Analyzing Your Design - Autodesk Infraworks and Infraworks 360 Essentials - page 250

slope vs. Horizontal distance
When you use the InfraWorks measurement tools, the distances that are reported
are slope distances, meaning that they are measured along the slope created by the
difference in elevation between the two points. If you are accustomed to working
in a CAD environment such as AutoCAD® Civil 3D®, you may be more acquainted
with horizontal distances. Horizontal distances ignore the difference in elevation
between the two points. The horizontal distance between two points will always
be shorter than the slope distance, unless the two points are at the same eleva-
tion, in which case the slope distance and horizontal distance would be equal.
exercise 7.1: Measure distances
Let's imagine you are presenting your design to the planning commission of the
town of Bimsville. During that presentation you are asked two questions. The
first is “How far is the wind farm from the town limits?” The second is “How far
will workers at the industrial park need to travel to reach the town and shop at
the local businesses?” In this exercise you are going to use the InfraWorks mea-
surement tools to provide these answers.
Go to the topic's web page at www.sybex.com/go/infraworksessentials and
download the files for Chapter 7. Unzip the files to the correct location on your
hard drive according to the instructions in the introduction.
1. If it is not already open, launch InfraWorks.
2. On the Start Page, click Open and browse to C:\InfraWorks Essentials\
Chapter 07\ . Click Ch07 Bimsville Bypass.sqlite and click Open.
3. In the top-right of your screen, click the Proposals drop-down list
and select Ex_7_1.
4. Restore the Wind Farm bookmark.
5. On the main toolbar, if the icons associated with the InfraWorks
Home icon are not visible, click the InfraWorks Home icon.
6. On the InfraWorks toolbar, click the Analyze icon.
7. On the Analyze toolbar, click the Measure Point-to-Point icon.
8. Pick a point on the northeast corner of the town limits and then pick a
point near the base of the southernmost wind turbine (see Figure 7.5).
The command should show a distance of about 1,500 feet (450m).