Underground Pipes?

[TimHayes]

My goal is to create a 3D map showing underground pipes at a location. I have the LiDAR data, aerial photo, and underground pipes (with their depths).


I have generated a 3D surface and draped an aerial photo on top of it. The next step is to generate an underground map showing the pipes under this surface. I have a small polyline feature class, named PIPES, with a depth field. It is a small feature class with 12 features.

My question is can 3D Analyst be used to show underground pipes? any thoughts on this?

[XanderBakker]

My goal is to create a 3D map showing underground pipes at a location. I have the LiDAR data, aerial photo, and underground pipes (with their depths).

I have generated a 3D surface and draped an aerial photo on top of it. The next step is to generate an underground map showing the pipes under this surface. I have a small polyline feature class, named PIPES, with a depth field. It is a small feature class with 12 features.

My question is can 3D Analyst be used to show underground pipes? any thoughts on this?

Hi Timothy,

Yes you can visualize the pipes in 3D under the surface. Load the data into ArcScene or ArcGlobe. In the layer properties of the pipes, activate the "Base Heights" tab and either use the elevation from features (in case of PolylineZ) or use a constant value or expression: (if your data contains depth, then multiply it by -1)

[ATTACH=CONFIG]28890[/ATTACH]

To give the lines a 3D aspect, you can use a 3D Simple Line Symbol:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]28891[/ATTACH]

Use the navigation buttons to "look" underneath the surface:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]28892[/ATTACH]

For more ideas on 3D cartography have a look at this video:
http://video.esri.com/watch/2626/3d-cartography


If you are more interested in analyzing the tubes underneath the surface you could use:
Intersect 3D Line With Surface (3D Analyst)


Kind regards,

Xander

[TimHayes]

Thank you for the response. It was helpful, but I cannot seem to enter in the Z values (which are all negative since the pipe is underground) in the Feature Class's Edit Sketch Properties. Every time I try and set the vertex Z value I get a message that the Coordinates are Out of Bounds. This message only shows when I try and enter negative Z values for each vertex, when I enter positive Z values for each vertex it works good.

[TimHayes · Accepted solution]

I fixed the out of bounds issue that prevented me from changing the Z value to negative. My MXD was somehow corrupted. I opened a blank MXD and added in my pipesZ feature class, changed the Z values to negative numbers under Edit Sketch Properties. It works.

[NehaJhala]

Hi. I want to do LiDAR survey of underground pipeline structure located at around 100 mt below ground and make 3D model of it.. Please suggest how to do survey?
Thanks