CREATING A GRADING MODEL FROM START TO END By Jim Schneider

PROGRAMS NEEDED TEXTPAD MICROSTATION GEOPAK CUSTOM VISUAL BASICS PROGRAMS EXCEL

GETTING STARTED FIRST OF ALL WE NEED TO ACQUIRE THE FILES NEEDED TO ACCOMPLISH THIS TASK.

FILES NEEDED BLANK EXCEL FILE BLANK TEXTPAD FILE CONSTRUCTION.DGN FILE (MICROSTATION) E3DSEED04-COMMON.DGN FILE (MICROSTATION).GPK FILE (GEOPAK) ALL OF THESE FILES NEED TO BE PLACED INTO A COMMON WORKING DIRECTORY

MICROSTATION FIRST THING IS TO OPEN UP THE CONSTRUCTION.DGN IN MICROSTATION

MICROSTATION THE NEXT STEP IS TO OPEN THE KEY IN.

MICROSTATION THE KEY IN IS WHERE YOU WILL INITIALIZE THE VISUAL BASICS PROGRAMS

MICROSTATION TYPE IN VBA LOAD AND HIT ENTER

MICROSTATION THE NEXT DIALOG BOX THAT APPEARS ALLOWS YOU TO CHOOSE WHICH VBA YOU WISH TO USE.

MICROSTATION CHOOSE THE PROFILELEVINC.MVBA AND HIT OK. THIS PROGRAM WILL PULL THE STATION AND PROFILE GRADES OUT OF GEOPAK.

MICROSTATION NEXT,TYPE IN VBA RUN INTO THE KEY IN. HIT ENTER.

MICROSTATION THE NEXT DIALOG THAT APPEARS ALLOWS YOU TO RUN THE VBA. (MAKE SURE THAT THE VBA YOU LOADED IS THE ONE THAT APPEARS IN THIS BOX) AND CHOOSE RUN.

MICROSTATION THE DIALOG BOX THAT APPEARS NEXT SHOWS THE VBA CHOSEN. FILL IN THIS DIALOG BOX WITH THE INFO NEEDED TO EXTRACT THE STATIONING AND PROFILE GRADES OUT OF THE.GPK FILE

VBA WHEN FINISHED, THE DIALOG BOX SHOULD LOOK LIKE THIS. (WITH THE.GPK FILE LISTED, CHAIN, AND PROFILE).

VBA CLICK THE ACTIVATE CHAIN/PROFILE BUTTON THE BEGINNING AND ENDING STATIONING OF THE CHAIN SHOULD APPEAR AS SHOWN

CREATING EXCEL FILE TYPE IN THE NAME OF THE BLANK EXCEL FILE (AS SHOWN) THAT IS IN YOUR WORKING DIRECTORY AND CLICK CREATE EXCEL FILE.

EXCEL NOW THAT YOU HAVE CREATED THE BASIC EXCEL FILE TO START WITH, OPEN IT AND COMPLETE YOUR NOTES.

EXCEL ONCE FINISHED WITH THE NOTES IN EXCEL WE WILL SAVE IT AS A.CSV (COMMA DELIMITED FILE)

TEXTPAD NEXT OPEN THE.CSV FILE IN TEXTPAD. THIS IS WHERE WE WILL EDIT THE FILE TO CHANGE IT FROM STATION, OFFSET, ELEVATION TO COORDINANTS AND ELEVATIONS.

TEXTPAD THE EDITING NEEDED SETS THE COLUMNS TO STATION, RANGE, OFFSET, ELEVATION, OFFSET, ELEVATION, OFFSET, ELEVATION, ETC. AND SHOULD LOOK LIKE THIS

TEXTPAD THE RANGE DENOTES WHERE THE ROAD IS BROKEN UP IN PARTS AS DICTATED BY THE STATION EQUATIONS.

VBA WHEN THE TEXTPAD FILE IS COMPLETED THE NEXT STEP IS TO CHANGE THE STATION OFFSET ELEVATION FORMAT INTO COORDINANTS. TO DO THIS, USE SOETODAT.MVBA

VBA OPEN MICROSTATION AGAIN AND USE THE KEY IN AS BEFORE AND RUN THE SOETODAT.MVBA PROGRAM

VBA NOW IN THIS DIALOG BOX FILL IN THE NAME OF THE TEXTPAD FILE JUST CREATED FOR THE INPUT SOE FILE:.

VBA CREATE A.DAT FILE AND TO DO THIS, NAME IT BY TYPING IN A NAME IN THE OUTPUT (.DAT) FILE: LOCATION OF THE DIALOG BOX. MAKE SURE THAT THE DROP DOWN SAYS CREATE THEN CHOOSE CONVERT SOE TO.DAT BY CLICKING IT

MICROSTATION NOW THAT WE HAVE A.DAT FILE CREATED WE CAN CONVERT THAT FILE INTO A.TIN MODEL BY USING GEOPAK.

GO BACK TO OUR CONSTRUCTION.DGN AND OPEN GEOPAK SURVEY. CLICK ON (APPLICATIONS, GEOPAK SURVEY, SURVEY) MICROSTATIONMICROSTATION

GEOPAK THE SURVEY TOOLBAR WILL APPEAR. CLICK ON (DTM, BUILD DTM, FROM DAT FILE)

GEOPAK IN THE DIALOG BOX THAT APPEARS CHOOSE YOUR.DAT FILE THAT YOU CREATED, AND GIVE A NAME FOR THE.TIN FILE THAT YOU ARE GOING TO CREATE.

GEOPAK NEXT CHOOSE THE SIDE METHOD INSTEAD OF SLIVER, AND TYPE IN THE EXTENT WIDTH OF YOUR PROJECT FROM CENTERLINE. THEN CLICK PROCESS.

.TIN FILE NOW THAT THE.TIN FILE IS CREATED, VIEW IT TO MAKE SURE THAT IT LOOKS CORRECT.

MICROSTATION TO VIEW THE.TIN WE MUST OPEN THE E3DSEED04.DGN FILE.

MICROSTATION ONCE IN THE MICROSTATION FILE, ACTIVATE THE GEOPAK SURVEY TOOLBAR AGAIN.

GEOPAK CLICK ON THE DTM DROP DOWN AND SELECT LOAD DTM FEATURES.

GEOPAK THE LOAD DTM FEATURES DIALOG BOX APPEARS. IN THIS DIALOG BOX MAKE SURE THAT THE TIN OPTION IS SELECTED.

GEOPAK NOW THAT TIN IS SELECTED, SELECT THE.TIN FILE THAT WE CREATED.

GEOPAK WITHIN THIS DIALOG BOX WE HAVE TO TURN ON SOME FEATURES THAT WE WANT TO VIEW. GO TO CONTOURS. TURN ON CONTOURS, MAJOR AND MINOR LINES. THIS IS ALSO WHERE WE CAN SELECT THE COLOR THAT WE WANT THE CONTOURS TO APPEAR ON THE SCREEN.

GEOPAK CLICK ON THE CONTOURS IN THE DIALOG BOX. THIS WILL GIVE MORE OPTIONS ON THE BOTTOM OF THE BOX.

GEOPAK CLICK ON READ AND IT WILL READ THE ELEVATION EXTENTS OF YOUR TIN. SET THE CONTOUR LINE INTERVAL AT THIS POINT. THIS EXAMPLE IS USING A MINOR INTERVAL OF 0.01, AND A MAJOR INTERVAL OF NEXT CLICK LOAD

MICROSTATION THE TIN FILE SHOULD APPEAR ON YOUR MICROSTATION SCREEN. ZOOM IN AND SCROLL YOUR WAY THROUGH THE JOB TO SEE IF THERE ARE ANY ERRORS OR IF SOMETHING DOESN’T LOOK RIGHT.

CONCLUSION NOW THAT YOU HAVE CREATED A.TIN MODEL IT CAN BE EXPORTED AS A.TTM FILE AND HANDED TO THE CONTRACTOR FOR USE IN THEIR EQUIPMENT. I LEFT A FEW ERRORS IN THIS MOVIE SO THAT YOU CAN SEE WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE WHEN THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG.