Working with Terrain and Contours
Use this dropdown menu when you want to import terrain information from Google Earth into your AutoCAD project and create contours/surfaces from it. A grid of three-dimensional points of customizable density will be created in AutoCAD and contours will be drawn based on that data set. Select:
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Terrain from Current View | To fetch terrain data from the area Google Earth is currently displaying | |
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Terrain on Grid | To fetch terrain data into a specified grid | |
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Terrain on Area | To fetch terrain data into a specified polygonal area |
Note: For optimal accuracy we recommend that the Google Earth eye altitude is set to 3km (10,000ft) or lower when using any of these functions and that a 30m x 30m (100ft x 100ft) grid is created.
Terrain from Current View
Step 1: Select the Terrain from Current View command from the dropdown menu
You will be prompted to input the number of points to be generated in the grid and then Plex.Earth will import terrain infrormation for the area currently displayed inside your Google Earth window. When the process has been completed you will be prompted to choose whether you want to create a surface (TIN) and/or contours from the imported points.
Step 2: The terrain grid, along with optional surface/contours has been created
Τerrain on Grid
Step 1: Select the Terrain on Grid command from the dropdown menu
Step 2: Define the grid that will be created
You will be asked to input the following parameters:
Grid Base Point: The bottom left corner of the grid.
Grid Rotation: The orientation of the grid.
Grid X spacing: The density of the grid along the X axis.
Grid Y spacing: The density of the grid along the Y axis.
Upper right location: The upper right corner of the grid.
You will be prompted to input the number of points to be generated in the grid and then Plex.Earth will import terrain infrormation for the area currently displayed inside your Google Earth window. When the process has been completed you will be prompted to choose whether you want to create a surface (TIN) and/or contours from the imported points.
Step 3: The terrain grid, along with contours has been created
Terrain on Area
Step 1: Select the Terrain on Area command from the dropdown menu
Step 2: Define the area in which the grid will be created
You will be asked to input the following parameters for the underlying grid:
Grid Base Point: The bottom left corner of the grid.
Grid Rotation: The orientation of the grid.
Grid X spacing: The density of the grid along the X axis.
Grid Y spacing: The density of the grid along the Y axis.
Upper right location: The upper right corner of the grid.
You will be prompted to input the number of points to be generated in the grid and then Plex.Earth will import terrain infrormation for the area currently displayed inside your Google Earth window. When the process has been completed you will be prompted to choose whether you want to create a surface (TIN) and/or contours from the imported points.
Step 3: The terrain grid, along with contours has been created