Improvements for Carlson Survey/Civil/Takeoff/Mining 2009

Click each for Carlson 2009 Improvements: General - Survey - Civil - Hydrology - GIS - Natural Regrade Geology - Surface/Underground Mining - Takeoff - Data Conversions - Programming Interfaces

General

• CAD Platforms – Added support for running on IntelliCAD 6.4, AutoCAD 2009 and Map 2009.
• New Toolbars – Added 50+ more default toolbar icons for common commands.
• New Transparent Commands – Added four new transparent command to use at any pick point prompt. These commands are bearing-bearing intersection (‘bbpt), bearing-distance intersection (‘bdpt), distance-distance intersection (‘ddpt) and center-of-mass (‘centroid). For the existing centerline transparent command (‘cl), added a method to specify the station along the centerline as a distance factor.
• Quick Keys – Updated user-interface to use spreadsheet, added description field and added save/load functions.
• Drawing Inspector – Added area to report for polyline data of closed polylines plus a 3D Faces report option.
• Hot Drawing Explorer – Redesigned as a docked dialog with file type icons and customizable layout. Added right-click support on the files in the list for executing functions by file type.
• Project Explorer – Redesigned as a docked dialog with file icons, customizable layout and right-click functions.
• New Layer Library – New command to store layer names with properties organized by category to help manage layer standards. Layer Library functions include comparing the drawing with the library and reporting. The Layer Library can be used when selecting layers in other commands.
• Symbol Library – Added 43 new point symbols.
• Settings Folder – New configuration setting to have a default folder for program setting files that is separate from the default data folder.
• 3D Viewer Window – Added pre-defined 3D views for NE, SE, SW, NW and plan. Expanded range of vertical scaling from 0.001 to 100.
• New Highlight Non-Tangent Polylines – New commands to highlight and report any non-tangent segments from the selected polylines.
• New Draw Arc by PC, PT, Tangent  – New command to create an arc by PC and PT points plus the tangent-in.
• New Draw Arc by 2 Tangents, Through Point – New command to create an arc by tangents in/out plus a pass through point on the arc.
• New Offset To Layer – New command to put the offset polyline into a separate layer from the original.
• New Offset Multiple – New command to apply the same offset multiple times at once.
• New Temporary Erase – New command to erase entities while tracking their data to allow for restoring.
• New Draw Flow Leader – New command to create flow leaders.
• New Draw Bold Curve Leader – New command to create a thick style leader.
• New Draw Box Around Text – New command to draw a polyline box around the selected text.
• New White Solid Behind Text – New command to create a white solid for background of the selected text.
• New Trim Linework Through Text – New command to trim linework for sections that overlap text.
• New Add Prefix/Suffix Text – New command to add prefix and/or suffix to the selected text.
• New Remove Spaces From Text – New command to remove leading and trailing spaces from the selected text.
• New Line Up Text – New command to line up selected text to either a horizontal or vertical line.
• New Join Text Entities – New command to append selected text entities into a single text entity.
• Sequential Numbers – Added 4 new symbol options and added option to group the label with the symbol. [Back to Top]

Survey Commands

• Move Point Attributes with Leader – Added settings for arrow size, offset of leader head from the point and option to draw leader tick mark at label end.
• Edit Multiple Point Attributes – Added setting for parent layer of point attribute block and method to size all of the attributes at once.
• Export Text/ASCII File – Added method to select multiple coordinates file and batch process exporting them.
• Legal Description – Added option to always report in clockwise or counter-clockwise direction.
• Visual COGO – Added option to not draw points, only linework.
• Best-Fit Circle – Added method to use points in 3D by projecting the points onto a best-fit plane, calculating the best-fit circle and projecting the resulting circle back to world coordinates. Applies to circles for tunnel sections.
• Field-to-Finish – Added fixed parameter coding method for special codes in set order in the point description such as for tree shots where the first part of the description is the tree code and the second part has the size. Added special codes for Offset Left (OFL), Offset Both Left/Right (OFB) and split multiple codes (MULT). For drawing text as attributes, added settings to control the text rotation. Added method to output point notes for the special codes and the drawing description. Improved creation of 3D polylines from points on an arc that projects the points onto a plane to get the true 3D arc. Added ability to output points to multiple point groups per code.
• Edit-Process Raw File – Added option to Direct & Reverse report to show horizontal distances. Added horizontal distances and point descriptions to the Check Points report.
• Edit-Process Level Data – Added support for importing SurvCE differential-level TLV files.
• SurvNET – Added EDM calibration function. Added support for NGS G-Files and for OPUS reports for importing GPS vectors. Added functions to save and load project settings to a file. For 1D/2D models, added the ability to assign standard errors to benchmarks for elevation adjustment. Added import/export of standard errors. New option to draw error ellipses.
• MText Annotation – Added the option to create angle-distance labels as MText.
• Area Labels – Added ability to fix label overlaps by applying specified rules as well as a separate routine to find overlaps and then step through them to fix manually. Added controls per label field for size, style, decimals, prefix, suffix, color and justification. Added method for automatic placement along the edge of the area. Added alignment methods for by twist screen and by lot sides. Added options to draw labels as Mtext and to draw a symbol around the labels.
• Area By Closed Polylines - For multiple polylines, added methods to label each area or the total only
• Area Table – Added controls per field for style, justification and background color. Added settings to tag labels for size and layer. Added option to draw final row of area totals. Added setting for table title to draw as top row.
• New Area Table: Create New Table, Set Active Table - New commands to add support for multiple area tables in the drawing.
• New Area Table:  Edit Properties – New command to edit any of the settings for the selected area table.
• New Area Table: Remove Row – New command to remove the selected row and associated label tag and update the table.
• New Area Table: Consolidate Table – New command to renumber area tables to remove any numbering gaps. [Back to Top]

Civil Commands

• Offset 3D Polylines – Added method for multiple 3D offsets with separate layers.
• Draw Spot Elevations – Added options to pick label position, to set symbol angle, to set number of integer digits, to set the text style, to prompt for prefix/suffix labels, to set leader arrow size, to draw the leader with a tick mark at the label and to set the number of leader segments. Added method to draw as a block with attributes. Added method to draw by entering a point number range or point group name. Added settings for symbol offset and text box size.
• Label Elevations Along Polyline – Overhaul of this routine with new methods to label grade breaks of 3D polylines or screen picked points. Added settings for label alignment by horizontal or pick, text style, integer digits, leader options and an additional elevation by specified offset.
• New Move Elevation Labels – New command to move selected elevation labels as a group with optional leader.
• Label Pad Elevation – Added options to label additional elevations at specified offsets.
• Label Polyline Segment – Added options for slope leader positioned above label and to pick slope direction or label in slope direction of the polyline.
• Slope Direction Analysis – Added options to set colors for each zone.
• Hot Surface 3D Flyover – Added the ability to apply an aerial image for the 3D surface texture.
• Triangulate & Contour – Added option for slope arrows to label the slope value.
• Make 3D Grid File – Added method to use a triangulation file as the data source. Added option to use inclusion/exclusion perimeters and only set grids within these areas.
• Grid File Utilities – Added support for the Export function in GFU macros.
• Contour From Grid File – Added smoothing options to filter outliers and apply a pre-smoothing vertices reduction. Added crossing contour checks to ensure that the generated contours never cross.
• Hot Design Pad Template – Added ability to process multiple pad perimeters at a time with precedence and slopes assigned by layer.
• Bench Pond Design – Added option to create interior benches.
• Calculate Pond/Pit Volumes – Added storage volumes at an elevation interval to the report plus the ability to store a stage-storage capacity file.
• Elevate Pad By Grading Rules – Added method to use low, middle or high elevation along pad stations on the reference 3D polyline as the elevation reference for the pad.
• Adjust Elevation Labels – Added functions to round the decimal places for elevation text and to truncate the integer portion to a specified number of digits.
• New Add Points By Two Slopes – New command to add high or low points into a 3D polyline by specified slopes between start and end points.
• Centerline Report – Report highlights any non-tangent segments. Added radial-in, radial-out and degree of curve to the report for curve sections.
• Station Polyline/Centerline – Added options to label spiral stations and to apply a dz for offset points.
• Offset Point-Entry – Added option to include station-offset in point descriptions.
• Label Station-Offset – Reorganized label layout for flexible ordering and grouping. Added method to label elevations from reference 3D polyline or profile. Added option for additional labels from a second alignment. Added settings for text style, draw text box and leader layer. Added more leader options including how many segments for the leader. Added functions to save and load the settings to a .sos file.
• Input-Edit Profile – Dialog is now resizeable.
• Input-Edit Road Profile – When screen editing the PVI, added the option to hold the K-Value or Sight Distance and adjust the vertical curve lengths.
• Draw Profile – For plan-profile sheets, added option to draw in Model space and option to include starting and ending station in Layout names. For horizontal axis elevations, added controls to select which profiles to label. Added many controls to road profile vertical curve labels. Added method to stack profile grids for multiple profiles. Added settings for manhole label prefix and suffix. For sewer profiles, added an option to label invert in/out at projected elevation to the manhole center and added a method to label the pipe length as stations along the horizontal axis. Added settings for title block and viewport layers. New function to draw a profile legend. Added station label option for interval stations to have partial label while main stations have full label. Added more controls for labeling the horizontal and vertical scales. Added option to output the profile plot to a separate drawing. Added separate settings for each profile for break point labels. Added break point label settings for prefix, suffix, symbol, leader and position. Added save and load functions for the initial select profile dialog to store the profile file selection to a .pst file. Reorganized the sewer label layout for flexible ordering and groups of labels. Added separate sewer label settings for labels at the rim and at the invert for with and without leaders. Added method to label multiple inverts at a manhole. More flexible pipe labels to arrange in any order. Added option to draw vertical line through manhole from rim to bottom of profile grid. Added option to draw lines for pipe cradles. Added option to draw the profile grid for profiles on sheets. Added the ability to draw station and elevation labels at intervals.
• New Move Sewer Profile Labels – New command to move sewer labels as a group with an option for a leader.
• Profile Report – For sewer profiles, added option to use the report formatter and for a reference centerline to report station and offset by the reference.
• New Label Profile On Centerline – New command to label profile data along the centerline in plan view such as PVI station, high/low point stations and profile slopes. Supports double-click on any profile label to launch profile editor to change the profile and update the labels for combined plan-profile view design.
• Input – Edit Section Alignment – Added option to set stations at profile special stations (ie. PVC, PVT).
• Draw Sections – Added method to draw sheets to paper space layouts. Added options to draw the grid as ticks only, ticks and dots, and ticks and checks. Added option to draw elevation grid labels only on left side. Added setting for minimum horizontal distance for segments to label slopes. Added settings for the end area table to control the vertical offset of the table, the text size scaler and the prefix and suffix of the cut/fill labels. For break point labels, added method to draw leader along with symbol at the break point and added option to skip overlapping labels. For slope labels, added an option to position the label above or below the section.
• Section Report – Added option to report stations in reverse order.
• Design Section Staging – For railroad redesign, added method to overlay existing tracks onto design.
• Overlay Section File – Added option for slope transitions to handle transitions like super elevation.
• Parking Layout – Added support for arcs. Added setting for number of stall along linework and method to fit by min/max width. Added setting for layer name.
• Hot Lot Network – Added ability to place building pads within lots during layout. For lot layout routines, added setting for minimum setback area.
• Lot Network Sub-Areas – Added seven new commands to create and manage sub-areas for open spaces within the lot network boundary. The open space areas are assigned name and description. These areas are not used for lot layout such as wetlands.
• New Size Lot By Frontage – New lot network command to size a lot by a specified frontage.
• New Check Lot Network Parameters – New command to check the area and frontage parameters of the lot network and report any problems.
• New Find Lot Name – New lot network command to highlight and zoom to the specified lot name.
• Road Network – Added three new output methods: to draw cross slopes at the station interval, to draw slopes along selected template ids, and to draw profile data labels in plan view. For coordinate output, added option to create points at the profile PVI stations. Added method to tie to existing surface at right-of-way offset.
• Process Road Design – Added option for cut/fill slopes in slope direction in addition to perpendicular to the centerline. [Back to Top]

Hydrology Commands

• Watershed Analysis – Added method to draw watershed boundary for the flow that crosses a line defined by two points such as left and right sides of a stream bank.
• Curve Numbers and Runoff – Added ability to automatically breakout sub-areas within watershed by runoff layers. Added method to specify area by interior pick and have the program find the perimeter from the surrounding linework.
• Watershed Hydrographs – Added option for known base flow amount.
• Reservoir Routing – Added report of water elevation by time. From the hydrograph graphic dialog, added a report function with output to the report formatter.
• New Exfiltration Design – New command to calculate pond exflitration and generate stage-discharge results.
• Culvert Design – Added edit field for headwater depth and added function to screen pick invert elevations.
• Channel Erodible – Added functions to calculate discharge and calculate slope ratios given other parameters.
• Calculate Stage-Storage – Added ability to calculate storage volumes by triangulation surfaces.
• Rainfall Library – Added method to define rainfall by an intensity lookup table. For the Hydro-35 method, added ability to define by 15 minute and 5, 10, 25 year durations.
• Structure Library – Added function to draw detail of selected structure.
• Pipe Size Library – Added settings for min/max cover, min/max velocities and min/max slope by pipe size.
• Sewer Network Settings – Added functions to save and load all the settings to a .sns file.
• Sewer Network Layout – Added support for curved pipes between structures. Added display of pipe crossing in profile view of hydraulic tab. Added setting for known flow to go directly to pipe or to inlet. Added setting to specify next inlet for bypass flow. Added display mode to show pipe slopes in center-center or by actual pipe length. Added setting for minimum Tc for inlet drainage areas. Added option for all inlet flow to be captured (no bypass). Added both full and max flow in the design dialog and sewer network reports. Added method to size pipes with target flow at a percentage full flow. Added analysis check for HGL over a specified offset from the rim.
• Report Sewer Network – Added reports for HGL Computations and Water Surface Elevation for Sag Inlets.
• Draw Sewer Network Profile – Added ability to label pipe names and draw sumps from network values. Added ability to draw HGL/EGL for multiple storm events.
• Draw Sewer Network Plan View – Reorganized label layout for flexible ordering and grouping. Added separate settings for decimals for station, length and elevation labels. Added option to label inlet type.
• Move Sewer Label – For pipe labels, added an option to draw the label horizontal with a leader to the pipe. [Back to Top]

GIS Commands

• Drape Image On Surface – Improved this command for draping high resolution aerial images onto 3D Faces of a surface in the drawing.
• New Edit World File – New command to edit the image location and pixel size including converting between feet and meters.
• New Image Set Manager – New set of 11 commands for working with aerial image files with the ability to tile multiple images and dynamically set the image resolution according to the current zoom level.
• New Import MrSid Images – New command to import MrSid images to jpg, tif or bmp formats.
• Hot New Image 3D Viewer – New command to view an aerial image draped onto a surface in the Carlson 3D Viewer.
• Import SHP File – Added ability to apply coordinate conversion on import for converting units between english and metric and for applying grid projections to the current drawing coordinate system. Added layer control support. When importing an SHP file the user will be able from now on to choose a field from the DBF file associated with the SHP file from which the program will create/use a layer where the entities are created. If the SHP file has the type points than the user has the option to control the layer using the description of the point, description also available through a field selected from the DBF file. The Draw-Locate Points routine which it is very flexible will allow the user to plot the points in layer based on their descriptions.  Added Point ID/Entity ID control support. When importing an SHP point type the user has not the option to choose a field from a DBF file associated with the SHP file from which the program will generate the name of the point. In the case of a non-point SHP file type the user can decide the unique key associated with the newly created AutoCAD entity, id which matches the record id from the database.  Added Point Description control support.  When importing an SHP point type the user has not the option to choose a field from a DBF file associated with the SHP file from which the program will generate the description of the point. Added Inclusion control support. The user when importing an SHP file can control using inclusion polylines the data imported from the SHP file. [Back to Top]

Natural Regrade Commands

• New GeoFluv Inspector Settings – New command to set the fields to view for GeoFluv Inspector.
• Design GeoFluv Regrade – Added option in Draw Design Surface to trim intersecting channels for better merging of channel models.
• View Longitudinal Profile – Added a Report function for reporting a channel. This data can directly be used with RIVERMorph to create RIVERMorph Long Pro. [Back to Top]

Geology Commands

• New Faults – Added option to define dip and starting elevations for fault polylines. Added six new commands to edit, report, highlight and identify fault polylines.
• New Draw Fault Surface – New command to draw fault surfaces as 3D faces at dip angles from fault polylines.
• New Create Strata Polylines At Faults – New command to create strata elevation polylines at the intersection of fault surfaces with the strata models.
• Draw Geologic Column – Added option to label only bed names.
• Define Pre-Calc Grids – Updated user-interface to use a spreadsheet.
• Drillhole Inspector – New user-interface to organize the selection of fields to process.
• Drillhole Text Formatter – Added option to auto prefix layers with drillhole type name.
• ABOS Modeling – Added the ABOS modeling method as an option to all Auto-Run routines.
• Surface Reserves – Added method to average quality attributes by area instead of volume by using a new setting in Define Attributes.
• Draw Isopach Maps – For improved smoothing, added outlier filter and ability to pre-reduce isopach polylines before smoothing. Added checking functions to ensure that the isopach polylines never cross each other.
• Block Model Inspector – Added report for no-grade zones.
• New Color Pits By Grade Parameters – New command to color pits by grade parameters and stored qualities. [Back to Top]

Surface/Underground Mining Commands

• Mine Note Left/Right/Face – Added settings to control spad and marker sizes.
• Surface Production Timing – Added Auto button for production table to set data including hatch and scale.
• Reserve Classification – Added method to Surface Mine Reserves to divide results into reserve classes.
• Surface Timing – Improved 3D pit scheduling for complex pits with separate bench polylines. [Back to Top]

TakeOff Commands

• Drawing Cleanup – Added method to import Xrefs automatically and to detect architectural units and convert to decimal. Added function to erase empty text strings.
• Topsoil Removal/Replacement – Switched to region logic instead of inclusion/exclusion for the topsoil areas.
• New Overexcavation Removals – New set of 19 commands for efficiently managing multiple overexcavation surfaces and volumes on the same site.
• Existing/Design Surface Source – Added a method to specify a triangulation file as the surface source for existing or design instead of using the drawing entities.
• Calculate Total Volumes – For the volume report, added slope area, average and max strata cut depth and max cut/fill depths and locations. For the Extended Report Format, added import/export volumes.
• Cut/Fill Labels – Added settings for label colors separately for cut, fill, existing and design.
• Cut/Fill Color Map – Improved the coloring scheme for better contrast.
• Cut/Fill Contours – Added setting for prefix and suffix on contour labels.
• New Spreadsheet Trench Editor – New command to input-edit trench network data in a spreadsheet.
• New Define Pipe Groups – New command to define a group of multiple pipes to assign to trenches.
• New Import Raster To Vector – New command to import polylines into the drawing from a bmp image file such as a scanned contour map. [Back to Top]

Data Conversions

• Google Earth – In Write Polyline File, added ability to create KML file for Google Earth for drawing linework.
• LandXML – Added ability to convert between feet and meter units. Added method to export breaklines. Added support to import Eagle Point and GeoPak style surfaces. Added support for importing Topcon Link raw data.
• Latvia98 – Added support for this geoid.
• Leica GSI – Added function to export survey raw data to Leica GSI in Liscad format.
• MOSS – Added function in Write Polyline File to output MX/MOSS Genio format data.
• Netherlands 2004 – Added support for this geoid.
• New Caledonia Geoid – Added support for this geoid.
• NLS MMH360 – New routines to import/export point data with this format.
• Norway Geoid – Added support for this geoid.
• OSU91A Geoid – Added support for this geoid.
• StormCAD – Added import of sewer network data from a StormCAD mdb.
• Topcon LN3 – Added LN3 support in the Write Polyline File command.
• Topcon Raw – Added support for Topson GTS raw data import. [Back to Top]

Programming Interfaces

• DTM API – Added function to calculate the elevation of a surface at a given coordinate.
• Point API – Added functions to draw and select point entities.
• New Road API – New API with a collection of Lisp functions for centerlines, profiles and road templates. [Back to Top]