![your doing it wrong your doing it wrong](https://cdn2.sportngin.com/attachments/news_article/f5a6-130733867/5_open_water_mistakes.jpg)
This post is intended to get people to not simply do something without understanding the why of it. At any point on a surface that was created from contours, the elevation of the surface can be off by up to the contour interval (2′ contours, the elevation can be off by up to 2′) unless you are exactly on the contour. The minimizing algorithms do a decent job in approximating what is between the contours (it definitely isn’t perfect). There is no data between the contours and that’s the problem. The root of the problem is contour data sucks. The root of the problem is not getting the resolution of the original contours (using the minimizing flat area techniques, my new contours exactly replicate the old contours). This could be debated for years and years with no one ever coming up with an agreeable answer. The following image shows how this same surface looks with all four of the options turned on. If it can’t swap the edges, it adds the points. For the flat areas, if it can swap the edges, it does. Ok, I’ve just shown you that everything you know is wrong about contour data so, what’s the correct way to add contour data to a surface? The answer is suprisingly simple, just use all the options when you add your contour data. However, between the contours, it just doesn’t do a good job estimating what the surface should do.
![your doing it wrong your doing it wrong](https://cdn.quotesgram.com/img/16/99/1052848750-souvenirs_your_doing_it_wrong.jpg)
#YOUR DOING IT WRONG MOD#
The surface contours that are at the exact same elevation as the data contours match up exactly. The best thing about using the Alice style setup for your SHTF scenario, you can mod it to fit your needs, your equipment is protected, its miles more comfortable, it’s designed to be worn while doing actual work around the house or out in the field, it doesn’t place any additional strain on your back and last but not least its cheap. And this is the problem with using the default settings. When you use the default options to minimize flat areas, it takes the flat areas and puts a really small slope on them so they are no longer perfectly flat, they are just really really close to being flat. Even though we told Civil 3D to minimize the flat areas, this image shows that there are still flat areas.