Existing ground models - Part 1

Part 1 - The Problems

One of the reoccurring problems I keep seeing is issues with projects that result from poor creation processes when setting up the existing ground surface model.

Some of the issues are software agnostic, these include

  • Not undertaking a proper validation exercise on the existing ground data received, leading to inaccurate ground model
  • Taking lidar, drone, mobile mapping or stationary laser scan data and using it "raw" automatically thinking "more points = more accurate"
  • Not having a documented strategy for setting up the ground model so that it's easier for other models that interface with the existing ground.  We need to ensure that updates to the ground model, such as supplemental data can be incorporated without needing to go and check which surface is used with every target, profile, cross section etc.
Some of the issues are more product specific
  • Civil3D creates a companion file (.mms) when the surface point count exceeds approximately 2million points.  These .mms files and the overall file size causes performance and stability issues especially when used with ProjectWise
Next in the Series

Part 2 - My ground surface process
Part 3 - Ground surface validation models and processing

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