Using Surpac’s Digitiser Edge Follow Mode

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It’s Tip Tuesday on the Blog! Today’s post comes from our Chief Technology Officer, Steve Carter.

Digitiser Edge Follow Drafting mode has been a feature of GEOVIA Surpac™ for a number of years. The recent release of Surpac 6.6 added a few subtle changes and enhancements to make it work even better.

The Edge Follow Drafting mode provides graduated snap controls that allow new points to be digitised at an exact perpendicular offset from an existing string.

When using Edge Follow Drafting mode, just follow these steps to create points at a perpendicular offset of 5 meters (or feet, if they are your units of length) from an existing segment:

1. Load a file and ensure Surpac is in Plan View by using ZOOM ALL. Position the view to display the segment to be used as reference at a suitable scale.

2.  Start digitising by pressing the Create new points using the mouse button.

Create new points button on the Digitiser toolbar.3.  Right click the mouse button and select Drafting mode from the context menu.

Drafting mode button on the Digitiser context menu.

4.  Check the Tool properties panel and set the Offset snap to 5. This makes positioning the point exactly at an offset of 5 from the reference segment a snap.  The Distance snap setting determines the distance along the reference segment to the perpendicular offset position.

Digitiser Tool properties panel.

5.  Note how the digitiser prompts you with to use the Ctrl+Left mouse click combination to select the segment to be used for edge follow mode. Do this to select the segment you want to follow and then start digitising using the offset feature.

6.  As you move the mouse, the digitiser will react. Angle, distance and offset snap values cause the digitiser to behave in a way that makes it easy to digitise the shape you want. Note how a large offset value means you only need an approximate mouse position to place the point at an exact location. This makes digitising much more efficient.

Digitiser angle snap assistance.

Digitiser offset snap assistance.
Here are a few other useful facts about the Digitiser Edge Follow Drafting mode:

  • It works equally well in Plan View and on both vertical and inclined planes.
  • When digitising, press the “5” key on the keyboard to quickly turn on Drafting mode—this saves a few more mouse clicks.
  • Once Drafting mode has been enabled, use the Ctrl+Left click action to enable Edge follow mode.

Looking for more Surpac Tips & Tricks? Check out some of Steve’s past posts:

Be sure to check back next Tuesday for more Product Tips & Tricks.

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