For PVcase to accurately evaluate terrain data, it relies on clearly defined CAD objects that contain precise height information.
Topographical surveys often combine multiple drawing elements onto a single layer. This causes terrain recognition errors during layout generation.
Generating a terrain mesh
Before generating a layout, it is best to create a Terrain mesh:
- Select the topography data in the Layout generation settings.
- Open the Terrain mesh menu.
- Adjust all necessary parameters.
- Click Generate mesh.
To review the mesh and PVcase's terrain estimate, go to the Isometric view in AutoCAD.
To learn more about the terrain mesh functionalities, visit Terrain mesh.
Height measurement topography
Let’s look at an example terrain survey with some issues. As you can see in the example below, once the mesh is generated, some steep and unrealistic undulations appear and must be treated as false.
Viewing the area in a 3D isometric perspective helps identify such extreme variations and the issues that might be causing them.
Issues and suggested solutions
Issue: Tree height measurements are on the same layer as terrain height measurements (see image below).
Solution: Manually move the tree height measurements to a different layer.
- Issue: Other topographical or documentation indications are on the same layer as terrain height measurements (see image below).
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Solution: Manually transfer the indicative numbers to another layer.
Once these issues are addressed, remember to Reselect the terrain data. Afterward, you can regenerate the Terrain mesh and review the results.
Contour line topography
A common issue with contour line topographical surveys is missing elevation (Z-vertex) data for the contour lines, which often makes large parts of the topography unusable.
If the Terrain mesh shows extreme deviations or if selecting topography is not possible, contour lines need correction. This pop-up will appear when selecting contour lines if all have 0 elevation.
If only some are faulty, you'll be asked whether to keep them or not.
Possible solutions
One option is to simply click Exclude to ignore this false and unrealistic information.
A more effective method is to tackle the root cause by identifying these contour lines. You can do this using a 3D isometric view to isolate and rotate the topography. This approach usually clearly reveals the problematic contour lines.
Simply placing these polylines on another layer or adding elevation data will fix the issue.
For more information on what types of terrain surveys are currently compatible with the software, visit the article Topography compatibility.