GEOPAK Corridor Modeling Derricke Gray, GEOPAK Product Manager

Corridor Modeling Applications > Road > 3D Tools > Corridor Modeling

Corridor Modeling When you first open the Corridor Modeling (CM) application, a new sub-folder is created under your working directory. \rddbs This folder is where any files are created that are used exclusively by the CM application.

Corridor Modeling GPK Job Selection

Corridor Modeling Tree Selection – Controls Importing of Data into Corridor Modeling

Corridor Modeling Workflow – Walks you through the CM process from Creating Templates to Labeling Cross Sections

Preferences Station Lock – Controls how the cross section interval is calculated in the Roadway Designer application. Slope Readout – Controls how the slopes are displayed to the user in the Create Templates and Roadway Designer applications. Horizontal Chord Height – When creating surfaces, controls the processing through horizontal curves. Vertical Chord Height – When creating surfaces, controls the processing through vertical curves. Template Library – Designates which template library CM applications will use.

Imports Drafting Standards from the DDB which are used to control symbologies within CM. You will also see these Drafting Standards called “Styles”. They are synonymous with one another. DDB

Only the ‘Drafting Standards’ items in the DDB will be imported. These items are denoted with the ‘paintbrush’ icon. DDB

A ‘default_styles.ddb’ file is delivered in the /bin directory and used by default. The configuration variable GPK_ACBOOK_DDBFILE_STYLES can be used to specify another DDB to use. DDB

When the Drafting Standards are imported, a new file is created in the \rddbs subdirectory. This file uses the same name as the DDB but with a.XIN extension. Default_styles.ddb  default_styles.xin DDB

If you prefer that each user NOT have to import the Drafting Standards and create the.XIN file, you can point to a global.XIN file using the following configuration variable: GPK_ACBOOK_XINFILE_STYLES DDB (NEW in Athens)

In order to use TIN files in CM, we have to import them. When you import a TIN, a new file will be created with the same name but using a.DTM extension. fm314.tin  fm314.dtm DTM

You can add both TIN and DTM files in the list box. Multiple files can be listed and imported simultaneously. DTM

Important! Only files that are listed in this list box will be available in Roadway Designer. DTM

Chains and profiles from the GPK must be imported into the CM application. Geometry

When the geometry items are imported, a new file is created in the \rddbs subdirectory. This file is named by taking the gpk name and adding a ‘cm’ prefix and.alg suffix. job314.gpk  cmjob314.alg Geometry

When geometry data is imported, a drafting standard is always assigned to it. Later, you can build templates to target the chains/profiles by their name or by the name of the drafting standard. Geometry

Since Roadway Designer does not read directly from plan graphic elements, we need a way to make the application aware of our graphics. We can do this by using the Plan Graphics import feature. Plan Graphics

We can read the plan graphics based on symbology, a DDB Feature or a MicroStation selection set. Plan Graphics

When using Symbology or Feature, we can setup a ‘search corridor’ based on a chain name, a side and a beginning and ending offset. Plan Graphics

If our plan graphic doesn’t fit nicely into a search corridor, we always have the Selection Set option. The user can just place any elements into a MS Selection Set and add them to the list. Plan Graphics

Once all of our items are setup in our list box, we can import them. The resulting alignments are stored in the.alg file. Plan Graphics

Data in the geometry database has a tendency to change throughout the life of a project. With that in mind, we need some way to keep our data in synch. In order to facilitate this, there is a functionality built into the Corridor Modeling application called Smart Update. Every time you open Corridor Modeling, it checks the data in the gpk against data previously imported into the.alg. Smart Update - Geometry

If a chain or profile has been modified in the gpk and is out of synch with the.alg, it will show up in blue. If a chain or profile has been deleted from the gpk and is out of synch with the.alg, it will show up in red. Smart Update - Geometry

Any data in blue should be re-imported to update the.alg. Any data in red should be deleted from the list box. This will also delete the item from the.alg. Smart Update - Geometry

Similar to the geometry, the plan graphic data also has a tendency to change throughout the life of a project. The Smart Update functionality also works with the Plan Graphics. Every time you open Corridor Modeling, it checks the plan graphic data in the design file against data previously imported into the.alg. Smart Update – Plan Graphics

If a plan graphic has been modified in the design file and is out of synch with the.alg, it will show up in blue. If a plan graphic has been deleted from the dgn and is out of synch with the.alg, it will show up in red. Smart Update – Plan Graphics

Any data in blue should be re-imported to update the.alg. Any data in red should be deleted from the list box. This will also delete the item from the.alg. Smart Update – Plan Graphics

Now that we have our data imported, we are ready to step into the CM workflow. The first step is to access our Create Template application. Create Template

Create Template opens using the template library (.itl) specified in our preferences. The template library is composed of Components, End Conditions and Templates. Create Template

Components are Individual “pieces” that can be assembled into a template. They consist of things like pavement, shoulders, curb, walls, etc.. Create Template

End Conditions are simply a special type of component that serves as the terminating point of the template. Create Template

Templates are a combination of components and end conditions that have been assembled to represent a particular roadway condition. Create Template

When components and end conditions are created, their individual elements are assigned styles (drafting standards). This controls how the elements are displayed. In the example here, this one component employs three different styles. Create Template

Once our templates are complete, we can move into the next application in our workflow, Roadway Designer. Roadway Designer

We create a corridor based on an alignment and profile. We can create one or multiple corridors for our project. Roadway Designer

Next, we drop templates along our corridor based upon a specified beginning station and a specified interval. You can drop a single template or multiple templates depending upon the configuration of your project. Roadway Designer

The application is divided into 3 views – Plan, Profile and Cross Section. This is very similar to GEOPAK’s 3-Port Viewer. Roadway Designer

In addition to the cross sections at stations generated by the given stations and increments of the template drops, you also have the capability under the Roadway Designer Options to include Critical Sections. Horizontal Cardinal Points  PI, PC, PT, etc. Vertical Control Points  VPI, VPC, VPT, etc. Roadway Designer

External Control Points – If a template targets an alignment (e.g. wall, ditch, etc.), then enabling this option will pick up all the critical points (PI’s, PC’s, PT’s, etc.) along this “external” alignment and include them as cross section locations. Roadway Designer

You also have the ability to generate stations at any location that you need. These are called Key Stations. These might occur at culvert crossings, driveway locations, etc.. Roadway Designer

For the GEOPAK version of Roadway Designer, we have added the ability to import your superelevation directly from the GEOPAK shape input file. Roadway Designer

When you are at the point in your design when you are ready to create a finished model, you can do so through the Create Surface dialog. This will result in the creation of the proposed surface (.DTM) and an associated XML file. Roadway Designer

The Display Features in Plan View option will result in the model being drawn into your design file. Roadway Designer

Your Roadway Designer session and all of it’s associated settings can be saved in an.IRD file. Roadway Designer

You can use the Drive Roadway application to review your completed model. Drive Roadway

This application allows us to ‘drive’ down our model using a specified camera location and speed. Drive Roadway

Draw Cross Sections When our model is complete and we are ready to process proposed cross sections, we can do this through the Draw Cross Sections from Surfaces application.

Draw Cross Sections There has been no change to the XS Cells portion of the dialog. You can cut sections from a proposed surface (.DTM) exactly as you can from an existing surface (.TIN).

Draw Cross Sections On the Surfaces tab, you’ll notice the addition of a Dtm File option along with the standard Tin File option.

Draw Cross Sections You can cut existing sections from the.DTM file that was created when we imported our existing.TIN file. The existing sections will be generated using the symbology specified on the dialog. This works exactly the same as it would if you were using a.TIN file.

Draw Cross Sections The proposed surface (.DTM) can be added the same way.

Draw Cross Sections Even though the symbology is added to the list box along with the proposed surface, it will not be used. The proposed sections will be displayed using the styles specified in the templates.

Draw Cross Sections The Update Options do not work with.DTM files in the current version. This functionality will be added in a future release.

Draw Cross Sections When the sections are processed, the point names (from the template) are placed on the sections.

Draw Cross Sections The text is placed using the Active Text Attributes from the design file.

The last step in the process is to label our sections. We can do this with the Cross Section Labeling application. Label Cross Sections

The first tab is the General tab. It controls the range of stations that will labeled. Label Cross Sections

The Slope Label tab allows you to build slope labels. This is done by specifying point name text locations previously placed on the section. Label Cross Sections

Likewise, elevation and offset labels can be generated via the Elev/Off Label tab. Label Cross Sections

Clicking the Draw Labels button on the General tab will process the labels. Label Cross Sections

Settings can be saved to a preference file (.XLP). The idea is that the point name text will be consistent from project to project. So you should be able to load and use a standard.XLP file instead of re-generating these labels from project to project. Label Cross Sections

The Cross Section Labeler application was deliberately created as a VBA application so that it could be edited by any user to add customized labels. The xslabeler.mvba can be found in the /bin directory. Label Cross Sections

Corridor Modeling help can be found in the GEOPAK help files. Help

In addition, individual dialogs in Create Template and Roadway Designer all have Help buttons located in them. Help

Thank You!