To Add Contour Data to a Surface

You can add contour data to an existing TIN surface. For best results, add the contour data in a single operation.

1. In Toolspace, on the Prospector tab, expand the surface Definition collection, right-click Contours, and click Add.
2. In the Add Contour Data dialog box, enter the contour description in the Description field.
3. Enter the distance and angle weeding factors in the corresponding fields or click to digitize a distance or angle in the drawing area. For more information, see About Weeding and Supplementing Factors for Contours.
4. Enter the distance and mid-ordinate distance supplementing factors in the corresponding fields or click to select a distance or mid-ordinate distance in the drawing area.
5. Select options for minimizing flat areas in the surface. For more information, see About Minimizing Flat Areas in a Surface.
   Note: You can specify these options when adding the contour data, or you can check for contour problems later. For some contour data sets, the Check for Contour Problems command reports large numbers of errors if you add the contour data to the surface without specifying Minimize Flat Areas By options.
6. Click OK.
7. Select the polylines to define as contour data and press Enter.
   Tip: Optionally, before selecting the Add command, you could use the QSELECT or SELECTSIMILAR command to create a selection set of polylines that you want to add as contour data.

   The contour data is created and added to the surface Contours collection in the Prospector tree.

After you have added the contour data, verify the contours visually and correct any contour issues. Add additional contours where needed, and add spot elevation points or breaklines only where they are required to correct a specific issue. For information about repairing contour issues, see About Supplementing Missing Contour Information, To Check a Surface for Contour Problems, and To Minimize Flat Areas in a Surface.

After you have repaired any issues with contours, add additional surface data such as additional spot elevation points and boundaries. Add surface boundaries last. Add boundaries starting at the outside of the surface and working toward the inside.