Terrain Assist

[msmvet]

Anyone knows if there is a way to put a 1 meter elevation map into Terrain Assist? (Options are 10 or 30 only) Or if there is another program to do this, and create an .ach plot?

[BrianZ111]

Unfortunately you can't import at 1 meter with TA. You can convert a 1 meter data file to 10 meter with mapping software though. You'll lose resolution but you'll at least be able to import it. If you need me to I can convert a file to 10 meter for you, let me know.

[msmvet]

Ok, I´ve downloaded a 10 meter map already.

Thanks Braian!!

[BrianZ111]

Yeah it's a bummer. It's the main reason I haven't done another PGA 2000 course. I don't want to have to go back to doing all those detailed elevations by hand. It seems like it would be theoretically possible since the file holds a more detailed mesh once you work with it in the architect. I think the way TA imports keeps the detail of the mesh uniform and that is as small as it can go in a uniform way. There must be a technical obstacle to just importing a mesh of any shape straight into the file. Chet Bzdak was here at the forum a few months back, he wrote the TA software so he would know exactly the reasons he did it that way. Maybe he'll reply if he sees this.

[Chet Bzdak]

Old post, I know, but just for the record....... The TA is a very simplistic program. It asks you to pick your DEM size just so it will properly parse the DEM file. It then re-samples the data (up or down) to match the CA's native grid , which is 60 ft (18 ish meters). It doesn't add or subtract grid points, it just changes the height value of the existing grid. A 1 meter DEM re-sampled to 18 meters was pretty pointless so I didn't include that option. I think that the technical issue with the CA as far as importing a finer base mesh is that it is a single object at that stage and would be subject to the Hex limit of 65K points. That would limit the maximum size of a 1 meter plot to about 250 x 250 or so.

[msmvet]

Thanks for the explanation Chet!!!
The program you wrote still works really fine!!
The main issue is I got older and lazy, so I wanted technology to do minor elevation work for me

Thanks again for posting a reply.

[BrianZ111]

Thanks for the reply Chet. I figured it was something along those lines. I hadn't thought of the part about the point limit for an object but that makes perfect sense. I guess it would require a bunch of dropped shapes included in the imported mesh and then the user would have to run the simplify tool all over the place on an as needed basis before picking the shapes up. Or maybe a better way would be to allow the user to specify the perimeter of each hole and import those areas as dropped shapes with a 1 meter mesh and simplify the rest to 10 meter. Either way it would have to solve the much more difficult problem of creating its own mesh or making use of another program to do that instead of just inserting height data into the already existing default mesh of an architect file.

msmvet, I prefer to think of the program as getting old, not me. The editor is basically 20 years old this year, it was introduced in PGA '99 and hardly changed much at all right up through TW '08. It held up amazingly well except for a few details that make a huge difference today. Same can be said for the game as well. That's what made it painful for me to move on from.

[msmvet]

Ok...now I have another issue...
Downloaded an .adf file.
Converted it to .tif.
Opened in 3DEM, converted to NAD27 and exported as ASCII text file.
When I open it on the TA, crashes...
Same file as .hdr opens ok on the TA and it converts to a plot, a messed up plot, but it converts ok...

This happens on every file 1/3 or 1/9 arc

Any ideas?

[BrianZ111]

Are you getting an .hdr with the ASCII text file? Pretty sure that's required no matter what format you start with if I remember right. Otherwise, no, I don't know. If you give me links to the source file(s) I can take a look.