Consolidated — no-overtaking zones

What it does

The sight-distance commands draw, for each direction, the stretches where overtaking is prohibited — a set of curves on their own layers, usually with a great deal of overlap between the plan analysis and the profile analysis. Consolidated is the next step: it takes those curves, projects each of them onto the alignment (the start and end of each curve become a start and an end station) and resolves the resulting interval algebra.

The union of those intervals is the consolidated prohibition — one stretch per continuous region — drawn back over the alignment and stored in the alignment's properties. With the consolidated prohibition of both directions in hand, the command derives the marking:

• the complement: where nobody is prohibited, the line is broken (overtaking permitted both ways);
• the overlap: where both directions are prohibited, a double continuous line;
• the difference: where only one direction is prohibited, continuous on one side and broken on the other.

The three cases are named on the form after the codes of the Brazilian marking manual — LFO-2, LFO-3 and LFO-4 — and those names go into the layers as well.

The Util tab exposes the same interval operations raw, on curves you select, and the Reports tab gives the lengths in Excel.

What "the alignment" means here. Unlike the rest of CapCad, this command asks for the alignment curve in the drawing on every operation, instead of using the project alignment. Always pick the same entity, or the station intervals will not agree between one run and the next.

Workflow

1. Run the sight-distance analyses in both directions — see Overtaking sight distance. They leave the prohibitions on layers ALIGNMENT_CRES_VISIBILITY_*, ALIGNMENT_DECR_VISIBILITY_*, PROFILE_VISI_RESTR_CRES and PROFILE_VISI_RESTR_DECR.
2. Run CAPCAD_MARKING_AXIS.
3. On the Consolidate tab, leave Gather from the analysis layers (11) ticked, choose the directions (14, 15, 16) and the minimum distance (17, 18).
4. Click Consolidate no-overtaking zones (22). The form hides and the command asks for the alignment. At the end, the status line says how many stretches came out in each direction.
5. Check the drawing. The Layer control panel turns the analysis and consolidated layers on and off without leaving the form.
6. On the Sign tab, choose what to generate and click Sign final (36). The command asks for the alignment again.
7. If you want the lengths in a spreadsheet, use the Reports tab.

The form

The numbers below are the same in every capture on this page. The Layer control panel (1 to 10) and the Close button (23) are visible on every tab.

The screenshots are of a Portuguese session, and so are the labels inside the generated figures further down. The layout, the control numbering and the geometry are identical in an English session. The English captions of each control are the ones quoted in the tables.

The "Consolidate" tab: merges the analyses' prohibitions into one set per direction.

The "Sign" tab: turns the consolidated set into a coloured schematic or into the real marking.

The "Util" tab: the interval operations applied to any selection.

The "Reports" tab: lengths in Excel and a plot of the alignment's tangents and curves.

Consolidate

At the end, the consolidated stretches are stored as properties of the alignment itself — capcad.eixo.proibe.cres.consolidado, …decr… and …both… — so that other commands can read them without depending on the drawing.

Sign

This tab reads back what the previous one drew (PROIBE_CONSOLIDADO_CRES and PROIBE_CONSOLIDADO_DECR). Without them it tells you to run Consolidate first.

The definitions used are fixed, assembled from the cadence (28), the width (27) and the studs (29):

In an English session the layer that reaches the drawing is written in the English spelling of the same grammar — see Marking Strip for how that grammar is read.

Each one-way zone receives one sign, at one end; the both-ways zones inherit the signs of the neighbouring one-way zones, and a both-ways zone that does not touch the end of any up-station one-way zone gets its own pair, one at each end.

Util

Applies one interval operation to curves you select, against the alignment you choose. It has nothing to do with sight distance: it works for any set of stretches along an alignment.

Reports

Layer control

Turns whole families of layers on, off and out, by prefix, without leaving the form.

del erases the entities on those layers in model space, without confirmation.

How the operations combine

The figures below were produced by running the command's own engine on a straight 3000-unit alignment. The bars are the stretches, at the station where they fall; the scale underneath is the length along the alignment. Their labels are from a Portuguese run.

Consolidate

Four up-station prohibitions and three down-station ones go in; three sets come out. CONSOLIDADO_CRES and CONSOLIDADO_DECR are the union within each direction; CONSOLIDADO_TOTAL is the union of both — note that it merges 200–700 with 400–1000 into a single stretch, 200 to 1500.

Filling the minimum distance

The same up-station set, without and with the 120 fill: the 60-unit gap between 1500 and 1560 disappears and the two stretches become one, 900 to 1640. The 760-unit gap between 1640 and 2400 stays.

From the two directions to the three marking cases

From the two consolidated sets, the three cases are pure set algebra over the alignment:

The four resulting bands cover the whole alignment, with no gap and no overlap.

The figure that shows this on the Portuguese page is labelled with the marking codes of the Brazilian manual, so it is not reproduced here.

The Util tab's operations

One selection holding both sets, and what each operation returns. Note two easily confused differences: Fill gaps returns only the gaps, not the merged set; and Partitionate does not change the coverage, it only cuts the stretches at each other's ends — 900–1500 becomes 900–1200 and 1200–1500.

Remembered between sessions

Nothing. This form does not keep your choices: every run starts from the defaults — gather from the layers on, increasing and decreasing ticked, fill 120, cadence 2x4, width 0.1, final signing.

Notes

• The projection uses only the ends of each curve. The first and last vertex of each entity are projected onto the alignment; what the curve does between them does not count. An analysis curve that doubles back is read as the whole interval between its ends.
• A curve that does not project is discarded silently, as is one that collapses to a point. If the result comes out smaller than expected, check that the input curves are near the chosen alignment, or use Offset limit (45) to make the rejection explicit.
• The command asks for the alignment on every operation. Consolidate, Sign, Util and both reports all ask for the reference curve again. Picking different entities between runs shifts the stations.
• Running Consolidate twice accumulates drawing. The previous stretches on the PROIBE_CONSOLIDADO_* layers are not erased. Use del (7) on the layer panel before redoing it.
• Consolidate stores on the alignment; Sign does not. The final marking reads the drawing, not the stored properties.
• The cadence recommended by the criteria is not available in this version. The cadence is whatever you type in 28.
• Some captions carry the Brazilian marking and sign codes: the three case check boxes (24, 25, 26), the sign check box (30) and the schematic layer names. They are the literal captions and layer names of this version.
• The Util tab's operation names are in English on every language, and the Line width label on the Sign tab mixes two languages.
• For the analyses that feed this command, see Overtaking sight distance and critical grades. For the classification of the curves and the warning signs, see Curve Utilities.