Who this helps
Civil leads and designers planning constructible PV rows with minimal rework.
What you’ll achieve
Slope‑aware, constructible surfaces with quantified earthworks and drainage paths.
Hands‑on steps
1) Multi‑Directional Terrain Analysis
- Run MultiDirectionalTerrainAnalysis; display slope directions and magnitudes.
- Toggle Show Slope Analsis to visualize.
2) Terrain Smoothing
- Apply smoothing to reduce micro‑roughness; set mesh spacing and iterations; keep Keep Original Terrain unchecked unless comparing.
3) Terrain Grading
- Grade to target plane or follow rows; respect slope cap 18% unless engineer sets a stricter threshold.
4) Cut & Fill
- Compute Cut&Fill Before‑After Analysis; toggle Show Cut/Fill Map for heatmap; generate CutFill Application Map Creation for staking.
5) Drainage
- Run DrainingAnalysis to generate flow paths and depressions; preserve natural channels near roads.
6) Soil Compaction
- Open Soil Compaction; flag low‑bearing zones before pile drilling.
How it works / checks
- Slope vectors derive from local gradients of the triangulated surface (mesh‑based); mesh spacing trades precision vs speed.
- Smoothing reduces high‑frequency noise while preserving macro grade; grading can enforce terraces or row‑following planes.
- Cut/fill volumes are computed as the difference between original and modified surfaces.
- Drainage traces downslope paths; compare pre/post grading to avoid ponding.
QA & pitfalls
- Over‑smoothing can hide small berms; compare with Keep Original Terrain.
- Validate cut/fill balance against budget; steep spoil piles create access hazards.
Outputs & handoff
- Slope maps, cut/fill rasters, staking maps, and surfaces for layout.