Share

Overview of Civil Alignments

Alignments are objects created in Civil 3D that form the main coordinate system for the transportation industry. They are a series of 2D coordinates (northings and eastings), connected by lines, curves, or spirals, that are used to represent features such as road centerlines, edges of pavements, sidewalks, or rights-of-way. Alignments are used to define the length and location of corridors in models, such as roadways, railways, channels, or airport runways.

When you open a Civil 3D DWG file, or an NWC file exported from Civil 3D, either directly in Navisworks or using the Coordination Issues Add-in, any alignments in the models are brought in and displayed in Navisworks. Within Navisworks, you can view and navigate the alignments using various camera controls, and simulate driving though the model following the alignment.

Tip: To work with Civil 3D alignments in Navisworks, each horizontal alignment must have a direct association with a profile. This means that the alignment must have a profile with the exact same name, or a corridor that specifies the association between an alignment and profile.

Options related to the Civil Alignments tools can be specified on the Options Editor dialog box > Interface node > Civil Alignments page.

See the Alignments section in the Civil 3D help for more information about creating and editing alignments.

Note: Alignments with Curve-Spiral-Spiral groups are not currently supported.

Was this information helpful?