Customize Topo Charts

Objective

The Customize Topo Charts function enables the user to customize the topo charts created by the DigitalRockArt application. These charts may be printed and taken to the site to verify the accuracy of the ground survey or as an aid to locate the clusters.

Processing

The first page displays a list of surveys that have topography data and you are authorized to update. If no topography data has been recorded, the survey will not be included in the list.

Hyperlinks include: Area (see ShowMaps).

To continue, select a survey by clicking on the Ref Nbr of a survey.

The second page displays the topo chart for the survey followed by a table of the panel topography detail. The table includes Cluster Number/Panel Letter, Datum, Distance from Datum in meters, Bearing from Datum in degrees, Elevation change from Datum in degrees and customization options. For most surveys, only the A panel of a cluster will have topography data recorded because the other panels belonging to the same cluster are nearby and easily located.

The application initially groups all clusters connected by a common primary and secondary datum into a single chart. If this is not possible because of recording errors or incomplete recordings, additional charts are created. The chart below shows a site with many clusters in close proximity and two outlying clusters to the north and south.

Hyperlinks include: Cluster (see ElementCaptions).

In many cases, the initial charts will require customization. There are several alternatives:

• Chart only A panels - displays only the cluster number in the position of the A panel. For the majority of surveys that collect topography data only for A panels, this is the default.
• Shrink - enter a length to reduce the charted length between clusters. The actual length will be show in a small box written over the bearing line.

• Separate - place all clusters using this cluster as an origin on a separate chart. This is frequently required on large sites to reduce the clutter and make the chart more readable. The selected cluster will appear on both charts enclosed within "()" characters.

• Omit - do not print this cluster on the chart and flag it in the table with an "*". In a few cases this may be necessary to prevent cluster numbers from overlaying each other.

In the example below, the charted distance for panels 14A and 28A will be reduced to 6 meters.

After clicking the Submit button, the page is displayed with the updates. An overview topo chart will be created whenever a customization includes use of the Shrink or Separate features. Overview topo charts show only cluster numbers used as primary or secondary datum points; all other clusters are shown as "X"s.

This page shows the effect of shrinking the gridlines for panels 14A and 28A.

The upper left hand corner of the topo chart displays the grid size and the east to west, north to south dimensions. The lower left hand corner displays the icons used to indicate the facing and inclination of the panels. A filled circle without a pointer indicates the panel inclination is less than 16 degrees or greater than 165 degrees. A half circle with a direction pointer indicates the panel inclination is within 16 - 30 or 150 - 165 degrees inclusive. A chord with a pointer indicates the inclination is between 31 - 149 degrees inclusive.

Collecting Topo Data For All Panels

If topography data is to be recorded for all panels, then the "A" panel of the cluster is used as the datum point for the "B", "C", "D",... panels of the cluster. In most cases, this requires measuring (or estimating) distance and bearing through the boulder . The image on the left below is a cluster overview for cluster 7 of a different site. The image on the right below shows a portion of the topo chart for the site. In the example, the "B", "C", and "D" panels were measured from the "7A" panel. The cluster number 7 indicates the position of the "A" panel.

Hyperlinks include: Cluster (see ElementCaptions).

Buttons

• Submit: updates the database with any changes, customizes the topography charts and redisplays the page.

• Change Survey: takes you to the first page displaying a list of surveys.

• Menu: takes you to the Main menu.