Question
I have a number of utility lines drawn as normal lines (linestrings) that I want to label the endpoints with the Invert Elevation of the utility. I want the labels to be parallel to the utility line at the labeling location. How do I do this in TBC today?
Answer
The only ways that I know you can do this are as follows
Method 1:
If you have points for the locations that you want to label, and you have the utility linestrings drawn between those points using the Point ID method (where the line is a dependent object on the points) and this can be created from Feature code processing or from drawing a linestring using Point ID vs Coordinate input. Then when you define a Label Style for Point Objects and set the parameters as follows
Then when you label the points that you want to label, because there is a line at the point that is associated with the point (not just drawn through the coordinate location of the point), the software can determine the orientation of the text if you have the Align Labels to associated line segment checkbox checked above.
The challenge is that a “line” doesn’t have one elevation - it has a series of elevations, so Elevation is not a real property of the line, it needs something else to determine the elevation e.g. Text Insert Point (derives a Station along and an elevation of the line at that point) or Leader Line (where the tip of the Leader indicates a location along and the elevation of the line can be determined at that location) etc.
Method 2;
Use the Create Text command and use smart text string IL = @<EL,T,F>@ which derives the elevation of the Object (the line) at the Text Insertion point, and where it asks you for the Rotation of the text, you can use SHIFT Click near the end of the line to determine the appropriate bearing of the text for the Rotation value.
We could leverage our Place Aligned Blocks TML and create a Place Aligned Text TML from it that would place Text at selected Point locations or snap locations on the line and place text in a more automated and orientated way if needed. Let me know if there is any interest in such a tool.
I have also asked Trimble if they could improve this function to allow labeling more easily along a line.
Here is a short video of the 2 options that I think you have.
Note that Feature Code Processing will effectively do option 1 for you if this is from Survey data.