CSD - Visualizing Dredging Results

PM View Windows

The Processing Manager provides several different windows in which to view data.

Click on the View tab.

These four options are preset defaults, each showing a different combination of the various views available.

These options turn individual views on and off.

Clicking on All Panels results in this view:

Shows the Project Explorer.

Shows the bottom panel.

Notice that there are three options here: Profile View (showing), Tasks and Output.

Shows the right hand panel.

The panel is shared between: 

• Cursor Information with these tabs  .

• Properties.

This is the 2D Plan View.

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2D Plan View

Open the Processing Manager (PM) and double click on the sounding grid used during dredging.

Click on the Grid Tools  tab to access the grid tools.

Select one or more layers. This modifies what is seen in the 2D Plan View.

The 2D Plan View (also known as the Project Window or Project View) shows all project and background data for the project.
Layers include: ENC's, sounding grids, raster images, CAD / GIS data and survey data.
The order and presentation settings of the layers can be modified in the Plan View Settings dialog.
To quickly hide or show a complete category (for example the ENC layers) click the corresponding buttons in the Home ribbon tab.

Hiding or showing individual files or file layers is done in the Project Explorer pane by ticking the check boxes in the 2D column (shown in the image above).

Click on Color Settings to open the Plan View Settings dialog.

Click on Sounding Grid Settings.

Selections for the various General settings depend on the objective.

Referring to the four images below, in this example the purpose is to show:

1. The insurvey layer.

2. The design layer.

3. The dredge bathymetry layer (used during data acquisition to monitor the dredging operations.

4. The difference between the insurvey and dredge bathymetry layers, reflecting the volume excavated (or dumped). This requires the use of a Reference Layer - see Reference Settings below.

Note that different color maps and different min/max values are used to highlight specific features.

A reference layer is used to illustrate the differences between two layers and to compute volumes.

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2D Profile View

The Profile View is used to show a Quick Profile or to generate profiles from loaded Surveys, CAD and Sounding grid files.

Quick Profile

Click on the Profiles tab.

Click on the Quick Profile button.

Left click where you want to start the profile line. Note the cursor changes in form  .

Left click again to add more points to the profile line/polyline. 

Right click with the mouse to finish creating the profile line/polyline.

The Profile View is then displayed and starts to generate the data.

Now you can analyse that data or create another profile line.

Change the Layer colors to distinguish one from the other.

Profiles created to date are shown in a pull down list. Revert to an earlier profile by selecting it.

Creating a profile line from a Line Planning file

Line planning files are also used to create profile lines.

Start with selecting the Line file containing the profile lines.

Select the Layer on which the lines reside.

Right click to move the layer up or down, to make first or last.
Change layer Color if preferred. 

Click on the Profiles tab.

Click on Quick Profile button.

By default, when moving the mouse over lines that are a part of a line planning file, the cursor style changes  .

Click on the preferred line.

The line is highlighted and a profile generated and displayed in the Profile View.

When lines are displayed but you want to generate a user-defined Quick Profile, holding Ctrl changes the cursor back to

, allowing you to locate start and end points close to, or identical with, a line from a QGF line file.

A list of profiles already generated is available in the ribbon.

Use the scroll arrows to step through the available profiles.

Modify the display using the Preferences button which opens the View Settings dialog.

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Auto-Generation of Profiles

Use the Manage button   in the Profiles tab to automatically generate a series of profiles. This opens the Select Profiles Lines dialog:

If this option is not selected then the Generate button   in the Profiles tab must be used to create the profiles.

Profiles are generated only for the lines displayed in the current Plan View.

Select the Line File and Layer.

Make sure the CAD layer is switched on in the Project Explorer panel.

Check the boxes for all lines requiring a profile.

Click OK to begin the generation. Progress is display in the Profile View.
On completion the first line in the batch is shown. Use the drop down list and/or the scroll buttons to step through the profiles.

Export Profiles

Click on the Export button  . This opens the Profile Export dialog:

Click on the Lines tab.

The list contains the lines for which profiles were generated. Re-select as necessary.

Click on the Surfaces tab.

Check the surfaces you want to display in the profiles.

Click on the Format tab.

Select a predefined format.

If not ticked, the exported files will keep their original names followed by extension PTS. 

If ticked the exported files are output in one file named ProfileExports.pts.

Select the folder to which files should be written.

By default this is the \Export folder of the current Project.
Only visible when Export to Single File was not ticked. Use the browse button to set another directory if needed. 
Enter a file name. This option is only visible when Export to Single File was ticked. Use the browse button to set another directory if needed. 

Choose whether to Overwrite the existing files or not by ticking/clearing the box.

Click on   to start the file generation.

Click on   to see a list of PTS files.

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3D View

A Dynamic Surface (formally a Navigation Surface) is required in order to visualize the data in 3D.
Typically a Dynamic Surface is made directly from QPD Survey Files. However, in Cutter Suction dredging, QPD files do not contain soundings per se. But a QPD file is mandatory.

There is a way to make a QPD from a sounding grid layer as follows.

Import Grid Files

The purpose is to create a new *.QPD file by importing the contents of a sounding grid file (*.GRD). 
This option is useful if you don't have the DB file and QPD file available, but only XYZ or grid files.

In the File menu click on Import and then on Sounding Grid Imports *.GRD Files.

In the ImportGRD dialog click Add and browse for the applicable file.

The Select Sounding Grid File dialog defaults to the \GridData sub-folder of the current project folder.
Multiple *.GRD files may be added.

Click on Import to start the process. A progress dialog is displayed.

Click on the Close button once the import process is finished.

Import Results

In the Project Explorer pane note that:

1. A new *.QPD file is listed under Survey Files. It bears the same name as the *.GRD file. Only the first layer of the grid is imported.

2. The data is linked to a new vessel with the name 'Grid'.

3. The data is linked to a line named 'Grid'. This is the enclosing rectangle of the grid data. This line is embedded in the *.QPD, and can be used as a scroll reference line in the Validator.

4. The data is linked to a new sensor system called 'Sounding Grid'.

5. Date and time of the data are the moment of import into the *.QPD file. 

6. The X,Y,Z values are the values of the mean depths of each grid cell.

Making the Dynamic Surface

In the File menu click on New and then on Dynamic Surface

The Apply Online Flags dialog is displayed first. Click OK.

In the resulting Edit Surface dialog enter values, enable or disable Update Automatically.

Check one or more QPD files and click OK.

A new sounding grid is created as shown in the Project Explorer pane:

3D Visualization

The Perspective window shows only the Dynamic Surface selected in the Project Explorer in 3-dimensional view.  
3D View reflects live updates of the Dynamic Surface.

Select the Sounding Grids entity in Project Explorer as shown in the image above.

The Visibility 3D check box needs to be ticked for the Dynamic Surface.

If that check box is not immediately visible, right click the upper column titles row (red outline) or in the second row of column titles (blue outline).
Each shows a different menu but both contain the Column/Band Chooser. Both options lead to the same Customization dialog.
Double click on 3D to load that column.

The additional column is added:

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