif

16. Select Display > Point > Numbers, and enter a string range of 2 and 18.
 image54.gif

17. Select Edit > Segment > Break after point, and click close to point number 1727 on string number 2.
 image65.gif

18. Select Edit > Segment > Delete, and then click on the broken segment of string number 2.
 image66.gif

19. Select Edit > Segment > Renumber, and then click on string number 2 where you have just broken the segment.
 image67.gif

20. Enter a new string number of 18, and then click on the Apply button.
 image68.gif

21. Make sure you hit the Esc key once the segment has been renumbered, to stop the renumbering function.
22. Select Display > Strings > With string numbers, and make the string range blank to display all of the string on screen, and then click
on the Apply button.
image69.gif
 image70.gif

23. Select Edit > Segment > Join, and then click on string number 18 where there is no string number displayed.
 image71.gif

24. Next click on string 18, where the string number is displayed.
image72.gif

Surpac will now join the segments together.

 image73.gif

25. Select Display > Hide Point > Markers and leave the string range blank to remove all of the point markers from the screen.
 image74.gif

26. Click on the Zoom All icon .

image75.gif
 image76.gif

27. Save the file as QUARRY2.STR.

image77.gif
Now that the new survey information has been added to the master file, you can use the 2 quarry master files to calculate a
volume between the 2 files. This will be covered in a later chapter.
There is a second survey file for the next bench down in the quarry, called SURVEY2.STR. You can add this information
following the same steps as in the exercise you have just worked through.
To see what the final result would look like, open QUARRY3.STR in graphics.
Exercise 3 – Adding spot height information
This section will cover adding spot height information to your files, and displaying spot heights with the Surpac styles.
What you will learn
In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Recalling and appending files

o Setting string styles for spot heights

• Adding spot height information

If you have spot height information, such as points on the floor of a quarry of pit to give an accurate height, you can add this to
your current string files, and also have them displayed differently to the other strings using the Surpac styles.
1. Make sure there are no files in graphics.
2. Recall the file QUARRY1.STR into graphics.

image78.gif

3. Recall the file SPOT_HEIGHTS1.STR and make sure you append the file to the current file on the screen.
 image79.gif

4. Select Inquire > Point Properties from the Inquire menu, or use the Point Properties icon .
image80.gif

5. Click on the spot heights that have been recalled into graphics.
image81.gif

You should see in the message window that the spot height string in this case is string number 20.
 image82.gif

Although string 20 is drawn as a line, the important information is actually each individual point.As a result, you will create
a string style that will display just the points, and not the line that joins them together. In displaying string 20 in this way,
the spot heights will not a mess of lines crossing over each other, but a series of neat points.

6. Select Customise > Point Properties > Strings and Points

image83.gif

When the styles form is displayed, scroll down the list to see the various string styles. You will see that there is no specific
style for string number 20. As a result you will create a new style just for string 20.

7. Scroll down to the bottom of the list of styles.

8. At the bottom of the list, right hand click on the bottom style at the front of the line, and add a new line.
 image84.gif

For this styles you will display the spot heights as a marker using some symbol.

9. Enter the styles as shown in the following image.

image85.gif

10. Once you filled out the new style line, click on the Apply button, making sure that the styles will be saved.

image86.gif

The markers will now be displayed just as points, and not as joined lines.
 image87.gif

Now you will save the file, which will keep the file looking the way it is on the screen at the moment.

11. Select File > Save > String / DTM file, and make the file name QUARRY1.STR.
image88.gif
The QUARRY3.STR file shows the final string file with all of the new survey information and spot heights added.
CHAPTER 10
File Import and Export
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Surpac Vision will allow you to import several different types of files, and have them converted to Surpac string, and DTM files.
This includes DXF format file, and GIF image files.

Exercise 1 – Importing a GIF image

This section will cover using a Gif image in conjunction with a DTM file. This will allow you to lay an image, such as a photograph
over the top of a DTM file, such as with an aerial photo over a current survey of a mine, or topography.

What you will learn

In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Viewing a GIF image

o Draping a GIF image over a DTM

• Viewing a GIF image

A GIF image is a graphical format used to store images. It is widely used throughout the computing industry, especially on the
internet. Most images that you see while traversing the web, will be in GIF format.
1. Select File > Images > View a GIF image

image1.gif

You will be presented with a form asking you enter the name of the image you wish to view.
 image2.gif

2. Enter the PIT1.GIF file, and then click on the Apply button.

image3.gif

You should have an image of a large open pit mine displayed on the screen.

To view the file you can use your left mouse button to pan across the image.

This image will be used in a later exercise to drape it over a DTM file.
 3. Close the image by pressing the ESC key on your keyboard.

1. Tiling a DTM file with a GIF image

One of the image draping options is to use the tile effect. This will allow you to use a small GIF image, and have it repeated over
the top of your DTM file. Using this effect you can emulate a rock effect across your mine.

1. Recall the file QUARRY3.DTM into graphics.

image4.gif
2. Click on the Render button on the toolbar .
image5.gif

image6.gif

To be able to drape a GIF image across a Surpac file, you must use a DTM.

3. Select File > Images > Drape a GIF image over a DTM
 image7.gif

You will be instructed to select a triangle of interest. You can click on any part of the DTM that is currently on the screen.

4. Click anywhere on the DTM.

image8.gif

A form will be display asking you to define the image to be used and the method that you want to use to drape the image
across the DTM.
 In this example you will only make 2 changes.

image9.gif

5. Enter the name of the image file to use as CONCRETE1.GIF

6. Enter the Image draping method as tiling.

For this exercise that is all that is required. Surpac will now drape the small concrete image across the DTM file.
image10.gif
The image should now be a grey colour, but if you window in closely to the DTM, you should see that the image has a texture to
it.
This method is a simple way to give your files a realistic look and feel.
Note – Once you close the file in graphics, you must do the image draping again.

1. Registering a GIF image across a DTM

The image tiling method is very easy, but can not be used to accurately place an image onto a DTM. An example of this is if you
had an aerial photo of a mine, and you wished to place it into the correct position on your DTM file, the tiling method will not help
with this.
If you wanted to do this, you must create registration points. This is effectively where you give a point on the image a coordinate
that matches to you DTM file. This can be done simple by clicking with your mouse or by manually entering the point
coordinates.

1. Click on the Reset Graphics icon to close any file that you have open.
2. Recall the file PIT1.DTM into graphics.

image11.gif
3. Click on the Render button on the toolbar .
image5.gif

4. Select File > Images > Drape a GIF image over a DTM
5. Click anywhere on the DTM.

This time you will create a registration file, and the registration points that you create will be saved to this file. This means
that once you have draped the image across the DTM once, you can quickly repeat the exercise without having to create
the registration points, as they are stored in the registration file.
 image12.gif

6. Enter a name for the registration file.

The name you use can be anything you wish.

7. Select the image to be draped over the DTM, in this example PIT1.GIF.
8. Select the draping option to be register with new points.
9. Choose to define the registration points by graphics.
10. Once you have filled out these fields, click on the Apply button to continue.

The screen in graphics will now be split into 2 parts, with the DTM on the left of the screen, or in viewport 1, and the GIF
image on the right of the screen, or in viewport 2.

The message that you are presented with asks you to digitise registration point 1 on the GIF image. In doing this you will
want to match points in a similar position on the GIF image to points that are in the DTM.

You must define at least 4 registration points. But once you have created 4 registration points, you can continue to create
more if you wish. In this exercise you will create 4 registration points, starting on the GIF image.

11. Click on the GIF image in the top left hand corner as shown in the following image.

image13.gif

Now you must click on the corresponding point on the DTM.

12. Click on the DTM in the top left hand corner as shown in the following image.
 image16.gif

You must now repeat the steps 11 and 12, three more times.

Where possible try and spread your selection points out as much as possible.

13. Once you have created 4 registration points, press the ESC key on the keyboard.

Once you hit the ESC key a form will be displayed showing you the coordinates of the registration points for the GIF
image, and also for the DTM file.

If require the coordinates can be altered before progressing to the next stage.
 image17.gif

14. Click on the Apply button for the registration coordinates form.

Surpac will now drape the image across the DTM file, based on the registration points that you created. In general the more
registration points you use the better the fit for the draping.
image18.gif
The image can now be rotated as with a DTM file, and you can use the normal viewing functions such as window in and window
out.
It is also possible to digitise directly onto the DTM using the GIF image as a base of information.

• Digitising onto a DTM

Using the previous image draping exercise, you will digitise several points onto the DTM surface, using the GIF image as a base
of information.

1. Window in on the right hand side of the DTM file, where the image shows some blast holes that have been drilled.
 image19.gif

2. Window in as close as possible to display the top section of the drilled area.

Depending on how careful you were with your registration points will depend on how well the holes in the GIF image will fit
to the DTM. If you need to, repeat the image draping exercise to give a better fit.
3. Create a new layer to digitise your data into by clicking on the arrow next to the layer name and selecting < new layer>

image20.gif

4. Enter a new layer name of blast holes, and the click on the Apply button.

Now you will set your digitising string number.

5. Click on the set string number button on the toolbar .

image21.gif

image22.gif

6. Set the string number to string 100 and then click on the Apply button.

Now you will make it so that each time you digitise a point, it will snap onto the DTM surface.
7. Select the snap options, and change the snap to triangle.

image23.gif

image24.gif

Now you will begin your digitising. In this exercise you will digitise a point for each of the blast holes on the image. This is
a simple method that can be used to get information into a digital format.

8. Select the point digitise function from the toolbar .

image25.gif

You will be prompted to digitise a point. Start clicking on each of the blast holes one at a time, and you should see that the
string is created as you go.
 image26.gif

Once you have digitised the hole information, you can save the string file.

9. Select File > Save > String / DTM file from the menu, and enter a name for the digitised string.
image27.gif
This can be applied to many situations to allow you to create string information from a digital photo.

• Importing a DXF file

Surpac will allow you import DXF files into Surpac from various other packages, such as AutoCAD.
This exercise will take you through importing a DXF files into Surpac.

1. Select File > Import > DXF file to a string DTM file
image28.gif
 image29.gif

2. Enter the name of the DXF file to be converted into a string file. In this example you will use the file SURFACE_SURVEY1.DXF.

Note – The DXF file must have a location name, and an ID number, just as a Surpac string file does. This may mean you
have to rename your DXF file before you can import it into Surpac.

3. Select whether to import data from the entities, blocks or both from the DXF file.
4. Enter the Arc segment length, and the minimum circle radius.

The arc segment length is used to convert circles into small segments in a string file. The value is a percentage of the
circles radius, i.e. 10% of the radius. The smaller the percentage, the more segments, and thus more points will be used
to represent a curve or circle in Surpac.

A circle in the DXF file will be created as a closed segment in Surpac so long as the DXF radius is larger than defined on
this form. By default Surpac will use a circle radius of 0.5.
5. Click on the Apply button.

Surpac will create the string file, giving it the same name and ID number as the DXF file.

Surpac will also generate a log file that will inform you of the importing that Surpac has completed.
image30.gif
 The report tells you the string number that each layer in the DXF file has been converted to. In this example, in the DXF
file, layer 3 is a 3Dpolyline. This has been converted to string number 3, which has 419 segments, and 4295 points in
total.

This report can be very useful in removing strings or segments that are not required.

6. Close the log file.

7. Recall the file SURFACE_SURVEY1.STR into graphics.

image31.gif
image32.gif

When importing DXF files into Surpac a very important thing to note, is that if you wish to then create a DTM of the data, you will
probably need to do a lot of editing before this will be possible. Most CAD packages will not force you into having lines that do
not cross, which is what is required when you create a DTM.
If your DXF file is destined to become a DTM within Surpac, a bit of care taken in your CAD package will save you a lot of editing
in Surpac.
Also, when using AutoCAD, from experience, it is best if you save your DXF file as R12.
CHAPTER 11
DTM Creation
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Surpac Vision will allow you to create Digital Terrain Models (DTM) from string information. These DTM files can then be used
for many reasons, such as volume calculation, contour extraction or for visualisation.

Exercise 1 – Creating a Simple DTM

This section will cover creating a DTM from a simple string file.

What you will learn

In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Simple DTM creation

• Simple DTM creation

1. Make sure that there are no files currently open in graphics by clicking on the Reset Graphics icon on the toolbar .
image1.gif
2. Recall the file QUARRY3.STR into graphics.

image2.gif
 image3.gif

3. Select Surfaces > Create DTM from Layer

image4.gif

This will create a DTM from the string file, or files, that are open in the active layer.

Surpac will then ask you to click on Apply to create the DTM using the breakline test.

image5 .gif
 Breakline strings are those strings which represent physical features that you can see, such as the crest of a quarry or pit
bench, or a contour. When using the breakline strings in DTM creation, no breakline string are allowed to cross over other
breakline strings, unless the two cross at a common point.

image6 .gif

4. Click on the Apply button to Create the DTM using the breakline test.
 Surpac will then create the DTM and display all of the triangles on screen.

By default in Surpac, the sides or EDGES of the triangles are displayed as blue lines, and the inside, or FACE of each
triangle is displayed with a gold colour. These can be changed using the Surpac styles.

image7 .gif

5. Click on the Render button on the toolbar .

 image8 .gif

image9 .gif

6. Select Display > Hide stings > In a layer.

 image10 .gif

7. Click on the Apply button without making any changes to hide all of the strings in the current layer.
 image11 .gif

Creating the DTM in this way, directly in the graphics environment, will not save the DTM file.

8. Select File > Save > String / DTM file

 image12 .gif

It is important to note that when you save a DTM file, the string that was used to create the DTM is also saved.

This file also has a string file of the topography of the area. You will now create a DTM of this file.

9. Click on the Reset Graphics icon to close any file that you have open.
image1 .gif

10. Recall the file TOPO1.STR into graphics

 image13 .gif

11. Select Surfaces > Create DTM from Layer

12. Click on the Apply button to create the DTM using the breakline test.
 image5 .gif

13. Click on the Render button twice. Once to turn the toggle button off, and then a second time to turn it back on.
 image14 .gif

14. Select Display > Hide strings > In a layer, and then click on the Apply button without making any changes.
 image15 .gif

15. Select File > Save > String / DTM file, and save the file as TOPO1.DTM
image16 .gif
So far the DTM creation has been very easy, as there have been no breakline crossing each other.

Exercise 2 – Creating a DTM with crossing breaklines

This section will cover creating a DTM where there are breakline strings crossing each other. This is typical for spot height
information.
What you will learn
In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Creating a DTM where there are crossing breaklines

• Creating a DTM with crossing breaklines

A simple way to show what happens when breakline cross over each other when trying to create a DTM is to change the styles
for string 20, which are the spot height strings.

1. Click on the Reset Graphics button on the toolbar to make sure that no files are currently open in graphics.
 image1 .gif

2. Recall the file QUARRY3.STR into graphics.

image2 .gif

3. Select Customise > Display Properties > String and points.

4. Scroll down the list until you find the style for string number 20. If you have been working through the tutorials in order, it will be at
the very bottom of the list.
 image17 .gif

5. Change the Drawing Method for string 20 to line.

image18 .gif

6. Once you have changed the drawing method, click on the Apply button.
image19.gif

You should see that instead of each spot height being drawn as a point, all of the points have been drawn as a connected
string, which has several areas crossing over each other.
7. Select Surfaces > Create DTM from Layer

image5.gif

8. Click on Apply to create the DTM using the breakline test.

The breakline test will fail, and as a result, the DTM will not be created.

image20.gif

9. Click on OK to close the error message.

 image21.gif

10. Click on OK to close the error message.

The DTM cannot be formed as there are strings crossing over each other.

This does not stop you from creating a DTM from the string file that is on the screen, but it means that it must be done in a
different way.

As you have seen from the first exercise, if the points in the spot height strings are displayed as markers using the Surpac
styles, then there are no crossing lines. So we know that we can create the DTM in the same way.

In this exercise however you will use the file based DTM creation functions, that will allow you to enter the string number
of any strings that you want to exclude from the breakline test.

11. Select Surfaces > DTM File functions > Create DTM from string file
image22.gif

Using this function, it does not matter if the file is open in graphics or not, as it is not working with graphics, but the saved
file.
 image23.gif

12. Enter the file name of QUARRY3 at the top of the form.
13. Click the check box next to Strings to act as breaklines, and also Any spot height strings
14. Enter a Spot height string range of 20. This is the string number of the spot height string.
15. Once you have filled out the form, click on the Apply button.

Surpac will also generate a report on the DTM creation and open it with your default text editor.
 image24.gif

16. Close the DTM creation log file.

To view the DTM you must open it in graphics.

17. Click on the Reset graphics icon on the toolbar to close an file that are currently open.
image1.gif

18. Select File > Open > String / DTM file, and open the QUARRY3.DTM file, and then click on the Apply button.
 image25.gif

19. Click on the Render icon on the toolbar .

image8.gif

The DTM file will be displayed on the screen with the faces displayed, and the lights turned on.
image26.gif
CHAPTER 12
Volume Calculations
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Surpac Vision will allow you to calculate the volume of files in a number of different ways. The most common method of volume
calculation is using DTM surfaces. It is also possible to calculate volumes based on string files, and using 3D models.

Exercise 1 – DTM Surface to Surface Volumes

This section will cover calculating volumes between two DTM surfaces. This will be done using a number of different files to
allow you to check your result.

What you will learn

In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Calculating DTM surface to surface volumes

• DTM Surface to Surface Volumes

In this exercise you will calculate three volumes, using three DTM files.
The first volume will be between the topography (TOPO1.DTM) and the first quarry file, which you will assume is the end of
month survey file for last month.
The second volume will be between the topography file and the third quarry file, which you will assume is the end of month
survey for the current month. Using the two results you get, you can then calculate the volume excavated for the current month.
The final volume you will calculate will be between the first quarry file, and the third quarry file, which will also give us a volume
for the current month, and a check on our previous volume calculations.
• Topography to Quarry1 Volume
To be able to calculate a volume using the QUARRY1 file, you must have a DTM of that file.

1. Make sure that there are no files currently open in graphics by clicking on the Reset Graphics icon on the toolbar .

2. Recall the file QUARRY1.STR into graphics.

 image1.gif

3. Select Surfaces > Create DTM from Layer

 image2.gif

4. Click on the Apply button to create the DTM.

 image3.gif

5. Select File > Save > String / DTM file, and save the file using the default name.
 image4.gif

Now that you have a DTM of the first quarry file, and a DTM of the topography file (created in the previous chapter) you
can calculate the volume between the two DTM surfaces.

When Surpac calculates the volume between two DTM surfaces, you can use a boundary string to give the two files a
common reporting area. In the case of this exercise, the boundary string is boundary string of the quarry string file, which
is string number 3. Before you continue you should check this string to make sure of its direction, and to make sure it is
closed.

6. Select Display > Hide DTM

 image5.gif

7. Click on the Apply button without making any changes.

image6.gif

String number 3 is the outermost string, and in these images it is the red string, but may be a different colour on your
screen due to you having a different set of string styles set.
 image7.gif

8. Select Inquire > Segment Properties

 image8.gif

9. Click on the outermost string, string number 3.

Surpac will place the segment information into the message window.

image9.gif

You should see in the message window that the status is clockwise, which means the string is closed. Now that you know
this, you can start the volume calculation.
10. Select Volumes > Net volume between DTMs

image10.gif
 image11.gif

11. At the top of the form select to use 2 DTM files for the volume.

image12.gif

12. Enter the TOPO1 file as the first DTM, and the QUARRY1 file as the second DTM.
 The order that these file are entered in will make a difference to the final volume that is reported. The general rule is to
make the highest surface the first DTM and the lower file, the second DTM.

Entering the files in this order will result in the final volume having a positive (+ve) volume, and reversing the order will
give a negative (-ve) volume. The absolute value of the volume will be the same regardless of the order of the DTM
surfaces.

13. Leave the Number of quality parameters as the default value of 0. This will be covered at a later stage.

image13.gif

14. Check the box to use a boundary string, and enter the file name of QUARRY1, and enter the string number of the boundary string,
which you found out earlier was string number 3.

image14.gif

15. Once the form has been filled out, click on the Apply button.
 image15.gif

Surpac will create a report on NOT file format. You can give this report any name you wish. By default, the report name
will match that of the second DTM file name.

16. Remove the tick to save the boundary string file. In this case this is not required.
17. Click on the Apply button to continue.
 image16.gif

Surpac will give you the opportunity to save each DTM that has been used to calculate the volume. This action will save
the DTM, but it will be clipped to the boundary string that you have used. In this example it would save the DTM of each
file, but only inside of string number 3.

18. In this example it is not required to save the modified DTM. Click on the Apply button to continue.
 image16.gif

As you have used two DTM surface, you are given the option to save the modified DTM surface twice. Once for the first
surface you entered, TOPO1.DTM, and then a second time for QUARRY1.DTM.

19. Click on the Apply button without making any changes.

Surpac will generate the report, in this case QUARRY1.NOT, and open with your default text editor.
 image17.gif

The report gives a summary of the two DTM surfaces used to calculate the volumes, and at the bottom of the report gives
the volume in units cubed, in this case metres cubed.

20. Make a not of the volume, 8683634.4 m3, which we will use at a later time.
21. Close the text editor.

You have now calculated the volume for quarry at the end of last month.

• Topography to Quarry2 Volume

The next step is to calculate the volume between the topography and the quarry at the end of the current month.
This is the same exercise with a few minor changes to a few forms.

1. Select Volumes > Net volumes between DTMs

image10.gif
 image18.gif

2. Enter the name of QUARRY3 for the second DTM and also for the boundary string, and then click on the Apply button.
 image19.gif

3. Remove the check box to save the boundary string file, and then click on the Apply button.

image16.gif
4. Click on the Apply button to continue without making any changes to the form.

image16.gif

5. Click on the Apply button to continue without making any changes to the form.
 image20.gif

Surpac will generate the report for the second volume calculation.

6. Make a note of the volume for the second calculation, 8787039.0 m3.

You have now calculated the volume for the quarry for the current month. Both of the volumes you have calculated are total mine
volumes, and as a result we now subtract one from the other.
Subtracting the volume for last month, from the volume for this month you are given a volume for the excavation carried out this
current month.
8787039.0
-8683643.4
103395.6 m3
This value can now be checked by calculating the volume between the DTM surface for the quarry at the end of last month, and
the DTM surface for the quarry at the end of the current month.

• Quarry1 to Quarry2 Volume

The next step is to calculate the volume between the two quarry DTM surfaces to calculate the volume for this month.

1. Select Volumes > Net volume between DTMs

image10.gif
 image22.gif

2. Enter QUARRY1 as the first DTM, and QUARRY3 and the second DTM, and then click on the Apply button.

3. Give the report a new name of CURRENT_MONTH1, and remove the tick to save the boundary string. Then click on the Apply
button to continue.
 image23.gif

4. Click on the Apply button to continue without making any changes to the form.

image16.gif
 5. Click on the Apply button to continue without making any changes to the form.

image16.gif
Surpac will then generate the volume report.
image25.gif
You should note the final volume matches what you manually calculated, confirming the result for the current month of mining.
This is just one way to check your volume calculation results. Another way to check your results would be use a totally different
method of calculating a volume.

• End Area Volume Calculation

Another alternative to calculating a volume is to use the end area method. This method will allow you to create sectional outlines
between two DTM surfaces, and then calculate an area, and then a volume based on these outlines.
To be able to use the end area calculation, Surpac must make cross sections through your DTM files. To create the cross
sections, you must define a section line, with coordinates for the start and finish of the line. This is the first step.

1. Make sure that there are no files currently open in graphics by clicking on the Reset Graphics icon on the toolbar .

2. Recall the file QUARRY1.DTM into graphics.

image26.gif
3. Click on the Render button icon on the toolbar.

image28.gif

Now you will work out a start point and a finish point fro your section line. The cross section will be cut at right angles to
the section line, and as a general rule your section line should go along the longest axis of your file.

To show the section line you will create a string using to sets of coordinates.
4. Select Create > Points > By coordinates

image29.gif

5. Enter the coordinates as shown in the following image, and then click on the Apply button.
image30.gif

The first point will be created at the southern end of the quarry.
 image31.gif

6. Enter the coordinates for the second point, as shown in the previous image, and then click on the Apply button.
7. Once the two points have been created, click on the Cancel button to stop creating points.
 image32.gif

This is now showing the line that the sections will created along. This can be saved permanently if required, is not needed
for this exercise.

8. Select Volumes > End area method

image33.gif
 image34.gif

9. Enter the QUARRY1 file as the first surface, and then enter a string range of 1 to 100.
10. Enter the QUARRY3 file as the second surface and then enter a string range of 1 to 100.
11. Enter the QUARRY3 file as containing the boundary string, and enter the string range of 3, and then click on the Apply button.

The end area function will create a note file report that you need to give a name to.
 image35.gif

12. Enter a new location name for the report, and then click on the Apply button.

image36.gif

13. Enter the coordinates that were used do create the section line on the screen in graphics, and then click on the Apply button.
 image37.gif

The range of section defines where the sections will start, where the sections will end, and how often a section will be
created. As the section line that you are using is oblique, the start and end values are based on a chainage along the
section line.

In this case you will just need to change the step value, to tell Surpac to create a section every 5 metres. The closer
together the sections, the more accurate the result will be, but this must be done with some common sense. You don’t
want to have Surpac creating thousands and thousands of sections, when you could get a good result with around a
hundred sections.

14. Change the step value for the sections to 5 metres.

All of the cross sections that are created will be placed into a single string file. You need to give this file a name.

15. Enter a name for the section of ENDAREA1, and then click on the Apply button.
Surpac will now generate the report file, and will also create the string file of the cross sections.

image38.gif
The report contains information about each of the sections that is created. As the sections are summarised, the cumulative
volume is recorded. This results in the last section having the total volume between the two DTM surfaces.

image39.gif
This final figure of 103506.8 m3 matches very well with the DTM volume that you have calculated in the earlier exercises,
103395.6 m3. The difference is 111.2 m3, or 0.01% of the DTM volume. The volume between the DTM functions and the End
Area function will never be exactly the same, but should always be very close.
Another useful tool that can be used is to split the volume report based on bench elevations. This can be done using the section
file that was generated by the end area function.

• Volumes by Elevation (Bench)

Using the string file created in the end area function in the previous exercise you can generate a volume split into elevations.

1. Make sure that there are no files currently open in graphics by clicking on the Reset Graphics icon on the toolbar .
2. Recall the file ENDAREA1.STR into graphics.
image40.gif
 image41.gif

The sections have been created and stored with coordinates of the points in sectional coordinates. This will not affect the
result of splitting the volumes into different elevations.

3. Click on the Display 2D Grid icon on the toolbar .

image42.gif
 image43.gif

You should see that the elevation range for the quarry is from around 60m RL to 180m RL. For the area that you are
interested in, a range of 60 to 120 would be fine.

4. Select Volumes > By elevation from sections

 image44.gif

image44.gif

5. Enter the name of the section file that contains the cross sections.
6. Enter the elevation range starting at 60, finishing at 120, and reporting the volume every 5 metres.

Surpac will generate a report in note file format, and open it with your default text editor. The name of the report will match that of
the string section file, but with the NOT extension.
The report gives a volume for each elevation range, and at the bottom of the report gives the total volume, which is another way
to check your volume calculation from your DTM files.

image45.gif

• Calculating Tonnages using DTM Files

It is also possible to calculate a tonnage for two DTM surfaces, rather than just a volume. To do this you will use the Net volumes
between DTMs, but you will use the quality parameters option.

1. Make sure that there are no files currently open in graphics by clicking on the Reset Graphics icon on the toolbar .
 To use the quality parameters when calculating a volume between two DTM files, you must have the parameter you wish
to use in a file. In the case of this example, you will say that the parameter is a specific gravity.

2. Recall the file SG1.STR into graphics.

image46.gif

This file represents the positions of drill hole collars. Each point has information located in the first description field (D1).

3. Select Inquire > Point properties, and then click on any point.
 image47.gif

This tells you that the information is in the first description field and the string number of all of the points is number 1.

For the Net volumes function to be able to use this data, it must be stored as a DTM file.

4. Select Surfaces > Create DTM from Layer

image48.gif

5. Click on the Apply button to create the DTM.

image2.gif

image50.gif

You must now save the file.

6. Select File > Save > String / DTM file

image51.gif

Now the tonnage can be calculated fro the excavation that has been done in the quarry for this month.

7. Select Volumes > Net volume between DTMs

 image52.gif

8. Check the radio button next to the number of quality parameters to use 1 parameter.
9. Fill the form out using the QUARRY1 and QUARRY2 file as you have done in the previous exercises, and then click on the Apply
button.
 image53.gif

10. Enter a name for the quality parameter. By default this is Specific Gravity.
11. Enter that name of the file that contains the specific gravity information, SG1, and which field the data is stored in.
 image54.gif

12. Select the radial search option to calculate the specific gravity for the entire volume area.

Now you must tell Surpac how to look for points containing specific gravity values to calculate the overall average.

image55.gif

13. Enter the same file name and field as you did on the left hand side of the form.
14. Enter a search radius of 100m, and that there must be 3 sample points found inside this radius to give an average for the specific
gravity.
15. Once the form has been filled out, click on the Apply button to continue.
 image56.gif

16. Enter a name for the report, and remove the tick next to save the boundary string, and then click on the Apply button.

image57.gif
 17. Click on the Apply button without making any changes.

image58.gif

18. Click on the Apply button without making any changes.

Surpac will then open the report with your default text editor.
image59.gif
Note the report has a value for the tonnage, based on the mean of the specific gravity values, as well as the volume.
CHAPTER 13
Stability Monitoring
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Surpac Vision has the ability to store slope stability monitoring information in a database table. The information is taken from
survey information, and graphs are produced over time to show any movement that is taking place.

Exercise 1 – Adding a prism table

To be able to use the stability monitoring tools, you must first add another table to your surveying database. This database will
store the records of the reference points being used to monitor any movement that may be taking place.

Generally the observation points are surveying prisms that are placed in a semi permanent position, and observations are taken
to these prisms at certain intervals, such as once each day, or week.

What you will learn

In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Create a prism table in the surveying database

• Adding a prism table to the surveying database

In this exercise you will add a prism table to the Surface database that was created in the earlier chapters. If you have not
created a survey database yet, work through chapter 4, and then return to this chapter.

1. Open your surface surveying database by selecting File > Open > Survey database.

image1.gif

2. Enter the name of your database, and then click on the Apply button.
 image2.gif

You will now be connected to your database. The next step is to create a table to store your stability monitoring
information.

3. Display the Surveying menu if it is not already displayed.

4. Select Survey database > Administration > Create table
image3.gif
 image4.gif

5. Enter a name for your table. In this exercise you will call your table STABILITY.
6. Make sure that the table type is prism, and that the time dependent box is ticked.

The data being stored must be time dependent, as you want to know how much a point may have moved over a period of
time. So it is important when an observation is made and added a record into the database.

7. Click on the Apply button to go to the next stage of creating the table.
image5.gif
 The next form that is displayed is used to define each of the fields within the table. In the case of a prism table, there are
17 fields that you must have which are listed under the Mandatory fields.

In this exercise you will not add any extra fields under the Optional fields region.

Note that even though Surpac requires certain fields to exist, it does not mean that they have to used. An example of this
might be the temperature or pressure fields. If you did not plan on using these, the best thing that you could do would be
to make these fields accept null values.

8. Click on the Apply button without making any changes to the Define Fields form.

The message window will tell you that the table has been created. Now you can start adding information to the table.

Exercise 2 – Loading data into the stability table

There are several options for you when you want to add information to your stability monitoring table. You could type each
observation in manually, you could automatically load information in from a file, or you could process your information directly
from a surveying instrument.
What you will learn
In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Loading data directly from a surveying instrument input file

o Loading data from a digital file, such as a text file

• Loading data from an input file

You will process an input file from a Geodometer total station that contains prism observations

1. Select Data recorders > Geodat 600 from the surveying menu
 image6.gif

image7.gif

2. Enter the name of the input file, which is PRISM1.INP, and then click on the Apply button.
 image8.gif

The Survey Job Information form does not need to have a surveyors name added if it is not required. The date and time
are added automatically.

3. Enter your name in the Surveyor field, and then click on the Apply button.

image9.gif

The Job Name has come from the input file that you are using.

4. Click on the Apply button for Confirm Processing form without making any changes.
 image10.gif

5. Click on the Apply button for the Confirm Further Processing form.

image11.gif
 Two things will be done when using this method. A string file of the observations will be created, and also the observation
information will be added to the database.

6. Enter a name of SLOPE1 for the string file that will be created.
7. Select the stability monitoring table that you created earlier, in this case it is called stability.
8. Enter an area name of PIT.
9. Click on the Apply button for the New Survey form.

Surpac will then load the information into the database, and create the string file of the observed information.

10. Select Stations > View table from the surveying menu

image13.gif
 image14.gif

11. Select the Stability table, and then click on the Apply button.
image15.gif
 12. Close the table by clicking on the Cancel button once you have finished viewing the records.

Before you can start creating graphs or reports from the slope stability function, you must have at least 3 records for each prism.
As this is the case you will now clear the information from the table, and you will then load a new set of information that can be
used to create graphs and reports.

1. Clearing information from a table

If you wish to remove all of the information from a table it can be easily done using the database administration tools. Be warned
however, that once done, the information cannot be retrieved, it has been permanently deleted. As a result this function should
be used very carefully.

1. Select Survey Database > Administration > Clear table

image16.gif
 image17.gif

2. Select the Stability table to be cleared, and the click on the Apply button

image18.gif

The next form that is displayed is warning you that all information in the selected table will be destroyed. It is important to
remember, once you click on the Apply button you cannot undo this action.
 3. Click on the Apply button to clear out the Stability table.

The message window will inform you that the table has been cleared of all information.
Now that you have an empty table once again you will fill it with a new set of data, using the import functions.
• Importing stability data
You can also automatically load stability monitoring data from a digital file. Before you begin the importing of the data, you should
examine the file that contains all of the information.

1. Locate the file MPRISM.TXT in your file manager.

2. Right hand click on the MPRISM.TXT file, and select edit from the options.

image23.gif

The file will be opened by your default text editor, and it will display a large file.
 image24.gif

It is important to know what each column of information represents so that when you load the information into the
database there are no errors.

3. Close the text after viewing.

4. Select Survey Database > Import data

image19.gif
 image20.gif

5. Enter a name for the importing format file and then click on the Apply button.

image21.gif

6. Click on the Apply button to confirm the creation of the format file.
 image22.gif

7. Remove the tick to include the stations table, and then click on the Apply button to continue.
 image25.gif

The select fields to include form is where you define which column the data is held in the text file, and which field it
matches in the database table. In the case of this example the fields in the text file are already in the order required by the
Stability table.

8. Click on the Apply button without making any changes.

 image26.gif

9. Enter the name of the text file, MPRISM.TXT, and then click on the Apply button to begin the loading.

Surpac will load the information into your database, but in the process you should get several error messages.
image27.gif
 The error messages are the same for each of the records that have been rejected. The problem is that in setting up the
table, you said that for the field prism_area, only upper case information can be entered. In the text file, there were 9
records that contained lower case values. As a result Surpac rejected them.

These problems can be easily fixed, and then the data added to the database.

When records are rejected, they are placed into a special file. The name of the file is the same as the original text file that
was being used to load the data, but the extension of the file is changed to REJ.

In this exercise you were load data from the MPRISM.TXT file, which means that the rejected information was placed into
a file called MPRISM.REJ.

10. On your file manager, locate the file MPRISM.REJ

11. Right hand click in the MPRISM.REJ file, and select the edit option.

image28.gif

You will need to change the word pit from lower case to upper case.
 image29.gif

You will now need to save the file. Make sure when you save the file that you change the extension from REJ to TXT,
giving it a new file name.

12. Save the text file as MPRISM2.TXT

This information can now be loaded into the database.

13. Select Survey Database > Import data

image20.gif

As you have already set the loading format up once, you will be taken directly to the form where you tell Surpac while file
to load from.
 image30.gif

14. Enter the name of the file that you just created, MPRISM2.TXT, and then click on the Apply button.

Surpac will now load the information into the Stability table with no errors.

15. Close the log file report.

You can start using the stability monitoring tools.

• Displaying the movement graphs
With the data loaded into your prism table, you can use that information to display the movement graphs.
When displaying the prism graphs they are placed into a new window, in a similar way to that of the plot preview window.

1. Select File > Open > Stability monitoring window

image31.gif

The first thing that must be done once the stability monitoring window is open is to select which prisms are to be used in
displaying the graphs.
2. Select Stability graphs > Select prism from the menu

image32.gif

When you see the form you are given the option to select the measured attributes. The X, Y and Z are always extracted,
as well as the cumulative displacement.
 image33.gif

3. Select the slope_dist for the measured attributes, and make the time datum 2001, and then click on the Apply button.
 image34.gif

4. Apply the query constraints form without making any changes.

The message window will instruct you as to how many prisms have been selected.

5. Select Stability graphs > Display prism graph

image35.gif

image36.gif
You control what is to be displayed on the graph for the X and Y axis. For the Y axis you can have several values displayed,
each with a different colour to make it easier to distinguish them from each other.
A summary of the various values is listed below.

o delta

The change in the value of a measured attribute from one observation to the next

o velocity

The rate of change of a measured attribute with respect to time. The date/time of the observations are used to calculate the
velocities. To minimise environmental effects in the velocities and accelerations, the velocities may be averaged over a number
of measurements. An increasing velocity curve is a good indicator of an impending failure.

o acceleration

The rate of change of the velocity of a measured attribute with respect to time. Constant or increasing acceleration is a good
indication of impending failure.

1. Select slope_dist, slope_dist – accel and cum disp for the Y axis, giving each a different colour.
2. Select to display all prisms, and then click on the Apply button.
image36.gif

A graph showing all of the prisms, 18 in this example are displayed on the screen.The different colours for each attribute
are displayed.
 The X axis has a date value that is relative to the date you entered in the Select prisms form. In this case, the prism
observations were taken in December 1997, and Jan 1998. As a result, the numbers along the X axis are saying that
those records are –154 weeks from the default date of September 2001.

The Y axis is in units of measurement, in this case in metres.

It makes more sense to look at the graph for each prism one at a time.

3. Select Stability graphs > Next prism graph from the menu

image38.gif
Surpac will now view the next prism graph, in this case the prism graph for prism 10.
image39.gif

To move from one graph to the next you can use the options on the Stability graphs menu, or the next , and previous
button on the tool bar.
image40,41.gif

• Outputting the graphs as GIF images

Once you have displayed the graphs you can also export them as either GIF images, or as string files.
 1. Select File > Save as > Image file

image42.gif

image43.gif

2. Enter a filename for the image to be called, and then click on the Apply button.

The resultant file will be given the extension GIF, and can be opened by any graphical package, or used in products such as
Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
• Create a text report of prism movements
It is also possible to create a text file report of the prism movements. This report will summarise the results for the last recorded
measurements made to each prism.
1. Select Stability graphs > Prism summary report from the menu

image44.gif
 image45.gif

2. At the top of the form, select the summary report.

image46.gif

3. Enter a name for the report that will be created.

image47.gif

Both a text report, and a string file of the prisms will be created, and then name entered will be the same for both.

4. Select the fields to be reported on from the table.

image48.gif

5. Once you have filled out all parts of the form, click on the Apply button.
Your default text editor will open the report automatically.

image49.gif
The report summarises the last observations made to each of the selected prisms . In this example it shows the prism number,
observation date, change in slope distance, the slope distance acceleration and the cumulative displacement.
The detailed report option will give you a summary of all the observations that have been made to each of the selected prisms. In
the case of this example, this would mean that there would be about 50 lines for each prism, making your report quite large.
CHAPTER 14
Least Squares Adjustment
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

The survey network adjustment function allows you to either simulate network adjustments, or adjust survey measurements for a
horizontal control network using the least squares adjustment method.

The method of least squares is based on the theory of probability, simultaneously adjusting the angular and linear
measurements to make the sum of the squares of the residuals a minimum. This method is valid for any type of traverse survey,
regardless of the relative precision of angle and distance measurements, since each measured quantity can be assigned a
relative weight.

This function is a good tool for calculating a homogeneous set of coordinates for a mapping, engineering or mining project. As
the control network is extended, it is normal to come across different techniques of measurements, or different equipment used
to obtain those measurements. The survey network adjustment will make use of any combination of observations, including
traversing, triangulation, intersections or resections.

It is very important to note that these adjustments are performed in two dimensions (2D), such as northings (Y), and eastings (X)
only, not in the Z plane. Any adjustment for level would have to be done independently of the adjustment for northing and
easting.

Exercise 1 – Least Squares Adjustment

This section will cover using the survey network adjustment, taking advantage of the least squares method of either adjusting, or
simulating a survey network.

What you will learn

In this exercise you will cover the following topics:

o Information needed for adjustment

o Errors and standard deviation
o Entering of observations
o Interpreting the results

• Entering observed data

Before any adjustment can be carried out, the stations that you wish to adjust must exist inside of a Surpac surveying database.
This first section will involve loading the survey stations into your surface database.
Note – If you do not have the Surface database that was created in the earlier chapters, run the macro lsdb.tcl, which will create
an empty database. This will create a surface database called LEAST_SQUARES.
The first step is to load the station information that is to be adjusted into your database.

1. In your file manager, locate the file LEASE.TXT and right hand click on the file. Select the EDIT option.

image1.gif
 This shows the 8 survey stations that will be used in the adjustment. They need to be loaded in your station database
before you can proceed to the next stage.

2. Close the text editor.

3. Make sure you are connected to your survey database, and that the surveying menu is displayed.

4. Select Survey database > Import data

image2.gif

image3.gif
5. Enter a format file name of LEASE, and then click on the Apply button.

image4.gif

6. Click on the Apply button for the confirmation form.

image5.gif

7. Remove the include tick for the stability table, and then click on the Apply button.
 image6.gif

8. Click on the Apply button on the select fields form without making any changes.
 image7.gif

9. Enter that text file name of LEASE.TXT, and then click on the Apply button.

Surpac will load the stations into your database without any errors.

You can now view the stations on screen to see how they are positioned relative to each other.

10. Select Stations > Display stations from database

 image8.gif

image9.gif

11. Enter an area name of LEASE, and select a colour of your choice, then click on the Apply button.
 Note - If you do not enter the area name, all of stations in your database will be displayed.

12. Once the stations have been displayed, hit Cancel on the station form.

image11.gif
You can now commence the adjustment using the LEASE station that you have just loaded into your database.
• Survey Network Adjustment

1. Select Surface surveys > Network adjustment

image13.gif

image14.gif

The adjustment option at the top of the form will adjust the angles and directions or distances that you supply.

The simulation option will calculate "pseudo" observations between the stations that you specify, making it possible to
design a network, which will yield new points of a given precision (i.e. Error Ellipses of a given size) or new points, where
the bearing and distance between them is of a given precision
2. Select the adjustment option at the top of the form.

image15.gif

3. Select to save the stations to the database.

image16.gif

This will adjust the LEASE stations that are currently in your database. There is no undo function to the adjustment, so it
is a good idea not to save the station for the first adjustment, which will allow you to check the results before any
permanent changes are made to your station coordinates.

If you are running a Simulation, it is meaningless to save the resulting coordinates to a database, as the observations are
only simulated.

4. Remove the tick next to use existing input file, as at this stage you do not have one that you can use.
5. Enter a name for the input file, in this case LEASE1.

All of the observation data that you enter into the adjustment form will be saved to this input file. This file can then be used
again at a later date if required. This is a handy function especially if you have some extra observation data you wish to
incorporate into your adjustment. Instead of having to enter all of your observed data, you will only need to add the new
observations.
6. Click on the Apply button to continue.

image17.gif

The survey network observations form is very large and will be dealt with a piece at a time.
 The top section of the form contains inputs will be placed onto the top of the text file report that Surpac will generate after
the adjustment. These fields can be left blank if required, except for the file name, which must be filled out.

image18.gif

7. Fill out the adjustment notes at the top of the form.

Next you must select whether the adjustment will be carried out on a spheroid or a plane, and the maximum iterations that
will be used.

image19.gif

When selecting the Plane option, all data is processed as it is entered with no adjustments made for curvature of the
earth. This is the option that you would use if adjusting for a local mine grid.

The maximum iterations will determine the number of times the process is repeated to calculate the new coordinates. The
adjustment will be repeated until all adjustments to the coordinates of the provisional stations are less that 1 metre, or until
the maximum number of iterations are exceeded.
8. Leave the spheroid as plane, and the number of iterations as 3.

Next you will enter the names of the stations that you will be performing the adjustment for.

image20.gif

The station entry section is split into two parts, either fixed or unfixed.

The fixed stations are those that will not be altered by your adjustment. These stations must exist in the database.

The unfixed stations will be changed during the adjustment. Provisional coordinates (or initial coordinates) for the unfixed
stations must also be contained within the database. Generally the provisional coordinates come from your original
surveys.

9. Enter the fixed and unfixed stations as shown in the previous image.
10. Click on the Direction tab in the middle of the form.
 image21.gif

The directions part of the form allows you to enter any known directions between stations. These directions are known
bearings. The information for the known directions can come from many sources, such as previous traversing, previous
adjustments, G.P.S. observations GYRO observation or even astronomical observations.

The direction value id a bearing and is entered in the form of degrees, minutes and seconds (DDD.MM.SSss).

In this exercise there are no known directions.

11. Click on the Distances tab.

 image22.gif

The distance information that is entered here is HORIZONTAL distance information, that also has a standard deviation
and parts per million associated with it. These values can be found in the manufacturers manual for your specific EDM
unit.

12. Enter the distance information as shown on the following table.

Setup Foresight Distance Std Dev PPM

LP2 LP3 1397.084 +0.005 + 3.0 ppm

LP3 LP4 626.437 +0.005 + 3.0 ppm

LP4 LP5 466.100 +0.005 + 3.0 ppm

LP5 LP6 570.714 +0.005 + 3.0 ppm

 LP6 LP7 942.180 +0.005 + 3.0 ppm

LP7 LP8 405.144 +0.005 + 3.0 ppm

LP8 LP1 401.209 +0.005 + 3.0 ppm

LP1 LP2 1285.210 +0.005 + 3.0 ppm

13. Click on the Angles tab.

image23.gif

Enter the observation in the form backsight, setup, foresight. The angle is entered in degrees, minutes and seconds
(DDD.MM.SSss), and also includes a centring error, and a standard deviation.

The centring error is an estimate of the error of placing the theodolite and its target over or under a station. A suitable
value for this is usually found in the manual for your theodolite.
 This is a critical piece of data in any network adjustment where the lines are shorter than 1000m. If the theodolite or its
target has a centring error, the overall precision of the network can be affected, especially the computed bearing and
distance between new stations.

The standard deviation must also be entered. This can also generally be obtained from your theodolite manufacturers
manual. It is important to note that if you are to optimistic about the precision of your observations, then you will put a
strain on the network, which may result in the coordinates of the new points being seriously in error.

14. Enter the angle information as shown on the following table.

Backsight Setup Foresight Angle Centring Std Dev

LP1 LP2 LP3 217.4250 + 0.005 + 3.0

ppm

LP2 LP3 LP4 299.3238 + 0.005 + 3.0

ppm

LP3 LP4 LP5 191.2305 + 0.005 + 3.0

ppm

LP4 LP5 LP6 224.2621 + 0.005 + 3.0

ppm

LP5 LP6 LP7 151.2250 + 0.005 + 3.0

ppm

LP6 LP7 LP8 269.5655 + 0.005 + 3.0

ppm
 LP7 LP8 LP1 180.0129 + 0.005 + 3.0
ppm

LP8 LP1 LP2 265.3353 + 0.005 + 3.0

ppm

LP3 LP4 LP2 267.0349 + 0.005 + 3.0

ppm

LP3 LP2 LP4 26.3624 + 0.005 + 3.0

ppm

15. Once all of the information has been entered click on the Apply button to begin the adjustment.

Two files will be created by the adjustment. The fist file is a *.adj file which contains all of the inputs that were entered. This file
can be used again if required by simply selecting that you wish to use an existing input file at the beginning of the adjustment.
The second file that is created is the *.not file report which contains all of the adjustment information. Each part of the adjustment
will be covered in detail.
image24.gif

• Survey Network Adjustment Results

The first part of the report covers the information that was entered at the top of the adjustment form, and also the stations that
were involved in the adjustment, as shown in the previous image.
The next part of report contains all of the observed data between stations that was entered.

image25.gif
The next section of the report covers the EDIT ERRORS.
image26.gif
These errors show any observations where the difference between the computed and observed bearings and distances is
greater than 3 times the standard deviation.
In most cases, these errors are created by a lack of precision in the choice of the provisional coordinates of the unfixed stations
in the network. If a particular station is mentioned in a number of edit errors, its provisional coordinates should be recalculated.
The next section refers to the SOLUTION OF NORMALS, and this refers to a list of the final adjustment to the provisional
coordinates.

image27.gif
The final coordinates are given in the next section of the report.

image28.gif
These are the coordinates that were placed into your database, overwriting the previous values.
Following the final coordinates, are the corrections made to each of the observations.
image30.gif
At the bottom of the corrections to observations is a list, which gives you an indication of the validity of the adjustment.
image31.gif
The things to note are the number of redundancies, which should always be greater than zero, otherwise there is no point in
doing the adjustment.
The next section gives information covering the standard error ellipses and relative error ellipses for each station. The standard
error ellipses list is an estimate of the precision of the coordinates of the new stations with a 46% confidence limit.

image32.gif
The direction of the major axis is an indicator of the direction of the strength of the network.
The relative error ellipses are listed when there are two or more new stations in the adjustment.

image33.gif
The information given shows the standard deviation of the bearing and distance between any pair of intervisible new stations.
The final part of the report is the station summary. This gives the computed bearings and distances between all intervisible
stations in the network.
image34.gif