There have been many discussions around how to show the location and elevation of where an alignment of one road crosses or intersects with an alignment of another in profile view. Road design is just one example of when this type of information is needed as it could be a need for any 3D linear element that intersects a proposed design. In the past this proved to be a challenge in Civil 3D, however with the release of the 2019.2 version this is much easier to accomplish due to a new feature named Add Crossing To Profile View.
This new feature can be found on the Profile View contextual ribbon and by selecting the Launch Pad panel drop down.
After selecting the alignment (or 3D linear object such as a feature line) that needs to be shown in the profile view, a dialog will open that will provide a way to assign styles for the markers and labels.
Note that in this example:
- Crossing Market Styles are set for both the intersecting alignment (to show the linear object) and the design profile of the alignment (to identify the marker at the station and elevation of the intersecting alignment).
- Crossing Label Styles are set for both.
- The Elevation Options defines the source to use to set the elevation.
The Existing-Site surface is unchecked so that it does not display in the profile view.
After selecting OK, the results show a marker and label at the elevation of where the intersecting alignment is located.
Also, a vertical line is generated to represent the alignment at the intersecting station with a label.
As with any object in Civil 3D, there needs to be styles defined to control the look and labels required. In the example used for this document there will be four styles:
- A marker style for the location of the crossing.
- A label style for the location of the crossing.
- A marker style for the crossing vertical line representing the alignment.
- A label style for the crossing vertical line representing the alignment.
Note: There is an update to marker styles that provides a way to control the display of the vertical line. On the Display tab, set View Direction to Profile. The Component Type now includes “Crossing Vertical Line” as a part of the marker component. When this style is set to the alignment in the “Add Crossings To Profile View” dialog, Civil 3D ignores the marker type defined on the Marker tab and instead uses the properties of the Component Type to display the line.
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