What's new in 0.3

This is what changed in CivilCraft 0.3, compared with 0.2, the version Try ran before.

New

• A 3D site view. Press DD or click 3D in the View group. The existing ground and the graded surface, contours, breaklines, alignments on their profiles, corridor lines, pads and the pipe network show as one model. Orbit, pan and zoom, stretch elevations from 1× to 10×, and click a pipe, structure or point to select it. See View the site in 3D.
• A view cube at the top right of the plan and the 3D view. On the plan it shows the top; click another side, edge or corner to open 3D looking from there. You can swap it for an axis icon or hide it in CivilCraft settings.
• 3D export. GLB and OBJ on the 3D view's bar save what it shows, in meters with Y up, at true scale. See Export the site in 3D.
• Coordinate systems. Coordinates in the new GIS group says which system your coordinates are in. Pick from 5,287 EPSG systems by code, by name, by the coordinates themselves, near a latitude and longitude, or from a .prj file. Nothing moves when you set it. The status bar then shows the pointer's latitude and longitude. See Set the project's coordinate system.
• Ground and local coordinates. Work in ground coordinates scaled by a combined factor you type or compute at a point, or in an assumed site grid tied to the system by two control points. See Ground and local coordinates.
• GIS files in. Import in the GIS group opens shapefiles (or the zip they came in), GeoJSON and GeoPackage files as GIS layers under your design. Layers are converted into the project's coordinate system, listed under GIS layers in the left panel, and their attributes show in Properties. A layer can become breaklines, the boundary or survey points. See Import GIS data.
• Terrain from elevation grids and LiDAR. Open a GeoTIFF or ASCII grid, or a LAS or LAZ point cloud. Choose the area, the spacing and the LiDAR classes, then bring it in as survey points or, for a grid, as the surface itself. See Elevation grids and LiDAR.
• GIS files out. Export in the GIS group writes points, contours, breaklines, the boundary, alignments, pads, daylight lines, corridor lines, pipes and structures as a shapefile zip, a GeoPackage or GeoJSON, in grid coordinates. Download GeoTIFF in the same dialog writes a surface as an elevation grid. See Export as-built data for GIS.
• Map layers under the plan. Map in the GIS group adds a georeferenced picture, map tiles, a WMS or WMTS server, or an ArcGIS map service. Internet layers stay off until you turn on Map layers from the internet in Settings. See Show map layers under the plan.
• Movable panels. Dock the side panels left, right or at the bottom, float them over the plan, or move them to their own window on a second monitor. See Arrange the panels and use a second monitor.

Improved

• Point files whose header names latitude and longitude columns are read as degrees and converted through the project's coordinate system. They are never loaded as feet. See Import GIS data.
• LandXML export writes the project's coordinate system. Opening a LandXML file that names one offers it as the project's system.
• Open and dropping on the plan take several files at once, so a shapefile's parts or a picture and its world file open together.
• CivilCraft settings has four new choices: Corner indicator, 3D vertical exaggeration, Latitude and longitude, and Map layers from the internet.
• Fit (FF) also fits the 3D view while it is open, and includes GIS layers and map pictures on the plan.
• GIS layers go out with the PDF plot and the DXF and DWG exports, each on a layer named GIS- and its number.

Files and compatibility

• New files you can open: .shp with .shx, .dbf, .prj and .cpg, or a .zip of them; .geojson; .gpkg; .tif and .tiff; .asc with its .prj; .las and .laz; .png and .jpg pictures with their world files; a .prj by itself.
• New files you can save: a shapefile .zip, .gpkg, .geojson, a GeoTIFF elevation grid, and .glb and .obj 3D models.
• Project files keep the same format. They now also hold the coordinate system, GIS layers, map layers and the pictures map layers use. CivilCraft 0.2 opens these files and leaves the new parts out.
• The GIS files use the formats that ArcGIS and QGIS read. They were checked against GDAL and PROJ, the libraries most GIS programs use, but nothing has been opened in either program yet.
• DWG export offers the same six formats as before, 2000 to 2018.
• Save for offline now also keeps the 3D and GIS libraries, so the offline copy is larger than in 0.2. Map layers from the internet need a connection; a picture from a file works offline.

Known gaps

• The 3D view is for looking and selecting. You cannot draw or edit in it, alignments, pads and breaklines cannot be clicked in it, and GIS layers and map layers do not show in it.
• 3D exports are always in meters at true scale, without textures.
• GIS features and their attributes cannot be edited. KML, KMZ and file geodatabases are not read.
• Vertical datums and geoid models are not handled: elevations are used as each file gives them.
• Map layers are on screen only, not in the PDF, DXF, DWG or 3D view. Map servers that need a sign-in, key or token do not work.
• A surface made from an elevation grid replaces the project's surface and cannot be undone.
• LAS and LAZ files cannot be written, and DWG and DXF files still cannot be opened.
• What is not built yet