Building a Base Model - Autodesk Infraworks and Infraworks 360 Essentials - page 62

Second, InfraWorks provides a Manage Surface Layers window that you can
access by clicking Manage Surface Layers on the Data Sources panel or Manage
toolbar. You can use this window to control the visibility and display order of the
surface layers. Display order comes in handy when you have multiple overlap-
ping sources of data. For example, if you had two sources of terrain data, one
representing existing ground and the other proposed ground, you would want
the proposed ground surface to display “on top of” the existing ground data.
You can control display order using the arrow buttons at the top of the Manage
Surface Layers window (see Figure 2.21).
fIgure 2.21 The Manage
Surface Layers dialog
Importing Vector data
So far you have worked with terrain data and aerial photography to build your
base model. These data types are similar in that they are structured as a field
or grid of data that covers a large contiguous area. In fact, in this project they
are even similar file types with one being a TIF and the other being a JP2 (JPEG
2000)—both raster formats. Next we'll look at vector data. Vector data consists
of lines and curves rather than large fields of data. Some common types of vec-
tor data are roads, buildings, railroads, legal boundaries, and political boundar-
ies, but many different things can be represented with vector data.
There are several distinct differences in working with vector data in compari-
son with raster or terrain data.
stylization There are many more stylization opportunities, meaning you can
configure the appearance of your data in the model to suit nearly any need.
Attribute data Vector data often comes with additional data attached to
it. For example, building data may come with information on the height,
type, age, property value, zoning, and dozens of other pieces of information.