Hey there ASD!

 

Well, that's a tall order! ...but I'll try to toss you at least a few bones, and take this as a long overdue opportunity to discuss this subject in a bit more detail than usual : )

 

Eventually, my desire is to turn these rough thoughts into a complete site design book. In the meantime, feel free to start a discussion with me about my Site Design class!! (Sorry, I couldn't resist plugging that.)

 

The next thing to say is that I'm going to answer this from the perspective of the 'traditional' surface design tools, not the GEOPAK Site Modeler that was added into InRoads a few years back.

Now, as far as site grading goes, InRoads is designed to address two distinctly different areas:

1)  Surface Modeling - the construction of a 3-dimensional mathematical model representing either an existing or design site condition. It's a 3D simulation of some existing or proposed area. The quality of this model is becoming increasingly important as it is now being used for staking and machine control during construction.

 

 

 

2)  CAD Display / Other Output - By utilizing the display capability of an InRoads surface model various aspects of a construction drawing set, as well as evaluation (contours, x-sections, reports, volumes and so on) can be used to assess different facets of the job and prepare the final drawings. The prerequisite to the display and evaluation tools is of course a well-defined and accurate InRoads surface model.

 

It has to be said that working with InRoads in a site design capacity is not really a 'cookbook' activity, which is why this type of work can tend to be difficult for a new InRoads user (as you've already noticed). This is not necessarily because of the InRoads software, but is simply because of the basic nature of site design itself with each 'site' being unique and having different design constraints, different guidelines and different surrounding conditions. When doing site design with InRoads each aspect of the site grading will be required to be well thought out and defined; a "grade to drain" mentality just won't work in the InRoads world; it's not specific enough for the software.

 

The key to doing site grading within InRoads is:

1)  First, understanding the basic concepts and requirements behind grading in general (forget about the software entirely), and

2)  Understanding a handful of InRoads surface-related tools that will be used to develop, manipulate and view the surface being created or worked on.

       

 

3)  Site development, or area grading, is not a workflow from start to end, but should be considered a 'toolbox' approach. InRoads provides the toolbox, you have to know when to reach for and use the right tool for the right job.

 

The more that you work with InRoads in a grading scenario, the more you will come to realize that site design surfaces are 'developed' piece-by-piece, area-by-area. A site plan, or portion of a site plan, needs to be broken down into its component parts, and each part will be constructed one area at a time. Yes, there are tools that can automatically create larger portions of a design like a retention pond; however most InRoads tools are merely point solutions for various design problems.

 

Civilly yours,

-zen