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MODULE 8.

OFFICESRUVEY™: BASICS AND CONTOUR TOOLS

Learning Outcomes:

Students should be able to use the basic tools in RealWorks Survey such as sampling,

segmenting, and subproject creation and the contour tool.

Lecture Contents:

8.1 Introduction

OfficeSurvey™ module is the default module when data is loaded into RWS for the first

time (except SIMA and TXT with topopoints). It provides the tools for data filtering as well as

many data processing functionalities. Some of the features in this module include:

Segmenting

Sampling

Subproject creation

Contour generation

Profile/cross-section creation

Polyline drawing

Mesh creation

Volume calculation

Image matching

Orthoprojection

Inspection and fitting

This lecture discusses segmenting, sampling, subproject creation and contour generation.

8.2 Segmentation and Sampling

The segmentation and sampling tools can be used to break up point clouds into

segements, to clean up data such as removing trees and bushes from the point clouds and to

select portion of a point cloud for geometry creation. They can be accessed independently

through the Tool menu or evoked by many other tools in RWS. The tools are available under

OfficeSurvey and Modeling module, but not the Registration module.

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Segmentation

1. Select OfficeSurvey from the module selection dropdown list.

2. Select the point cloud either from the List window or 3D View window by clicking on it.

When the point cloud is selected, a yellow box appears around it.

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3. Click the Tool menu and select the Segementation Tool. Note that if the point cloud is

not selected, the tools are not available.

4. The Segmentation Tool bar pops up.

The icons on the tool bar from left to right are:

a) Polygon selection

b) Retangular selection

c) Keeping the point inside the selection boundary

d) Keeping the point outside the selection boundary

e) Creating a separate cloud from the selection

f) Bringing back the point cloud

g) Exit the tool

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5. Click on the Polygon selection icon, draw a fence around the area to be segmented by

clicking the left mouse button and double-clicking to complete the fence.

6. Click on the In icon and then the Create icon. The point cloud is segmented and a

separate cloud OBJECT1 is created as shown in the List window.

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7. Click the Exit icon and the new cloud (OBJECT1) appears.

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Sampling

1. Select a point cloud and choose Sampling Tool in the Tool menu.

2. The Sampling dialog box appears in the Workspace window. Note that the Segementation

Tool is available in this box.

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3. Click on the Sampling method dropdown arrow and a list of sampling methods appears.

Six methods are available (refer to Trimble RWS User Guide for more details).

4. Select Topography-Based Sampling. This method allows to remove trees, brushes and

other unwanted objects in the point cloud.

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5. Enter a Horizontal Radius and slide the Verical Filtering Tolerance bar to the left and the

unwanted points become red.

6. Click on Erase Unwanted Points button and the unwanted points disappear from the

cloud. Click Create button a new cloud (By Topography) appears in the List window.

7. Click Close to close the tool.

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8.3 Creating Subproject

To reduce memory usage or to process part of point cloud separately, users can create

subproject in RWS. When more than one subproject is available, only one is active at any

given time. Point clouds cannot be copied between subprojects. Here are the steps to create

a subproject.

1. Under OfficeSurvey module, in the Edit menu, select Sub-Projects and then Sub-Project

Manager.

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2. The Sub-Project Manager dialog box appears

3. In Step 1 of the dialog box, slide the bar to the left to adjust the percent of points to be

included in the subproject.

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4. In Step 2 of dialog box, click the Segmentation Tool icon

5. Segment part of the point cloud to be included in the subproject and exit the Segment

Tool toolbar.

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6. Click the Create button to create the subproject. The new subproject (SUB-PROJECT2)

is listed in the List window.

7. Close the Sub-Project Manager dialog box. The new subproject becomes active.

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8. To make a subproject active, right-click on it in the Workspace window and select Set as

Active Sub-Project in the pop-up menu.

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8.4 Creating Contours

Contours can be created from point clouds or meshes. To create contours from a point

cloud:

1. Select the OfficeSurvey module in the module dropdown list as discussed before.

2. Select the point cloud in the List window by clicking on it.

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3. Click OfficeSurvey on the Menu bar and select Contouring Tool.

4. The Contouring dialog box appears. Fill the boxes with elevation ranges and contour

interval as well as tolerance.

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5. Click the Preview tab in the Contouring dialog box. The 3D View window is split into

two. The top one shows all the contours and point clouds and the bottom one displays

one contour line for a particular elevation.

6. To see all contour lines in the X-Y plane, click on the Orthographic Views Selection

dropdown arrow and select Top.

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7. The top view is displayed. Click Create to create the contours. Notice that the contour

object is listed in the List window.

8. To change the name of the contour object, right-click on it in the List window and select

Properties in the pop-up menu.

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9. The Properties window appears. Click on Name and enter a desired name for the contour

object. Close the Properties window if desired. Click on the Close tab in the Contouring

dialog box to close the tool.

10. The Contouring tool dialog box is closed.

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Questions:

1. List the function of each of the icons in the Segmentation Tool toolbar.

2. What are the six sampling methods in RWS? Explain these methods.

3. Can Segmentation and Sampling tools be used in contour creation?

4. Can you change the contour labels and positions of the labels in RWS?