Elevate Lines by Text, Points, and Lines

Elevate 2D and 3D lines using a variety of objects that either intersect or lay nearby them. The elevations of text labels and their leader lines, points, and intersecting lines can be used to create and elevate vertical points of intersection (VPIs) along the lines.

To easily identify which lines have been elevated, set your zero-elevation data to an alternate color in the View Filter Manager and open a 3D View alongside the Plan View before using this command.

Tip: If any lines are not elevated after using this command, use the Change Elevation command to elevate them.
Tip:To convert multiple lines into linestrings at once, use this command as a work around. Create a text object away from the linestrings you want to convert. Give it an elevation using the Properties pane. Then, in this command, choose the Text insertion option, and specify a tiny Offset tolerance (the default should be fine). Select the Text object you created and the Lines you want to convert, and click Apply. None of the lines will be elevated, but they will all be converted into linestrings.

Prerequisites:

License for a module. To see which modules license this command, see Licensed Features.
Text, points, and lines with elevations

To elevate lines using nearby or intersecting objects:

Select View Filter Manager in Home > View.
Click the Display Options tab at the bottom of the manager, and select Display in alternate color.
Choose a new color in the Alternate color list.
Select View > New 3D View. Then right-click the 3D View tab and select New...Tab Group so you can see both the Plan View and 3D View at the same time.
Select Elevate Lines in Data Prep > Elevate.
The Elevate Lines command pane displays.
Select one of these options in the VPI Placement group:
- Text insertion - Select this to use elevations of text labels without leader lines that lay near the lines you are elevating. Elevations are derived from the text of the labels, not the elevations of the labels.
- Text and leader line - Select this to use elevations of text labels that include leader lines that touch or end near the lines you are elevating.
- Point - Select this to use elevations of points that lay on or near the lines you are elevating.
- Intersecting line - Select this to use elevations of lines that intersect or end near the lines you are elevating.
In the Offset tolerance box, specify the maximum horizontal/planimetric distance that the object specified above can be from the line it is elevating. If you are elevating using:
- Text insertion – Specify the distance from the line to the insertion point (anchor) of the text object.
  Tip: To determine the location of the insertion point, select Tools > Measure. Right-click in the From box and select Insertion Point Snap from the context menu. Pick the CAD text in the Plan View and move the cursor to see the rubber-band line from the insertion point. Pick a point on the line you want to elevate (with the rubber-band line perpendicular to it) as the To point. The distance from the line to the insertion point is reported in the Results group.
- Text and leader lines – Specify the perpendicular distance from the line to the nearest end of the leader line (sometimes indicated by an arrowhead).
- Points – Specify the perpendicular distance from the line to the shape that indicates the point’s location. If you have the Point snap running, you can pick the shape in the Plan View.
- Intersecting lines – For lines that lie nearby, but do not actually intersect the line you are elevating, specify the perpendicular distance from the line to the nearest end of the ‘intersecting’ line. For lines that actually intersect the line, you do not need to specify an offset.
  Caution: When you set the offset tolerance distance, you need to make sure that it is long enough to include the objects from which you want to derive elevations, but not so long that it derives elevations from other objects. This may require experimenting with various offset tolerances.
If the spot elevations are relative to a common base elevation, type that in the Base elevation box. For example, if you know that the site is in the 1100 meter range based on index contours, but all elevations are shown in the 100s, enter 1000 as the base elevation.
Note: The base elevation value will not be added to the elevations of any VPIs for which the spot elevation is closer to the base elevation value than to zero. For example, if you add the base elevation of 200, and a spot elevation of 198 is encountered, the base elevation is not added.
In the first selection box (labeled based on your selection in the VPI Placement group), pick the nearby or intersecting objects in a graphic view, or click Options and choose a selection method from the context menu.
In the Lines box, select the lines that you want to elevate, or click Options.
Tip: Steps 9 and 10 may be easiest to do by choosing Select by Layer from the Options button, and then clicking one of the required objects to specify its layer in the Select by Layer command pane.
Click Apply. Each of the lines is elevated based on the elevation of the objects that are within the offset tolerance.
When you are done, click Close.
To spot check line elevations, use the Explore Object command.