User Tip #15

LISCAD Technical Information

Liscad Alignments
Managers Summary:
The alignment functionality is useful for creating alignments in Liscad to be used in the
field for stakeout. Liscad alignments would be needed when the need for an alignment
arises and no InRoads alignment data is available. Alignments used in conjunction with
Liscad Coordinate Geometry can aid the field surveyor to efficiently perform the job.
Users Summary:
In Liscad, create points, lines, spirals, curves and combined curves as needed to
represent the desired alignment. Source data could be any document that shows the
data needed to construct the alignment. Construction plans or Right of Way maps for
example.
Technical Details:
Open Liscad. In the computations task create the configuration of the alignment by
creating points, lines and curves to represent the desired alignment layout. If creating
spiral, arc, spiral, which is common, use the combined curve option using the spiral and
radius method.

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In this example two tangent lines are created. Next, in the Computations Task<Create
combined curve. In the dialog box the type should be Spiral In, arc, Spiral Out and
technique set to Radius & Spirals.
Activate the point ID field by clicking in it. Next click on the tangent line between points 3
and 4. The fields in the dialog box, Tangent Line 1 and Reference Points 1, will fill in.
Repeat this for the line between points 1 and 2. Fill in the Radius field, in this example it is
40. Fill in the Spiral In and Spiral Out lengths, In this example, 25 for both.

Click on Compute. A temporary curve will be drawn in Liscad. If the curve looks correct,
click in Accept. The curve will then be written to the screen.
New points are created automatically at the curve control points and at the radius point.
You should delete the original points that were duplicated by the new. If you do not, there
may be a conflict when the alignment is created. In this example delete points 2 and 3.
See page 3 for the results.

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The next step is to configure alignments in the Utilities <Task<Configure<Alignments.

The configuration shown below is typical for a metric project. Be sure that Station is
selected and spacing 1000. Spacing of 1000 indicates that a metric station is 1000
meters. If using English units, spacing is 100 feet, which is a typical station.
The Road and Railway radio buttons differentiate between arc (road) and chord (railway)
curve definition.
Once the configuration is done you save these settings by clicking on system. This is a
one-time setup but should be checked to be sure that it is the way you need it to be.
Station radio button sets the display to 0+000. Chainage displays the distance from the
beginning of the alignment as 0.000.

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LISCAD Technical Information

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The convention of assigning attributes applies to alignments just as with any other
element in Liscad. Go to Computations Task<Attributes<Alignment.
The alignment attributes dialog box as shown below allows you to specify certain things
in the alignment. In this example, the name of the alignment is Bubba. If no name is
specified, the default name will be Align 1 for the first and Align 2 and so on.
The Start Station is to enter the station of the beginning of the alignment to insure that the
stationing is right. If the stationing is not right, go to Computations
Task<Edit<Alignment<Modify Station.
Specify a station interval. This example uses 20.
The first time you will have to select a symbol for the tic marks. The symbol can be
chosen by clicking on the Symbol button.
The lower portion of the dialog box has user definable check boxes to show certain things
about the alignment.

The alignment can now be created. In the Computations Task<Create Alignment.

Select which method to use. Several methods are available. The easiest to use is Trace.
To use this method simply click near the beginning of the alignment. The alignment is
created and is shown on page 5. If stationing goes the wrong direction, go to
Computations Task<Edit<Alignments<Reverse.

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Circular or simple curves can be constructed in a similar manor. Arcs can be created by
various methods. The most useful is the create arc by Tangent and P.I. method. Click
on tangent lines one and two to fill in the fields in the dialog box shown below. Fill in the
radius or select and fill in the Arc Length, Chord Length,Tangent Distance depending on
which values are known. Click on compute and then on Accept if right.

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The results of the arc creation are shown above. As in the creation of the combined
curve creation, this method creates duplicate points at the beginning and end of the arc if
the tangent lines were created. Before creation of the alignment you will need to delete
the original points leaving a single point. This is important because when creating the
alignment if two points represent the same location the alignment may not be created
past this point.
Having created the lines and arc where you want the alignment to be you can then create
the alignment. Remember to go to set the attributes for this alignment in the
Computations Task<Attributes <Alignment. Name the alignment and specify the
beginning station.
In the Computations Task<Create<Alignment<Method<Trace. Click near the
beginning of the alignment and the alignment will be created.
See page 7 for the results.

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To validate or check the alignment, go to the Computations Task<Examine<Validate

Alignment. Errors and warnings will be shown and a button to view or print will be shown.
When validating an alignment that contains circular curves, a warning appears, indication
that the radius changes. This, although irritating, is just a warning and does not adversely
affect the alignment.

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Points can be created by station and offset from the alignment. In the Computations
Task<Create Point<Method<Station & Offset. In the dialog box shown below, select
the alignment, In this example BubbaBike, enter the Station in the chainage field, the
desired offset in the offset field and an elevation in the elevation field if needed. Click OK.
The point will be created.

Points can be created using any of the point creation methods to place points in needed
locations for stakeout.
Four reports can be generated for alignment. Point from Alignment, Pis from Alignment,
Alignment to Alignment and Alignment centerline.

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Point Report From Alignment

In this example, BubbaBike alignment is selected. The input used is Offset 1 = 20.000 left
and Offset 2 = 20.000 right. The format is user definable. The selected format is Point
Identifier in the first position, Station in the second position, Offset in the third position,
North/East in the fourth position and Description in the fifth position. It is sorted by Station.
This report (shown below) will report all points, which fall inside the specified 40 meter
corridor, 20 meters each side of the alignment plus the alignment centerline points.
Uncheck Include Alignment Points if the offset points only are needed.

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Points Of Intersection/Curve Report

The PIs From Alignment report is also user definable to report on the details of and
alignment. An example is shown below.

The third report is Alignment to Alignment. This is used to report between two alignments.
Pick a primary and a secondary alignment. Define which alignment to report
perpendicular to. Define which points to report, Key Points, Interval Stations or both.
The user format and position are user definable depending on what your needs are.
Maximum Offset is a required field. Enter the maximum offset from the primary alignment
beyond which any secondary alignment relationship will not be reported.

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Alignment To Alignment Report

The following page shows two alignments, BubbaBike and BubbaBike2. Below is an
example of the report showing the relationship between the two alignments. Part of the
report is not shown because it is a very wide report.

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Alignment Report
The final report is an Alignment Centerline Report. It is to report only on the centerline.
The dialog box shown below is much the same as the others. Select the alignment and
define what you want reported and the order in which they are in the report.

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To output the alignment from Liscad and translate to GSI format on the PCMCIA card is
much the same as outputting coordinates, with a couple of twists.
Go to the Field Transfer Task<Output<Data Recorder. For use with RoadPlus, check
the radio button next to Road Plus. Under installed devices, select Leica TPS-1000
series. If the communications port is consistent with the card slot on your computer, the
data can be sent directly to the card. If not click on configure and select the port that your
card is in.

Click OK. The Output Road Plus dialog box will come up. Select the alignment to output,
check Extended Format (16 character GSI Format.) Extended format is recommended
for stakeout. Click OK. A message will ask if the Data Recorder is ready. If it is Click OK
and the alignment will be sent to the PCMCIA Card.

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Output to a file is another option. Check the Output To File box and click OK. The dialog
box shown below will appear. Name the file and specify the path where the file will be
located. Click OK. The file would then need to be moved to the PCMCIA Card before use
in the TCA 1800.

Another option is to output the Alignment Centerline. This is done by checking the
Alignment Center Line radio button. This option outputs the centerline coordinates for
stakeout without using RoadPlus.

Below is a GSI file of the Alignment centerline output.

*110001+0000000000000010 81..10+0000002299379354 82..10+0000000160174001
*110002+0000000000000010 81..10+0000002299382840 82..10+0000000160164628
*110003+0000000000000013 81..10+0000002299346317 82..10+0000000160197832
*110004+0000000000000015 81..10+0000002299354237 82..10+0000000160200388
*110005+0000000000000016 81..10+0000002299372905 82..10+0000000160191343
*110006+0000000000000020 81..10+0000002299375869 82..10+0000000160183374

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