I have been looking into the process of extracting elevation data from PDF files into CAD data for use Kubla's takeoff module.

There are a number of issues that come up immediately as PDF files are not designed to store technical meta data. So technical complications often arise during the process. It should not be attempted with the expectation of perfect results every time. 

However it is a huge time saver potentially.  I have identified the following as items we could extract : 

• Continuos Lines (Outlines, Breaks lines, Contour lines) : Perhaps the easiest element to extract from a PDF is a continous line (i.e one that is not dashed or dotted). These can be loaded into Kubla Cubed as contour lines, break lines or outlines. It is important to realise that the PDF lines contain no elevation information so the elevations will need to be corrected by adjusting the polylines Z property in a CAD program or adjusting the elevation features level in Kubla Cubed.
  
  
• Dashed Lines (Outlines, Breaks lines, Contour lines) : Dashed lines often cause problems as they usually get converted to a polyline for each dash. Converting these dash segments back into polylines in CAD is so time consuming it makes the whole process counter productive. The more advanced conversion tools can have special functionality for handling this requirement and can often extract a dashed line as single polyline.
  
  
• Crossed lines (Points): In PDF files point levels are often marked with crosses, there is no concept of a CAD 'point' in a PDF file. Kubla Cubed can extract points from crosses in CAD files so the positions of point levels can often be extracted. Again no elevation will be contained in the points extracted from crossed lines. However Kubla Cubed has the ability to extract elevations from nearby text. If text is also successfully extracted from the PDF then both position and elevation of points can be extracted.
  
  
  
• Text (Point Elevations): The CAD importer in Kubla Cubed has the ability to match points with nearby text that may contain elevation information. This means that if we can extract text from the PDF file and the crosses of points we can import points with their elevations into Kubla Cubed. A frequent problem with this is that some programs save text into PDF files as collections of lines rather than as a text entity (this is usually when a non truetype font has been used). Again some of the more advanced conversion software can try to handle this and convert the polylines representing text back into a CAD text element.
  

Currently Kubla defines excavations by total volume. Under NRM2 ( or SMM7) excavation volumes are referenced by depth.

 ie;

Excavation:  Bulk Excavation:   Not exceeding 2m deep:  20m3
                                                                   2-4m deep:  130m3

Is there a methodology to define this?

Hi All,

We've recently been looking at adding additional exports from Kubla Cubed, allowing it to work better with other software and hardware.  I'd be really interested to hear your thoughts on what formats would be most useful to you.  At the moment we have been thinking of:

1) LandXml
2) SketchUp
3) Machine Control (would be useful to know which machine control formats are most popular with Cubed Users)
4) BIMS formats (e.g. IFC)
5) PDF (we currently export images instead)

...But we'll only do some of these initially based on what is most important to users.

Leo

Hi All

After installing Kubla Cubed it's a good idea to head to Kubla Cubed to check out our tutorial videos 

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIoEyrD...iOZPCzbdGg

We are going to try to add a lot more tutorials and walk-throughs in 2017 so subscribe to the channel if you want to keep up to date.  Feel free to ask any questions in the comments section.

If you want to see a specific video post reply to this post with a brief description and we will add it to the list.

Hello to all,
Looking forward to an interesting joining of ideas with this great software. Hopefully I can give a some input, from my daily experiences, and pick up new ideas from other users.
Cheers
Tim

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