Topography/Contours from Web Map Service?

[Poot]

Hi everyone,

I am just wondering if anyone has worked with the GIS tools in VW to use WMS or similar to get 3d contour lines? I have seen shape files and other geometry, as well as raster based images for elevation maps...but have not worked myself to get these directly through Landmark's GIS tools. Usually I have downloaded these from various sources, and imported.

 

Perhaps you might know something about this @Tamsin Slatter ?  

I am in Denmark now, and here the government providers for WMS use the GML format, which also complicates things since VW does not play with GML so I can't see what is accessible.

Ideally, it would be great to be able to import sections of 3D contours from a web service...and I think its possible, but perhaps not through the GML based web services here in Denmark (also the same for Germany and many other European countries).

[TeeMuki]

I’ve tried to use open data provided by different cities in Finland trough WMS and WFS urls, but i can’t get them to work at all with Vectorworks. With my current project i have downloaded the material in shapefiles and imported them to Vectorworks then. That works well. I had no clue why the GIS data is not working, but i guess its the same as you said with the GML :(.

[PNWPaul]

I bind arcgis layers (contours) and then modify by record to elevate, then convert to 3d poly and then create site model from that. 

Not sure if that was what you might be trying to do ? 

[Tamsin Slatter]

On 3/14/2024 at 3:57 PM, Poot said:

Hi everyone,

I am just wondering if anyone has worked with the GIS tools in VW to use WMS or similar to get 3d contour lines? I have seen shape files and other geometry, as well as raster based images for elevation maps...but have not worked myself to get these directly through Landmark's GIS tools. Usually I have downloaded these from various sources, and imported.

 

Perhaps you might know something about this @Tamsin Slatter ?  

I am in Denmark now, and here the government providers for WMS use the GML format, which also complicates things since VW does not play with GML so I can't see what is accessible.

Ideally, it would be great to be able to import sections of 3D contours from a web service...and I think its possible, but perhaps not through the GML based web services here in Denmark (also the same for Germany and many other European countries).

Apologies for the late reply. I'm not familiar with the datasets available to you in Denmark I'm afraid.
In the UK I am able to get hold of free contour data from OS Openmap, but it involves downloading from the website and importing shapefiles. 
https://osdatahub.os.uk/downloads/open

Although the shapefiles are 2D, I then use the Modify by Record command to Elevate the polys by their height value in the attached record.
You can also use the same command on information that is linked through the Bind to Feature Service on a design layer.This will lose the connection to the original source data but that's no worse than downloading contours and importing them. 

 

I hope that helps. 

[Tamsin Slatter]

This might help. It's a few years old (like me), but don't let that put you off:

https://university.vectorworks.net/mod/page/view.php?id=617

[Poot]

13 hours ago, Tamsin Slatter said:

This might help. It's a few years old (like me), but don't let that put you off:

https://university.vectorworks.net/mod/page/view.php?id=617

Thanks for the link Tamsin. I had checked the seminar out when it happened....so good to get the link again!

I am basically looking for something like the ArcGIS Feature Layers that allow you to directly import vector based data/geometry (contours, road geometry, buildings, etc) within Vectorworks without the middleman, skipping the process of downloading and importing. I believe there was a seminar on this.

 

Many countries have agencies/map providers that offer Web Feature Services (WFS) which function like 'feature layers' from ESRI, but using the GML file format, which is not currently supported by vectorworks, rather than shape files. This is the case at least for Germany, Denmark, but many others as well including datasets from the Ordnance Survey site you linked. I think it is the case for most Europeans countries and municipaIities. I know  @Scott Campbell worked to make the Norwegian SOSI format accessible through VW via SosiWorks, so I am hoping there might be some future where GML file format can be used for WFS.

I know there are some posts on the german VW forums about this issue, and I am sure elsewhere

I know VW has developed a good relationship with ESRI that enables editing feature layers, but  it would be nice to see GML support make accessing/selecting data so much quicker and easier. 

 

Edited March 18 by Poot

[Tamsin Slatter]

Thanks @Poot. I have let our product planner know about this requirement. It might be a good idea to also request this on our public roadmap:
https://www.vectorworks.net/en-US/public-roadmap

 

[Poot]

4 hours ago, Tamsin Slatter said:

Thanks @Poot. I have let our product planner know about this requirement. It might be a good idea to also request this on our public roadmap:
https://www.vectorworks.net/en-US/public-roadmap

 

 

Done! It's hard for me to know how easy/difficult it might be to make the GML format work with VW, but hopefully it's possible!

 

It would definitely mean not having to use/learn programs like QGIS for many, and make VW a pretty great GIS Tool for planners as well.

[Tamsin Slatter]

The great thing about the Public Roadmap is that it's a direct line to the engineers and product planners.

[Lauren Macfadyen]

On 3/18/2024 at 10:02 AM, Tamsin Slatter said:

Apologies for the late reply. I'm not familiar with the datasets available to you in Denmark I'm afraid.
In the UK I am able to get hold of free contour data from OS Openmap, but it involves downloading from the website and importing shapefiles. 
https://osdatahub.os.uk/downloads/open

Although the shapefiles are 2D, I then use the Modify by Record command to Elevate the polys by their height value in the attached record.
You can also use the same command on information that is linked through the Bind to Feature Service on a design layer.This will lose the connection to the original source data but that's no worse than downloading contours and importing them. 

 

I hope that helps. 

Hi, I am trying to do the same thing but struggling to find a feature service that will actually bind ? Some seem to work and other don't? Are there any you would recommend for getting contours?

 

Thanks,

 

Lauren

[Lauren Macfadyen]

On 3/14/2024 at 7:40 PM, PNWPaul said:

I bind arcgis layers (contours) and then modify by record to elevate, then convert to 3d poly and then create site model from that. 

Not sure if that was what you might be trying to do ? 

Is there a particular arcgis layer you are using for this because I am struggling to find one that will actually bind?

 

Thanks,

 

Lauren

[Poot]

On 3/14/2024 at 8:40 PM, PNWPaul said:

I bind arcgis layers (contours) and then modify by record to elevate, then convert to 3d poly and then create site model from that. 

Not sure if that was what you might be trying to do ? 

Yes, this is what I am trying to do, but with WFS that are based on GML as opposed to SHP. 

Out of curiousity, do you have a paid ESRI account/arcGIS subscription or what databases are you connecting to in order to access the feature layers? The public dataset here in Denmark has national height data with +- 3cm accuracy, but I am sure it varies a lot regionally in the states, or even by municipality?

[PNWPaul]

I do have a paid esri account. Vectorworks will pretty much bind any arc layer using the bind command ( not the background image tool ), I typically use it for rapid feasibility site plans- so property lines are only as accurate as the service provider has created them. For topo, I use a geotiff from a state or national database, and create a contour layer in arc, publish it, and it will bind accurately to the correct location (provided your vectorworks datum code is correct to the location of the parcel). It runs very smoothly.