3.2 OpenGround Project Access and Required Roles

To import data from OpenGround, you need at least the “Read / View Only” role for one or more project.

For details about how to manage user accounts in OpenGround, please refer to the OpenGround Professional documentation.

Note: you should create separate DGN file for each project to avoid any mismatch. Multi-Projects in a single design file are not supported at this stage. 

3.3 Error Log

Logs are stored in:  %localappdata%\Bentley\OpenGround\CivilToolsExtension\logs

 

4. Coordinate Systems and Elevation

 

4.1 Coordinate System

It is crucial to assign the appropriate coordinate system to the DGN file in OpenRoads Designer. The coordinate system must match the one assigned to the OpenGround project.

Coordinate System assigned to an OpenGround project:

Corresponding coordinate system, assigned to the DGN file in which OpenGround data will be imported:

 

4.2 Elevation

By default, when importing borehole locations, the elevation (or Z value) as stored in OpenGround will be used. If you already have terrain data in your design file, and you want to use it for your project elevation, you can set it as “Active” in you design model. In this scenario, the borehole locations will be imported at the elevation of the active terrain (without changing the elevation value in OpenGround). You can also re-adjust the elevation in OpenGround to match the terrain.

 

5. OpenGround Extension Tools

OpenGround tab and its specific tools display when Geotechnical Extension is selected from the Workflow ribbon:

 

 

                Connectivity group

Setting	Description
	Connection Settings: Display the dialog required to select the OpenGround project and define the mapping between the OpenGround Groups and Feature Definitions.
	Refresh: Query or Re-query the data from OpenGround based on actual selection from the connectivity dialog.
	Query Documents: Display the list of all documents attached to a borehole location.
	Quick Log: Display and download (in PDF format), the borehole location log.

 

 Modeling group

Setting	Description
	Create Terrain: Create a terrain model element to represent a specific feature.
	Create Mesh: Create a mesh based on selected feature.

 

Civil Tools group

Setting	Description
	Project Boring Locations: Selected borehole locations will be projected to an existing Profile.
	Civil Labeler: Opens the Civil Labeler dialog.
	Named Boundary: Used to create Profile and Cross Section Drawing.

 

5.1 Connectivity > Connection Settings

The Connection Settings tool will display the dialog required to select the OpenGround project and
define the mapping between the OpenGround Groups and the Civil Feature Definitions.

The first dialog will display the project list. Only the projects you’ve been granted access to will be displayed.

You can search for the project using the filter tool in the different columns.

Select a Project and click Next. The Project dialog will display: 

 

Project Details	This section provides some information about the selected OpenGround project. This section can be collapsed.
Location Group	Display available location group(s) for this project (if any). An OpenGround Location group is a subset of location within the project, allowing to limit the locations to be queried. This section can be collapsed.
OpenGround Group	OpenGround Group list.
Type	Type of data stored in the table (Depth, Depth Interval or Other). Usually, the type is defined in OpenGround and automatically selected. If not, the appropriate type can be manually selected from the list. (see Note below)
Civil Feature Definition	Lets you select and existing Feature Definition (from the master DGN or the DGN library file currently loaded). When the Create New option is selected, a feature definition (with the same name as the OpenGround Group) will be created for you. This is a good way to help you create a DGNLib for your organization, instead of manually creating Feature Definitions for each OpenGround Group.
Property Based Symbology	For each selected property, an element template folder will be created and will contain all the values. This helps you create a DGNLib for your organization, instead of manually creating Element Templates.
Back	Return to the previous panel.
Save	Save the actual mapping and create the Feature Definitions where Create New has been selected in the master DGN file.
Import	Clicking Import will query the data.
Close	Close the dialog without importing the data.

 

Note: The Type of data being stored in an OpenGround Group is defined in the Configuration Pack. Usually, the type is defined and automatically detected (Depth or Depth Interval will be automatically set in this case). However, in rare cases, if this information cannot be retrieved, the “Other” will be selected and user must perform an action to query the data: either specify the type as part of the OpenGround data model in OpenGround Professional, or manually specify which type must be used to create the graphic element in the DGN file. 

 

5.2 Connectivity > Refresh

The Refresh tool will query or re-query the data from OpenGround based on actual selection from the connectivity dialog. If some elements were previously created, only the changes will be queried. For example, if the soil description of a specific element has been edited in OpenGround, the Refresh will bring the new value, as currently stored in OpenGround. Also, if existing labels leverage this information, it will automatically be updated to reflect this change.

5.3 Connectivity > Query Documents

In OpenGround, documents can be uploaded and linked to a location. This tool will query all documents attached to the location. Click the tool and select a location. A dialog will display, listing every document attached to this specific location (if any):

Select the document you want to visualize and data point in the view to accept the selection. The document will be displayed. In this example, an image:

5.4 Connectivity > Quick Log

Click the tool and select a location. The dialog will display, and let you use the Default Template or select a specific one:

Click in the view to accept your selection, the pdf will download, and the log will display:

Note: For more information about OpenGround Quick Log, please refer to the Quick Log View documentation.

  

5.5 Modeling > Create Terrain

This tool lets you create a terrain model element to represent a specific feature linked to a borehole such as a specific lithology type or even a water level.

This tool is available only when working in a three-dimensional model.

 

Name	User defined. The name of the terrain to be created.
Type	Which feature will be used to create the terrain.
Property	Which property of this feature will be used to create the terrain.
Value	Which value from this property will be used to create the terrain.
Use all Locations	If checked, every borehole location will be used to generate the terrain. If turned off, you’ll be prompted to select the boreholes to be included in the terrain creation.
Create bottom terrain	When checked, the terrain will be created using the Bottom Depth of a layer instead of the Depth.

Keyin: GEOTECHEXT TERRAIN CREATE

 

5.6 Modeling > Create Mesh

This tool lets you create a closed mesh from any feature definition.

 

Type	Select the Feature Definition
Property	Select a property from this feature definition
Value	Select the property value to be used to create the mesh.
Use all Locations	If checked, every borehole location will be used to generate the mesh. If turned off, you’ll be prompted to select the boreholes to be included in the mesh creation.
Feature Definition	Select a feature definition from the list to be assigned to the created mesh element.
Name Prefix	Prefix to be added to the feature definition (optional)

Note: For more details on Closed Mesh, please refer to the OpenRoads Designer Create closed Mesh documentation

  

5.7 Civil Tools > Project Boring Locations

This tool lets you add one or more borehole location to an existing Profile. Selected boreholes will be projected to an existing Profile.

Key-in: GEOTECHNICAL LOCATION ADDTOPROFILE

Note: To use this tool, a profile must first be created. For more details, please refer to the Profile documentation: Open Profile Model

Steps (to select the borehole location one by one):

1. Click on the Project Boring Locations tool.
2. Select the alignment.
3. Select the borehole location(s) to be projected to the profile.
4. Reset to complete.

Steps (using a selection set):

1. Select the borehole location(s)
2. Click on the Project Boring Locations tool.
3. Select the alignment.
4. Reset to complete.

Example of OpenGround data, displayed in a Profile (long section view):

 

5.8 Civil Tools > Civil Labeler

The civil labeler is a production-focused annotation tool for the civil environment. Label definitions bring together Text Favorites, Text Styles, Dimension Styles, Element Templates, custom prompting, border frames, and lock settings into a single, repeatable label definition. In addition, civil labels can target multiple elements allowing more complex labels than other annotation tools. For example, the ability to target two geometry elements and compute offsets between geometry or interesting stations.

For more details, please refer to Introduction to Civil Labeler documentation section.

 

5.9 Civil Tools > Named Boundary

Manages, views and applies named boundaries and named boundary groups. Used to create Profile and Cross Section Drawing. The OpenRoads Designer Place XS named boundary tool has been modified to include a named group that contains points to determine where the cross sections should be cut. It also determines the depth of the named boundary, if the point has a 3D associated with it.

The first step is to create a Named Group that will contain the Boring Locations to be used for creating the different Civil Cross Sections. For more details about Named Groups creation please refer to the Using Named Groups documentation.

Add Elements to this group: Make sure the boreholes are selected from the 3D view for their Final Depth to be considered for the Bottom clearance (so the entire boreholes are visible in the Cross Section View).

Once the group is created, it will display in the Named Group drop down list of the Place Named Boundary Civil Cross Section dialog:

 Select the Named Group and check the Include Named Group Points Only option.

For more details, please refer to Named Boundaries documentation section.

 

6. Geotechnical Feature Definition

The Geotechnical Feature Definitions are listed under the Geotechnical Category of the OpenRoads Designer Explorer. They can be manually created or automatically created when the “Create New” option is selected from the Connectivity and Mapping dialog. Once the Feature Definitions are created, we encourage you to store this information in a DGNLIB file and distribute it across your organization, as part of the workspace, to define your own Geotechnical standards.

 

7. Geotechnical Symbology Settings

Feature Symbology is defined in the Geotechnical Symbology Settings section of the Explorer and points to an element template group. In the example below, the Geology Symbology points to the Geology Code element template folder, which defines the different symbology based on the Geology code value of the element.

 

For each Geotechnical Symbology Setting, you can define (optional) which symbology (element template) will be used in Plan, Profile and 3D View. This brings a lot of flexibility to the way you can display the different features. Noticed that you can also control the Radius and the Width of those features as well. In this example above, the Geology Code element template folder has been assigned in Plan, Profile and 3D.

 

8. Element Templates

The symbology is defined in the Element Templates dialog:

You can also share your element template definition standards by leveraging DGNLIB.

It is also possible to save your element template definitions by exporting it from: File > Export > XML…

 

And import it back from File > Import > XML into another DGN file.

For more details, please refer to OpenRoads Standards for more details.

 

8.1 Element Templates Group

Is it possible to create template groups to separate the different symbology type so it is easier to navigate. Element Template definition can be exported and re-imported or be part of a DGNLIB to share your standards within the organization or even externally. 

For more information about Element Template, please refer to MicroStation Element Templates documentation.

 

9. Help

The Help tab lets you access different resources.