This question was repeatedly asked during a recent InRoads class that Mark was teaching so he decided to capture the response.

Mark,

I've placed a culvert in my DTM but the crossing is not showing up when I create the Profile. Why can't I see it?

- A New Guy  

Here is the Zen Dude's response:

Hey New Guy!!

Whenever I get asked this question I uniformly check certain things in an attempt to uncover the hold up. And if you tear apart the process of working with utilities in a surface, I've found that there are 5 potential reasons why a utility crossing may not show up in a Profile, assuming of course that the most obvious one is accomplished - that it's actually in the surface.

1)      The elevation range of the pipe is not set correctly

2)      The elevation range of the Profile Y axis is not in the range of the pipe

3)      The Style attached to the pipe is not defined to show on the Profile

4)      The Symbology attached to that Style is not set up to draw something visible

5)      If the Symbology is using a cell, it may be that the Cell Library is not attached

And if you are not very familiar with InRoads, I'll elaborate on how I check and address these items.

First, getting the utility into the DTM is generally done using either the From Graphics tab on the InRoads > File > Import > Surface command, or the Place Feature command under InRoads > Surface > Design Surface (let me know if these import tools need additional clarification).

The elevation range of the utility can be checked under Surface > Feature > Feature Properties, selecting the utility and clicking on List Points on the far right.

For some reason if the elevations need to revised, that can be accomplished by entering any new utility elevations using the Surface > Edit Surface > Edit Feature Point tool.

Once you know the elevations are correct, then check to see if the Elevation axis on the Profile has enough range to show the utility.

If you have to expand the Elevation range, it's done on the Controls leaf of the Create Profile command. Sometimes just applying additional Window Clearance is an easy way to add extra elevational range to the top and bottom of your profile.

The Style has to be set up to display on the Profile as a crossing. This is set up under the Style Manager. A very direct way to get to the Style settings is to get into the Feature Properties, select the utility feature, and then click Edit Style, on the right. If the Profile Display settings are not defined as you need them, just toggle those options on.

Since you are in the Style setting this is a logical time to check the next item - the Symbology. On the Styledialog box, click the Symbology leaf in the left sidebar window, and then select the Edit button under theName of the Symbology assigned to that Style. Make sure that the settings are appropriate for this area. If you are unclear as to what to define here . . . buy The Zen Guide to InRoads V8i ; )

Last on the list is the connection to the MicroStation Workspace and all of its CAD resources. In the case shown here, this pipe is using a MicroStation Cell. Once you know this, you should check to see if that Cell is available within MicroStation. If it's not available to you, then InRoads won't be able to place it either. The accessibility of this Cell is completely dependent upon the MicroStation configuration and has nothing to do with InRoads directly.

A few other items to note about putting utilities in surfaces:

• Make sure you toggle it to Exclude from Triangulation or else the pipe will adversely affect the surface triangulation
• Even though utilities are added as Exclude from Triangulation, I still add them as a Breakline versus a Random point.
• You can put the utilities in any DTM that you feel like, just make it sensible. Existing utilities can go into the existing DTM if you have permissions. Design utilities can go into a proposed surface. Or the utilities can go into a completely separate Utilities.DTM.

 I've been telling users these items for years, and I'm glad I finally got around to documenting this!!

I hope this helps, and don't hesitate to ask me any clarification questions if you have them.

Civilly yours,  

-zen