The Extract Boundary function extracts the boundary from a surface, stockpile, or cut/fill item.
The extracted boundary is a newly created item that leaves the original item unchanged. This function only works on the selected item (or items) and appears in the TOOLS tab. When multiple items are selected, the operation is done sequentially for each item.
Overview
Quick Usage Guide
- Select your surface, stockpile, or cut/fill item
- Go to the TOOLS tab.
- Click Extract Boundary in the Create group.
- The boundary is created in the active layer.
When to Use Extract Boundary
You can use Extract Boundary when you want to create a surface, stockpile, or cut/fill item on your drone data for an exact match of the extent on an earlier analysis. Extracting a boundary and/or editing its vertex can save you time when compared to having to draw the entire boundary again.
Extract Boundary from a Surface Item
The illustration on the right shows the boundary that is extracted from the surface item on the left.
Extract Boundary from a Stockpile Item
The illustration on the right shows the boundary that is extracted from the stockpile item on the left.
Extract Boundary from a Cut/Fill Item
The illustration on the right shows the boundary that is extracted from the cut/fill item on the left.
The tool extracts the boundary from your entire cut/fill area. This includes the transparent areas shown in the illustration above. Set Min. Cut/Fill property to 0 if you want to get an idea of the entire area first.
If you want to extract the boundary from a certain cut or fill area, extract that cut or fill area first with the Extract Cut/Fill Area tool, then extract the boundary from the extracted cut/fill item.
Holes Inside of Surface Boundaries
A boundary is created for the holes inside the surface boundary as well, if you have holes in your surface, stockpile, or cut/fill item. For such cases, this outputs multiple boundaries (for the out and inner edges). The illustration below shows two boundaries that are extracted from an input surface that contains a hole over the small pond.
