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support for angled parking, as well as the TECH
creation of islands and corner options.
TALK
In Carlson Survey and GIS 2022, GIS
now features an updated and improved
user interface. The new Drone Mission Utilizing Free Online Elevation Data for
Planning that lets you create and upload Planning Purposes
your drone flight plan directly from your By Matthew Palmer, LS
desktop. Young Professionals Committee
Every project looks nice and flat in the ortho image during planning.
Input/Entry Distance Scale Factor Have you ever showed up to a site and there was a large gully or other
is designed to allow users to specify a feature you weren’t expecting? This Tech Talk will show how you can use
combined scale factor that converts line the elevation data that is provided by the state to get a better idea of what a
segments from grid to ground or ground project site will look like before stepping out in the field. I will give a brief
to grid, as they are entered. Updated rundown of the data that is provided and show how you can bring it into
processing in the Edit/Process Raw Data Civil 3D and make a quick surface for planning.
editor that stores lat/long and RMS values I am sure you are aware by now, but one of the best tools for planning
as attributes for each point, allowing quick projects is the New York State Discover GIS Data NY Portal (https://
review of GPS records. orthos.dhses.ny.gov/). This is where we find our ortho imagery that we
can bring into CAD to get a first look at the whole site. A lesser-known
Automatic TIN (surface model) creation feature of this site is it also houses LiDAR and DEMs that have been
directly from the Draw Field to Finish collected for various projects by the state. If you zoom into the area you
command now lets users produce points, are interested in and click the “download” and “Current view” buttons,
lines, symbols, annotations, and contours you will see the products available for that area. I will be focusing on the
with a single click, while the enhanced items listed under the DEM tab. In most places in the state, you will see
Field to Finish Pipe Feature that allows a tab for 1 meter, 2 meter, or 10 meter. This is referring to the resolution
settings by code and works directly with the of the DEM. In a 1 meter DEM, each pixel will measure 1 meter across,
hydrology module to create pipe profiles. so when you bring it into CAD, your TIN spacing will be 1 meter, same
There’s also an updated option to screen with 2 and 10 meter DEMs. You can also click on the metadata link to get
pick points for Deed Correlation making information on how these DEMs were created, the tested accuracy, and
data entry much easier. coordinate system.
Once you have downloaded the DEM you want you will have to convert
Carlson Point Cloud 2022 introduces it to a TIFF image to bring it into Civil 3D. There are various convertors
several powerful new features including available for free online just search “.img to .tiff converter”. The one I
the identification and extraction of use is called MyGeodata Converter (https://mygeodata.cloud/converter/
overhead power lines as polylines. Also img-to-tiff). In Civil 3D, once you have created a new surface it is a good
new is the ability to create separate Bare idea to draw an outline of your project area and add it as an exterior
Earth and Above Ground clouds, and the boundary to the surface as a “data clip”. This will limit the amount of
new ability to perform feature extraction data that comes in, so it doesn’t slow down your drawing. Then you can
on point clusters in an Above Ground right click on “DEM Files” and click “Add”. Here you will have to set
cloud, including curb breaks, paint stripes, the coordinate system for the TIFF you are bringing in. In most cases
buildings, fences, poles, and trees. with the state data, it will be UTM. You can find the correct coordinate
system in the metadata mentioned above. Once the contours are in it’s
For more information about other always a good idea to do a quick sanity check to make sure there were no
enhancements in this new release, visit the unit errors. I usually do this by opening Google Earth and just checking a
Carlson 2022 webpage, (www.carlsonsw. quick elevation. Now you can display the contours on top of the ortho to
com/2022). get a better picture of the site.

EMPIRE STATE SURVEYOR / VOL. 58• NO 2/ 2022 • MARCH/APRIL 11