Blue Hills CAD information

After conducting the survey, it was important that the information I gathered was reproduced in a legible format, that could be quickly copied and distributed via e-mail etc.   I decided that it was best for me to use the various forms of CAD to produce drawings of my design, starting with the existing plan and elevations of the blue hills survey.  I find when needing to accurately draw up survey information AutoCAD 2D software is the most effiecent, due to the fact that the files can easily be converted and brought into other programs at later stages.  Please see below for screen shots of AutoCAD survey:

Now that I have these existing drawings, I can easily export the files to 3D packages such as sketchup and ArchiCAD.  I find that AutoCAD is not particularly user friendly when it comes so drawing in 3D, therefore I would need to use another program for the topography of the surrounding site.  There are two programs which are very effective at this, although the topographical outcome may be a little crude, this is not to say that it doesn't do the job at concept stage, and if the information is already available, there is no need to reinvent the wheel so to speal.  These programs are Google Earth and Sketchup, both of which are available to download free from Google, albeit in order to export to different files, Sketchup Pro is needed, but the university do have a copy of this.


In order to get the topographical information of the Blue Hills mine I had to log into Google Earth, find the site location then open up Sketchup and import the terrain.  Please see below for Google Earth and Sketchup images of Blue Hills Mine and the surrounding area:




Above: Flat Terrain brought into Sketchup from Google Earth
Below: 3D terrain mode in Sketchup

I also thought it would be very useful to obtain some views and vistas from Google Earth, as if looking from the engine house, please see below for details:

Above: View North to the beach from Engine House

Below: View to South to Jericho Valley

After collating this information, I felt that it was important for me to have an understanding of the surrounding area, as well as access to main roads etc.  So conducted another site visit in which I took photographs of the Blue Hills engine house as well as the surrounding site.  See below for details: