@ dave-o
To get flow paths across land you can use Civil 3D on an existing and proposed surface to “drop water” along your ridgelines or boundaries an watch it create polyline that follows the flow from that point.
That sounds really cool. I'll have to try it. Thanks.
II will try and dig it out. It was a section in it from land navigation. Learning to read a map Topo and quad was a very important thing. I had already surveyed for 7 plus years when I went in. So it’s just very basic. I did a little googling last night. REI and a few more internet sites. Have some good little info on reading contours. Not so much from the design and survey standpoint but. It can be useful knowledge. Try searching also for the 5 rules of contours. This will go along with much of what others stated. Like the V and U patterns. But there are some simple rules that will helpful for sure. Keep studying learn all you can and everything they throw at you.
When I left MS and went out west to CO. The survey company I worked for we did a lot of static work. I was not very good at reading the Topo maps to find how to get to the points. But was a great learning experience to be able to learn to read one for navigation terrain to get to where I needed to be. No roads in many areas so that’s how we got to where we needed to be. I failed miserably in the beginning for sure. A great group that stuck with me and of course made fun of a flat lander coming to the west. But it was all tung n cheek. We didn’t have cell pho with google maps so map books quad maps Topo maps city book maps. And sketches. That was an education worth having. Now I can create a kml. File send to crew and they can open it in maps and navigate to it. I think it’s awesome that you are continuing the education. Keep it up. No one can take know from you. So Lear learn learn.
@ OleManRiver
Try searching also for the 5 rules of contours.
Found them.
- Every point on a contour line is of the exact same elevation. In other words, contour lines connect points of equal elevation.
- By definition, contour lines separate points of higher elevation from points of lower elevation. This means it is always possible to define an “uphill” direction on one side of a contour and a “downhill” direction on the other side.
- Contour lines never cross. They may come very close to each other (e.g. along a cliff), but by definition they may never cross each other.* This is because one location on the surface of Earth cannot be at two different elevations!
- Contour lines never split. Instead, contours form closed loops. These loops follow the shape of the land, and may extend past the edge of the map.
- Closely spaced contours indicate a steep slope, whereas contours that are spaced far apart indicate a gentle slope or almost flat surface.
*There is one exception to this- an overhanging cliff!
You are on your way. Also pay close attention to what @holy-cow said about reality. One of my pet peeves when I am reviewing someone’s surfaces and continuing from a Topo is they often have contours running through walls and or buildings. I am no civil 3d expert but I am sure there are ways to fix this in the process. When I ran Terramodel many years ago It had the ability to set break line types. This could be done with boundaries now days but I loved that as the person in the field could code something a certain way as they were on the ground and this made for a quicker turn around for a Topo for sure. Same with the curb and gutter. Walls and any other man made barrier that prevented water flow etc. If you do get the chance to hand draw some here and there it will turn the light bulb on. Go get a stock pile data set a parking lot a ditch. You don’t have to be perfect or the purest thing but it worked for my brain to help understand what the computer was doing. Also what to look for for checking that as well.
Beside contours. Go take one of your small mapping projects that you have don. Have someone or even you if you have access to it. Plot the site just points code desc and a x mark. Then take your color pencils and connect up the dots. It will make you better at how and what you locate in the field. Give you some understanding of what the office first sees. And why your role in the field is so important. Your rod is the pencil and you are drawing all of that. Of course with todays f2f is not as important but I did one last year for a guy. Had not done that in years. But it made me think again. He said here and printed off several sheets at different scales. Remember scales. Knowing about what scale and purpose of a drawing will be is important for how detailed or not you do the mapping. You can do an exercise of a site that’s completely done. Just plot them at different scales so you can see what small items look like etc.
Try something one time and you will learn a great deal about contour lines.
Pick some neighborhood in town with curbs and gutters and perhaps some short retaining walls to the inside of the sidewalks. Set up and pick some point to be your number of choice, say, 200 feet. Then walk your 200 foot contour line and only take shots that are incredibly close to 200. You will notice your break points as you go along. Work both sides of the street and a cross street. Then start over with your next higher or lower contour line,, say 201 feet. Follow that contour line.
Soon you will find out grabbing data willy-nilly doesn't really tell you much.
That is brilliant.
When the casinos went into Tunica MS. We were tasked with staking the golf course on one. The contractor before machine control days. He wanted us to stake certain contours on the site. He chose which ones. Each contour was assigned a color code for stake painted. Then flagging color based on if it was a cut or fill. We did this over and over and over again. But it brought the design into reality and such.
I often wish I could have learned to do topos on a plane table. Got to watch a boss once go through the motions showing us once outside the office. And hear many stories about them. He would often do little like that to help us gain perspective. Now that was field 2 finish at its finest.
EDIT
... couldn't get a screenshot gif to function after posting and don't see how I can just delete the post...