/////Using the Prospector Tab

Using the Prospector Tab

posted by on April 10, 2017
Prospector is arguably the most important part of the Civil 3D user interface. As you build your design, Prospector arranges the different components of your design in a tree structure.
Why a tree structure and not just a list of items? Later, you’ll study how Civil 3D creates relationships between different parts of your design. In some ways, this tree structure helps represent some of those relationships as a hierarchy.
The Prospector tab with a portion of the tree structure
The Prospector tab with a portion of the tree structure highlighted in red.
Another, more practical reason for a tree structure is that it’s an efficient way to show a long list of items in a relatively small area—the branches of the tree can be collapsed to make room to expand other branches.

Another way to think about Prospector is that it arranges your design categorically rather than spatially. In other words, in your drawing area, you might see road centerlines crossing through parcels, which cross through contours, which cross through survey points. Everything is in the right place spatially, but from an organizational standpoint, it’s kind of a mess. Prospector sorts out this mess and puts all of the points in one place, all of the parcels in one place, and so on. Prospector also knows exactly where those objects are in the drawing. You can right-click an object in Prospector and use the Select command or Zoom To command to locate that object within the drawing.
To explore the Prospector tab, follow these steps (you should still have User Interface.dwg open from the previous exercise):
  1. If the Toolspace is not already open, click Toolspace on the Home tab of the ribbon.
  2. Click the Prospector tab of the Toolspace to bring it to the forefront.
    3. Tips :If the Prospector tab is not visible, click the Home tab of the ribbon and then click the Prospector icon on the Palettes panel.
  3. Explore the tree structure of Prospector by clicking (the plus signs) to expand the different branches.
  4. Expand Alignments ➢ Centerline Alignments ➢ Main Road A ➢ Profiles. This hierarchical arrangement provides effective organization and suggests a relationship between the alignment and its profiles.
  5. Click within the left viewport to activate it. Then on the Prospector tab, right-click Side Road B, and select Zoom To. Notice how Prospector knows the location of the alignment named Side Road B, even if you don’t.
  6. Keep this drawing open for the next exercise.
It’s important to point out that Prospector isn’t just a place for viewing your design; it’s also a place where you can change the appearance of your design, create new components for your design, edit your design, and so on.
These types of functions are accessed through contextual menus such as the one used in step 5 of the previous exercise. A good rule of thumb when using Prospector is, “When in doubt, right-click it.”
Using the Toolspace on AutoCAD Civil 3D
Next Post
Previous Post