Define/Draw Horizontal Geometry

Use the following procedure to draw a plan of the entire structure or parts of it. You select start and end stations for the structure, plus the interval between calculated stations.

Find the function here:

Ribbon: Bridge > Horizontal Geometry Define/Draw Horizontal Geometry

When the tool is activated for the first time, you will be prompted about the scale if the scale has not been previously set. For example, you would enter 200 for a scale of ;1:200 and m or mm. The scale you give determines the size of the text.

The dialog box 'Plan' will pop up.

Start/End stations

Novapoint Bridge Professional will suggest From/To Stations, Interval between the stations for which plan values are to be calculated, Text height, Stationing, etc. You can change these values, but From/To Station values must be located between the start and end key cross sections. You will also select the lines on the cross section, which are to be drawn. You can also change these values after you have defined points to be drawn.

Interval/Accuracy

The interval will determine how densely you wish the points on the line to be calculated and drawn. In other words, the interval will determine the accuracy of your plan drawing. A small interval value will lead to greater accuracy, but also a longer calculation time.

Polylines

All lines are drawn as polylines.

Curve fit

Mark the check box 'Curve-fit' to carryout curve fitting for the polylines. If the option curve-fit is selected, program will smoothen the lines, but all of the lines will go through the calculated points. If the option Curve-fit is not opted, the lines will be drawn as straight-lines between the calculated points. Program will undertake curve smoothing by default.

2D or 3D

The option 2D is default and means that the plan polylines are drawn with elevation (Z) value as 0. If you choose the 3D option the lines will be drawn by the exact height and it is possible for the user to find the Z-value for the calculated points. If you use the 3D-option you will find it difficult to use the AutoCAD snap mode intersection points with 2D lines.

Road profile line

The road profile line will always be drawn accurately regardless of what interval you select. If you choose the Road profile line as Standard, the line will be marked using oblique strokes for every 10m, depending on the selected station interval, and with annotation text for the station and curve parameters. Before the line is drawn you will be asked on the command line on which side of the profile line you want the annotation text.

If you opt Editable, the line is drawn with the 'Draw Single Alignment (Setup)' function. You can select drawing setup for the Road profile line with the key 'Specify' which actives the dialog box 'Draw Single Alignment (Setup)'.

Note: The function 'Draw Single Alignment (Setup)' only works when the Scale is set to metre.

Text height

You can also select the text height for annotations on the plan (horizontal geometry). The text height will depend on the scale defined. If you want a text height of 3.5 mm on the finished plot, you should select a text height equal to 3.5 times the scale. In other words, a text height of 350 mm for a scale of 1:100, 700 mm for 1:200 etc. The default text height is 3.5 mm on the final output drawing. This function only works for Standard Road profile line drawing.

Stationing

In the stationing field, you should indicate the interval for oblique strokes drawn for stationing. The default value is 10.0 m. This function only works for Standard Road profile line drawing.

Select

You can control the lines, which are to be drawn. This can be done by selecting section points of the desired lines, which are to be drawn. This selection is carried out from the dialog box 'Bridge Structure', which will pop up with the key 'Select' of the dialog box 'Plan'. Just click near the point, which is to be selected. Every point you select will represent a line on the output. If you select a point which is defined both as a start and end points of a closed polyline on the cross section, ;two lines will be selected which will lie on top of each other. You can use Erase to remove one of them.

You can pick as many points as you want. You should finish the selection of points by pressing OK. The points you select will be shown in the list of the dialog box 'Longitudinal Profile'.

You can traverse along the alignment by entering the station number at the field Cr. Sec. No. or using the keys '<' and '>'. If you are using the keys '<' and '>', you will jump to the cross-section at an interval defined at the field 'Interval'.

The key '«' and '»' will take you to the Key Sections. All other keys on the right side of the dialog are pan and zoom functions.

List of lines to be drawn

After you have selected all of the desired points, they will be listed in the dialog box 'Plan' The list display information of selected section points such as, cross-section polyline no., point number on the polyline, etc.). By default, you will get the current colour and current linetype.

Changing or Redefining the Horizontal Geometry

You can change an already defined horizontal geometry by running the function Define/Draw Horizontal Geometry whenever a change is desired. You can redefine From/To Stations, Calculation Interval, Annotation height, Stationing Interval, Delete section point or add section points, etc.

Draw

You can output your horizontal geometry on the drawing by selecting Draw at the bottom of the dialog box 'Plan'.

The plan currently being calculated will be shown on the status line at the top left.

ï Station: 170.000

The following will be on the command line:

ï Calculating stations …

The plan will be draw at the correct co-ordinates in the relevant UCS [User Coordinate System] in metres or millimetres depending on what you have defined in the scale dialog box. When the plan is drawn, the area with the plan will be zoomed on-screen.

Layer

The selected section points will be drawn on the layer B_FORM while the road alignment line will be drawn on a layer with the associated name of the line layer. In addition, the software will create a layer called STRUCTURES-SYSTEM. This layer contains hidden entities for storing project data. The status of the layer is set to 'freeze' by the program to avoid considering it during the following actions:

OK/Save

You can save your plan definition by selecting the OK button in the dialog box 'Plan'. You can then load and output the plan on a later occasion.