Using the Section Editor

To understand what the Section Editor is and how it works, let’s review how a corridor is built. An alignment and profile are combined to create a 3D chain, and then an assembly is repeatedly inserted along that 3D chain to create the full model. As you construct the assembly, you are looking at a static version of the cross-sectional geometry of the road. This version does not reflect the way in which the subassemblies interact with the targets that you have assigned to them. However, the Section Editor enables you to view each assembly insertion in cross-section view, including any interactions involving targets. In addition, you can use the Section Editor to make edits to each corridor section and perfect your design down to the smallest detail.

When you click Section Editor on the ribbon, a Section Editor ribbon tab provides you with the tools you need to configure and navigate within the editor (see Figure 10.1). It can be very helpful to divide your drawing area into two or three viewports so that the section viewer can be seen alongside the “normal” view of your drawing. In fact, a great feature of the tool is that it displays a marker on the alignment and profile that indicates the location of the section you are viewing. Thus with three viewports available (plan, profile, and section), you can view your design from three different perspectives at once.

Figure 10.1  The Section Editor ribbon tab.

As the name implies, you can also use the Section Editor to edit your corridor design. This is done with the Parameter Editor command found on the Section Editor ribbon tab. This command shows all of the subassemblies and their associated settings at a specific location on the corridor. These settings can be overridden one corridor section at a time, or the overrides can be applied to a range of stations. The changes you make here will be stored as overrides within the corridor.

To use the Section Editor to view and edit a corridor design, follow these steps:

The Exercise File can be downloaded at the end of the article  

1. Open the drawing named Using Section Editor.dwg located in the Chapter 10 class data folder.

2. In the left viewport, click one of the blue corridor lines to select the corridor. Then click within the upper-right viewport, and click Section Editor on the ribbon. The view shown in the upper-right viewport changes to display a cross section of the corridor at the location you picked before launching the Section Editor command (see Figure 10.2).

   Figure 10.2  A section view shown by the Section Editor command.


3. In the left viewport, zoom out until you can see the plan view of the site as well as the Jordan Court profile view. On the ribbon, click the Go To Next Station icon to advance to the next corridor section. Continue advancing to view several different corridor sections. Notice the line markers that indicate your location in plan and profile view.
4. On the ribbon, expand the list under Select A Station and select 1+75.00' (0+050.00 m). Zoom in to the section view, and note the ditches on either side of the road. These were added automatically because the road is in a cut condition; however, the amount of cut is so small that the ditches can be omitted, a change that you will make in the next few steps.

5. Click Parameter Editor on the ribbon. This will open the Corridor Parameters window.
6. In the Corridor Parameters window, scroll down to Left Daylight and change the value for Backslope Width and Foreslope Width to 0.000.

   Tips:These two values define the width of the ditch. When you set them to zero, the ditch will disappear.

7. Also change the Backslope Width and Foreslope Width values for the Right Daylight subassembly to 0.000.

8. Click Close on the ribbon to close the Section Editor and return the drawing to its normal state. If you zoom in to the plan view, you’ll notice that the ditch has been omitted, but only at one location on the corridor (see Figure 10.3). You need to apply this change across a number of corridor sections.

   Figure 10.3  The ditches have been removed, but only at a single station within the corridor.


9. Click one of the blue corridor lines, click within the upper-right viewport, and then click Section Editor on the ribbon. Select station 1+75.00' (0+050.00 m) once again.

10. On the ribbon, click Parameter Editor. This will open the Corridor Parameters window.

11. On the ribbon, click Apply To A Station Range.

12. In the Apply To A Station Range dialog box, click the Pick button next to Start Station. Pick a point in the left viewport just northwest of the ditches.

13. Repeat the previous step for the End Station value, this time picking a point to the southeast of the ditches.

    Tips:Your start station should be around 0+80 (0+020) and your end station should be around 3+00 (0+090). You can type these stations in if you’re not sure.


14. Click OK to dismiss the Apply To A Station Range dialog box, and then click Close to close the Section Editor.

15. Click the corridor, and then click Rebuild Corridor on the ribbon. The ditches have been removed from the corridor, as shown in Figure 10.4.

    Figure 10.4  A plan view (left) and section view (right) of the corridor after the ditches have been removed.

A Note about Units

Throughout this discuss, you'll notice that two values are provided for units of measurement. The first value is provided for the imperial system that is used in the United States, and the second value, in parentheses, is provided for the metric system that is used in many other countries. These values most often represent imperial feet and metric meters. It is important to note that, generally, only the numeric values are entered in the software, not terms like feet or meters. Also, you should know that the two numbers provided are not necessarily equal. In most cases, they are similar values that are rounded to work efficiently in their respective measurement systems.

Download Exercise File :

• C10 - Using Section Editor - Metric     --- ( 1.35 MB )
• C10 - Using Section Editor - Imperial  --- ( 1.1 MB )