Overview

Engineers and surveyors are constantly creating lines and curves. Whether the task at hand involves re-creating and checking existing geometry from deeds or record plats, or designing a new land plan, it is important to have tools to assist in the accurate creation of this linework.

The lines and curves tools in Civil 3D, along with the complementary tools on the Transparent Commands and Inquiry toolbars, provide robust methods for creating and checking lines and curves. This linework can then be used as is, or as a foundation for creating sound parcels, alignments, and other Civil 3D object geometry.

It is important to note that the creation Civil 3D objects such as parcels and alignments from this foundation geometry is necessary for robust reporting and labeling, such as legal descriptions, segment tables, and more detailed design and analysis.

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

• Create a series of lines by bearing and distance

• Use the Inquiry commands to confirm that lines are drawn correctly

• Create a curve tangent to the end of a line

• Create a best-fit line for a series of Civil 3D points

• Label lines and curves

Label Lines and Curves

There are many ways to draw lines in an AutoCAD-based environment. The tools found under the Lines/Curve menu create lines that are no more intelligent than the regular AutoCAD Line command. How the Civil 3D lines differ from the regular Line command is not in the resulting entity, but in...