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NovaPOINT 2000
Road Basic
Basic tutorial
Tutorial-road-basic.doc October 2000 I
ViaNova
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Contents
STEP 1 - CREATE DIRECTORY AND START-ICON.............................................................................. 1
STEP 19 - EDIT AND CREATE SET-UP FOR THE HORIZONTAL ALIGNMENT .......................... 70
STEP 28 - ROAD MODEL (VIPS), BICYCLE PATH PARALLEL TO THE ROAD ........................ 113
Directory Structure:
2. Copy the following files to the C:\PRO\TUT\DTM directory from the tutorial
directory on the CD.
MAP-3D.DWG.SOS
TUTORIAL.KOF
RAILWAY.KOF
ROCK.DWG
3. Move the cursor to the Start menu. Click the right mouse button and select
Explore with the left mouse button.
4. Double click on Programs Files and then double click on POINT5. Select the
POINT5.EXE icon with the left mouse button and click the right mouse button.
Select Create Shortcut. Create Shortcut makes a new icon that is named
Shortcut to POINT5.EXE.
Select the Shortcut to POINT5.EXE and click the right mouse button. Select Cut,
and point at your desktop/screen. Click the right mouse button again and click
Paste.
5. Point at the icon and click the right mouse button again. Select Properties. This
dialog box appears:
Select start in directory C:\PRO\TUT\DWG just as the example shows. Click OK.
6. Select your icon and point once more at the text under the icon. Rename the icon
to Tutorial as the example shows.
If you later on want to create more project icons you can copy the icon you already
have created. Point at the icon Tutorial and click the right mouse button. Select
Copy and point at your desktop/screen. Go through step 5 and 6 to change the
name and working directory for your new project.
If the dialog box PROJECT-ID appears, click Cancel on this for now. We will come
back to this later.
2. To be sure that you start the right NovaPOINT menu and licenses select Point
Menu and Select Application. This dialog box appears:
Control that the applications you want to use is marked with Start under the
Action column, in this case one or more of these applications:
Double click the NovaPOINT module NovaPOINT Road Professional and then
click the OK button.
The dialog box for Project-ID /Project Settings appears automatically when starting a new
drawing. We shall now fill in the values we needs in this project.
2. Click the new project button and browse to the working directory, i.e.
C:\PRO\TUT\DWG, and write TUTORIAL. Click Save.
3. Click on the Terrain and Map tab and the new DTM button and browse to
C:\PRO\TUT\DTM and write DTM-TUT. This is now the name of the terrain model.
4. Click on the Road/Street tab and the new Road/Street button and browse to
C:\PRO\TUT\ROAD and write ROAD-1.
5. We have now created a Project ID for the specific project, a Road project and a
Digital terrain model. This must be done at the start of all new projects.
6. Next you set the Scale you want to use on the final plan and profile drawings.
The frame size, the font size, object size, line type scale, block size and hatching
are all dependent on the selected Drawing Scale.
Select a horizontal scale, e.g. 1:1000. The vertical scale is automatically set with
an exaggeration of 5. This can be edited as required.
8. Select Horizontal Scale 1:1000 and Vertical Scale 1:200 and click OK.
Select object and a specialised menu for the selected object appears:
Scale – Sets the horizontal and vertical scale for the drawing.
Frame - Draws standard frames. Frame size depending on the selected scale.
Select licenses – Sets the licenses of NovaPOINT which you can use .
• File extensions
+ *.GDD
+ *.GDH
+ *.GDI
+ *.GDN
+ *.TMG
+ DWG
+ KOF
+ SOSI (Norwegian)
+ ASCII formats
• Calculations
DATA Storage
• All data is given
- a feature code
- a group number
• Feature code
- a number code
- tells the DTM what the data is
e.g. 7003 = Road CL, 5001 = Building
- the standard feature code register is SOSI
- user defined feature code register
• Group number
- a number code
- used to sort data
+ data priority
+ geographically
- group number a number between 1 - 99 999
• Calculations
• Statistics / control functions
• Generate sections / profiles
• Ground layers / levels
• Exporting data
LEVEL
Every Group number must be given a Level / Priority:
- Level 0 must exist in the whole model area
- Level 0 is the original terrain, e.g. digitized maps
- Level > 0 priority terrain with a lower level, e.g. surveyed
data
- Level < 0 separates sub-surface layers
Triangle model
Grid model
Database maintenance
• Verifying
• Database maintenance
- Refreshing DTM properties file
- Reindexing
- Compressing
The drawing MAP-3D.DWG contains existing roads and a grid of terrain points.
This drawing contains a grid of terrain points, existing roads and a boundary line.
The boundary line is a closed polyline on the layer Boundary-line.
3. Select from the menu NovaPOINT – Drawing to DTM. This dialog box then
appears:
4. Fill in the dialog box as the example shows and press the Proceed button.
The next step is to select the elements from your drawing. The following appears
on the command line:
• Select objects: select all elements in your drawing by choosing a window
around all the elements, or by using the AutoCAD
command All.
Press the right mouse button after selecting all elements in your drawing.
This dialog box shows the connection between the layers in AutoCAD and the
feature code in the DTM in NovaPOINT.
The program suggests a feature code based on the layer name in AutoCAD, but
you can change or edit the codes.
Point in the column for feature code for layer Grid-terrain and type in code 2001.
You should also change the group numbers for the different layers as shows in the
dialog box below:
6. All the elements from the drawing are stored in the DTM.
Press on the DTM toolbar and this dialog box comes up:
7. Select group 10 in the list and press the right mouse button. The menu comes
up:
8. Do the same for group 20. The example under shows what the text should be:
10. The grid terrain points and the existing road are now stored in the terrain model.
The next step is to triangulate and generate contours for this area. The triangles
will be used to generate terrain sections, and the contours will be used as a
background for constructing our road project.
The first thing we have to do is to save the boundary line from the drawing as a
boundary line in the terrain model.
11. Select from the menu Road – 3D – Create border line in terrain model and this
dialog box appears:
We can keep the values that the function suggests for the feature code and the
group number.
Press Proceed and you get this question on the commando line:
• Pick a line, arc, polyline:
Select the boundary line by pointing at it with the left mouse button and then
press the right mouse button.
The boundary line is now stored in the terrain model with the status as a data
boundary line. This line will be used as a limit line for triangulation. Remember to
edit the group text as in point 7.
12. The next step is to generate triangles and contour for our project.
Start a new drawing. Select Use a Template and Novap_UK.dwt. Save the new
drawing as CONTOURS on the \DWG directory.
13. Press the button under the toolbar for the terrain model and this dialog box
appears:
Make sure you fill in this box as the example shows. Create a new group 11
and insert the feature code 2200 using the Select Feature Code:
14. Point at the map Contouring and this dialog box appears:
15. Point at the map Draw triangles and make sure the Draw triangle model as…
are set to None
16. Point at the map Draw contour and this dialog box appears:
The triangles are now drawn up. Press OK to continue. The next step is storing
the triangles to the terrain model. This may take a few minutes.
The contours are drawn. Press OK to continue. When the function is finished it
closes and you’re back in your AutoCAD drawing.
18. Use Zoom and Extents and the contours are drawn up. Go to the Layers function
and change the layer colours, for instance:
1m-contour: Cyan
5m-contour: Yellow
1. Select – View/edit … in the DTM toolbar by pressing this button and the
model will appear:
The terrain model will be displayed in colours like the example shows. If no
different colours appear then click zoom all.
Zoom window. Select lower left, lower left and upper right corner
Try all these buttons to know all the possibilities. Notice that the line colours are
elevation sensitive. Light green colours represent lowest elevation while red
colours represent the highest elevations inside the zoom area.
3. We will now look at the different edit commands that are possible in the DTM
(Quadridatabase). Select a line and click right mouse button. This dialog box
appears:
Delete object deletes selected object. Be aware that there is no undo command.
In this box you can edit any value. Select a line and click on the value you will edit
e.g. Z value. Write the correct value and click ↵. You can also set the same z-value
for all the points along the line by pressing the right mouse button and selecting
Set all points to same Z-value. Close the window.
Object information:
Object information displays feature code and group number for a selected line.
You can give the line or object a dedicated name by writing it in the Object field.
You can also change feature code and group number by clicking the respective
buttons.
In this example we have the co-ordinates for all the houses in this KOF file. The heights
are the heights of the roofs on the houses, and not the heights on the ground.
In another KOF file we have co-ordinates for a new railway that has been built after the
map has been constructed. This information is newer than the existing map and will be
saved to the terrain model on a higher level than the terrain.
1. Select – Import or click the button from NovaPOINT – Terrain model (DTM)
to display this dialog box:
2. Select the file Tutorial.kof and click Open. This dialog box appears:
4. The KOF file is now imported and this dialog box appears when finished:
5. The next step is to import the second KOF file, RAILWAY.KOF. Save this file to
group 40.
6. Next step is to study the group view in the DTM to write explanatory text to
remember what the different groups are.
Click the button and the dialog box Terrain Model Properties appears:
7. Double click on the group 30 line and a dialog box displays. Fill in as the
example shows. Press Ok.
8. Double click on the group 40 line and a dialog box displays. Fill in as the
example shows. Make sure you fill in level 1 under Priority. Press Ok.
9. Point at the map Feature Code and this dialog box appears:
Point at the line 5001 – Buildings. Then go to the column for Elevation and press
once. The text Ignore comes up. This means that the heights of this feature code
is ignored and will not be used in any calculation. In this example this is correct as
the heights of the houses are measured on the roof and not on the ground level.
2. Select from the menu NovaPOINT – Drawing to DTM and this dialog box appears:
3. Fill in with group number 50 and press Proceed. Select all elements in the
drawing and press the right mouse button.
Select group 50 and click twice on the group. This dialog box comes up:
6. The next step is to triangulate the rock bore points. Turn all groups off except
group 50.
Fill in as the example shows. Make sure that group 51 has level –1 and code RL,
the same as group 50.
Press Execute. The triangles are calculated and drawn. Press OK and the
triangles are stored in the terrain model in the group 51 with level -1.
There are many functions in the DTM that are useful to know. These are the most used
functions:
1. Group / feature
Click the DTM Properties button to get the following dialog box:
Group shows you all geographical or logical groups in your DTM. Here you can
switch status on or off, edit text, type, priority and level. Select a line and click right
mouse button in the selected field to edit. This will give you a small box to edit the
values especially for the picked field. Try this for all the different fields.
Feature code gives you an overview over all the feature codes in the DTM. Here
you can switch the different feature codes on or off and edit text, status and height.
Select a line and click right mouse button in the field you want to edit. Then you will
get a small dialog box with the values belonging to the selected feature code. Try
this for all the different fields.
Be aware of the field Elevation. When the elevation is set to Include the elevation
is used when generating profiles, sections and volumes. When the elevation is set
to Ignore the elevation for this feature code is NOT used, but you can still see the
line when you draw the DTM map, e.g. houses, buildings, electric cables etc.
Here all values for generating profiles and sections are set. Pay special attention to
the parameters Profile width and Search width.
Click the Feature Code Register button and this box will appear:
Feature code register sets all feature codes that can be uses and how they shall
be used. Click the button Details >> and you get more details about the selected
feature code.
Here you can edit the feature code text and name of NovaPOINT/AutoCAD layer.
You can:
- create new registers
- delete a register
- insert new feature codes
- delete feature codes
- change colour, line type, symbol for the feature code
- etc.
All changes that are made to the feature code register are saved in a file called
TEMAKODE.BAN. This file is located in the directory \POINT5.CFG.
Click OK to finish.
3. Database info
This dialog box shows different info about your active terrain model.
Select from the menu NovaPOINT – Terrain model - Database Info and this
dialog box appears:
The Info group card views groups, the number of feature codes, and the number
of points for every single group of data.
The Info Feature codes card views all feature codes in the DTM, how many
groups they are in, how many objects and how many points with the specific
feature code.
The Group extent (X and Y) card views Min. and. Max. X (Northing) and Y
(Easting), delta X and delta Y.
The Group extent (Z) views minimum, maximum and delta values for Z-value for
every single group.
4. Help
The terrain model has a standard windows help file system.
1. Create a New Drawing. Save and give the new drawing the name MAP under the
DWG directory. Set the Scale to 1:1000 and set Active DTM to
C:\PRO\TUT\DTM\DWG-TUT in the Project Properties (Project ID) dialog box.
2. Select Map from DTM from the NovaPOINT menu and this dialog box appears:
3. Look at the Group number and Feature code. Click these buttons and notice that
you can select the feature codes and group numbers you want to import. Only the
active groups and feature codes will be imported. This is exactly the same data as
you can see from the DTM module.
Press the Group number button and this dialog box comes up:
Check the different groups. Mark the groups you want to import as shown in the
example above. Freeze the groups 10,11, 50, 51 and 100. Press OK.
4. Press the Feature code button and this dialog box appears:
Press OK and you come back to the Map from Quadridatabase dialog box.
5. Press the Select button and you get a preview of the map. Then you are asked to:
• Select first corner of the window :
• Select second corner of the window :
• Select third corner of the window :
Point at the lower left corner of the window you want, then the lower right
corner and the upper right corner. Then the dialog box appears again. Press OK
to import the map.
6. After the Map has been drawn to AutoCAD check the AutoCAD layers that are
automatically set as you import map from quadridatabase. The feature code is the
last four digits in the layer name.
7. Longitudinal Profile
This function draws a longitudinal profile along selected line or polyline in
AutoCAD. We can use this function to control the DTM data. (Be aware that height
zero is not the same as unspecified height –999)
Click the button under the DTM Toolbar and you will get this:
• Insert point for section : <0.00,0.00,0.00> : select the point you want the
longitudinal profile frame to
start (lower left frame corner)
The following drawing shows an example including Levels 0 and 1 from the DTM
(digital terrain model).
Draw some longitudinal profiles just to check the terrain data. When you are
satisfied that the DTM is OK, you can just delete the profiles with the erase
command. We don’t want to save these profiles as a part of the drawing.
2. Start up AutoCAD’s Layer function and create a new layer called GRID. Set this
layer to CURRENT.
Select from the menu NovaPOINT - Drawing - Grid and this dialog box appears:
Fill in as the example shows and press Draw grid <. You will get the following
question on the command line:
The grid will now be drawn in your drawing on the current layer.
3. Select from the pull down menu NovaPOINT – Drawing – Scale bar and this
dialog box appears:
Fill in as the example shows and press Ok - Draw. You will get the following
question on the command line:
2. Mapping symbols
Select for the menu NovaPOINT – Mapping Symbols and this dialog box
appears:
Select the symbol you want by pointing at the symbol and then press OK. You
will get the following question on the command line:
All these symbols are inserted into the drawing as shown in the example.
Select one of the line types and you get a preview of the line type in the upper part
of the dialog box.
When you have finished with the line type press this button
Start up NovaPOINT – Draw / edit map lines again and select another line type.
Press Change and select a line in your drawing. The line type will then be
changed to the one you choose.
4. Fill areas
This function is used to fill areas with solid colour. The function is mostly used to fill
houses and / or lakes or rivers with solid colour.
Start up AutoCAD’s Layer command and create a new layer called FILLED-
HOUSES. Set this layer to CURRENT and press OK.
Select from the menu NovaPOINT – Tools – Fill areas and your get this question
on the command line:
All the houses that are on layer M--DI---05001 will now be filled with solid colour.
The function uses BYLAYER as the colour so it’s easy to change the colour later
by changing it in the Layer command.
1. Start a new drawing and use the template Novap_Uk.dwt. Press OK if the
project-ID dialog box appears. Save this new drawing as GEOMETRY on the
DWG directory. Set the Scale to 1:1000.
2. Create a new layer named MAPS in your drawing and set this layer CURRENT.
The external files will be connected to the current layer in your drawing. This
makes it easier to turn on or off all the layers of the external drawings.
3. Select from the menu Insert and External Reference. A dialog box appears.
Press Attach.
4. Fill in as the example shows and press Ok. Always use co-ordinates 0,0,0 as
insertion point for maps when you use external references.
5. Use Zoom and Extents to see the drawing with the MAP drawing inserted.
6. Select from the menu Insert and External references and then insert the
CONTOURS drawing into the GEOMETRY drawing. Use co-ordinates 0,0,0 here
too.
7. Notice that both the external reference files are connected to the layer MAPS.
This means that it is easy to freeze or thaw both the drawings by freezing this
single layer.
8. It is also possible to freeze single layers within the external references. Freeze the
layer MAP|M--DI---05001 and see that the houses are frozen.
9. It’s possible to cut out part of the external reference. This can be very useful if the
map is much larger than the map area you really need.
10. Draw a closed polyline around the area that you want to cut out. It is important
that you close the polyline. (E.g. use C in the polyline command). The area inside
the polyline will be kept, and the area outside will be cut out.
11. Select from the menu Modify – Clip - Xref. You will get this question on the
command line:
• Select polyline:
select the polyline
The example below shows the situation after the CLIP function has been used.
Longitudinal profile
Terrain profile
Cross-section
1. Select AutoCAD Layers and create the new layer Road. Set this layer Current,
and set the Colour to red.
2. If it is difficult to select specific lines you can freeze the layers that include the
contour lines.
3. Use the Polyline command and draw a polyline with straight lines and arc. This
illustration shows an example:
4. The easiest way of creating a horizontal alignment from this line is to use NCO.
Press this button on the NovaPOINT standard toolbar. You will get the
following question on the command line:
Select Draw as and Centreline (DRALIN). Your polyline will now be drawn as a
centreline with the active set-up for centrelines as the example below shows:
5. This method is very easy but you don’t have full control over tangent points or the
radiuses for the line. This next example shows a similar way of construction where
you use polyline and fillet with fixed radius values.
6. Draw a polyline with only straight lines as the example below shows:
7. Start up the Fillet command and point at Radius in the right screen menu. Type in
the radius you want e.g. 400, followed by enter.
Press enter one more time to start up the Fillet command again.
Then point at the first straight line of your polyline and then the second straight
line.
An arc with radius 400 is now placed between my first and second straight line on
my polyline as the example shows.
8. Start up Fillet again and select Radius in the right screen menu. Type in the
radius you want and press enter. Press enter one more time to start up the Fillet
command again.
Then point at the second straight line of your polyline and then the third
straight line.
The example below shows the polyline that contain three straight lines and to arcs.
9. Press this button on the NovaPOINT standard toolbar. You will get the
following question on the command line:
Select Draw as and Centreline (DRALIN). Your polyline will now be drawn as a
centreline with the active set-up for centrelines as the example below shows:
Static alignment design includes calculation for horizontal alignments. The calculation also
includes several functions and calculations for editing the horizontal alignment, e.g. cut,
offset, move, etc. We will now calculate an alignment including transition curves /
clothoids and create backup files of the alignment.
1. Start with a continuos polyline build of straight lines and curves defined with the
fillet command, e.g. the polyline you just designed in previous exercises.
2. Select from the menu Road - Horizontal Alignment Design - Static Alignment
Design (DAKMAN) or click the button.
3. Press Select line(s) and select the polyline, or eventually select each single
element in the correct order by picking with the left mouse button. Finish by
clicking the right mouse button.
All data’s from the line elements now appears in the list box.
To edit a single element you can mark the single element and the element data’
will appear under the list box. Mark the value you want to edit and correct the
value. Then press Enter. The new value will appear in the table.
4. To insert transition curves on both sides of a curve, mark the curve element and
press the Insert element button. A new element has now been inserted before the
curve. Mark the curve element once more and press the Insert element after
button and an element has been inserted after the curve. Mark the new elements
and give the parameter A for the both clothoids. Press Enter to save the input.
5. Click Calculate. If required the input data and the result data can be stored to
ASCII files, write CL-1.NDB for NADB input file. Click Enter. The file names for the
result and TIT files are automatically updated.
6. Lines 90, 91, 92 and 93 can be used to save administrative data as the example
shows you. Line 01 has some options to define increasing (+1) or decreasing (-1)
station numbers, 0.000 means start station at station 0.
Press Calculate.
7. The ASCII files can be viewed by selecting View input, view result, view
TenTable from the calculation.
Note: These files are not required for the rest of the design process, but they are
useful as a backup or for documentation.
9. Click OK to finish the horizontal alignment calculation. The calculated line appears
in the list box.
Finish by clicking the Close button. You are now back in the dialog box Static
Alignment Design.
11. Click OK-Draw. Answer Yes to the question ”Delete all selected lines before
updating?” The active project settings for horizontal alignment will be used in the
drawing.
TIPS !!!
Static Alignment Design can also be used to:
• Design parallel horizontal alignments
• Design parallel horizontal elements in horizontal alignments
• Cut sections from an horizontal alignment
• Change the start profile number for the horizontal alignment
• Reverse the direction for the horizontal alignment
• Change clotoide or radius parameters
• Change fixed points for an element in an horizontal alignment
Draw Horizontal Alignment controls the drawing layout for the Horizontal Alignment.
NovaPOINT has a number of standard settings, but you are free to create your own set of
parameters and these will be saved to the Project ID file. Standard national settings can
also be created. All parameters can be edited in a dialog box with a separate graphic
area. The graphic area previews the active line with the selected settings.
1. Start Draw Horizontal Alignment (DRALIN) from the Road menu or click the
button, which will give you the following dialog box:
2. This function can draw a horizontal alignment which has been saved to an ASCII
file or Objects that have been saved to the DTM. Click File (TITIN) and Road-
1.TIT, then Open.
3. Point at the arrow under Select set-up. A list will show you the existing available
settings:
4. Select e.g. DRALIN-3 and notice the graphic area. Select other settings (DRALIN-
1, DRALIN-2 and DRALIN-4), and notice the changes in the graphic area.
When you have decided which settings you want click OK. The horizontal
alignment that already exists in your drawing will not change, but the setting for
new horizontal alignments are changed.
Using NCO, mark the horizontal alignment and select Update the line. The
horizontal alignment is now drawn with the new setting.
The function Draw horizontal alignment can be used to edit standard set-ups or to create
a new set-up. These changes are saved in the Project ID for your project
(C:\PRO\TUT\DWG\Tutorial.ncp). If you create a new Project ID you will only get the
standard set-ups.
1. Start Draw horizontal alignment again. Click the button to display the dialog
box:
We will now see how we can create new set-up for the horizontal alignment.
Set colour by clicking the Colour field and set Colour Black/white
Click Line type and continuous.
4. Click button Add to… which will open a list over the elements to choose from:
Select Circle and At the tangent point. Click Ok and Add to… once more.
Select Radius/Transition p., and Along the element. Click Ok and Add to …
one more time.
You will now see the drawing changes in the graphic area of the dialog box. Select
some more parameters as required.
5. The next step is to change the set-up that decides how each element is to be
drawn.
It is possible to adjust the parameters for interval, size, colour, line type, length,
layer and labels.
6. Select each of the elements, one by one, and Configure…. Edit the values as
required. Click Ok to finish and save each element.
7. When you are pleased with your set-up click Ok. The drawing set-up is active and
saved for your drawing. The set-up is saved in the Project ID for your project.
1. Zoom until you are able to select the outer lane or shoulder line for your road. The
lane can be designed by Design Horizontal Alignment - Functions – Offset as
in the figure below. Here lanes are designed by offsetting the Centreline.
2. Select from the menu Road – Bonus – Parking lot and you’ll get the following
questions on the Command line:
• Pick a line, arc, polyline: Pick a line and click right mouse button
• Pick left or right side: Pick at the side of the line to draw the bays
3. Select Vehicle from the right screen menu. Type in code 3 to select a private car
and press enter.
4. Select the Move function. You can now move the cursor along your line and the
parking lots will follow. Click the left mouse button to ”fasten” the parking area
again.
5. Try also the other parameters and notice the changes in the drawing.
Finish by selecting Draw and the parking area will be drawn as elements to the
current layer.
The figure below shows 10 parking lots placed parallel to lane line.
1. Zoom until you can mark e.g. a shoulder line as the figure below shows:
2. Select from the menu Road – Bonus – Bus stop and you’ll get the following
questions on the Command line:
3. The function previews a bus stop. You get a menu on the right side of screen with
the parameters for the bus stop.
4. Try the Move function. Move the cursor and notice that the bus stop follows along
the shoulder line. Click left mouse button to “fasten” the bus stop again.
5. Try also the other parameters and notice the changes in the drawing.
Finish by selecting Draw and the bus stop is drawn as elements to the current
layer.
1. Use the Zoom function to zoom to a part of the drawing where you easily can both
pick at the horizontal alignment and at the same time have be enough space to
draw the longitudinal profile frame, e.g. to the right or under the map area.
2. Select from the menu Road – Profile generation – Longitudinal profile or press
the button.
4. Mark the Break lines on if it is not already marked. Check the From Station and
To Station values and make sure they are correct for your project. Press Select
frame and this dialog box appears:
Fill in following values for Layer 2: Distance/level –1 and Sub surface code 6 as
the example shows:
Distance/level -1 points to the groups with level –1 in the terrain model. If the
value is given without minus, it would mean the Layer2 is 1m below the terrain
surface.
7. Make sure that the groups 11, 20, 30, 40 and 51 are active. Press OK.
You are now back in dialog box Sub surface layer. Press Ok.
If your model contains few terrain lines (terrain lines not parallel to the alignment)
you can increase the search width to make sure the profile cuts enough terrain
lines. Press Ok.
You will see the longitudinal profile from start to end. Adjust the height and location
of the frame by adjusting Height and Min Y. Click Ok when you are finished.
11. You will be told: «Point at location». OBS! Do NOT press Enter or right mouse
button, but point at the location in your drawing where you want the lower left
corner of the frame to be drawn. If you do not point at the wanted location, but
instead press Enter the profile will be drawn at the co-ordinates 0, 0 in the
drawing.
12. The longitudinal terrain profile and a standard frame will now be drawn. If the
DTM/Quadri base includes a sub-surface layer i.e. Rock/Level –1, then this layer
will also be drawn.
This function is used to design, optimise and finally export the vertical alignment. You can
enter the VPI’s by pointing along the longitudinal profile or you can write the co-ordinates
as station number and elevation.
1. Use NCO and point at the frame of the terrain profile. The frame is a NovaPOINT
object.
2. A small menu will appear on right side of screen. The same functions can be
started from the command line by pressing the capital letter for the function
followed by Enter.
Move the cursor and notice the co-ordinates are now local co-ordinates based on
station and elevation.
3. Select vPi’s from the right side screen menu. Roughly mark all the VPI’s along
the whole alignment. You should use Snap at the end of terrain for the start VPI
and end VPI.
Note: You can only use the NovaPOINT Snap, Zoom, Pan functions, not the
AutoCAD Snap, Zoom, Pan when you work inside the longitudinal profile frame.
The default radius is 500m, but this parameter can easily be edited by selecting R,
and a new value.
Press Quit after the endpoint has been selected. The vertical alignment will be
drawn including VPI’s and slope.
4. Press Edit and point at the vertical alignment. A grey X marks the active VPI
that can be edited
5. Click on the first VPI (start) so the first point gets the grey X, and select Move and
S for SNAP.
Move the point to the start of the terrain profile, to start the vertical alignment in
Start sta. = 0. This is very important to avoid calculation problems later on. The
VPI can be placed outside the terrain profile (before start and after end), but needs
to be defined for the full length of the road alignment, including station 0.
6. Activate the next point by clicking near the VPI. Select Radius and modify the
value. Notice changes in the drawing.
Modify all VPI’s until you are pleased with the alignment and then select Quit.
(Note: When the SET VIPS=P setting is included the vertical curve is calculated as
a parabola. This allows for unsymmetrical vertical curves. If unsymmetrical enter
left and right values, if symmetrical left and right values must be equal. With a
parabola only the length of curve can be entered.)
In this box you can mark what you want to be drawn in the frame. Double click
Horizontal alignment, Stn. (station) elevation and Terrain elevation to mark
them +. Click Ok.
8. Press Quit to exit the vertical alignment design. Look at the result at the bottom
table area of the longitudinal alignment frame.
1. Zoom until you are able to point at the horizontal alignment and the vertical
alignment.
2. Open Project-ID
Control that this is correct:
- NovaPOINT project: TUTORIAL
- Road/Highway: ROAD-1
- DTM/Terrain: DTM-TUT
Press Ok to finish.
3. Use NCO and pick the horizontal alignment. A pop-up menu for the horizontal
alignment appears:
5. Press the Feature code… button and this dialog box appears :
6. Click the button Group number … and this dialog box appears:
Point at the first empty line in the list and click right mouse button. A screen
menu appears:
8. You will now see the Object Identification dialog box again and notice that feature
code and group number are given.
Press OK.
10. Select eXport again and Object. Select the vertical alignment. A dialog will show
the saved Quadri line identities:
11. Press Exit and then Quit to finish saving the vertical alignment.
12. Both the Horizontal and Vertical alignment is now saved in Quadri (DTM). End
this exercise by saving your drawing.
Based on the road design standards, the module will automatically define a standard
cross-section based on a number of parameters. By connecting the road standard, the
design speed, the AADT and the road pavement thickness with the horizontal alignment,
the program will automatic calculate the typical cross-section and the widening and
superelevation for each curve and curve combination. When the horizontal and vertical
alignment have been saved to the NovaPOINT database/DTM (Quadri) a complete 3D
road model can be generated in a few steps. Thus many design alternatives can be easily
and quickly generated and compared.
The total road pavement thickness can be divided into eight different layers: One surface
course layer, 2 binder layers, 2 base course layers, 2 sub-base course layers and a filter
layer.
Surface description
The road model is described as a series of surfaces from the centre line. Each surface is
described with start profile number, width and slope, or by a 2D/3D string as surface edge.
There are 8 surface groups, and each surface group can have up to 9 sub-surfaces. The
surface groups have numbers from 0 to 7.
0 - Median
1 - Carriage way
2 - Shoulder
3 - Supplementary surfaces
4 - Drainage ditch
5 - Rock cut
6 - Soil cut
7 - Fill
Definition of a surface
A surface is describes by:
• Station number
• Width
• Slope
• Or edge as 2D/3D string
Example:
Surface -1.1 (left side) without bus stop
Profile number Width Slope
0 3.0 -0.03
100 3.0 -0.03
Surface groups:
0 – Median
1 – Carriage way
2 – Shoulder
3 – Supplementary surfaces
4 – Drainage ditch
5- Rock cut
6 - Soil cut
7 - Fill
The total road pavement thickness can be divided into eight different layers: One surface
course layer, 2 binder layers, 2 base course layers, 2 sub-base course layers and a filter
layer.
Before you start the Road model program (VIPS) both the horizontal and vertical
alignment must be saved in the NovaPOINT database (Quadri) as described in step 24.
1. Start Road – Road model (VIPS) or select the icon from the Road toolbar.
The VIPS toolbar will appear with the active road model as default:
2. Select File – Properties. If your vertical alignment is longer than your horizontal
alignment you will get this message:
The first thing you must do is to decide the values for From station and To
station. This depends on your project. In this example I change the To station to
1020 instead of 1021.777 which is the largest station for which I have both
horizontal and vertical alignment. Notice that the calculation must NOT be outside
the chainage, but can be shorter.
Press the folder Design standard and fill in as the example below shows:
3. The next step is to define the standard road description. Select Tools and
Advanced Road Description and this dialog box appears:
Fill in as the example shows and press Next >. This dialog box appears:
Fill in as the example shows and press Next >. This dialog box appears:
Fill in as the example shows and press Next >. This dialog box appears:
Fill in as the example shows and press Next >. This dialog box appears:
Fill in as the example shows and press Next >. This dialog box appears:
Check the data and then press Finish. If the horizontal alignment has values that
are outside the design parameters then the user will receive a warning.
Press the Build… button and the road templates will be applied to the terrain and
the cross sections calculated.
If there are any Errors or warnings then open the report file by selecting the Errors
and Warning Button. If there are no errors or warnings then press Close.
5. Next step is to study the cross sections. Select View and Cross sections and this
dialog box appears:
Press the up and down arrows to se next or previous cross section. Try also the
zoom function and the different edit commands on the top of the dialog box.
When you are finished studying the cross-sections then close the dialog box.
6. When the cross sections are OK, and you have no more errors you can run the
quantity calculation.
Fill in as the example shows and press Build… This dialog box appears:
Press Close
7. When the calculation have finished you can read the Reports. Select File – Send –
Report to editor. This dialog box appears:
Double click on D – Summary quantities and double click in each type of report
as the example above shows:
Press Send… and the report will be sent to a text editor. The example below
shows report D1 - Design quantities:
NovaPOINT PAGE: 1
Road Design System FR. STA: .00
DESIGN QUANTITIES TO STA: 1020.00
D 1
PROJECT : ROAD-1 CALCULAT. DATE: 1999-12-09
D E S I G N Q A N T I T I E S
=====================================
( Solid or Placed Volumes )
L E V E L I N G : I M P O R T E D : S U P E R S T R U C T:
--------------------- -------------------- ----------------------
EARTH 11001 EARTH 0 BASE 1 1272
ROCK 0 ROCK 0 BASE 2 2316
DEEPBLASTING 0 FILL 0 SUBBASE 1 4118
FILL 6644 SUBBASE 2 0
TOTAL 7706
OTHER VOLUMES : INCL. IN LEVELING :
--------------------- --------------------
REPLACEMENT 0 DITCH EARTH 0
TOPSOIL 0 DITCH ROCK 0
VEGETATION 0 DITCH FILL 0
PLACED VOL. 0 S.SRF EARTH 0
LANDSC CUT 0 S.SRF ROCK 0
LANDSC FILL 0 S.SRF FILL 0
2. The first thing we are going to do is to insert an extra surface to the open ditch on
the left side of the road.
4. Click on Left side and Ditch. Press the right mouse button. This pop-up menu
appears:
Then press L.Ditch 2 and type in the values as the example shows. Then press
Apply and then OK.
5. Select View and Cross-sections from the menu and this dialog box appears:
6. The next thing to do is to add a bus stop on the right side of the road. This bus
stop shall start in station 200.
Select View and Cross-Sections and move forward to station 200. Point at the
carriage way surface on the right side of the road and press the right mouse
button. This small pop-up menu appears:
Press this button and the dialog box for the road surface appears:
Point at Carriage way under Right side. Press the right mouse button and select
Insert. Select Surface 3. Point at R. Lane 3 in the left side of the dialog box.
Start by typing station 200 to the right of the text Insert object at station.
Point at the arrow at the top of the dialog box and select Bus stop 70-90 km/h.
Press OK.
Your are back in the dialog box for road surface. Press Apply and then OK.
Note !!!
Using the Apply button means that what you have typed in will be used
on that specific cross-section. When you use the button Apply all the
cross-sections on each side of active profile number are deleted. The
volume calculation is also deleted. If you go to the View – Cross-section
dialog box each cross section you look at is recalculated.
You are now back in the dialog box for viewing cross-sections. Move to station 200
and check that the cross-sections look ok.
Press the button at the top left corner of the dialog box. All the cross-sections
are recalculated. Press Close and then exit the cross-section viewer.
8. The next thing we are going to do is to make a few changes on an existing road
surface.
Select View and Cross-section. Point at the carriage way on the left side of the
road and press the right mouse button. Select Road Surface and this dialog box
appears:
Point at L.Carriageway and notice the road description in the right part of the
dialog box.
Point at one of the lines in the table. Point at the field you want to change and type
in the new value. The example below shows the changes that I made:
Your are back in the dialog box for road surface. Press Apply and then OK.
You are now back in the dialog box for viewing cross sections. Check that the
cross sections look ok.
Press the button at the top left corner of the dialog box. All the cross-sections
are recalculated. Press Close and then exit the cross-section viewer.
9. Finally in this exercise we want to update the terrain data with the rock sub-surface
layer in the terrain model.
From the DTM toolbar start the Group/Feature code dialog box and make sure
the group 51 is active. Press Ok.
In the road model select Data and Sub-surface Layers and this dialog box
appears:
Pick at the Soil type under surface and select the soil type Soil 2. Fill in as the
example below shows and press OK.
Notice the rock layer on this cross-section. Exit the cross-section viewer.
1. Start Road – Road model (VIPS) or select the icon from the Road toolbar.
The VIPS toolbar will appear with the active road model as default:
2. In this exercise we will design a bicycle path on the left side of the road. The
example below shows all the details:
Surface –3.1 width 1.5 meter and slope 1:2 down (value –0.5)
Surface –3.2 width 1.5 meter and slope 1:2 up (value 0.5)
Surface –3.3 width 3.5 meter and slope 3% up (value 0.03)
3. Select Data and Road surface. The dialog box appears. Point at the arrow at the
top left side of the dialog box and select All surfaces.
Press Apply.
Press Apply.
4. Select View and Cross section and this dialog box appear:
The bicycle path looks ok, but the road pavement needs some changes. Close the
cross-section viewer.
5. Select Data and Road Pavement and then Road Pavement description. This
dialog box appears:
Give the bicycle path, surface L. Extra 3 a pavement description as the example
shows. Mark the extra surfaces 1 and 2 with an F to indicate no pavement for
these surfaces.
Press OK.
Select Build and then press Close when the calculation is finished.
Notice that the road pavement thickness no longer goes under the ditch. Check
the cross-sections before closing the view.
Project-ID: Tutorial,
Road/Street: Road-1
Terrain and Map: DTM-Tut
Press Ok.
2. Start Cut and fill areas from VIPS by pressing this button:
This dialog will appear, and you can set colours, layers and which details you want
to draw:
3. Click the arrow under Insert and select the extra bicycle path surfaces –3.1, -3.2
and –3.3 as shown in the example.
4. Control that the From Station and To Station is ok for your project.
Click Layernames… and look at the layers the cut and fill areas will be drawn on.
Here you can define new layer names if you want. You can also use select to
specify different elements to be drawn on different layers.
Press OK to return to the dialog box for cut and fill areas. Press OK- Draw.
5. The cut and fill area will now be drawn with the road edges, the bus stop and the
bicycle path. Note the road edge lines includes the widening on curves.
6. If you want to remove all cut and fill areas you can use NCO and point at one of
the lines in the cut and fill area. This pop-up menu the appears:
Select Delete Cut/fill areas to delete the entire cut and fill area. If you use
AutoCAD’s command Delete, Explode, Trim, Extend, Break etc. you will loose
the possibility to use the NCO later on.
This function generates a standard size longitudinal profile and template based on the
VIPS calculation.
2. Select from the menu Road – Vertical Alignment Design - Generate from/to
section.
3. A dialog box appears with a graphic area. Here you can see the total calculated
section drawn as a simple line including a temporary frame showing a specific
length. The frame length is 750m because our scale is 1:1000.
4. Move the suggested frame by changing the From st. and Width, Height and Min.
Y. Min. Y will move the frame up or down.
Set From. St. to 0, and adjust the frame by changing the Min Y to give the best
drawing. Press OK to finish.
Select the point you want to place the lower left corner of the longitudinal
profile drawing. A good tip here is to draw the longitudinal profile to the left or
below the map area. You can see a standard longitudinal profile template below.
6. All the information will not be drawn initially. Use NCO and select the longitudinal
profile frame. You will get a menu in the right screen menu area.
Select Frame and a dialog appears with those extra elements that can be drawn.
The elements that are already drawn are marked with X. Tick for grid lines on 0.5
cm and 1.0 cm. Double click on the elements Horizontal alignment, Widening,
Cross slope and Road pavement thickness as the example below shows.
7. All the selected elements will now be drawn on the template as shown below.
8. You have now generated a longitudinal profile for one specific part of your project.
If your road is longer than 750 meters start the function “Generate from/to section.”
again and repeat points 2-7 until you have finished all sections.
1. Start Road - Vehicle track diagram from the pull-down menu and this dialog box
appears:
3. The vehicle track diagram is inserted into your AutoCAD drawing as a block. You
must select insert point by pointing with the left mouse button. Next question is
Scale factor. Vehicle track diagram shall not be scaled so click the right mouse
button twice.
Next to do is to rotate the diagram. Click left mouse button to decide rotation for
the Vehicle track diagram or press the right mouse button to insert it with no
rotation.
You can see the area with the Vehicle track diagram drawn.
4. Vehicle track diagram will be drawn on the current layer and with current colour.
Use the AutoCAD commands MOVE, ROTATE and e.g. MIRROR to move and
rotate the vehicle track diagram until it is placed where you want it to be.
6. Start the Road - Vehicle Track Diagram from the pull-down menu and this dialog
box appears again:
Pick at the selected polyline with the left mouse button and click right mouse
button to finish selecting. This dialog box will appear:
8. Point at the arrow under Vehicle selection and select Semi-trailer. Fill in as the
example shows. Press Draw…
Along the selected polyline the area a semi-trailer needs along the curved line will
be drawn. See the drawing below:
9. The ”Vehicle” is drawn and you can delete it as a normal AutoCAD element with
the command ERASE.
This function is used to generate plan and profile drawings from the working drawing.
The function is based on the AutoCAD commands model space and paper space (see
AutoCAD’s help file for a detailed description of model space / paper space).
1. Before starting the drawing generator you must place the plan and profile frames
where you want them. For the plan frames you must use a specific frame. Click
the frame button , select the page format Half height A1 and press OK.
Place this frame to cover the first 750m of the road project. Use move and rotate
on the frame and title box to define the area.
Repeat this for the next 750m until the complete road is covered.
You have earlier defined the longitudinal profile frames using the function
generate from/to section under vertical alignment design (Step 30).
The following example shows a project where we shall generate two plan and
profile drawings:
2. Select from the menu Road - Drawing generator – C - Primary road, Plan and
profile. Press Ok.
3. Repeat step 2 and 3, but now select the frames for the next plan and profile
drawing. This time you use View names plan-2 and profile-2.
Repeat these steps until all sections are defined. It is important to give the Views
sensible names to easily find the right areas. The system plan-1, profile-1, plan-2,
profile-2 and so on is an easy way of naming the views.
4. After specifying logical names to all the views you must go to paper space. To do
this you can click the Layout 1 tab.
Select Cancel on the menu showing up, and you will get a screen with a triangle
icon in the lower left corner. You are still in the same drawing, but you are in the
paper space of the drawing. Until now you have been working with model space.
In paper space you define what the drawing shall look like when you plot.
5. Select once more from the menu Road - Drawing generator – C - Primary road,
Plan and profile. Press Ok
As you can see the dialog box lists all the specified view names you have defined
earlier.
6. Select PLAN-1 and press OK. The function will now draw the first plan drawing.
The dialog box will appear again. Select PROFILE-1 for the profile frame and
press OK.
7. To generate the next plan and profile drawing use right-click on the Layout 1 tab
and create a New layout. Repeat point 5 (C - Primary road, Plan and profile)
and select Plan-2 and Profile-2.
8. In your geometry drawing you have now your road design and map-xref in the
model space, and your plan and profile plot drawings in different Layouts in paper
space. Now you should rename the Layout 1 to e.g. Plan-Profile 1, Layout 2 to
Plan-Profile 2.
9. The plan frames in the model space crosses each other and is until now drawn as
a part of the plan drawing. Grid is also missing on the map/plan area.
The frame for PLAN-1 is showing on the PLAN-2 and vice versa. The easiest way
to change this is to create one layer for each plan frame as described below:
11. Next step is to draw the grid lines eventually the co-ordinate crosses.
Set the layer PLAN-1 current. Start NovaPOINT – Drawing – Grid lines. Notice
the Set-up (set frame OFF, title field ON). Use SNAP to get the frame and title box
corners exactly.
12. When you plot the drawing on paper you will probably want to hide the map or
other lines under the title block. To do this you can make a Polyline following the
plan frame and the inner side of the title box. Use Snap to the frame endpoints
and Close the Polyline.
Delete the title box by using Erase after you have created the Polyline.
13. Select from the menu Modify – Clip - Xref as you did in Step 14. You will get this
question on the command line:
• Select polyline:
select the polyline
The map will be “clipped” outside the polyline, and will not be visible under the title
box. It is possible to Clip – Xref only one frame at a time, so you must alternate the
plan frame clipping to the frame to be plot.
14. It is very rare that the drawing areas are placed perpendicular to the co-ordinate
axes. That’s why it is easiest to make the title fields in paper space. Then you don’t
need to rotate the text. Go to Paper space.
Press the button. Select A1 with title box. Press OK, and right mouse button
to accept the frames insert point 0,0. You will now get another frame around the
plan and profile drawing. Remove this extra frame with the ERASE command.
15. Start the PRINT command. Define plot area, plotter and pens as usual. Do the Full
Preview before plotting to be sure that the plot will be OK
This function generates basis cross-sections for the typical cross-section drawing. These
basis cross-sections can be supplied manually to represent the different typical cross-
sections in your project. The function is based on the calculated cross-sections from VIPS.
1. Start a new drawing. Click File - New, and set "Template" to Novap_uk.dwt.
2. Next step is to control that the Project ID is correct. Select Project-ID, and control
the values. NovaPOINT project: Tutorial, Road/Street: Road-1 and Map/Terrain:
DTM-Tut. This is important to get the cross-sections for the right road project.
3. Click the button. Set horizontal scale 1:100 and press OK.
4. Click the button. Select A1 with title box. Press OK, and right mouse button
to accept the frames insert point 0,0,0.
8. Try also Setup and More info. It is possible to get information about specific
elements of the cross-section.
9. When you have found the profile you want as basis section press Draw cross-
section and select an insertion point for the cross-section.
10. Repeat F- Standard cross-section if you want to draw another basis section.
Note the cross-sections are drawn as blocks. To edit the cross-sections first use
AutoCAD’s EXPLODE command.
11. You can draw different symbols on the standard cross-section to illustrate the
cross-section better. Select Road – Bonus - Illustrate symbols or Vehicle
symbols.
12. Pick one of the symbols and press OK. Select insert point on the cross-section
and click right mouse button tree times for scale factor and rotation factor.
Insert a few more symbols of your own choice.
13. Click also Vehicle symbols and this dialog box will appear:
14. Pick one symbol and press OK. Enter insertion point on the normal profile and
click right mouse button tree times to give scale factor and rotation angle.
1. Start a new drawing. Select File - New, and set "Template" to Novap_uk.dwt.
2. Control that the Project ID is correct. Select Project-ID, and control the values.
NovaPOINT project: Tutorial,
Road/Street: Road-1
Map/Terrain: DTM-Tut
3. Click the button. Set horizontal scale 1:100 and press OK.
4. Select from the menu Road – Drawing generator - U- Cross-sections and press
OK. This dialog box will appear:
Click right mouse button to accept insertion point 0,0,0 and this dialog box
appears:
This dialog allows you to turn on and off the cross-sections you want to draw. Fill
in as the example shows and press Ok.
6. You will now see some white fields in your drawing, one field for each cross-
section. It is possible to adjust the size by dragging the small squared boxes. But
the best is to select Setup in right screen menu and this dialog box will appear:
8. Control the From st. and To. St. values and the interval.
9. When all values are correct press Start to start the generation of cross section
drawings. The cross sections will be drawn, one drawing (file) per sheet. The
program will suggest file names U-1, U-2 …. Press enter to accept filename, or
type a file name of your own choice.
11. When all the cross-sections (drawing files) are drawn then exit the drawing without
saving it.
12. Open the U-1 drawing, to see the cross sections. Notice that the grid lines are on
a separate layer. Here you can also draw symbols if you want. If you make any
changes remember to save the drawing.