Defining Existing Ground

After importing and scaling site plans (if there are any) the next stage of a cut and fill project is to define the existing ground. Existing ground can be defined from a number of different sources. A simple stockpile project may involve importing the existing ground from survey points stored in a text file; a more complicated scenario could entail extracting existing contours from an embedded PDF file's vector data. Existing take-off can be very time consuming so it is worth using CAD data or extracting data from PDF vectors if at all possible.

Existing elevations are usually defined with contour lines or points. In this scenario the feature surface can be used to define your existing. If importing from a different project that supports the creation of TINS you can also use a Triangle Surface to import a TIN directly.