TRANSPORTATION

What should the Project.PDF report contain? Only the plans before the revision?

Project.PDF should contain the current plans set at whatever Revision level the plans are at, that is Project.PDF is to be maintained in the current state of development for the plans set, regardless of the Revision level.

In the initial delivery of a project, Project.PDF contains the images of the plans sheets for the project in indexed order. This file is provided to contractors bidding on projects as part of the Plans and Specs data sub-set extracted from the Project data.

Project.PDF is updated with each revision to the project and kept with Project data. However, the updated Project.PDF is not automatically provided to the contractor (ordinarily).

After the first revision, ProjectRev1.PDF is also prepared (ProjectRev2.PDF for the second revision, and so on). This ProjectRev1.PDF only contains the changed sheets in the plan set covered by the revision, and is made part of the Plans and Specs data sub-set extracted from the revised Project data set effected by the revision.

ProjectRevx.PDF (not the updated Prject.PDF) is placed on the subsequent Plans and Specs data sub-set extracted from the Project data (i.e. Using Setmaker).

How can I change sheet order or component names in ProjectIndex.xml?

The CompEdit application will help you correct the ProjectIndex design files paths or other data issues. CompEdit provides a method for editing the component data, but can also export ProjectIndex.xml to a CSV (comma separated values) file type. This can be edited with notepad or Excel (make sure to save changes in the same CSV format). When editing is complete, import back into CompEdit and save to a new ProjectIndex.xml file.

Steps to fix ProjectIndex.xml using CompEdit:

1. Open ProjectIndex.xml with CompEdit
2. Export to ProjectIndex.csv (File->Export)
3. Open with Notepad (or Excel, but make sure to keep in CSV format only)
4. Move the rows to match the Sheet Number order (or adjust the Sequence value for sorting purposes).
5. Save ProjectIndex.csv in CSV format and exit (Make sure the data is in raw CSV format only).
6. Import ProjectIndex.csv and choose to import data without sorting or sort by the Sequence value (Sort Order Value).
7. File->Save or File->Save As

"Save" will overwrite ProjectIndex.xml in the current location. By default, “Save As” will write to ProjectIndexFixed.xml in the current location.

Note: Use Open SheetInfo, and navigate to c:\fdot2004\mdlapps and open SheetInfo.xml for the component header information, if you are importing data without opening a ProjectIndex.xml first.

You can also use EDI2 to correct ProjectIndex.xml. As of the FDOT2004 MR3 update, EDI2 provides an Export/Edit/Import tool in the Index Editor, similar to the Export/Import of CompEdit.

Using the Export/Edit/Import CSV data icon on the Index Editor toolbar (2nd from left):

1. Export data to CSV.
2. Edit with Notepad or Excel (Keep in CSV format).
3. Import the modified CSV data.

You can easily change component, sheet number, sheet order, file names or descriptions.

Download CompEdit.zip (24.4 KB)

Has there been a change in file format to the Deltandx.htm report and what does it impact?

Yes, the Plan Revision Index Report (Deltandx.htm) file format had to be changed, beginning with projects produced using FDOT2004, Maintenance Release 2 and beyond. This change impacts two programs, Project Delta (which produces Deltandx.htm) and qSheet (which is one program that reads Deltandx.htm).

What was changed was that Deltandx.htm needed to have sheet sequence data added to its XML component in the same manner as the Sheet Index Report (ProjectIndex.xml). This was necessary because of the added complexity of emerging sheet numbering schemes now being used by Structures and other disciplines which wasn't anticipated during the development of Project Delta and qSheet.

The consequence of this change is that changing qSheet to read this new data and behave properly makes old version of qSheet obsolete (qSheet versions 2.0.2 and earlier will not read the new format properly - likewise qSheet versions 2.0.3 and newer will not read the old format properly). Without significantly re-architecting the programming of qSheet 2.0.3 significantly, FDOT hopes that we can manage the transition to this new format with the release of FDOT2004, MR2.

Is there a way to change the settings in EDI2 to only search for sheet cells in the main design file and not in reference files?

Example: I had one sheet cell in a project layout file (playrd43.dgn) that was referenced into a few other files, like the dsgnrd01.dgn. When EDI2 searches for sheet cells and encounters the dsgnrd01.dgn file, it states that one Postscript plot file will be created for dsgnrd01.dgn because of the reference attachment playrd43.dgn contains a sheet cell.

EDI relies upon Sheet Navigator to mine attribute data, including if a design file contains sheets (either in the active design file, or as a reference attachment). One should always run SheetNavigator interactively in MicroStation to see what SheetNavigator will come up with.

In the case above, the easiest way to stop SheetNavigator from looking for a sheet in a reference file is to simply toggle off locate under the reference settings for the playrd43.dgn reference attachment in the design file.

Do I now produce LandXML data for our electronic deliveries?

Yes, beginning with the CADD Production Criteria Handbook update effective November 2005, the Department is requesting that LandXML data be delivered as part of the engineering data submittal. This data replaces the proprietary GEOPAK formats requested in earlier CPCH requirements. You can read about LandXML in Chapter 8 of the CPCH. A website dedicated to LandXML is here:

http://www.landxml.org/

LandXML may also be exported from GEOPAK databases. Alex Mabrich of Bentley made the following presentation at the Spring 2006 Florida Local Users Group (FLUG) Conference:

LandXML Presentation

Exporting ASCII Engineering Data for LandXML Presentation