Export/Import Tools - Eliot Sinclair and Partners

Project Summary

Not every software package makes it easy to export 12d Model data to it. A number of Eliot Sinclair & Partners (“ESP”) clients were using software packages that were open source (or not widely used), and thus custom export macros provided the best results. Below are some examples.

The Challenges

1) An ESP client working on the Wimakeriri River fish habitat studies was using a software package by the University of Alberta - River2D, a two-dimensional depth averaged finite element hydrodynamic model which has been customised for fish habitat evaluation studies.
The requested export format needed to contain point and break lines to allow the River2D package to perform its own triangulation. Roughness height value was also supplied, but more was needed to optimise efficiency on this important project.
2) ESP was supplied an Adobe Illustrator file in an older version, which they were unable to open. The ASCII file was deemed to likely be corrupt, so they decided to create a custom import tool for 12d Model to extract as much information as possible.
3) ESP client SCIRT needed the ability to import and export complex multi level attribute groups for many strings, and while there are many native options in 12d to do these exports, most only allow for one type of string.
4) ESP’s internal GIS package for cadastral information, Quickmap, allows for the import and management of custom information. They were eager to upload points and lines into Quickmap in order to show nationwide areas they have surveyed and benchmarks established on sites that could be reused by future surveys. Because Quickmap is an Access Database system that utilises WellKnownText, they needed another export tool from 12d Model.

The Solution

With these various challenges to overcome, the best idea seemed to be to engage the skills of their 12d Model Customisation expert to write 12d Model macros.

The Result

With the right 12d Model macros, the ESP team was able to:
- help optimise their client’s River2D work on the Wimakeriri River
- extract all the relevant information from the corrupted Illustrator file
- assist SCIRT with importing and exporting complex multi-level attribute groups for many strings with their macro that recognises both drainage and super strings
- create the export tool they needed for working with Quickmap.

With these successes under their belt, ESP plans to utilise the power of 12d Model macros even more in the future.