Chapter 5 - Pythagoras Software PDF

Pythagoras
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Pythagoras CAD+GIS V12 Reference Guide
March 11, 2010
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Table of Contents
REFERENCE ......................................................................................... 1
PART I CONCEPTS AND TERMINOLOGY ......................................... 2
CHAPTER 1: COORDINATE SYSTEMS ............................................................................ 4
COORDINATE REFERENCE SYSTEMS .................................................................................... 4

Tie Points .......................................................................................................................................6
THE LOCAL COORDINATE SYSTEM ....................................................................................... 7
THE GLOBAL COORDINATE SYSTEM ..................................................................................... 7
USER COORDINATE SYSTEMS .............................................................................................. 7
THE PAGE COORDINATE SYSTEM ......................................................................................... 8
THE TEMPORARY COORDINATE SYSTEM............................................................................... 8
CHAPTER 2: BASIC CONCEPTS ...................................................................................... 9
SNAPPING .......................................................................................................................... 9
POINT NUMBER ................................................................................................................... 9
SUBDOCUMENTS ................................................................................................................. 9
LAYERS ............................................................................................................................ 10
SYMBOLS / LINE STYLES / PATTERNS ................................................................................. 11
COMPOUNDS .................................................................................................................... 12
IMAGES ............................................................................................................................ 13
DISPLAY LEVELS ............................................................................................................... 15
VIEWS .............................................................................................................................. 15
VIEWPORTS ...................................................................................................................... 16
SHEETS ............................................................................................................................ 16
CHAPTER 3: PYTHAGORAS DATABASE ...................................................................... 18
DATA TYPES AND VALUES .................................................................................................. 18

NAMING ............................................................................................................................ 19
TABLES ............................................................................................................................ 19
Attribute tables ............................................................................................................................ 20
Dictionary tables .......................................................................................................................... 20
Tables and subdocuments .......................................................................................................... 20
TABLE COLUMNS ............................................................................................................... 21
INDEXING .......................................................................................................................... 21
REFERENCES .................................................................................................................... 22
SYSTEM TABLES (PREDEFINED VIEWS) ................................................................................ 22
DATABASE VIEWS ............................................................................................................. 23
Simple Views ............................................................................................................................... 23
Aggregation Views....................................................................................................................... 24
Spatial aggregation...................................................................................................................... 24
Validity and saving....................................................................................................................... 25
TABLE VIEWER .................................................................................................................. 25
DATA AND STRUCTURE PROTECTION .................................................................................. 25
CHAPTER 4: EXPRESSIONS .......................................................................................... 27
CHAPTER 5: THEMATIC MAPS ...................................................................................... 28
EXAMPLE THEMATIC MAP ................................................................................................... 28

DEFINING CONDITIONS ....................................................................................................... 29
SPATIAL INTERPOLATION ................................................................................................... 29
CHAPTER 6: TERRAIN MODELS .................................................................................... 30
CREATING DTM ................................................................................................................ 30

CALCULATIONS ON DTM .................................................................................................... 31
Volume calculation ...................................................................................................................... 31
Cross Sections ............................................................................................................................ 32
Road Design ................................................................................................................................ 32
OPERATIONS ON DTM ....................................................................................................... 32
CHAPTER 7: MACROS .................................................................................................... 34
PYTHAGORAS VBA............................................................................................................ 34
PYTHAGORAS MACRO LIBRARIES ....................................................................................... 35
MANAGING MACROS .......................................................................................................... 35
CHAPTER 8: DEFAULTS................................................................................................. 36
GRAPHICAL ATTRIBUTES .................................................................................................... 36

USER DEFAULTS ............................................................................................................... 36
DOCUMENT DEFAULTS ....................................................................................................... 37
PREFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 37
CHAPTER 9: TEXT EDITORS.......................................................................................... 38
ASCII EDITOR ................................................................................................................... 38

RTF EDITOR ..................................................................................................................... 38
VBA EDITOR ..................................................................................................................... 39
CHAPTER 10: PYTHAGORAS-TOOLBAR ...................................................................... 40
Selecting Coordinate Reference System .................................................................................... 40

Copying Attributes (properties) of a selected object ................................................................... 40
Applying Attributes (properties) to selected objects .................................................................... 40
Measuring the next detail point and Staking out the selected point ........................................... 41
Making a Layer Active ................................................................................................................. 41
Making a User Default Active ...................................................................................................... 41
Macro-buttons (Pythagoras VBA) ............................................................................................... 41
CHAPTER 11: THE PYTHAGORAS CONTROL PANEL ................................................. 42
Selecting the Coordinate System ................................................................................................ 42

Selecting Rectangular, Polar or Chainage Coordinates ............................................................. 42
PART II MENU FUNCTIONS ............................................................. 43
CHAPTER 1: THE FILE MENU ........................................................................................ 44
NEW................................................................................................................................. 44
OPEN ............................................................................................................................... 44
CLOSE ............................................................................................................................. 45
SAVE................................................................................................................................ 45
SAVE AS........................................................................................................................... 45
DRAWING INFO ................................................................................................................. 46
IMPORT ............................................................................................................................ 46
Coordinate List ............................................................................................................................ 46
DXF/DWG File ............................................................................................................................ 47
SHAPE-file .................................................................................................................................. 47
Table ........................................................................................................................................... 49
SICAD-SQD ................................................................................................................................ 50
Data Collector ............................................................................................................................. 50
Image .......................................................................................................................................... 51
List of Images .............................................................................................................................. 51
EXPORT ........................................................................................................................... 52
Coordinate List ............................................................................................................................ 53
DXF/DWG (AutoDesk exchange format/AutoCAD Drawing-format)........................................... 53
Terrain Model .............................................................................................................................. 55
Image ........................................................................................................................................... 55
SHAPE ........................................................................................................................................ 55
Table ............................................................................................................................................ 56
Google Earth ............................................................................................................................... 57
SICAD-SQD ................................................................................................................................. 58
Object List .................................................................................................................................... 58
Stake-out List............................................................................................................................... 58
OPEN TEXT FILES ............................................................................................................. 58
LAYERS ............................................................................................................................ 59
SUBDOCUMENT MANAGER ................................................................................................. 60
DATABASE ........................................................................................................................ 60
Database manager ...................................................................................................................... 60
Table Structure ............................................................................................................................ 61
Simple Views ............................................................................................................................... 61
Aggregation Views....................................................................................................................... 61
Table Viewer ................................................................................................................................ 62
Mail Merge ................................................................................................................................... 62
THEMATIC MAPS ............................................................................................................... 64
Thematic Map Manager .............................................................................................................. 64
Thematic Map Editor ................................................................................................................... 64
Representation ............................................................................................................................ 65
Autofill .......................................................................................................................................... 65
Special application: Spatial Interpolation .................................................................................... 66
TERRAIN MODELS .............................................................................................................. 66
SYMBOLS ......................................................................................................................... 67
Symbol Manager ......................................................................................................................... 67
Create .......................................................................................................................................... 67
Create Symbol ............................................................................................................................. 67
Create Line Style ......................................................................................................................... 68
Create Pattern ............................................................................................................................. 70
Create Typical Section ................................................................................................................ 71
Import System Symbols .............................................................................................................. 71
Export System Symbols .............................................................................................................. 71
MACROS ........................................................................................................................... 71
Load Macro-library....................................................................................................................... 71
Macro-library manager ................................................................................................................ 72
Macro-editor ................................................................................................................................ 72
Import System Macros ................................................................................................................ 72
Export System Macros ................................................................................................................ 73
TIE POINTS ....................................................................................................................... 73
SELECT SHEET (PRINT SHEET) .......................................................................................... 74
Sheet manager ............................................................................................................................ 74
(Print) Sheet ................................................................................................................................ 75
PRINTER ........................................................................................................................... 75
SELECT PRINT AREA ......................................................................................................... 75
PRINT ............................................................................................................................... 76
RECENT DOCUMENTS ........................................................................................................ 78
QUIT ................................................................................................................................ 78
ABOUT ............................................................................................................................. 78
CHAPTER 2: THE EDIT MENU ........................................................................................ 79
UNDO ............................................................................................................................... 79
REDO ............................................................................................................................... 79
SELECT ............................................................................................................................ 79
FIND................................................................................................................................. 79
CUT ................................................................................................................................. 81
COPY ............................................................................................................................... 81
Pythagoras Clipboard .................................................................................................................. 82
OS Clipboard ............................................................................................................................... 82
Copy Active Terrain Model .......................................................................................................... 82
PASTE .............................................................................................................................. 82
PASTE SPECIAL ................................................................................................................ 82
CLEAR .............................................................................................................................. 83
CUT OFF .......................................................................................................................... 83
MOVE ............................................................................................................................... 84
ROTATE............................................................................................................................ 84
DUPLICATE ....................................................................................................................... 84
DELETE COORDINATE SYSTEM .......................................................................................... 85
ADAPT .............................................................................................................................. 85
Save All Edited Images… ........................................................................................................... 85
Convert to polylines ..................................................................................................................... 85
Local  Page .............................................................................................................................. 85
Page  Local .............................................................................................................................. 85
GROUP ............................................................................................................................. 85
UNGROUP......................................................................................................................... 86
UNPACK ........................................................................................................................... 86
SET PRINT AREA ............................................................................................................... 86
CLEAR PRINT AREA ........................................................................................................... 86
CHAPTER 3: THE TOOLS MENU .................................................................................... 87
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................. 87
Use of the Escape Key While Creating Objects .......................................................................... 87
Entering the Location of an Object Using the Control Panel ....................................................... 87
Commonly used tools .................................................................................................................. 88
Default Attributes - Current Layer ................................................................................................ 98
RUN MACRO ..................................................................................................................... 98
SELECT ............................................................................................................................ 99
Selection options ......................................................................................................................... 99
Obtaining Information About Objects .......................................................................................... 99
Selecting Objects....................................................................................................................... 100
Drag Text ................................................................................................................................... 100
Operations on Selected Objects ................................................................................................ 101
ALIGN OBJECTS .............................................................................................................. 101
JOIN OBJECTS ................................................................................................................ 101
CUT OBJECT ................................................................................................................... 102
DIVIDE OBJECT ............................................................................................................... 103
INTERSECTION ................................................................................................................ 103
EXTEND LINE .................................................................................................................. 103
CUT OFF ......................................................................................................................... 103
NEW OBJECT .................................................................................................................. 104
Symbol ....................................................................................................................................... 104
Rich Text ................................................................................................................................... 104
Aligned Rich Text ...................................................................................................................... 106
Curve ......................................................................................................................................... 106
Spiral ......................................................................................................................................... 106
EDIT LINE ....................................................................................................................... 107
EDIT CURVE ................................................................................................................... 107
EDIT POLYGON ............................................................................................................... 108
EDIT PATH ...................................................................................................................... 108
EDIT GROUP ................................................................................................................... 108
DTM .............................................................................................................................. 108
Swap Diagonal .......................................................................................................................... 109
Delete Triangle .......................................................................................................................... 109
Move Vertex .............................................................................................................................. 109
Add Vertex ................................................................................................................................. 110
Delete Vertex ............................................................................................................................. 110
Change Elevation ...................................................................................................................... 110
LASSO ............................................................................................................................ 110
ERASER.......................................................................................................................... 111
DIMENSION ..................................................................................................................... 111
Lines .......................................................................................................................................... 111
Polygon: Area and Perimeter .................................................................................................... 112
ANNOTATION .................................................................................................................. 112
CREATE VIEWPORT ......................................................................................................... 113
PRIVATE TOOL ................................................................................................................ 113
CHAPTER 4: THE FORMAT MENU ............................................................................... 115
ATTRIBUTES ................................................................................................................... 115

Copy .......................................................................................................................................... 115
Paste ......................................................................................................................................... 115
[List of User Defaults] ................................................................................................................ 115
DATA.............................................................................................................................. 115
Copy .......................................................................................................................................... 115
Paste ......................................................................................................................................... 115
POINT STYLE .................................................................................................................. 116
LIBRARY SYMBOL ............................................................................................................ 116
DOCUMENT SYMBOL ....................................................................................................... 116
LINE STYLE..................................................................................................................... 116
LIBRARY LINE STYLE ....................................................................................................... 117
DOCUMENT LINE STYLE ................................................................................................... 117
LINE W IDTH .................................................................................................................... 117
LINE ARROWS ................................................................................................................. 117
CURVATURE ................................................................................................................... 118
TEXT: ATTRIBUTES .......................................................................................................... 118
TEXT: CONTENT .............................................................................................................. 118
POLYGON PATTERN ........................................................................................................ 118
LIBRARY PATTERN .......................................................................................................... 119
DOCUMENT PATTERN ...................................................................................................... 119
POLYGON ....................................................................................................................... 119
SCALE ............................................................................................................................ 119
Symbol ...................................................................................................................................... 119
Text ........................................................................................................................................... 120
Image ........................................................................................................................................ 120
Line............................................................................................................................................ 120
Polygon Pattern ......................................................................................................................... 120
ALIGN............................................................................................................................. 121
Pattern ....................................................................................................................................... 121
Text ........................................................................................................................................... 121
Symbol ...................................................................................................................................... 121
Image ......................................................................................................................................... 121
LAYER ............................................................................................................................ 121
DISPLAY LEVEL ............................................................................................................... 121
COLOR ........................................................................................................................... 122
OPERATION .................................................................................................................... 122
Renumber Points ....................................................................................................................... 122
Coordinate List .......................................................................................................................... 122
Polygon List ............................................................................................................................... 122
Adjust Elevation ......................................................................................................................... 123
Change Comment ..................................................................................................................... 123
Annotation ................................................................................................................................. 123
CHAPTER 5: THE DEFAULTS MENU ........................................................................... 125
SNAP.............................................................................................................................. 125
USER DEFAULTS ............................................................................................................. 125
POINT STYLE - LINE STYLE - LINE WIDTH – LINE ARROWS ................................................. 125
LIBRARY SYMBOLS / LINE STYLE - DOCUMENT SYMBOLS / LINE STYLE ............................... 125
TEXT .............................................................................................................................. 125
POLYGON ....................................................................................................................... 126
DISPLAY LEVEL ............................................................................................................... 126
COLOR ........................................................................................................................... 126
DEFAULTS ...................................................................................................................... 126
User Defaults Manager ............................................................................................................. 126
[List of User Defaults] ................................................................................................................ 126
Restore ...................................................................................................................................... 127
Save .......................................................................................................................................... 127
DOCUMENT DEFAULTS .................................................................................................... 127
Confirm Operation ..................................................................................................................... 127
Scale of Page Coordinate System ............................................................................................ 127
Next Point Number .................................................................................................................... 127
Bearing of the Drawing .............................................................................................................. 128
Set Coordinate Reference System ............................................................................................ 128
PREFERENCES ................................................................................................................ 129
Units .......................................................................................................................................... 129
Annotations ................................................................................................................................ 129
Date and Time ........................................................................................................................... 130
Data Collector ............................................................................................................................ 130
CRS ........................................................................................................................................... 131
Load... ........................................................................................................................................ 131
Other .......................................................................................................................................... 133
CHAPTER 6: THE VIEW MENU ..................................................................................... 135
ZOOM IN ......................................................................................................................... 135

ZOOM OUT ..................................................................................................................... 136
ACTUAL SIZE .................................................................................................................. 136
FIT IN W INDOW ............................................................................................................... 136
DISPLAY VIEW ................................................................................................................ 136
LEGEND ......................................................................................................................... 138
OBJECT INFO .................................................................................................................. 138
Attributes ................................................................................................................................... 138
Data ........................................................................................................................................... 139
[Info] .......................................................................................................................................... 140
Open External File .................................................................................................................... 140
Choose External File ................................................................................................................. 140
Folder External File ................................................................................................................... 140
External File Mode .................................................................................................................... 140
ROAD DESIGN ................................................................................................................. 141
GOOGLE EARTH .............................................................................................................. 141
TOOLBARS...................................................................................................................... 141
Active DTM ................................................................................................................................ 141
Configuration ............................................................................................................................. 141
Defaults ..................................................................................................................................... 141
Drawing Tools ........................................................................................................................... 141
Layers ........................................................................................................................................ 142
Macro Library ............................................................................................................................ 142
Sheet ......................................................................................................................................... 142
Snap Info ................................................................................................................................... 142
Standard .................................................................................................................................... 142
Subdocument ............................................................................................................................ 142
View........................................................................................................................................... 142
Customize Toolbars… ............................................................................................................... 142
DRAWINGS IN THE VIEW MENU ......................................................................................... 143
CHAPTER 7: THE CALCULATIONS MENU .................................................................. 144
INTERSECTIONS .............................................................................................................. 144

CENTER ......................................................................................................................... 144
GRID .............................................................................................................................. 144
BEST FIT ......................................................................................................................... 144
TRAVERSE ...................................................................................................................... 144
INTERSECTION ................................................................................................................ 145
RESECTION..................................................................................................................... 145
TRANSFORMATION .......................................................................................................... 146
2 points ...................................................................................................................................... 146
Helmert transformation .............................................................................................................. 146
Affine transformation ................................................................................................................. 147
Adjust Elevation ......................................................................................................................... 148
To other CRS ............................................................................................................................. 148
DTM .............................................................................................................................. 148
Terrain Model ............................................................................................................................ 148
Combine 2 Terrain Models ........................................................................................................ 148
Remove Boundary Triangles ..................................................................................................... 149
Make Delaunay.......................................................................................................................... 149
Change Elevation ...................................................................................................................... 149
Contour Lines ............................................................................................................................ 149
Volumes..................................................................................................................................... 149
Cross Section ............................................................................................................................ 150
3D-View ..................................................................................................................................... 151
Slope Intercept .......................................................................................................................... 151
Slope Area ................................................................................................................................. 152
PART III ROAD DESIGN .................................................................. 153
CHAPTER 1: CONCEPTS .............................................................................................. 154
THE PLAN W INDOW ......................................................................................................... 154

THE PROFILE W INDOW .................................................................................................... 154
THE CROSS SECTION W INDOW ........................................................................................ 155
TYPICAL CROSS SECTIONS .............................................................................................. 155
FINISHING PROFILES AND CROSS SECTIONS ...................................................................... 156
CHAPTER 2: MENU ITEMS ........................................................................................... 157
1. FILE MENU ............................................................................................................... 157

2. EDIT MENU .............................................................................................................. 159
3. TOOLS MENU ........................................................................................................... 160
4. TRANSITION MENU ................................................................................................... 163
5. DEFAULTS MENU ...................................................................................................... 169
6. VIEW MENU ............................................................................................................. 170
7. CALCULATIONS MENU ............................................................................................... 172
PART IV EXPRESSION LANGUAGE ...............................................173
CHAPTER 1: GENERAL TERMS ................................................................................... 175
LEXEMES ........................................................................................................................ 175

Constants .................................................................................................................................. 175
Field names ............................................................................................................................... 176
Function names ......................................................................................................................... 176
Prefixes ..................................................................................................................................... 176
Separating dot ........................................................................................................................... 176
Operators .................................................................................................................................. 176
Item separator ........................................................................................................................... 176
Parentheses .............................................................................................................................. 177
LANGUAGE VERSIONS ...................................................................................................... 177
Preferences ............................................................................................................................... 177
Localization ............................................................................................................................... 177
CHAPTER 2: SYNTAX AND SEMANTICS..................................................................... 178
DATA TYPES ................................................................................................................... 178

Type coercion ............................................................................................................................ 178
NULL VALUE .................................................................................................................. 178
COMPARISON OPERATIONS .............................................................................................. 179
ARITHMETIC OPERATIONS ................................................................................................ 180
Unary minus .............................................................................................................................. 180
Addition ..................................................................................................................................... 180
Subtraction ................................................................................................................................ 180
Multiplication ............................................................................................................................. 181
Division ...................................................................................................................................... 181
String concatenation ................................................................................................................. 181
CHAPTER 3: FUNCTIONS ............................................................................................. 182
FUNCTION CALLS ............................................................................................................ 182

PREFIXING ...................................................................................................................... 182
TYPE CONVERSIONS ........................................................................................................ 182
Unit conversion ......................................................................................................................... 183
XY assembler and disassemblers ............................................................................................. 183
COMPARISON FUNCTIONS ................................................................................................ 184
LOGICAL FUNCTIONS ....................................................................................................... 184
Function IF ................................................................................................................................ 185
Function COALESCE ................................................................................................................ 185
FUNCTIONS MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM ........................................................................... 185
NUMERIC FUNCTIONS ...................................................................................................... 186
DATE/TIME FUNCTIONS .................................................................................................... 186
STRING FUNCTIONS ......................................................................................................... 187
FUNCTION OBJECT ........................................................................................................ 188
GRAPHIC OBJECT FEATURES ............................................................................................ 188
PYTHAGORAS SPECIFIC FUNCTIONS .................................................................................. 189
AGGREGATE FUNCTIONS ................................................................................................. 190
CHAPTER 4: EXPRESSION KINDS AND COMPILATION ............................................ 191
EXPRESSION KINDS ......................................................................................................... 191

Determining main or auxiliary rowset ........................................................................................ 192
EXPRESSION COMPILATION .............................................................................................. 192
CHAPTER 5: EXAMPLES .............................................................................................. 193
ONE-DIMENSIONAL EXPRESSIONS..................................................................................... 193

Without aggregate functions ...................................................................................................... 193
Using aggregate functions ......................................................................................................... 194
AGGREGATIONS VIEWS .................................................................................................... 194
APPENDICES .................................................................................... 197
APPENDIX A: COORDINATE LIST FORMAT .................................................................. 198
APPENDIX B: SHORTCUT KEYS..................................................................................... 199
APPENDIX C: PLACE HOLDERS .................................................................................... 207
APPENDIX D: PYTHAGOR.INI FILE SETTINGS .............................................................. 208
MAXIDS ..................................................................................................................................... 208

MAXUNDO ................................................................................................................................ 208
EXT_DC_IMPORT .................................................................................................................... 208
EXT_DC_EXPORT.................................................................................................................... 208
MOUSE_WHEEL_ZOOMING ................................................................................................... 208
AUTOMATIC_BACKUP ............................................................................................................ 209
AUTOMATIC_SAVE .................................................................................................................. 209
AUTOMATIC_SAVE_INTERVAL .............................................................................................. 209
CMDLINE .................................................................................................................................. 209
APPENDIX E: SAVING SYSTEM FILES ........................................................................... 210
INDEX .................................................................................................211
Reference
PART I Concepts and terminology
Working with Pythagoras requires understanding certain concepts and
terms. This section describes the concepts and special terms required to
understand this manual and to work with Pythagoras.
Reference Concepts and terminology 3
Chapter 1: Coordinate Systems
Pythagoras supports 5 types of coordinate systems. It is important to
understand the different principles behind each of the coordinate systems in
order to use them correctly.
These 5 Coordinate System types are:
1. The Local Coordinate System

2. The Global Coordinate System
3. User Coordinate Systems
4. The Page Coordinate System
5. The Temporary Coordinate System
To express coordinates, Pythagoras supports the following conventions:
- XYZ: rectangular coordinates expressed in a XYZ (horizontal X-axis)

coordinate system.
- NEZ: rectangular coordinates: North, East, Elevation (Z).
- HDZ: polar coordinates: Horizontal angle, Distance (horizontal),
Elevation (Z).
- HVD: Horizontal angle, Vertical angle, Distance (horizontal).
- HVS: Horizontal angle, Vertical angle, Slope Distance.
- CDZ: Centerline (station) distance, Distance from the Centerline
(perpendicular to the centerline), Elevation.
In the Local, Global and User coordinate systems you can enter coordinates
or obtain positions in any of the above-described conventions. At any
moment you can switch between the above-described conventions, as will
be explained later.
Defaults:
a) Definition of the reference axis. Both XYZ (horizontal x-axis) and NEZ
(North(Y)-East(X)) are supported. Default: NEZ.
b) Length unit: can be set to meter, millimeter, centimeter, kilometer, miles,
feet of US feet. Default: meter.
c) Angle unit: GON (GRAD), Degrees, Radians or Mil. Default: GON.
d) Angle direction: clockwise or anticlockwise. Default: clockwise.
e) Elevation: (Z) corresponds with our natural feeling of elevation; higher
positions result in larger values. When using the HVS or HVD system, the
vertical angle is either zenith based (100 GRAD = horizontal) or elevation
based.
The default units of measurement for the values shown above may be
changed at any time. If you select a new default for a given value, the new
default remains in effect even if you quit Pythagoras or switch off your
computer.
Coordinate Reference Systems
A Coordinate Reference System (CRS) is a specification of:
(1) a Geographic Coordinate System and

(2) a Map Projection System,
so that any point on the earth can be represented on a flat surface. The
Geographic Coordinate System is defined by an ellipsoid and the datum (=
definition of the origin and the orientation).
Together these two parts are necessary and sufficient to define a framework
for locating unambiguously and precisely every point on land or sea within a
certain region. There are hundreds of different geodetic datums and
projection systems used in the modern world, depending on the specific area
and goal of usage. More information you can find under following links:
- Geographic coordinate systems:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geographic_coordinate_system
- Map projections: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Map_projection
- Coordinate reference systems and positioning:
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Coordinate_Reference_Systems_and_Po
sitioning
- Information and Service System for European Coordinate Reference
Systems: http://www.crs-geo.eu
Pythagoras supports over 50 predefined Coordinate Reference Systems

used in particular country or region and UTM (a worldwide system), such as
- UTM (based on WGS84)

- Lambert72 Belgium
- Lambert2008 Belgium
- RD (Rijksdriehoeksnet) Netherlands
- GK (4 zones) in Germany
Coordinates for these systems are represented in XY coordinate system.

Geographical coordinates (Latitude, Longitude) in WGS 84 are also
supported. The number of CRSs in Pythagoras will extend with coming
demand and available information.
Pythagoras provides you with tools for
- use of data from different CRSs in the same drawing, e.g., adding
data of an old drawing in Lambert 72 to a new project in UTM Z31
- converting a drawing from one CRS to another, e.g., converting a
drawing in Lambert 72 to a drawing in Lambert 2008
- converting geographic longitude and latitude coordinates into
Cartesian coordinates, e.g., importing data from shape file in WGS84
in a drawing in Lambert 2008
- real-time conversion of positions in a drawing into a wide range of
other possible CRSs or geographic coordinates, e.g., in a drawing
which is originally in Lambert72, showing the coordinates of the
mouse position in longitude, latitude in WGS84
There are certain limitations you should consider when changing from one
CRS to another:
- Only one CRS can be active in a drawing at a time

- Every CRS has a limited domain that gives high accuracy points, and
even a limited domain where the projection can be used. So after
switching to another CRS, the data in the drawing can become
meaningless or be converted with loss of accuracy. During import
and paste operations, objects outside the range of the current CRS
can be lost.

Tie Points
High accuracy transformations are possible between some systems based

on Tie Points: If n points are known precisely in CRS_1 and in CRS_2,
Pythagoras will use this data (set of Tie Points) to enhance the precision for
other points in the same region.
Let us assume there is a set of points known exactly in two Coordinate

Reference Systems: GK 2 and UTM. For this set of points Pythagoras will do
a series of calculations so that a coordinate not included into the original set
can be accurately converted from GK2 to UTM. The original set is called Tie
Points Set.
The last calculation is a Helmert transformation. It gives a translation (dx,

dy), a rotation (Fi), and a scale factor for the conversion. And for each point
in the set we receive a residual (fx, fy). Residual is the difference between
the UTM coordinate given in the set and the UTM coordinate derived from
the transformation.
Here are the steps performed for a point (xy) to convert it from GK_2 to UTM
using a set of tie points:
1. Transformation of the point xy from GK_2 to UTM --> point xy'

2. Helmert Transformation (for given Tie Points set) of the point xy' --> xy''
3. Smoothing residuals
In Pythagoras, residuals can be of the following kind:
- No smoothing residuals: no further corrections needed

2
- Inverse Distance Weighting (1/Square Distance or 1/s ): the value at
the point is a weighted sum of the values of N Tie Points
- Natural Neighbours by Area (NN Area): interpolating over the
changes in area between the point and its Natural Neighbours from
the set of Tie Points
You can import Tie Points sets into Pythagoras library with the help of Tie
Points Manager (see PART II → Chapter 1: → Tie Points). The ASCII file
with a tie points set has a special format. This format depends on the units of
Pythagoras and the coordinate order (NE/XY) on the moment of reading the
file. Tie point sets can only be defined between projection systems; geodetic
coordinates (like WGS84) can not be used.
The format of the tie points set resembles the coordinate list format. The
data of each tie point must be put in one line of text containing:
<PointId><separator>
<first coordinate in Projection system 1><separator>
<second coordinate in Projection system 1><separator>
<first coordinate in Projection system 2><separator>
<second coordinate in Projection system 2>
Tab or space(s) can be used as delimiter. Real values can have a point or a
comma as decimal point. A comment can be added in the file using ":" or ";"
in front of it.
For UTM coordinates the format of the coordinates must also fit the
Long/short/no prefix settings of the preferences.
You can manage the settings of tie points transformations via ‗Select
Coordinate Reference System‘ dialog. Please refer to PART II → Chapter 5:
→ Set Coordinate Reference System.
The Local Coordinate System
This is the basic coordinate system you use most of the time when starting a
new drawing. The Local Coordinate System usually corresponds with the
local coordinate system you used in the field to measure the survey
information. The position of the first station will normally correspond with the
origin of the Local coordinate system and the reference direction (Hor. Angle
= 0.0) will correspond with the x-axis or north-axis (depending on the
preference XY or NE) of the Local coordinate system.
As will be explained later, you can position the drawing anywhere on the
Local coordinate system. You can rotate the page, move it up or down and
scale it. You can change this at any time, so that you are able to rotate the
drawing and select the most appropriate scale in order to make the drawing
fit on the page.
The Global Coordinate System
The Global Coordinate System is typically used when you want to use (or
convert to) a standardized coordinate system with large X and Y values (e.g.
State Plane or UTM coordinates).
You need to know the coordinates of at least two common points in both the
local and the global coordinate system.
The coordinate system conventions described above are valid for the global
coordinate system with the exception that polar coordinates cannot be used.
A more detailed description will be provided in the section on transformation.
User Coordinate Systems
You can easily define new coordinate systems. They are called User
coordinate systems (UCS), and you can define up to 32 in one drawing. A
UCS can be removed if you only require it temporarily. When measured
coordinates are entered manually, a new station point will correspond with a
new user coordinate system. In order to define a user coordinate system, it
is sufficient to know the origin and a point on the reference direction. The
coordinate system conventions described above apply to user coordinate
systems.
At any time you can switch between the local coordinate system and any
defined user coordinate system. The control panel data will always
correspond with the selected coordinate system. This is true for both data
input, as well as for displayed information.
This way, the coordinates of any point of your drawing can be obtained in
any of the defined coordinate systems, and in either XYZ, NEZ, HDZ, HVD,
HVS or CDZ coordinates.

Note: The elevation of points in a User coordinate system is relative to the
elevation of the origin of the User coordinate system.
The Page Coordinate System
This coordinate system is not related to the survey data. The page
coordinate system is used to draw information, which is not bound to the
survey plan. This can be simple things, like drawing a border around the
drawing, but also complex drawings not related to the survey data (for
example the section of a road foundation) are made in the Page Coordinate
System.
The origin of the page coordinate system is the bottom left corner of the
page, and the x-axis corresponds with the bottom edge of the page. The
position of the information defined in page coordinates remains fixed, even if
you change the position, rotation or scale of the local coordinate system.
The scale factor used in page coordinates can be changed any time. This
allows you to draw information in different scales on the same drawing.
Once you set a scale factor, this applies to all elements defined in page
coordinates.
Note that while objects defined in the local coordinate system and in the
page coordinate system are on the same drawing, there is no link between
them.
The Temporary Coordinate System
You can create one Temporary Coordinate System in a drawing.

The temporary coordinate system is not stored in the document. An existing
temporary coordinate system is automatically replaced when you create a
new one.
A temporary coordinate system can be created either in the Local

Coordinate System or in the Page Coordinate System.
When created in a document, all rules relating to User Coordinate Systems
also apply to the temporary coordinate system.
When a temporary coordinate system is created in the Page Coordinate
System, input and output in the control panel is relative to the temporary
coordinate system. The origin is 0,0 and coordinates depend on the actual
scale of the page coordinates.
Chapter 2: Basic Concepts
Snapping
Pythagoras will snap to a line, a point, an arc, a circle or the center of a

polygon when the mouse is about 2 mm. from the object. This snapping is
clearly indicated on the screen. An indication called "the Sight" will be
displayed on the object. The shape of the Sight depends on the type of
object it refers to. In the control panel you will see information about the
object in the Sight.
When creating lines, arcs or circles, other snapping symbols may appear to
indicate that objects are tangential or perpendicular.
Snapping can be turned on or off. Using the Defaults Menu, the snapping
can be turned on or off for each type of object. A toolbox that allows to view
and change the status of snapping to specific object types can be activated
via View Menu -> Toolbars.
Point Number
A Point Number is the unique name allocated to a point. Every point in a

Pythagoras document has an 8-character long identifier. Valid identifiers are:
1, 1050, A point, Point 1, S1.
Pythagoras does not associate any meaning to the name allocated to a

point. The point number is either allocated by the user, or is allocated
automatically by Pythagoras when a new point is created. A start point for
automatically incrementing point numbers can be set at any time. See also
PART II → Chapter 5: Document Defaults for details.
Subdocuments
Subdocuments allow you to create drawings that contain billions of objects

while maintaining good processing speed.
From time to time it is handy to be able to link a number of documents as if

they were one large drawing, e.g. assembling the details of different parts of
a city into one large city plan drawing. At other times it is handy to use a
base-plan as background to a drawing. Either way, subdocuments provide
you these opportunities.
You can link multiple (large) documents with one another, especially if the
documents are too large to use the traditional copy and paste method of
putting them together. The result is that on the screen, it appears as if all
these linked drawings were one gigantic drawing. By the way, combining
these drawings using the more traditional copy and paste method may result
in a drawing that has become unmanageable.

All the subdocuments of the drawing are saved with relative names, i.e., the
name includes path to the subdocument relative to the main drawing. We
recommend that you store your subdocuments in the same directory and
subdirectories to avoid loosing them when copying or moving your drawings
to another location.
Pythagoras allows you to link together an enormous amount of

subdocuments. You can set any of them editable or only visible, or sleeping
(invisible), and choose to save or not these settings with the document. Only
one subdocument at a time can be active, which means that new objects will
be created in this subdocument. Only a visible and editable subdocument
can be set active.
Be careful while working with Coordinate reference systems in

subdocuments. When a CRS is defined for the main document, the
subdocuments should have the same CRS or should have no CRS at all. In
any case, the local coordinates of the main document and subdocuments
must match.
To make your work with a large number of subdocuments easier, we

introduce a new concept: subdocuments configuration. After setting all the
required documents editable/visible/sleeping, you can store this
configuration by giving it a name. You can have multiple subdocuments
configurations in your drawing, and quickly change the set of visible and
editable documents by switching to another configuration or by setting a
configuration active in the current display view. For details, refer to Views
and to PART II → Chapter 1: Subdocument Manager.
Layers
Layers are provided in Pythagoras to enable you to group related parts of

your drawing. You can think of layers as a set of transparent overlays.
This version of Pythagoras supports up to 4096 layers. You can give a layer
a name, and you can make a layer (or all layers) visible or invisible,
protected or not-protected and active or non-active.
These attributes are assigned for every document.
In order to come to a better control of a large number of layers and to sort

similar layers into logical units, Pythagoras offers you the possibility to create
layer groups. These groups can also be renamed and deleted. You can
always remove a layer from a group. A layer can belong to one or more
groups, or belong to no group at all.
The advantage of such a group structure is that when you change the
attributes of a group, the attributes of all the layers in that group will be
changed. As a consequence the management of layers can be simplified
enormously. So you can create layer groups as you want: e.g. topography,
gas, water, electricity, etc.
You can add the following attributes to layers and to groups:
 Visible: determines whether the layers are visible or not

 Protected: no modification can be taken to such a layer
 Switch off: the objects of the layer will be shown, but they cannot be
modified, or selected
Layers can be set up in a way that its information will only be visible between
2 scale factors. E.g.: the information is only visible between scales 1/10000
and 1/2000. Outside this range the objects of the layer are not visible. When
no top limit is given, the layer will remain visible when zooming out and when
no bottom limit is given the layer will remain visible when zooming in.
This feature is especially useful with very big drawings. To display a city map
with all its details can take a while and will be chaotic. In this case you can
manage the layers in a way that when opening your drawing only an
overview will be displayed. When zooming in, more details will be shown.
Eventually the overview disappears.
Because layers can have different meanings in different drawings, you must
take care when exchanging data (Copy/paste, export/import) between
drawings. We do recommend that you standardize your use of layers in
order to avoid the need to change the layers of objects when you move data
from one drawing to another.
Symbols / Line Styles / Patterns
Pythagoras provides you with tools to create your own symbols, line styles
and polygon patterns. Once created and saved, these special features can
be applied to any point, line, or polygon in your drawings.
Symbols, line styles and patterns can be scale dependent or scale

independent. A scale dependent symbol/line style/pattern has real
dimensions; the one that is not scale dependent, has dimensions that
correspond with the size as it will be printed. In addition, symbols can be
rotatable and North oriented; and patterns can have a Rotation angle.
Once created, symbols, line styles and patterns can be either placed in the
library (the file "PYTHAGOR.LIB") or in the active drawing. Library
symbols/line styles/patterns can be used in every existing and in every new
drawing. A document symbol/line style/pattern can only be used in the active
document. When it is copied and pasted in another document, it becomes
automatically a document symbol/line style/pattern in the document into
which it is pasted.
When creating symbols, line styles or patterns for the library, we suggest
that you define them first as document symbols/line styles/patterns in the
original drawing. This allows you to test them and to verify the printout
before placing into the library.
Remarks:
 PYTHAGOR.LIB: This file is stored in the same folder as the program
Pythagoras. It is recommended to take regularly a backup of this file. If no
backup is available and the PYTHAGOR.LIB file is lost, the complete
library needs to be rebuilt.
 All symbols/line styles/patterns that are used in the drawing are stored in
the document. This is the case both for document and library ones. If a
document is opened, Pythagoras will first check if a symbol/line
style/pattern defined in the document is in the library. If not, it will become
a document symbol/line style/pattern, even if it previously was a library
one. This could for example be the case if a library symbol/line
style/pattern is deleted, or if it has been changed. This also means that
drawings made by other Pythagoras users can be opened without the
need to exchange libraries.
The name of every symbol, line style or pattern consists of 2 parts: group
and symbol. The combination Group-Symbol forms the real name of the
symbol/line style/pattern. The subdivision in groups, for example a group

"Trees", makes that symbols/line styles/patterns can be selected faster in the
menus.
Detailed instructions on how to create and customize your own symbol, line
style or pattern you can find in PART II → Chapter 1: Symbols.
Compounds
Compound objects (or compounds) are collections (sets) of other CAD

objects of a Pythagoras document. The latter CAD objects are called
compound object elements. Unlike paths and polygons, elements are not
ordered and cannot belong to the same compound more than once. A CAD
object also cannot belong to more than one compound. A compound and all
its elements must belong to the same overlay and subdocument; however
elements may lie in different layers. Compounds themselves do not belong
to any layer at all.
Note: Compounds are also called „Groups‟ in Pythagoras.
Compound elements can be of any object type excluding coordinate system,

road and other compound. Also a compound itself cannot be an element of
other compounds, paths or polygons.
When you create a compound, if any of the selected objects are already
elements of another group, Pythagoras will show a warning and suggest to
1. Exclude the objects from the groups they belong to and proceed with
creating the compound.
2. Not include the elements of other groups into the created compound.
3. Abort grouping the objects into a compound.
Similarly, if you select the elements of more than one compound and try to
ungroup them, Pythagoras will warn you and ask whether you really want to
delete all the compounds.
A compound itself has no properties, but its elements keep their graphical
attributes and can be changed individually. However, a compound has data
attributes, i.e., it can be linked to a table as a separate object. In this case,
each of its elements appears to have the same common data and cannot be
linked to this or another table separately.
When you create a compound (a group), if any of the selected objects are
linked to the database, Pythagoras will show a warning and suggest to
1. Unlink the objects from the database and proceed with grouping.
2. Not include the linked objects into the group.
3. Abort grouping the objects into a compound.
Similarly, if you try to delete a compound linked to the database, Pythagoras

will warn you and unlink the compound from the database before ungrouping
the objects.
Compounds are not clearly visible on the screen, but once you click on a
compound element, all other elements of this compound will be also
selected. On the contrary, when you select CAD objects using other means
(cross-hair, lasso), only objects lying inside the region are selected. This can
be used to select an element of a compound separately.
Information on creating and editing compounds you can find in PART II →

Chapter 2: Group/Ungroup and Chapter 3: → Edit Group.
Images
In Pythagoras, an image can be a scanned drawing or a picture which you

import into your drawing. Also files made or adapted by programs like
Photoshop, Paintbrush, etc. can be imported.
Pythagoras reads files stored in Windows BMP (bitmap), TIFF, GeoTIFF,

JPEG formats or stored in the Pythagoras image format. Scanned images
that are not stored in one of these formats must first be converted into one of
the formats above. BMP images may be monochrome, or contain 16, 256 or
24-bit colors. RLE compressed BMP files are NOT read by Pythagoras.
Scanned images can become very large. The size depends on the following:
 The color depth of the image: a monochrome image will take much
less memory then a 24-bit color image.
 The resolution (dpi) of the scanned image.
 The size of the image.
For example an A4 color picture scanned at 300dpi and 24-bit color will
result in a file of 26MB. When we scan the same image at 600dpi, the size
will be 4 times larger. On the other hand an A0 black and white drawing
scanned at 300 dpi will occupy uncompressed 17,4MB.
During the import, Pythagoras converts the BMP/(Geo)TIFF image to a

Pythagoras image file. (Window's extension .IMG). This format is optimized
in order to speed up the display of an image on the screen. (Zooming in,
zooming out, scrolling, etc.). On average a black and white drawing will be
about 5 times smaller. The typical size of a Pythagoras image file of a
300dpi A0 black and white drawing will be about 4MB.
Because a Pythagoras image can be very large, the image itself is not
stored in the Pythagoras document. The document itself contains - in this
instance-, in addition to general information about the image, a reference to
the name and the location of the image file on the computer. Therefore it is
important to save the Pythagoras image files with your drawing. If an image
file is deleted, or if the name is changed, a message will appear when the
document that refers to that image is opened. When the image file is still
present on the computer, the new name or the new location can be given.
You can also include images directly into the drawing. The disadvantage, of
course, is that the Pythagoras drawing will significantly increase in size. But
the advantage is that the images are enclosed in the document, so if you, for
example, move your document to another location or want to give someone
a copy of it, your images will be automatically included and you do not have
to worry about copying them too.
When editing images, these changes are stored in the Pythagoras file and
not in the original image file. Thus, the original image file is not changed.
However, you can, if needed, save the modified image as a new file with a
new different file name (refer to a more detailed explanation in PART II →
Chapter 1: Import Image).
A linked image can be used in multiple drawings. It is obvious that the image
file is saved only once. It is for this reason that changes to images are saved
separately from the image and that an image file cannot be overwritten.
When an image is linked to a document, the name of the Pythagoras image

file will be the path and the filename relative to the path where the document
is stored. For example, if the document is in ‗C:\MyDocs\Proj1‘ and the
linked image is in ‗C:\MyDocs\Proj1\Images‘, then the image file ‗MyPic.jpg‘

will be stored as ‗Images\MyPic.img‘. We strongly recommend that you save
the image file in the same directory as the drawing, or in a sub-directory.
Note1:
The GeoTIFF format is a variant on the TIFF-format. The content of
geographical data in GeoTIFF-images is the main advantage. As a
consequence it is possible to import images that are automatically geo-
referenced.
Note2:
Pythagoras will georeference images if a "World File", e.g. .jpw, .tfw or .bpw
exists in the same directory as the image file. The "World File" is a standard
employed by such applications as ArcView and MapInfo.
There are two ways to import several images into your drawing: selecting
one or multiple images in the ‗Open‘ dialog or selecting a text file that
contains a list of images. Please PART II → Chapter 1: Import for
instructions.
After importing an image into your drawing, the properties of the image
(scale, intensity, etc.), the position, as well as the image itself can be
modified. Following operations can be done on images:
1. Selecting an image
An image can be selected by pressing the "B" or "I" on the keyboard while
you click on the image. Subsequently the image may be moved or deleted.
2. Raster operations
If you need only a part of an image or you need to correct a part of an
image, you can modify it with the following tools:
 Cut off
 Lasso
 Eraser
For more details, see PART II → Chapter 3: The Tools Menu.
3. Changing the attributes of an image

By double clicking on an image, a dialog box will appear displaying all
relevant information about the image. In this dialog box the opportunity is
given to save the modified image. The original can't be overwritten. For more
information about this dialog box see PART II → Chapter 6: → Object Info.
4. Digitizing of images
By using a scanned image in the background, Pythagoras is an ideal tool for
head-up digitizing. Mostly the purpose will be to obtain a drawing in real
dimensions. Namely, a distance on the image, which is 1 meter in reality,
should be 1 meter in the digitized drawing.
To obtain the right scale you need to execute the following steps:
1. Import the image in an empty drawing.
2. Set the scale of the drawing in accordance with the scale of the original.
3. Control the horizontal and vertical dimensions. Correct the size of the
image by changing the image x- and/or y- scale factor, if either the
horizontal or vertical dimensions are wrong because of stretch or shrink
of the original.
4. When you want to work in a known coordinate system:
Place points on the image at locations that you know in coordinates. Use
subsequently the function "Helmert Transformation" to transform the
complete drawing to the known coordinate system.
When you work in a known coordinate system, for example State Plane
coordinates, you can use copy and paste in both directions between a
drawing with an image and other drawings using the same coordinate
system. However if you would copy the image itself, the origin will be
transformed but it will not be rotated.
When you are done editing your image object, you can export it again to an
image file. To this time, the exported image can be stored in two formats:
Windows BMP (bitmap) and JPEG. Exported images can retain the
georeferencing by generating a BMPW or JPW file.
Display Levels
The level defines the display priority of the selected objects. A polygon of a
house with level 1 gets a higher priority than a polygon of a land lot that has
been given level 0. The house will be completely visible while the lot will
partially be hidden.
Another example is the covering of partial areas of raster maps. If you want
to hide some parts of a raster map, you can define a white opaque polygon.
This polygon gets a 100% filling and a higher level. The polygon covers this
area like a piece of paper that is placed over it. If you choose a specific layer
for this polygon you can make the covered area visible at a later time by a
simple selection and e.g. a change of color.
The range of display levels in Pythagoras varies from –10 to 10. We

recommend that you carefully set display levels for your objects not to
―loose‖ them in the drawing. You can also pre-set a default level for all new
objects (see PART II → Chapter 4: → Display Level).
Views
A Display View is a collection of settings that control the way your drawing is
displayed on the screen. If such a collection is named and saved, it is called
a View.
Pythagoras allows you to create as many display views for your drawings as
you wish, tuning the settings according to your needs. Once you have
created a display view for a document, you can give it a name and store it,
so it can be applied for other documents. You can also assign a view to a
sheet, then this view will automatically become active when the sheet is
selected. Independently of whether you have saved your view settings or
not, the last active display view is saved in the Pythagoras document and
restored the next time you open it.
You can define the following options for your view:
1. Select layers that need to be visible in the document

2. Show or hide objects and attributes, such as polygon patterns, texts,
point numbers, elevations, comments, special line styles, images
3. Specify certain parameters for visualizing DTMs
4. Activate thematic maps
5. Apply subdocument configurations
A Print View is a combination of a display view that will define the layout of
your printout, and the usual print settings. A print view cannot be named or
saved and is accessed only when printing a document.

If you do not modify the current display view selections, the drawing will be
printed as it is displayed. You can choose another display view or change
any of the settings for your print out. Additionally, you specify usual printing
parameters like print sheets, number of copies, color conversion, scale
factors, etc. (see PART II → Chapter 1: → Print)
Viewports
Complex drawings can become very large and difficult to overview. To help
you keep the sight over all the parts of your document, you can create
viewports of some parts of the drawing and put them anywhere you need.
A viewport is a small copy of a selected region of the main drawing, which

you can adapt to fit your needs. Beside choosing a suitable shape (rectangle
or ellipse) and frame to make your drawing look nice, you can adjust other
things in the viewport to make it more convenient. You can choose viewport
scale, turn it at a different angle, zoom in or out any time.
Generally, a viewport is designed to be an optical enlarging or reducing of

the document for all attributes. But to affect this behavior, you can allocate a
scaling factor to the viewport, which is not the same as just assigning the
viewport a different scale. The scaling factor only affects the size/width of
scale independent objects in the viewport. For example if the scale factor of
a drawing is 1:500 and the scale factor of a viewport is 1:250, than line width
in the viewport will be the double of the line width of the same line in the
drawing if scaling factor is 100%. The same for texts: a text of 12 point will
become 24 point in the viewport. If the scaling factor is 50%, sizes will
remain the same. Any scaling factor is valid, and will affect the scale
independent attributes accordingly.
After the viewport is created and set, it is easy to change the size of the
frame or move the viewport to another place in the drawing. If you need your
viewport at some point to show a different part of the drawing, it is no need
to delete it and create a new one: You can ―pan‖ inside the viewport to
another location. In addition to all this setting, a view different from the view
of the main drawing can be applied to the viewport.
Once you have adjusted the viewport, you can duplicate it or copy directly to
another sheet. For instruction on creating a viewport, refer to PART II →
Chapter 3: → Create Viewport.
Sheets
Sheets allow you to split up large projects into different print-areas, and thus
print the appropriate print sheet along with the appropriate title page, in a
very simple manner.
In Pythagoras, you can create multiple (up to 256) sheets per drawing.
Sheets refer to the Page coordinate system, thus all objects defined in Page
CS will belong to the sheet which was active while they were created. Each
sheet can have its own properties such as the printer, dimensions, position,
page objects, print area, etc.:
 Printer, paper size and orientation can be set individually for each sheet
in the Sheet Manager (see PART II → Chapter 1: → Select Sheet (Print
Sheet)). You can also choose a default view for the sheet (different from
the current document view), determining the display parameters for
layers, subdocuments, object information and so on.
 Sheet position in the drawing, rotation angle and scale are defined with
help of Print Area (refer to PART II → Chapter 1: → Select Print Area).
 You can choose an arbitrary polygon as a clipping area for local objects
on the sheet: only objects within the clipping polygon will be printed (see
PART II → Chapter 2: → Set Print Area).
 For every sheet, you can create an own set of page objects. For this
purpose you have to draw any objects (except for coordinate systems,
paths and roads) in Page CS. When, for example, choosing the print
area for this sheet, you will see that the latter objects are moved
together with their sheet within the drawing.
 Legends belong also to the sheet objects (please refer to PART II →

Chapter 6: → Legend for details), as well as any logotypes, page
framing and other such objects.
 Viewports are defined in page coordinates, so every viewport belongs to

a sheet similar to legends. Viewport coordinates are calculated starting
from the upper border of the sheet. But viewports never display objects
in page coordinates.
Once multiple sheets are created for a drawing, only one at a time can be
set as active, which means that this sheet will be printed when you execute
the ‗Print‘ command. However, to perform, as it were, a 'Print screen' of your
drawing (with scale and rotation angle as displayed), you can make the
sheet floating. This setting will hide the page, and such a sheet can have no
own page objects.
Pythagoras sheets can be exported to AutoCAD by means of saving the

document as AutoCAD drawing. Only limitation: AutoCAD has no such
notion as Views, so all the sheets will be displayed equally according to the
current document view.

Chapter 3: Pythagoras Database
A Pythagoras document can contain an internal database. The main goal of
the database is to store additional information about graphic and non-
graphic objects. Data can be entered into the database manually or can be
imported from other files or databases.
Pythagoras internal database is a traditional relational 2-level (tables, views)

database (see definition, for example, here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relational_database), but it has some specific
features.
Data types and values
Data in the Pythagoras database can be of the following types:
 Integer, stored as 32-bit signed integers
 Real, stored as double precision (64 bits) floating point numbers

according to the IEEE standard 754-1985
 Boolean, having only two values: FALSE and TRUE
 Date/time (one type), internally stored as 64-bit unsigned integers

expressing numbers of 10 ns ticks starting from the beginning of
st
imaginary Gregorian era (0 hours at January 1 1 by Gregorian
calendar). Leap seconds are not taken into account. Such
representation is equivalent to the representation of date/time in
both GUIDs (Global Unique Identifiers) and in .NET
 Date, internally stored as number of full days passed since the

beginning of imaginary Gregorian era
 Time, internally stored as 64-bit signed integers expressing numbers

of 10 ns ticks. This type can be used in two ways: as time of day
(number of ticks since midnight) and as a time interval (number of
ticks between two moments of time)
 String, any sequences of Unicode characters except prohibited so-

called non-characters
 Reference to CAD objects. This means that a database row contains

a reference to any CAD object from the same Pythagoras document.
Internally, a unique CAD object reference is stored
The above data types comply with following rules:
 Like in other relational databases, a value in a column of each type

can be also NULL. But unlike SQL databases, a NULL value and an
empty string are treated to be equal.
 Compare operations ‗less‘, ‗less or equal‘, ‗greater‘, ‗greater or

equal‘, ‗equal‘ and ‗not equal‘ can be applied to pairs of not NULL
values of the same type with only one exception: References to
CAD objects can be compared only on equality.
 TRUE is treated to be greater than FALSE.
 Strings are compared in the alphabetical order using operating

system means. Therefore, the result of comparing two strings
depends on the default language settings. Strings differing only in
letter case are always treated as equal.
 Strings are compared completely including invisible characters such

as blanks. Therefore, you should avoid string values beginning or
ending with blanks.
Note: Values stored in Pythagoras database do not have any meaning

without units. We do not really know what the quantity 2.25 in the
column „Distance‟ of type real means, until we add „meters‟ to it. We
strongly recommend that you make notes of the units you use.
Naming
Tables, views, columns and other database items have names. The name
can be any non-empty Unicode string not containing prohibited or control
characters. However, you should avoid using extraordinary names because
this can cause many problems. For example, tables with too long names or
with spaces inside cannot be exported to some formats (e.g., DBF).
In Pythagoras, database names belong to one of four categories:
 Strictly regular names: Names containing only Latin letters from the
main set (A–Z, a–z) and digits and beginning with a letter
 Regular names: Names regular in the sense of the SQL standard,

but not strictly regular. Such names must contain only letters, signs
‗$‘ and ‗#‘, and digits, and cannot begin with a digit
 Irregular names, i.e., neither regular nor invalid
 Invalid names: Names containing either control or so-called non-

characters. An empty string is also invalid. Such names cannot be
used
When you try to use a not strictly regular name, as a rule, you will be warned
by Pythagoras. Note that default names in some localization of Pythagoras
can be not strictly regular, but they will be always simply regular. Also when
two names differ only in the case they are considered equal, e.g., the table
name ‗Table1‘ is the same as ‗table1‘.
Tables
In Pythagoras, database tables can be of two kinds: attribute tables and

dictionaries.

Attribute tables
Each row of an attribute table is linked to a CAD object, i.e. the main goal of
attribute tables is to store attributes of CAD objects. In other words, an
attribute table can be regarded as the class of the linked CAD objects. For
example, you can define attribute tables ‗BusStop‘ or ‗WaterPipe‘ and link
objects being bus stops or water pipes to the corresponding tables.
CAD objects of the following types can be linked to attribute tables: lines,
points, polygons, texts, arcs, circles, splines, paths, images, clothoids, rich
texts, road and compound. For each attribute table, the set of allowed object
types can be further reduced. For example, it is logical to restrict table
BusStop to points only.
A CAD object cannot be linked to more than one attribute table. Elements of
compounds cannot be linked to attribute tables at all. Deleting a CAD object
implies automatic deletion of the linked row.
Dictionary tables
Dictionaries are usual relational tables and can be used particularly to define
classes of non-graphical objects. For example, you define a dictionary table
named ‗WaterPipeKind‘. Each row of this table describes one kind of water
pipe commodity. While an attribute table ‗WaterPipe‘ describes pipes
installed (or to be installed) in certain locations, the dictionary table
‗WaterPipeKind‘ describes possible kinds of pipes installed or not.
Tables and subdocuments
Tables are stored (both structure and data) in every document. When a
document overview is opened tables from all subdocuments are merged and
searched for equal names. If two tables with equal names are found, they
are checked on equivalence. If at least one such table pair is not equivalent,
a subdocument is not opened with a corresponding message.
Tables are considered to be equivalent when
 they belong to the same kind (attribute or dictionary)

 have the same properties
 have the same lists of columns
 their columns have the same names and properties
Additionally, dictionaries must contain the same data in rows to be

equivalent. For efficiency reasons, table data are not compared but a new
stamp (UUID) is stored after any change in dictionary table data instead.
Those data stamps are compared to assure that data are identical.
Therefore, dictionary tables will be treated as equivalent only if one is a copy
of the other.
An attribute table of an overview contains rows from all opened

subdocuments, i.e., number of rows in the table is the sum of numbers of
rows in all subdocuments. A dictionary of an overview contains common
rows, i.e., the number of rows is the same as in every subdocument.
When a subdocument is stored, its tables are also stored (if they have been
changed). But also some other tables can be written to this subdocument, if
it is necessary for the data integrity, for example, if a reference to a table has
been made.
You should treat tables used across several subdocuments with special
care. Occasional change of structure of such table or of dictionary data can
cause problems with opening the overview. To avoid this, we strongly
recommend to open all subdocuments together when you plan to perform
such actions.
Table columns
Two columns belonging to the same table cannot have equal names. But
there is no restriction for columns of different tables and for names used for
other database objects.
For each column you define a certain data type. Columns referencing CAD
objects can be defined only for attribute tables. In fact, a column of an
attribute table can be regarded as an object property. For example, for the
table ‗BusStop‘ you can define columns ‗RunStart‘ and ‗RunEnd‘ of type
‗time‘ to store arrival time of the first and the last buses.
Other attributes can also be defined for a column:
 minimum and/or maximum allowed values

 whether NULL value is allowed
 types of CAD objects that can be referenced by the column
 etc.
Indexing
A column of each type except references to CAD objects can be declared

indexed. That means that an index is built by values of this column. Such an
index enables fast search for rows by values in the column. An index does
not contain items for NULL values.
Indexing a column does not change any database data or logical run of a
Pythagoras session, it only influences the speed of some operations.
Beware that when indexing a column you will slow down the following table
operations:
 inserting a row with a not-NULL value in the indexed column to the

table
 deleting a row with a not-NULL value in the indexed column
 changing a value in the indexed column
Though, indexing a column essentially accelerates searching by values in

this column and enables scanning rows in the order defined by values of the
indexed column.
You can also declare a ‗unique value‘ column. This means that different
rows of the table cannot contain equal not-NULL values in this column. To
check uniqueness it is necessary to build an index; therefore, a unique value
column is always indexed.

References
Often it is necessary to reference one row of a table from another.

Continuing our example from above, each installed water pipe belongs to
some commodity. Therefore, we can define references from each row of the
‗WaterPipe‘ table to a row of the ‗WaterPipeKind‘ table.
For example, we define a column ‗Commodity‘, type ‗string‘, in the

‗WaterPipeKind‘ table containing commodity code, and a column with the
same name and type in the ‗WaterPipe‘ table. The first column has to
contain unique values, and therefore, should be declared a unique value
column. On the contrary, the second column will contain repeated values.
In this case, the column WaterPipe.Commodity references the column

WaterPipeKind.Commodity. The first is called referencing column, the
second is called referenced one. Note that such a reference can be defined
to another column of the same table, but it is not a typical case.
Column references do not have to be specially defined, but to make the

database structure clearer we recommend that you declare them explicitly.
The referenced column must belong to a dictionary table and must be a
unique value column beforehand.
In case the referenced row is deleted, for the referencing row you can
choose one of the following options:
 leave a pending reference

 change referencing value to NULL
 delete the referencing row.
Note: There are two kinds of references in the Pythagoras database:

references to CAD objects and references to other columns. In the
case of object references, when the referenced row is deleted the
above actions for the referencing row can be defined only via VBA.
System tables (predefined views)
System tables are special objects of the Pythagoras database that are
created automatically and cannot be changed. They are pseudo-tables
representing properties of CAD objects. System tables are never stored
anywhere.
Each system table corresponds to one or several object types. This means
that there is one to one correspondence between CAD objects of these
types and rows of the table. Each column of a system table corresponds to
some property of objects of these types. For example, all system tables
contain integer type column ‗DisplayLevel‘: values of display level of objects
are written to this column.
Database Views
A Database view displays a subset of the data. In this way you can have a
better overview of your data, completely or in parts. Do not confuse the
Database (or DB) view with the Display view of the document described
above.
DB views do not contain own data, every DB view is derived from other
objects. Such objects are called base rowsets or merely bases. A base
rowset can be either a table, or a system table, or another DB view.
It can be easier for you to understand the concept of views and bases if you
think of them as other kinds of tables. A view just gathers the rows from
other database or system tables (or other bases) in one place according to
your needs, so that later you can display the data in a convenient format. A
base is a table (database or system table) to which conditions are applied
and from which the data is gathered. Below you will see some examples of
bases and resulting views.
There is a series of expressions defined for every DB view (please refer to

Chapter 4: Expressions for definition of expressions). Some expressions
define conditions to select or to reject some rows; others are used to
calculate values of rows of the defined DB view.
Different DB views cannot have equal names, but their names can be equal
to names of tables or system tables. However, we strongly recommend to
avoid such coincidences. Rules for column names are the same as for table
columns.
A DB view can be either an attribute one or a dictionary, its kind is the same
as the kind of the main base. In Pythagoras, only the two simplest kinds of
DB views are implemented: a simple view and an aggregation view.
Simple Views
A simple view has only one base, i.e., the view gathers data from one
database table (or system table, or another view) applying conditions to it. A
complete definition of a simple view consists of a base, a so-called ‗where‘
condition and column definitions. The ‗where‘ condition is an expression
applied to columns of the base and having a
Boolean value. Each column definition contains a
so-called column expression; these expressions
are also applied to columns of the base. In other
words, the ‗where‘ condition describes, in which
rows of the base you are interested in, and the
column expression defines what values you want
to have in each row.
First, the ‗where‘ condition is applied to each row

of the base rowset. Then, for each row returning a
TRUE value for the ‗where‘ condition, all column
expressions are calculated; they form a new row
of the defined view. A column expression often is
merely a name of a column of the base rowset.
Example: Given an attribute table „Countries‟

linked to polygons and describing countries of the
world. The table has columns „Name‟ (string) and
„Population‟ (integer). We want to have an

attribute view describing names and population densities of countries with
population above 10 million. We define a new simple view based on the
table. A „where‟ condition is defined as “Population >= 10000000”. Column
expressions are defined as “Name” and “Population / Area()”. „Area‟ here is
the name of the built-in function returning the area of a polygon
.
Aggregation Views
An aggregation view has two bases: main and auxiliary, i.e., two database
tables (or system tables, or views) are involved in gathering the required
data. A complete definition of an aggregation view consists of the bases, a
so-called ‗match‘ and ‗where‘ conditions, and column definitions.
The ‗match‘ condition is an expression applied to columns of both bases that

returns True or False. The ‗match‘ condition is used to choose pairs of rows
from both bases.
The ‗where‘ expression and column expressions are applied to both base
rowsets but in different manner. It can address columns of the auxiliary
rowset only inside so-called aggregate functions. Aggregate functions are
functions applied not only to one row but to the whole rowset. Therefore, the
expressions of both latter kinds address rows of the main
base and address the auxiliary base as a whole, filtered
preliminarily by the ‗match‘ expression.
The rest is the same as for simple views. For each row of
the main base the ‗where‘ condition is checked. If the
value of the condition is TRUE then all column
expressions are calculated; they form a new row of the
aggregation view.
Example: Continuing our example from above, we are

now interested in population of the capitals of each
continents. We have two attribute tables: „Continents‟ and
„Capitals‟. The table „Capitals‟ contains information about
the population in every city. We want to have an attribute
view of the continent names and aggregated population of
their capitals.
Therefore, we define a new aggregation view based on

tables „Continents‟ and „Capitals‟. The „match‟ condition is
defined as geographical coincidence (a capital is inside
the continent polygon). A „where‟ condition is defined as
“Name not empty”, which means that we want to make
sure, that we take only existing continent names from the
table. Column expressions are defined as “Name” and
“Sum(Aux.Population)”. „Sum‟ here is the name of a built-
in aggregate function returning the sum of all values along
a rowset.
Spatial aggregation
A spatial aggregation is an aggregation view with both attribute bases and

with a ‗match‘ condition expressing some spatial relationship between
objects from both bases. The last example above describes a spatial
aggregation.
Example: The „match‟ condition can be more sophisticated. For example, to
take into account only objects within some distance from one another, we
can rewrite the „match‟ condition, for example, as “Distance (Main.Object(),
Aux.Object()) < N*km()” (distance is not more than N km). In the previous
example the „match‟ condition can be written as “Distance (Main.Object(),
Aux.Object()) = 0”. You can also design any expression showing the
relationship between main and auxiliary objects.
Validity and saving
When database structure is changed, tables are checked on their validity,

but views are not. This means that when you change the database structure,
you will be only warned in some cases that a view became invalid.
Invalidity of a view is typically a consequence of deleting or renaming a

database object (table, column, another view), referenced by the view. If you
will try to use an invalid view, the requested action will be cancelled and you
will see a warning.
Like tables, views are read from and written to documents. But only view
definitions are written because view data are built in real time. Unlike tables,
views are read from and written only to the main overview document.
Table Viewer
The Table Viewer allows you to view attribute tables, dictionary tables and
database views of the active document.
In the table viewer you can hide or unhide columns; change the width of
columns and change the sequence of the columns; sort on a particular
column in any order. These changes do not have any effect on the table
stored in the document, but affect only the representation of the table in your
drawing. The changes will be applied when exporting the table.
From the viewer, the table can be:
 Exported to the Clipboard

 Saved as a file in text, RTF or html format
 Put in table form in a Rich Text in the document
Data and structure protection
Data and structure of the database can be protected. There are two kinds of
protection:
 protection of both data and structure of one table

 protection of database structure as a whole.
For each table, one of four levels of access can be defined:
1. Full access (default) means that both data and structure of the
table can be read and changed if there are no other reasons
prohibiting this. One of these ―other‖ reasons may be a

subdocument declared read-only, which makes it impossible to
change data in rows referring to this subdocument. Also there can
be a column that cannot change its data type because it is
referenced by another column.
2. Read/write access means that table data can be read and written,
but table structure cannot be changed.
3. Read access means that row data can be read, but neither table
structure nor table data can be changed, deleted or added.
However, rows of attribute tables can be deleted together with the
graphic objects they are linked to.
4. No access (or VBA access) means that data can be neither read
nor changed and table structure cannot be changed either.
However, rows of attribute tables can be deleted together with the
graphic objects they are linked to and the table structure remains
visible. Data read protection also does not deny the possibility to
view table data via database views.
Structure of the database in whole can be protected with the owner name
and password. When database structure is protected, no change in structure
of tables is possible; particularly table access level cannot be changed. Also
view definitions cannot be changed; new tables or views cannot be changed;
existing tables and views cannot be deleted.
Chapter 4: Expressions
Expressions are used in Pythagoras to define database views, to express an
additional condition in Find dialog, and to define a value to build a thematic
map. We introduce a special language to make manual entering of
expressions possible where they are necessary.
To facilitate usage of this language, it is designed similar to the built-in

language of Microsoft Excel, but it is not completely the same. In
Pythagoras, an expression is applied either to a CAD object or to a database
row.
A textual expression may contain names of database columns, built-in

functions, and different operators. Built-in functions define constants such as
π, different mathematical functions, and specific CAD object properties such
as elevation.
Expressions can also be built internally when you enter non-textual

information. Such are conditions in the database manager, Find dialog, and
thematic maps. You fill in a table-like structure - Pythagoras real-time code
builds implicitly a corresponding expression.
For further details on expression language please refer to PART IV:

Expression Language.

Chapter 5: Thematic Maps
A thematic map is a way to represent graphically object properties or table
data, attached to objects, i.e., visually highlight with color and style the
objects in your drawing that match the conditions you defined when creating
the thematic map.
Technically, you choose to which table in the database of the active drawing
the required objects should be linked. For all the objects linked to this table
or having some requested property, you define a presentation which
parameters vary depending on the value of this property.
You can also choose a system table instead of a database table, as every
object in Pythagoras is always linked to one or more system tables by
default. In this way you will build a thematic map based not on database
data, but on some object properties like coordinates, line length, polygon
area, layer, etc.
Notice that you can display thematic maps either in local or page
coordinates, or in both. All settings for thematic maps are controlled via
Thematic Map Manager, see PART II → Chapter 1: → Thematic Maps.
Example thematic map
The definition of thematic maps is better illustrated with an example. Here

you can see a part of Europe, colorized according to population density, with
symbols of different size indicating capitals and their population:
We can see at first sight that, for example, the Netherlands have the highest
population density, and London is the largest populated city.
Note: When you are building a thematic map for polygons, make sure that
they have a property for the pattern (e.g. solid). Otherwise, the
thematic map coloring will not work.
In Pythagoras you can create and activate several thematic maps at the
same time, visualizing several conditions at once and determining the order
of appearance on the drawing. The above example uses two thematics at
once: Population density coloring polygons (which are countries) and
symbols of different size marking capitals (which are points).
Defining conditions
For the objects linked to the chosen table, you can use either one of the
fields of this table as a criterion for building your thematic map, or define an
expression using this field. Let us use the above example once again to
show how conditions are defined for thematic maps:
 For capitals, we use only points in our drawing linked to the table
‗Capitals‘ which has a column ‗Population‘. The size of the symbol
marking a capital increases according to the value in this column
(step is 1.000.000 inhabitants)
 For population density, we use only polygons linked to the table

‗Countries‘ also with a column ‗Population‘. But in this case we
define an expression “Population / Area()”, where the value for
Population is taken from the column and Area is an object property
of the polygon. When the result of this expression falls into a specific
range it is colored correspondingly.
Spatial Interpolation
With help of thematic maps you can

manage DTM representation rules,
but only if you are building a
thematic over database tables
linked to points or to points and
lines. This setting is called ‗Spatial
Interpolation‘.
Let us build a spatial interpolation

thematic map over the capitals of
the world. We interpolate between
capitals, using population values
from the table ‗Capitals‘. You can
compare the resulting thematic map
(left) to the previous example
without interpolation.
Along with spatial interpolation, you

can specify a boundary for your
thematic map (only one polygon can
be selected as boundary condition).
Here, for example, we want to see the
interpolation only for Britain:

Chapter 6: Terrain Models
A digital terrain model (DTM) is a digital representation of ground surface
topography, or relief. It is also known as a digital elevation model (DEM).
Creating DTM
In Pythagoras, a DTM is represented as a triangular irregular network (TIN).

The triangulation is based on a set of points, which are obtained, for
example, from land surveying. The network is a Delaunay triangulation
(please refer, for example, to
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delaunay_triangulation for background
information). Only the selected points and the endpoints of selected lines are
included in the calculation.
Note: It is strongly recommended to work with different layers when you

want to calculate terrain models. Hiding the non-relevant layers
allows you to select quickly the right objects to calculate the terrain
model.
One Pythagoras drawing can have up to 256 different terrain models, each
based on a certain selection of points and/or lines (max. 2 million points or
up to 4 million triangles). "Terrain", e.g. can represent the existing terrain,
whereas "Design" may represent the design situation (a road, a golf course,
etc.)
To reduce the number of points when calculating a DTM, you can cut off the
unnecessary points that do not refine the triangulation considerably. For
example, points that lie in the plane of an already existing triangle. Also you
can remove the boundary triangles that have very small angles and/or large
edges and do not add significant accuracy.
When building a DTM, you can select fractures or breaking lines – special
lines that define the direction of the relief, e.g., a ravine bottom or a
mountain ridge. No lines of triangles will cross a breaking line. The elevation
of the endpoints, and the elevation of any point on the breaking lines derived
by interpolation, should correspond with the actual elevation of the terrain.
Arcs, curves and circles are subdivided by Pythagoras internally in polylines,
and each segment of the polyline will be treated as a breaking line.
In case of inconsistencies in data, e.g., breaking lines crossing each other,

coinciding points with different elevation, Pythagoras will warn you about the
errors and provide a possibility for corrections. You will be able to choose
the correct point or line, or edit the drawing, and continue with building the
triangulation.
If a polygon is selected, this polygon defines the boundary for the Delaunay
triangulation. Any selected point outside this polygon will not be taken into
account. This is convenient especially for DTMs with holes or complex
borders. If no polygon is selected, Pythagoras will calculate the convex
enclosing polygon of the selected points, and the terrain model inside this
polygon will be calculated. The height of the vertexes and legs of the
polygon should correspond with the height of the terrain. After all, the
vertexes are used in the triangulation, and legs of the polygon are
considered breaking lines. Clearly, that only one polygon may be selected.
Calculations on DTM
Once you have created one or several DTMs in your drawing, you can
perform many useful calculations on them.
First of all, you can combine 2 DTMs which will build a new terrain model
based on the difference of the original models within the intersection of their
boundaries.
Then, of course, you can visualize your DTMs in several ways:
 Show the triangulation with a selected color

 Show a colorized map of the triangulation based on either elevation
or slope of the DTM
 Draw contour lines of the terrain model
 Generate a 3D-view of the active DTM
It is also possible to
 change elevation by adding a value to the z-coordinates of all

vertexes;
 calculate a slope intercept connecting points of a polygon to the
terrain either using a fixed slope or a fixed distance;
 calculate not only a 2-dimensional area (horizontal area), but also a
3-dimensional area (i.e. the true area, taking account the elevation
changes in the terrain).
More complex functions are volume and cross section calculations.
Volume calculation
The volume is calculated within an area defined by a selected polygon.

Make sure that the polygon lies COMPLETELY inside the terrain model. The
polygon defining the boundary for the volume calculation may contain points,
lines and arcs.
Note: If the polygon lies partly outside the terrain model, the volume of the
non-overlapping part will be estimated based on extrapolation of the
DTM.
The heights of the points forming the polygon do not have any influence on
the calculation of the volumes. When two Terrain models are calculated, you
may select "DTM1 - DTM2" in the "Earth Moving" dialog box. When selected,
Pythagoras will calculate the volume between both models.
The volume calculation is based on numerical integration. The accuracy of

the calculation can be improved by making the cross-sections smaller. Of
course, calculation time will be greater. The maximum number of cross-
sections is 7500.
Note: The calculation of the triangulation in case that some points are
collinear and simultaneously are at the border of the terrain, is
sometimes impossible. Pythagoras cannot form triangles at the
border. The best solution in this case is to add a few points
surrounding the terrain and include them in the terrain model.

Cross Sections
You have an option to calculate and create profile either along a selected
path or perpendicular to it. In both cases you can choose to apply some
specific settings. The calculated profile will automatically be pasted in a new
drawing and it will be put on the clipboard as well.
Along Path
It is possible to enter the reference elevation, the horizontal X scale and the
vertical Z scale for this profile. It will be calculated in the overlapping DTM
area only.
The X values in the profile correspond with the accumulated (chainage)

distances from the selected path.
You can also add reference objects to the cross-section by selecting them
before calling the function to start the calculation.
Perpendicular to Path
In this case you can specify the number of profiles on one row and the
distance between the profiles. This distance can be calculated automatically
or on a fixed distance. You can also select an existing (prototype) document
in which the profiles need to be pasted.
In addition, you can specify chainage and step, and define the layout of the
cross section. The first specifies which part of the selected path should be
used for the calculation of the sections. The layout of the cross sections can
be defined by defining their resp. widths. You have 2 possible choices: either
you can use the terrain limits, or you can enter a distance at the left side and
at the right side from the path.
The reference level and the horizontal and vertical scale can be defined as
well.
Reference objects may be added in the same way as for a cross section
Along Path.
Road Design
Roads are designed in connection to the existing relief. Later this relief is
used to build the road profile and cross sections. See PART III: Road Design
for details.
Operations on DTM
The following operations are possible on a DTM. They are only enabled if
the triangulation is visible. For details, please refer to PART II → Chapter 3:
→ DTM.
 Swap diagonal: replace 2 adjacent triangles by 2 triangles in the

same quadrangle using the alternative diagonal
 Delete a triangle
 Delete a point
 Add a point
 Change elevation of a triangle vertex
 Move a triangle vertex
When you modify a DTM, only the terrain model itself is changed, never any
point or line that was used as a basis to calculate it.
Note: The operations on DTM are undoable!

Chapter 7: Macros
Macros are programs written in Pythagoras VBA that allow you to extend the
functionality of Pythagoras. Here are some examples what you could add to
your projects with macros:
 Automation of repetitive tasks

 Integration of processes within a company, e.g. transferring data of a
Pythagoras document to a database
 Adding menus and tools to automate tasks that are either specific for
a project or provide more general functions
Other possibilities provided in Pythagoras only by VBA are
 Import from and export to non-standard data formats, e.g.,

SmallWorld, Google KML, PostGIS, GRASS GIS; XML-based
formats, like LandXML, CityXML, SVG, GPX, etc.
 Data exchange with Data collector
 Creating diverse reports according to regional standards
Here we provide a short description of Pythagoras VBA environment and

managing macros. For detailed information, please refer to the ―Pythagoras
VBA Manual‖.
Pythagoras VBA
Pythagoras VBA is a programming environment that allows you to write your

own extensions to Pythagoras. The programming language ―Pythagoras
VBA‖ is nearly identical to the language used by the Microsoft products
Visual Basic and MS-Office VBA. The way Pythagoras objects (Document,
Point, Line, etc) are accessed from VBA is similar to the access of objects in
the MS-Office products. Most standard functions of Visual Basic are also
available in Pythagoras VBA.
Of course, there are also certain differences. In contrast to Microsoft VBA,

the Pythagoras Object Model is not accessible from outside.
The Pythagoras Object Model allows access to nearly all Pythagoras objects
such as documents, drawing elements (lines, points, etc.), layers, the
selection, to name just a few. This model is very powerful and it allows
programmers to extend the functionality of Pythagoras.
Note: In Pythagoras VBA, only standard units for data are used
 meter for distances
 radian for angles
 etc.
If you need to set other units, you can use special functions. Please
refer to the VBA manual for details.
Pythagoras Macro Libraries
A macro library consists of one or more modules; each of them consists of

one or more macros. Modules are divided into Code and Form (definition of
modules would go to far for this manual, please refer to the ―Pythagoras
VBA Manual‖).
Libraries are stored either in the Macro System Libraries file

(Pythagoras.mlb) or in a Pythagoras document. So the Pythagoras.mlb file
may contain multiple libraries, and each library may contain multiple macros.
When Pythagoras is launched, the Pythagoras.mlb file will be loaded in

memory. If a Startup Library is specified, the startup library will be compiled.
If the startup library contains a macro with the name OnStartUp, then this
macro will be executed. This way, the default environment of Pythagoras
can be personalized at startup of Pythagoras.
When a document contains one ore more libraries, these libraries will be
read in memory when the document is opened and becomes the top
window. Similar as with the system libraries, a document library may contain
a Startup Library. This feature allows personalizing the Pythagoras
environment when a specific document is opened.
At a given moment only one macro library, either a system- or a document

macro library, can be active. This means that only macros of the active
(loaded) library can be executed. It is not possible to call macros from other
libraries.
Managing macros
The Macro Library Manager provides you control over the available macro
libraries: you can rename, delete, move the libraries, etc. You can also
assign a startup library or lock a library to prevent changes to the macro
code. In addition, you can import and export the system libraries in order to
restore and backup the macro libraries.
As you can have several macro libraries (system and document) available
for your drawing, you have to load the one you need before starting working
with its macro code.
Editing the macro code is done in the Macro-editor. It is a programming

environment with its own menu commands that allows you to manage, edit
and run the code.
The described functions can be accessed via ‗Macros‘ menu, see PART II →
Chapter 1: → Macros.

Chapter 8: Defaults
Defaults are basic settings for object graphical attributes that are stored in
Pythagoras and applied to any new object.
In Pythagoras, we distinguish also other categories which we also refer to

default settings:
 User defaults
 Document defaults
 Preferences
Detailed description of the menu functions you can find in PART II →

Chapter 5: The Defaults Menu.
All default settings except for document defaults are stored in

PYTHAGOR.DEF file. During the start up of Pythagoras these settings will
be initialized.
Graphical attributes
Graphical attributes of objects that you can set to default values are
 Point style and symbol

 Line attributes (style, width, etc.)
 Text attributes (size, style, position)
 Color
 Display level
The changed settings will apply to all newly created objects. They are not
stored automatically, you have to choose the ‗Save‘ option, and then your
default settings will be invoked the next time you open Pythagoras.
User defaults
A User Default is a named sets of graphical attributes described above,

which overwrite the standard defaults when the User Default is selected.
You may define up to 256 user defaults. This will allow you to store many
different sets of object attributes and have the right set of defaults at hand
when you need it, without defining the attributes anew.
For instructions on creating user defaults, please refer to PART II → Chapter

5: → User Defaults Manager.
Document defaults
Document defaults are the settings of the current document. Here you can
tune the scale factor of the page coordinate system and bearing of the
drawing; set the basic coordinate reference system, and define the next
point number for automatic increment. Also the setting for operation confirm
belongs to the document defaults.
Document defaults are stored in the current document only. All the new
documents are opened with standard settings.
Preferences
The preferences consist of a variety of different settings for such areas as
 Date & Time conventions,

 Units
 Annotations
 Coordinate systems
 Data collector and Geocoding
 Standard texts and comments
 etc.
For the complete list of preferences please refer to the description of

‗Preferences‘ dialog in PART II → Chapter 5: → Preferences.
The preferences you have selected apply to all open drawings and to any
newly opened drawings. Your selected preferences are automatically saved
when you exit Pythagoras, and they are restored when you restart
Pythagoras.

Chapter 9: Text Editors
We provide you with the basic text editing tools to help you view, create and
handle simple text and VBA programs directly inside Pythagoras. This
chapter presents an overview of the available editors.
ASCII editor
Pythagoras default text editor is available in the File menu (see PART II →
Chapter 1: → Open Text Files). With this tool you can open simple text files
(.txt format), create short texts in Pythagoras, edit text documents.
In addition, Pythagoras uses the ASCII editor to
 Display errors during execution of some actions. For example, when

reading CDF or data collector file, the ASCII editor opens to display
the line where the error occurred and you can proceed to the next
error.
 Open reports after the execution of some commands. For example,

after importing or exporting a database table, the log file with the
results will be displayed.
The ASCII editor has short toolbar and a simple menu, consisting of basic
file, editing and viewing operations. It also supports opening and editing
multiple documents simultaneously.
Note: The code page used by the ASCII editor is defined by the current
Pythagoras language version.
RTF editor
The Rich Text editor is available in the Tools menu (see PART II → Chapter
3: → New Object: Rich Text). This tool is a lot more powerful than the
previous editor; it allows specific formatting and handles .rtf and .doc
documents. You cannot open a document directly from the RTF editor: you
can either create the text in Pythagoras, or copy/paste it from another
program on your computer (for example, Microsoft Word, WordPad,
Notepad, etc.).
Whenever you create and paste a table with information into your drawing
(for example, Coordinate and Object lists, Table data from the Table
Viewer), you can open and edit it using the RTF editor. To add a new row to
a table in the RTF editor, put the cursor to the right of the previous table row
and press ‗Enter‘. To delete a row, select it completely and press the delete
key. The width and number of columns as well as the column attributes (e.g.,
background color) cannot be changed in the current version of Pythagoras.
The position of the Rich Text in the drawing can be changed same as of any
other object. Also note that the width of the Rich Text in the editor is
controlled by the width of the text rectangle in the drawing. The text in the
editor is wrapped to the required size automatically.
In the RTF editor you can format your text in any way you like: use any
alignment, spacing, text size, color and style. But beware that the text
alignment in the editor will define the alignment within the Rich Text
rectangle in the drawing, To change the alignment of the block, choose the
‗Text Block Attributes‘ command in the RTF editor, or ‗Edit Object‘ in the
drawing.
Note: Please keep in mind that you set the code page for the RTF editor
when you choose a new font for the text you edit.
Remark: Display of size of the Rich Text (this is also true for normal text) is
only correct if the zoom factor is equal to or multiple of 1. So the
size of text in a 1/1000 drawing will only be correct on the screen
for scales 1/500, 1/250, 1/125, etc. The reason for this is that
Pythagoras can display the text on a scale where the font has an
Integer size.
VBA editor
You can reach the VBA editor from the File menu (see PART II → Chapter
1: → Macros: Macro-editor). It is very similar to the ASCII editor, but has a
different purpose: editing VBA macros. The only differences in the menu
from the ASCII editor are the VBA specific commands for compiling and
running macros.

Chapter 10: Pythagoras-Toolbar
The Pythagoras-toolbar is a separate set of buttons that represent
frequently-used commands.
In addition to standard Windows-document functions (such as opening,

saving, printing, etc.), other functions are also present.
Parts of the Toolbar can also be hidden. Please refer to PART II →

Chapter 6: → Google Earth
You can view a Pythagoras drawing directly in Google Earth without

exporting it first to a KML file. If you select 'View' → 'Google Earth', a KML
file will be created in a temporary folder and Google Earth will be opened
with this KML file as a parameter.
This menu option is only enabled if conversion to WGS84 coordinates is

possible and any exportable objects (not in PageCS) are selected. All
features are the same as when you export to Google Earth yourself (see
PART II → Chapter 1: → Export: Google Earth).
Toolbars.
You can create and customize your own toolbar, see PART II → Chapter 6:
→ Customize Toolbars… for instructions.
Selecting Coordinate Reference System
The button invokes the ‗Select Coordinate Reference System‘ dialog.

There you can select one of the available CRS and assign it a
transformation based on tie points sets (if available). Please refer to PART II
→ Chapter 5: → Set Coordinate Reference System.
Copying Attributes (properties) of a selected object
This button ( ) becomes active when an object has been selected.
When pressing this button, the attributes (properties) of the selected object
will be "copied" into a kind of "clipboard" area. This can then be used to
apply ("paste") these attributes to other objects. This allows you make use
of the properties of objects that have already been drawn, and simply apply
them to other objects in the drawing.
Applying Attributes (properties) to selected objects
After copying the attributes of a selected object, they can be "pasted" onto a
number of selected objects with the button . This allows you to quickly
change the appearance of a drawing.
The 'current settings' can be set in one of 3 ways.
1. Using the menu 'Defaults' and setting each parameter individually.
2. Using ‗User Defaults‘ (refer to PART II → Chapter 5: → User Defaults
Manager).
3. By copying the properties from existing objects (refer to the previous
paragraph).
Measuring the next detail point and Staking out the selected point
The buttons and are only used when the "Tachymeter Module" is
activated and a Total Station is connected to your computer.
For more information please consult the Tachymeter Module manual.
Making a Layer Active
The active layer is the layer in which all newly created objects are placed.
The name of the active layer is shown in the Toolbar. You can change this
layer by selecting the layer name from the pull-down menu.
Making a User Default Active
The User Default that is active determines the properties of the objects that
will be created (for a detailed description of User Defaults, please refer to
PART II → Chapter 5: : The Defaults Menu).
The name of the active "User Default" that is shown in the Toolbar. You can
change the "User Default" by selecting the "User Default" from the pull-down
menu.
Macro-buttons (Pythagoras VBA)
Macro buttons ( ) can be assigned to specific VBA programs. The VBA

program will be activated by clicking the appropriate button.
The Macro button toolbar will, however, only be made available if Macros
have been loaded for which these buttons are applicable (refer to PART II →
Chapter 6: The View Menu).

Chapter 11: The Pythagoras Control panel
The Pythagoras control panel is a separate window that is always visible. It
shows all information and data that is required while creating points and
lines. The information in the control panel is context-sensitive.
For example, when moving the cursor over a line, the length of the line and
the distance of the cursor to end points of the line are shown. This function is
not only useful to obtain information about objects, but can also be very
useful while creating new lines or points.
Pythagoras automatically shows the appropriate entry fields in the control

panel. It largely depends on the toolbox item that has been selected and on
the object that is currently targeted by the cursor.
When you change the information in an entry field of the Pythagoras control
panel (e.g. the distance to one of the end points of the line), all related
information will automatically be updated (e.g. the coordinates, the distance
to the other end point, the line length, etc.). At the same time, Pythagoras
provides instant visual feedback in the drawing window by showing the point
or line that is in the process of being drawn.
Selecting the Coordinate System
The selected coordinate system is shown in the control panel. The

coordinates shown in the control panel depend on the coordinate system
that has been selected.
You can select a coordinate system by selecting the name from the pull-
down menu in the control panel.
Selecting Rectangular, Polar or Chainage Coordinates
The control panel shows XYZ, NEZ, HDZ, HVD, HVS or CDZ coordinates.
The selection is shown in the control panel. You can change the selection by
selecting directly from the pull-down menu in the control panel.
PART II Menu Functions
Reference The File Menu 43

Chapter 1: The File Menu
New
The 'New' command ('File' → 'New') creates an empty drawing in a new

window. The page size will depend on the printer or plotter that is currently
selected. If you want to create a drawing for another printer or plotter, you
first need to select that printer.
Microsoft Windows Vista: 'Start' → 'Control Panel' → 'Hardware and

Sound' → 'Printers'.
An existing drawing can always be adapted for another printer.
Open
The 'Open' command ('File' → 'Open…') opens a drawing from the disk and
displays it on your screen.
When 'Open' is selected the standard "Open" dialog box will appear.
To open a drawing, either select the drawing you want to open and click the
"Open" button, or double-click the name of the drawing.
If you need more information on the possibilities of the "Open" dialog box,
consult the MS Windows manual.
When a drawing is saved, not only the drawing itself, but also other relevant
information is saved with the drawing. The printer for which the drawing was
made and the page size are saved with the drawing. This means you can
edit a drawing for a printer, which is not selected. Also the "Display options"
are saved. The same layers will be visible as at the time the drawing was
saved. Be aware, a drawing can contain more information than what is
visible on the screen!
When opening a Pythagoras drawing you have the choice to open either a
.PYT file or a .PPD file. A .PYT file is a normal Pythagoras drawing; a .PPD
file is a Pythagoras Prototype document.
The prototype document can either:

 be copied: the result is a new drawing that is an exact copy of the
prototype drawing. The prototype drawing will be closed automatically.
 be opened: the prototype document can be changed and if saved, it will
remain a prototype document.
Pythagoras will display an error message when a user tries to open a file
that is already opened by another user. That way unwanted parallel
operations will be impossible. The file could be opened as "Read-only".
If a file is given the "Read-only"-attribute, Pythagoras will also show you a

warning message. In this case you can open the file, despite the fact that the
file is read-only. Changes made to the drawing need to be saved using
another filename.
Also refer to the -button in the Toolbar

Close
The 'Close' command ('File' → 'Close') closes the window of the active
drawing. If the drawing in the window contains unsaved changes, a dialog
box requesting confirmation to save appears.
Save
The 'Save' command ('File' → 'Save') saves the active drawing on disk using
the filename displayed on top of the window. If it was a new drawing, a
dialog box appears requesting the name of the new file.
Save As
The 'Save As…' command ('File' → 'Save As…') saves a new drawing or a
new version of the active drawing.
A dialog box appears, and you type the new name of the drawing. If the
name is already used, Pythagoras asks if you want to replace the existing
file. The new name of the file will be displayed on top of the active window.
Under "File Type", you can set the file format of your drawing. You can save
your drawings in the format of the previous Pythagoras version. E.g.: when
you have Pythagoras 12, you can save your drawings in the Pythagoras 11
format. This means that some information – not supported in the previous
version - can be lost.
You can also use this "Save As…" function, to save your drawing in DWG or
DXF format. It saves the complete drawing, including hidden layers, line
widths (as long as no conversion table was loaded), etc. All local objects of a
Pythagoras drawing are written in AutoCAD's Model Space. Objects in
Paper are stored in AutoCAD's Paper space. Each sheet of the Pythagoras
drawing becomes a Layout. Viewports are retained and placed in the
corresponding layout.
Further in this manual, we will explain how you can also use the "Export"
function to save a file to DWG or DXF format. The "Export" function,
however, requires you to first select the objects that you would like to export.
This is an important difference with the "Save As…" function.
The saving in the previous version is a one time operation: when selecting
"Save" from the "File" menu after you have saved in the previous version
format it will be saved again in the format of your active Pythagoras version.
We can advise you to save a file in a previous version format after the
drawing is fully completed.
The preferences of the chosen printer, paper size and page orientation,
which are important for printing data, are part of the drawing and will be
saved with the drawing. This means that when opening a Pythagoras

drawing, the printer and page settings for each print sheet will automatically
remain the same as when you saved your drawing.
When you save a Pythagoras document with the extension .PPD, that
drawing will become a prototype document. A prototype document can be
used as a base for a new drawing. On using prototype documents see menu
"Open" above.
Drawing Info
The 'Drawing Info' command ('File' → 'Drawing Info…') allows you to edit
general information about your drawing. The general information contains
the name, the date and the description of the project the drawing belongs to.
Import
The 'Import' command ('File' → 'Import') reads data created with other
programs (e.g. data collector information, spreadsheet, other CAD
programs) into the active drawing.
The imported data can be either a DXF/DWG file, a SHAPE-file, an SQD-file,

a coordinate list, data from a data collector, an image or a list of images. In
addition, if the Pythagoras drawing contains a table, information can be
imported from a text-file directly into the table.
Note: Imported text files can be opened directly from within Pythagoras by
selecting the menu item "Open Text File".
IMPORTANT: When importing in a User coordinate system, the elevation of

all points in the imported file is considered relative to the elevation of the
origin of the UCS.
Coordinate List
A 'Coordinate List' is a text-file containing the point numbers, and the

coordinates of multiple points. The structure of a coordinate list file is
described in appendix A.
A coordinate list can be made with almost any word processor or with
spreadsheet programs. (Microsoft Excel, Lotus 123, etc.).
When you import a coordinate list ('File' → 'Import' → 'Coordinate List'), the
coordinates in the file are considered to be in the coordinate system you
have selected. When the local coordinate system is selected, the
coordinates in the coordinate list are Local coordinates. When a user
coordinate system is selected, the coordinates in the file are regarded in the
selected user coordinate system. The elevation is relative to the elevation of
the origin of the coordinate system. Import in page coordinates isn't possible.
Before importing a coordinate list, you need to set the Pythagoras

preferences to the conventions used in the coordinate list. The coordinates
in the coordinate list can be Cartesian or polar coordinates and can be x-axis
based (XYZ), north-east based (NEZ), or the coordinates in reference to a
path (CDZ).
The z-coordinate is not mandatory. Possible formats are:
a) PntId X Y (Code)
b) PntId X Y Z (Code)
c) PntId X Y Z IH RH (Code)
where IH and RH are Instrument Height and Reflector Height respectively.
Note: In the control panel WGS84 coordinates are always displayed either
in DEC (degrees decimal), or DMS (Degrees, minutes, seconds).
They are never displayed in GON, RAD or MIL, so if you choose one
of these three units in the Preferences, the WGS84 coordinates will
be displayed in DEC. If you choose Surveyor, they will be displayed in
DMS.
Comments are imported and linked to the point. In case C, the heights of the
instrument and the reflector HAVE to be part of the coordinate list.
If the instrument height and the reflector height are given in the coordinate
list, Pythagoras will take these values into account to calculate the elevation
of the points.
We do recommend that you use a coordinate list when a lot of points of field
data need to be entered.
If you would like to import a coordinate list that contains codes, and you
would like Pythagoras to take the codes into account (automatic drawing
creation), then please use the menu option 'File' → 'Import' → 'Data
collector'.
DXF/DWG File
Using this option ('File' → 'Import' → 'DXF / DWG'), you can import the
AutoDesk DXF and DWG formats. All AutoCAD versions upto AutoCAD
2010 to are supported.
The scale Pythagoras is asking for is only influencing the size of your texts,
symbols, line styles and polygon hatchings. This value will NOT affect the
scale of the drawing itself. If you know the scale, you can enter it here and
all texts, symbols, etc. will have a correct size. If you don't know the scale,
leave it to 1/500 and go to the Sheet Manager (see below) if necessary and
adapt the scale of your sheet.
SHAPE-file
Using this menu option ('File' → 'Import' → 'SHAPE'), you

can import Shape files created in the ESRI format (*.shp).
When importing shape (*.shp)-files, data from databases

can be imported together with graphical data.
Existing tables are automatically taken over and fields are

filled in. A new layer can be created per table and graphical
attributes can be defined. It is possible to import the same
table twice.

Shape import preferences
 Shape: this is the name of the file that is imported. The defaults for
the file can be defined.
 Attr: there are 3 different objects: point, line and polygon. The style of
these objects can be changed in this window. Click on the symbol
that represents the point, line or polygon. Depending on the object
you clicked on, an appropriate window will pop up:
1. point: color and style can be changed
2. line: color, width and color of the line can be changed
3. polygon: pattern, color, border and background can be changed
 Layer: here you can choose in which Layer the object should be in.
The layer can be created 'on the fly'.
 Data: to import the data into the drawing.
 Table Name: these names should be unique, they can be changed.
 Measure: ignore (don't change).

Remark: The format of the objects can be changed afterwards as well. When
importing shape-files, all objects are placed into layers
automatically, so it will be easy to select them and change their
attributes.
Table
This option ('File' → 'Import' → 'Table') allows you to import data from a file
(in *.dbf, *.txt or *.csv format) into a database table defined in the Pythagoras
drawing.
It is important that the document into which you want to import data already
contains database tables. Otherwise, you will be warned by Pythagoras and
the import will be aborted.
As a first step, you will be prompted to choose the file that you want to
import. Then, the following dialog will appear:
 Text file: Here you select the type of column separator in the data file.
You have a choice between Tab, Comma (,), and Semicolon (;). If the
selected separator is wrong, the data will be read-in incorrectly. Also
you can indicate whether the first line of the file should be imported or
ignored as column headers.
 Options: The imported data might contain information already present in

the destination table. You can choose to update the table and add new
rows (Overwrite and Add), only overwrite existing data, or only add new
rows. The ‗Advanced‘ button will lead you to the settings for text
encoding, decimal sign and date format.
 Import definitions: After you select the destination table, you can edit its
settings and add or remove columns by pressing the ‗Database
Manager‘ button. A new table cannot be created during import, you
should take care of it in advance.
Note: The destination table can be either an attribute table or a

dictionary; import into a system table is not possible.

Definition of a key column is a vital part of successful import. You have
to indicate columns for data comparison both in source and destination
tables. The column of the source file can be selected from the ‗Primary
key column‘ list. The column of the destination table can be either
correspondent to the source column, or the Object Comment if you are
importing into an attribute table (check the option ‗Key = Object
Comment‘).
During import, Pythagoras will search for matching keys and update the
database table according to the selected write permission. In case of an
attribute table with the primary key not the object comment, the key
must be unique and no rows can be added to the table – write
permission will be only overwrite.
 In the main list you can see the columns of the database table (left). On
the right side you can choose column names to be imported into each
database column, For selected pairs, the the middle column will show a
green arrow . If a column will not be imported, the middle column will
show a red cross .
You can use the buttons ‗Previous record‘ and ‗Next record‘ below the
column list to scroll through the first 10 entries of the imported file. This
way you can check that the separator is selected correctly and make
sure that you are importing the correct data.
After you press the ‗OK‘ button, the import will proceed and Pythagoras will
show you a log file with results.
SICAD-SQD
With this option ('File' → 'Import' → 'SICAD-SQD') you will import the SQD
files of the SICAD software.
Data Collector
The 'Import Data collector' command ('File' → 'Import' → 'Data Collector')

allows you to read files retrieved from data collectors and total stations.
Therefore, these files have a format that is defined by the manufacturer of
the instrument.
You have the possibility to adjust the traverse measurement during import of
the field data (if points are measured that can be adjusted). This is only
possible when you obtain the module ―Geocoding‖. For more information see
the "Pythagoras Coding Manual" manual.
If Pythagoras detects errors while importing data from a data collector, it will
open the data collector file in the Pythagoras ASCII-editor and will highlight
the line that contains the error. After correcting the error(s), you can make
Pythagoras re-read the data collector file by pressing the F1 key. The
corrections will be saved and re-read all at once.
If you would like to import a coordinate list that contains field codes, please
make sure to first select "coordinate list format" as the data collector format
in the Preferences dialog box (see PART II → Chapter 5: → Preferences).
Image
Using this command ('File' → 'Import' → 'Image'), Pythagoras will read an

image (or multiple images if multiple files are selected in the "Open" menu)
into a Pythagoras drawing.
Pythagoras can automatically georefence an image if the file is either a
GeoTIFF file or if a World File (e.g. TFW-file) is present in the same folder as
the image file.
Images can be imported in 2 ways:

1. Image per image
2. With a list of images
Image per image

During import you get the choice whether you want to geo-reference the
images or not. If you choose the automatic referencing, the image will be
positioned on the right coordinates. If you choose not, it will be placed in the
middle of your page.
With a list
You also can choose to import images with a list. This list contains file
names of the images to import with their respective coordinates.
It is possible to enter images of different formats in this list. If there are
GeoTIFF images or World Files (e.g. TFW-files), Pythagoras will ignore the
coordinates that are entered in the list (if any). The coordinates given in the
format itself or in a World File have priority on the ones entered in the list.
List of Images
It is possible to import a series of images in Pythagoras ('File' → 'Import' →

'List of Images'). This is done by creating a text-file containing a list of
images that need to be imported.
It is also possible to give the images certain attributes (layer, scale, etc.)
This means that the import of multiple images (e.g. maps used as
background, which cover entire country areas) is fully automated.
Syntax of the text file
The structure of such a text-file is described below:
The file contains two parts:

1. The header
2. A list of filenames of the maps with coordinates of their bottom-left
corner and possibly their upper right corner. This last one is used if the
image has been deformed during scanning. By entering coordinates of
the upper right corner, the image will deform in a way that it will fit in the
square given by the coordinates.
The header
Note: a TAB or a space separates each field
1. The header always starts with a colon.

2. Original images: full pathname of the original image files (TIFF or BMP)
is entered here

3. Pythagoras image files: Pythagoras converts the original images to its
own format. Here, enter the full path name of where they need to be
saved after conversion
Note:
1) Windows separates the maps/directories with backslashes, e.g.:
"C:\documents\images\".
2) Keep in mind that the paths need to end with a backslash.
3) In case there are spaces in the path names, the path needs to be
entered between double or single quotes ( " or ' ).
4. Scale: the scale of the original images

5. Display level: We advise to use the lowest display level (=-10), because
images are often used as a background. In this way drawn objects will
not be hidden by the image
6. Layer: If the layer does not yet exist, it will be created automatically
7. Color: the color is specified by a number (0=black).
8. "Y" or "N" (only used for B&W images)
Y  invert picture
N  no inversion
9. Brightness: entered in "%" (100%, 75%, 50%, …)
The list
The list looks like:
"Filename" "X-coordinateLUn" "Y-coordinateLUn"

"X-coordinateRUp" "Y-coordinateRUp"
Remark: the filenames could have extensions. Check their names from the
list with the originals.
Example
Here is an example of such an import file:
:"C:\DATA\" "D:\GIS\NGI\" 1/10000 -1 NGI10000 0 N 100
top08-2.tif 170018.075 228172.645

top08-3.tif 178019.075 228172.645
top08-4.tif 186019.440 228172.645
top08-6.tif 170017.440 218172.030
top08-7.tif 178017.805 218172.030
top08-8.tif 186018.805 218172.030
top16-4.tif 186017.535 208171.415
top16-8.tif 186016.900 198171.435
top17-1.tif 194017.900 208171.415
top17-5.tif 194016.630 198171.435
Export
The 'Export' command ('File' → 'Export') writes information of selected

objects to a file in one of the following formats:
- Coordinate list (or offset list in case you're exporting CDZ)

- DXF/DWG file
- Terrain model
- Image
- Shape
- Table
- SICAD-SQD file
- Object list
- Stake out list
A selection should be made before exporting data. When exporting data, all
coordinates written to the export file are relative to the coordinate system,
which is selected at that moment. Also the conventions used (see PART I →
Chapter 1: Coordinate Systems), are those selected when you export data.
Note: Exported text-files can be opened directly from within Pythagoras by

selecting the menu item 'File' → 'Open text file' → 'Open…'.
Coordinate List
The coordinate list contains only information about the selected points. The
information contains:
1. the point number
2. the coordinates (XYZ, NEZ or HDZ).
3. Optional comment (e.g. a field code)
Attributes and other information are not exported.

Point number always sorts a coordinate list exported by Pythagoras.
Pythagoras has an option ('File' → 'Export' → 'Coordinate list') to include the

points without point numbers.
You can directly view the Coordinate List by selecting menu 'File' → 'Open
text files' → 'Open'.
The coordinate list file can have one of the following formats:
 RTF-file (*.rtf)
 Webpage (*.html)
 Comma separated text file (*.csv)
 Semicolon separated text file (*.txt)
 Tab separated text file (*.txt)
You can read the Coordinate list in most word processing and in
spreadsheet programs. This allows you either to format and print the
coordinate list according to your wishes, or to do calculations with the
exported data.
Note: If you export CDZ coordinates (relative to a path), the coordinates

relative to the path will be exported.
DXF/DWG (AutoDesk exchange format/AutoCAD Drawing-format)
The selected objects will be exported to a DXF- or a DWG-file ('File' →

'Export' → 'DXF / DWG'). DWG is AutoCAD's standard format. DXF-files, on
the other hand, can be imported into AutoCAD as well as into most other
CAD programs. All objects will be exported in 3D. All AutoCAD versions up
to AutoCAD 2010 are supported.
Pythagoras supports all the versions starting from AutoCAD Rel.13 as well
as the respective LT-versions.

Conversion to DXF/DWG can be customized to meet the requirements of the
user for the DXF/DWG file.
1) Points
- As point (AutoCAD POINT): Each selected point will be exported as a
POINT, independently of the style. The style of the point (symbol), as
it is in the Pythagoras drawing, is lost.
- As symbol: A BLOCK will be placed in the DXF/DWG file for each
Pythagoras point style. The points in the DXF/DWG file will be
exported as INSERT <BLOCKNAME>.
Exporting the point as a symbol has the additional advantage that the
point number and the point information are exported as ATTRIBS. An
AutoCAD-user can thus search this information or make it visible on the
drawing.
2) Symbols
Symbols can be exported to the DXF/DWG file in 3 different ways:
- as point: this method is recommended if the recipient of the
DXF/DWG file has no need for the symbol as it is used in the
Pythagoras drawing.
- as symbol: A BLOCK will be in the DXF/DWG Blocks Section for each
symbol that is used in the drawing. The symbol itself will be created in
the DXF/DWG file by an INSERT (Block name, X scale factor, Y scale
factor, rotation angle).
- unpacked: the symbol will be unpacked into its basis elements and
exported in the ENTITIES section of the DXF/DWG file.
3) Lines
Older versions of the DXF/DWG format do not have a notion of line
thickness. Using a text-table, you can specify how the thickness (width) of
a line in the Pythagoras drawing is converted into a certain color in
DXF/DWG file. Loading this table can be done by specifying a Color to
Width file in the Preferences dialog box (more about this in another
section of the manual).
The Pythagoras "standard" line styles as well as any "custom" line styles
that can be converted to LTYPEs, will remain. The following section thus
only applies to other "special" line styles.
Special line styles can be exported to the DXF/DWG file in one of the
following ways:
- as a normal (solid) line: this method is recommended if the user of the
drawing has no need for the line style that is used in the Pythagoras
drawing.
- line style is retained: A BLOCK will be exported in the DXF/DWG
Blocks Section for every line style that is used in the drawing. The
BLOCK contains the drawing of one segment. The line itself is created
in the DXF/DWG file using an INSERT (Block name, X scale factor,
rotation angle, column count).
Arcs and circles are exported as one "anonymous" BLOCK.
- unpacked: the lines will be unpacked (split up) into its basis elements
and exported into ENTITIES section of the DXF/DWG file.
4) Export of invisible points

Invisible points are only exported (as DXF/DWG POINT), if "export
invisible points" is checked in the dialog window.
5) BLOCK-names
The names of symbols and line types in the BLOCKS Section of the
DXF/DWG file match the names used in the Pythagoras drawing. Either
the combination of the names "group" and "symbol" separated by "_" is
used, or the name of the symbol without group name is used.
Note:
 Patterns: These are exported as an AutoCAD 'HATCH'-entity. Only
polygons that cannot be converted into a HATCH-command are
exported as an "ANONYMOUS BLOCK".
 If you would like to export the complete drawing (including information
that is located in page-coordinates), the whole drawing needs to be in
Local coordinates (you will thus first need to move anything that is in
Page coordinates, into Local coordinates).
 In order to avoid a rotation of the drawing in another CAD program,
make sure to select a horizontal coordinate system before exporting.
6) Export polygons/paths as polyline

If you select this option, all selected polygons and paths will be exported
as an AutoCAD-POLYLINE.
Note:
 When exporting selected objects, only those objects are exported.
When saving a document in AutoCAD format (see Save As), the
complete document including Paper objects, Sheets and Viewports is
exported.
 We already mentioned that AutoCAD has no such notion as Display
Views. Please beware, that all sheets exported in DXF/DWG format
will be displayed equally according to the current document view.
Terrain Model
The active terrain model is exported in DXF/DWG format ('File' → 'Export' →

'Terrain Model'). Every triangle becomes a 3DFACE entity in the DXF file.
These files can be read by some 3D drawing programs and rendering
programs, and eventually render a photo realistic image of the terrain.
Image
A selected image can be saved as a BMP or JPG file ('File' → 'Export' →

'Image'). The dialog window that pops up allows you to specify a file name
and location.
SHAPE
The selected objects will be saved into a SHAPE-file ('File' → 'Export' →

'SHAPE'). SHAPE is the format in which ESRI-drawings are saved. They are
also used in programs such as ArcInfo, ArcView, etc. All objects can be
exported in 3D.
The conversion to SHAPE can be specified to meet the needs of the user of
the SHAPE file.
You should be careful when exporting documents with tables into a SHAPE-
file. Similar to Pythagoras database (see PART I → Chapter 3: → Naming),
ESRI-drawings also have rules for table and field names:
 Length of field names is limited to 10 characters. However, there is

no limit on table names.

 Table and field names cannot start with an underscore or a number.
Field names must begin with a letter.
 The following characters are not supported: spaces, hyphens such
as 'x-coord', brackets, and other special characters.
Table
The database attributes or even the graphical attributes (from the so called
system tables) of selected objects will be exported in a *.dbf file or in a *.
text-file ('File' → 'Export' → 'Table').
As a first step, you will be prompted to give the file name and format to
export to. You can choose between a DBF file and a text file with a certain
separator type:
 Comma-separated (*.csv)
 Semicolon-separated (*.txt)
 TAB-separated (*.txt)
Then, the export dialog will appear:
 Source table: You can export not only the attribute tables that you
created (or imported) yourself, but also Pythagoras system tables
containing object attributes. However, dictionary tables cannot be
exported. If you check the ‗Include system tables‘ option, the names of
the system tables will appear in the ‗Source table‘ list after the database
tables.
Also you can choose to export attributes for all objects in your drawing
or only for selected once. If no objects are currently selected,
Pythagoras will give you a warning and switch off this option. If you
have selected some objects in advance, checking the ‗Only selected
objects‘ option will filter the source table list and leave only those tables,
that refer to the selected objects.
 Sorting: The output file can be sorted either in ascending or in
descending order by the column that you choose from the list.
Also you can insert the column headers into the output file by checking
the option ‗First row will contain column names‘. Though this option is
only enabled, if you are exporting a text file.
Some additional settings for text encoding, decimal sign, and date and
time format can be made in a separate dialog by pressing the button
‗Advanced‘.
 Column lists: The list on the left contains all columns of the selected
table. If you are exporting an attribute table, you can add columns of
system tables such as Comment, Layer, etc., by checking the option
‗Include system fields‘.
The columns selected in the left list will be transferred to the right side
when you press the green arrow Then you can edit the list of
exported columns with the buttons under it and change the column
sequence or delete the unnecessary once.
Pres the ‗Ok‘ button after you are finished with the export settings, and
Pythagoras will proceed with exporting the table and will show you a log file
with results.
Google Earth
Pythagoras drawings can now be exported to Google Earth. Similar to export

in other file formats, when you choose 'File' → 'Export' → 'Google Earth',
Pythagoras will request a file name and save in in the KML format. This
menu option is only enabled if conversion to WGS84 coordinates is possible
and any exportable objects (not in PageCS) are selected.
Only Lines, Polylines, Arcs, Circles and Polygons are exported. The height
of these objects is not taken into account; they are put on earth‘s surface.
After exporting to Google Earth you will be able to:
 Get a view of a project on top of aerial images without the need to

have those images;
 Distribute the resulting KML files.
Specific features of the Google Earth format export include:
 Only selected objects are exported.

 The active thematic map is applied to attributes written to the KML
file.
 Pythagoras layers are written to Google Earth folders.
 Objects are displayed in Google Earth taking into account the display
levels in the Pythagoras drawing.
 Only the polygon patterns are exported: 12.5%, 25%, 50%, 75% and
100% (solid). The opacity of a polygon in Google Earth will depend
on the percentage: 100% will become completely opaque and 12.5%
will have the smallest opacity (that is, highest transparency).
You can also directly view a drawing in Google Earth by selecting the
corresponding option in the View menu, see PART II → Chapter 6: →
Google Earth.

SICAD-SQD
The selected objects will be saved as a SQD-file ('File' → 'Export' → 'SICAD

SQD'). This is the format of the SICAD software.
Object List
An exported object list is a text-file containing for each selected object the
respective info. For polygons, for example, it can contain the area of the
polygon, optionally, the point numbers of the points forming the polygon, and
the perimeter (horizontal and slope) of the polygon. For points you will obtain
their point numbers and their respective coordinates, etc. ('File' → 'Export' →
'Object List').
The object list file can have one of the following formats:
 RTF-file (*.rtf)
 Webpage (*.html)
 Comma separated text file (*.csv)
 Semicolon separated text file (*.txt)
 Tab separated text file (*.txt)
Stake-out List
The selected objects will be exported ('File' → 'Export' → 'Stake out List') to
the format of the selected measuring device. The configuration of the
measuring device is done in 'Defaults' → 'Configure' → 'Data Collector…'.
Open Text Files
Pythagoras saves the names of the 9 last imported and exported text files.
These names will appear in the menu 'Open Text File' ('File' → 'Open text
files'). Select the file you would like to open.
These text files are opened in the Pythagoras ASCII-editor. You can also
open a file directly using 'Open' or create a new text document using 'New'.
If the text-file is too large for the Pythagoras-editor, an alternate text editor
will be used.
Selecting a text editor:

Windows will use the default application for ".txt"-files
Layers
With this command ('File' → 'Layers…') you control the use of layers.
Groups:
You can create logical layer groups to simplify your layer management: e.g.
topography, gas, water, electricity, etc. Layers can be added to a group or
removed from it one by one or several at once.
Attributes:
You can add the attributes "Protected" and "Switch off" to layers and to
groups. The layer visibility is set in the Display View dialog, see PART II →
Chapter 6: → Display View.
If the "P" attribute is set, the layer will be protected. This means that all
modifications to such a layer will be denied by the program.
The third attribute "S" shows the objects of the layers resp. groups in a
passive way. This means that the objects will be shown, but they cannot be
modified, or selected.
Using the option "All Layers" allows you to set options for all layers, using
one mouse click.
Scale dependent view:
To make a layer visible only between certain scale factors, press ‗Layer Set
Up‘ button and a new dialog box will appear. Here you can enter the upper
and bottom scale factors.
Remark: A scale limit needs to be entered as a 1/n figure, with n as scale

number. If you don't want to enter an upper limit or a bottom limit,
you leave the regarding fields "From" or "To" blank.

Subdocument Manager
The Subdocument Manager ('File' → 'Subdocument

Manager…') gives you the possibility to view and
control the documents you linked together. Here you
can add, remove, and change settings for each
Subdocument.
The icons "Add" and "Remove" serve to add

and remove documents.
Different settings are possible for each drawing. You

can set each document into one of the following states:
 "Sleeping" or "Invisible" (not loaded into memory,

in order to maintain processing speed).
 "Visible" (visible, but not editable).
 "Editable".
 All these states could be chosen as temporary –
they are not saved with the document.
Note: Temporary means that the state (Sleeping, Visible, Editable) is not
part of the Configuration. When switching to this configuration, the
"temporary" states will inherit the state of the previous configuration.
Any objects that are newly created will be placed in the document that is
marked ‗Active‘ at the time the objects are created.
If "R"  "Relative" checkbox is checked, common part of the paths will not
be shown.
Configuration that you created could be saved. The upper part of the dialog
presents the Configuration control buttons:
 Add a new configuration by entering a name in the pop-up dialog

 Delete current configuration (press button)
 Rename an existing configuration
 Show information on the Views in which the current configuration is
active by pressing the ‗Info‘ button
Database
Each Pythagoras drawing can

contain an internal database,
consisting of one or more tables.
Database manager
The database manager ('File' →

'Database' → 'Database Manager')
allows you to define the structure of
the database:
 create tables (‗Attribute…‘ and ‗Dictionary…‘)
 create DB views (‗Simple…‘ and ‗Aggregation…‘)
 duplicate, rename, and delete existing tables and views
 edit table structure and view conditions (‗Settings...‘)
 view data of tables and DB views (‗View Data…‘)
You can also lock your database structure with a password to prevent
changes by other users. The checkbox ‗Locked‘ is enabled only if all the
recent changes are confirmed and saved (either by pressing the ‗Apply‘
button or by pressing OK).
Table Structure
In the ‗Table Structure‘ dialog you

can change column names, types,
default and limit values, and define
indexing. All the above actions you
can perform in the ‗Field Data‘ tab
simply by clicking into the column.
Buttons for adding, removing and
changing column sequence are
below the list.
For attribute tables only, there is also

a second tab ‗CAD object‘; there you
can specify the type of objects that
the table can be linked to.
Simple Views
The simple view

dialog consists of the
base definition and
two tabs for column
and ‗where‘
conditions. Building of
simple views is
described in detail in
PART I → Chapter 3:
→ Database Views.
The same example –

a simple view
describing names and
population densities
of countries with
population above 10 million – is presented in the dialog.
Aggregation Views
The aggregation view dialog consists of the main and auxiliary bases
definitions and three tabs: For column, ‗where‘, and ‗match‘ conditions.
Building of aggregation views is described in detail in PART I → Chapter 3:
→ Database Views. The same example – an aggregation view describing

names and population of the six continents – is presented in the dialog; here
you can see the column and the ‗match‘ conditions:
Remark: There are three kinds of „match‟ conditions for your choice:
 „inside of‟ – valid only for points inside a polygon
 „within distance of‟ – compares the distance between any objects
 expression – allows to enter any valid expression
Table Viewer
This dialog can be accessed either from the Database Manager (press ‗View
Data‘ after selecting a table in the list), or directly from the menu ('File' →
'Database' → 'Table Viewer‘). The Table Viewer makes it possible for you
too see the contents of existing tables and DB views at a glance.
Mail Merge
This function ('File' → 'Database' → 'Mail Merge…') allows you to send form
letters automatically. Certain information in these form letters can be filled-
out automatically from the data in the database or based on graphic
attributes of selected objects.
The form letter needs to be created as a Pythagoras document that contains

a text object with text and placeholders. A placeholder always starts with <*
and ends with *>. This means that these character sequences may not be
used in the letter for other purposes. A graphic attribute is indicated with a ‗#
‗sign. The names of tables and fields are not case sensitive. Valid
placeholders include:
<*table.column*> for database columns

<*#object type.attribute*> for graphic attributes
Example: Imagine the following text of a New Year greetings card:
Dear colleagues from <*Production.Country*>,
in the current year <*Production.Production*> of new diesel cars

were produced in your country. Taking into account that the area of
your country is <*#Polygons.Area*> thousand sq. km, and the
population is <*Production.Population*>, the number of produced
cars should increase next year.
Happy New Year!
Management
We assume that the database table ‗Production‘ with above columns exists
in the Pythagoras drawing and the mail merge is performed on polygons.
First of all, we select the polygons representing countries that we want to

write to. Then, we call the function 'File' → 'Database' → 'Mail Merge…' and
we are prompted to open the prototype document (which can be either a
Pythagoras document or a text file). Following, the Mail Merge dialog will
appear:
In the upper part the prototype document with the letter text is given, the
lower part shows the output. You can choose whether the resulting letters
should be printed out immediately, or saved in the selected format. For
saved documents, incrementing numbers will be added to the names.
The ‗Placeholders‘ part shows the list of all the placeholders found in the
form letter. For your convenience, the ‗Value‘ column shows the values of
the first selected object that will substitute the placeholders. If a value is of
type Real, you can choose how many decimal numbers will be shown in the
letter in the ‗Decimals‘ column. In the last column ‗Log‘ you can indicate the
value that will be used for the log file.
Note:
 The prototype document is analyzed immediately after you give the
path to it. If the syntax is wrong or if a placeholder is invalid, you will
see an error in the „Value‟ column, e.g., "Unknown field", "Unknown
Table", "Error in expression", etc. When there is an error, mail merge
will not start.
 All placeholders must refer to the same table. If any selected object
does not refer to the given table, a warning will be given. The warning
will contain the number of records not referring to the table. It is up to
the user to continue with the mail merge or not.
Remark: Placeholders can be more sophisticated than just a table and a
column name. You can use database expressions described in
PART I, for example:
<*Cities[Name=Countries.Capital].Population*>

where „Cities‟ and „Countries‟ are two attribute tables in a Pythagoras
drawing. The merging is done with the table Countries. This means that all
selected countries are evaluated a row at a time. According to the
placeholder, the field „Population‟ of the table „Cities‟ has to be displayed.
The row is defined by the column „Name‟ in „Cities,‟ where the value for
„Name‟ is determined as „Countries.Capital‟.
Thematic Maps
The thematic maps option ('File' → 'Thematic Maps…') allows you to create
thematic maps based on certain criteria. Multiple thematic maps can be
active simultaneously.
Thematic Map Manager
The "Thematic Map Manager" can be used to created new thematic maps.
Existing maps can be copied, modified or deleted. The sequence in which
the maps appear in the list, determines the thematic map that has
precedence over the next one.
Thematic Map Editor
The Thematic Map Editor (click "New…" if no thematic map is created, then
"Settings…") is used to specify the criteria for the map.
A table can be selected. This table contains the following Pythagoras object
types: All objects, Points, All lines (also includes arcs, curves, etc.), Lines,
Arcs, Circles, Spirals, Curves, Paths, Polygons, Texts, Images as well as all
database tables in the active drawing (these tables were created using the
menu 'File' → 'Database' → 'Database manager').
"Value" field allows you to specify the field and operator that need to be used
for the theme. The fields, that are made available, are dependent on the
"Table" that has been selected. E.g. if "All Objects" has been selected under
"Table", the "Field" options are limited to "Layer", "Display Level" and
"Comment". If a table has been selected, then the list will consist of all field
names in the specified table.
The list of operators depends on the field that has been selected. Numeric
fields use different operators than text fields.
Also choose whether your thematic map settings should be applied to

objects in Local or Page coordinates, or in both.
Representation
In "Representation" one or more values can be entered along with

accompanying attributes such as color, style, etc.
Use the green "+" sign to add a new value. Use the "-" sign to delete a value.
Click the row in the "Value" column to enter or select a value. Click the row
in the "Attributes" column to specify the representation (the "Representation"
window will pop up).
The attributes that can be specified depend on the field type that is used. A
tab-page is available for each of the field types.
When selecting a color directly above the Tab-pages, this color will apply for
all attributes, even if a different color has been specified for an individual
field attribute.
Autofill
If you want to fill-in the representation settings for your thematic map
automatically, press the ‗Autofill‘ button. The ‗Range Values‘ dialog will
appear:
 First of all, you set either the number of values you want to show in the
thematic map, or the increment and minimum and maximum value. In
the both cases, Pythagoras will automatically calculate the remaining
values.
 Style and apply: Choose the style that the thematic map will apply to
objects. For example, coloring for polygons and symbols for points.
Note, that if the polygons have no pattern attribute or if they are

opaque, you will not see the coloring of the resulting thematics applied
to them.
 Scale: Indicates the range of scale change for symbols, line styles and
patterns. For example, point style ranging from a small circle for a
village to a huge circle for a big city.
 Color: If you are coloring your thematic map, choose the starting and
the ending color, and Pythagoras will fill-in the color range according to
the calculated number of values.
Note: For texts, images and SIRs you can choose only color for building a
thematic map. These objects do not have symbols as such and their
scale cannot be changed.
Special application: Spatial Interpolation
Measured values linked to a position, e.g. measure of air pollution, can be

visualized by a thematic map.
Select the database and the corresponding field where the data can be
found and mark "Spatial Interpolation" while defining a thematic. Only in this
case you can make a selected polygon in the drawing the boundary for
extrapolation of the thematic map.
Finally, choose for the "Autofill" function and finish your thematic.
Terrain models
The dialog window that follows ('File' → 'Terrain Models…') is used to

manage the calculated terrain models.
Careful!
Any actions from this dialog window cannot be un-done!
Delete
The "Delete" command deletes the selected terrain model in the active
drawing.
Rename
This command allows you to rename the selected terrain model in the active
drawing.
Active
This command activates the selected terrain model. The terrain model will
become visible if the corresponding settings in the Display View dialog are
switched on (see PART II → Chapter 6: → Display View).
All coordinates are then calculated in reference to this terrain model.
Symbols
Symbol Manager
Using the dialog window "Symbol Manager" ('File' → 'Symbols' → 'Symbol

Manager…'), the following operations can be executed on symbols, line
styles and patterns:
 Move document symbols, line styles, etc. to the library.
 Change the group name.
 Change the name of a symbol, line style, etc.
 Delete a symbol, line style, etc. from the library or from a document.
Remarks:
 Symbols, line styles, etc. used in one or more open documents
cannot be deleted.
 The groups and symbols in the menus are sorted alphabetically.
Create
Create Symbol
The command "Create Symbol" ('File' → 'Symbols' → 'Create' → 'Symbol…')

allows you to make a symbol that is defined by a series of selected lines,
arcs, circles, polygons and text.
In order to create a symbol, you first make a drawing of the symbol at the
right size. The attributes line width, polygon patterns and color will be
inherited by the symbol. When all elements of the symbol have the same
color, the symbol can be given any color when it is used.
One point of the symbol must be indicated as being the "Hotspot" ('Format'
→ 'Point Style' → 'Hotspot'). When a symbol is used in a drawing, the
coordinates of the symbol correspond with the coordinates of the hotspot.
The position of the hotspot is indicated in the preview of the symbol.
Before calling the command "Create Symbol", all elements, inclusive the
hotspots forming the segment must be selected.
The dialog "Create Symbol" will show in a window the symbol as it will
appear in the drawing. The size of the symbol in this dialog box does not
correspond with the real size of the symbol in the drawing.
1) Attributes of a symbol:
a) Rotatable.
Not rotatable symbols will always by printed in the same direction as they
are defined. When the drawing is rotated, or if the angle of the drawing on
the page is changed using "Select Print Area", not rotatable symbols will
always remain horizontal. When rotatable symbols are created in the
drawing without giving a direction, they will be treated by Pythagoras as
not rotatable symbols.
b) Scale Dependent.
A scale dependent symbol has real dimensions. (For example, a symbol
for an inspection cover of 1.5 meter). A symbol that is not scale
dependent has dimensions that correspond with the size as it will be

printed. (For example, a small triangle indicating a station point with sides
of 3mm. on paper.)
Scale independent symbols, that is, symbols which need to be printed or
plotted independent of the scale of the drawing, are best created in page
coordinates. It is also recommended selecting "mm" as the default unit for
"distances". (See PART II → Chapter 5: The Defaults Menu).
c) North Symbol.
A north symbol will always orient itself to the north. A few characteristics:
 a north symbol cannot be rotated manually;
 may be used in page or local coordinates;
 by default, North corresponds to the Y-axis, in the mathematical
sense, of the Local coordinate system of the drawing. The bearing
of the Y-axis towards the real north can be specified for a
document. This is called the "Bearing of the Drawing".
Note:
 A symbol may contain a maximum of 64000 elements.
 If all elements of the symbol are of the same color, the color of the
symbol can be changed when using the symbol in a drawing.
However, if the symbol contains elements of different colors, you will
not be able to change the color of the symbol when using it in a
drawing.
2) Library symbol - Document symbol
Symbols can be either placed in the library or in the active drawing. All
remarks regarding this see in PART I → Chapter 2: → Symbols / Line
Styles / Patterns.
3) Group - Symbol
The name of every symbol consists of 2 parts: group and symbol. After a
symbol is created as a library or document symbol, it will appear in the
menu's "Format" and "Defaults" under "Library Symbol" or "Document
Symbol" depending on the choice made.
Create Line Style
The command "Create Line Style" ('File' → 'Symbols' → 'Create' → 'Line

Style…') allows you to create a line style in which the repeating segment is
formed by a series of selected lines, arcs, circles and polygons.
In order to create a line style, you first need to make a drawing of one
segment at the right size. The starting point and the endpoint of the segment
are indicated with a "Hotspot" ('Format' → 'Point Style' → 'Hotspot'). The
position of the hotspots is indicated in the preview of the line style.
Once a new line style is created you can assign the style to lines, arcs and
circles. The line will be created by placing the segments one after the other.
Pythagoras will scale the segments in the X-direction so that always an
integral number of segments are placed between the endpoints. As a user
you don't see how the segments internally are built up. Such a line still has
all attributes of a normal line.
The attributes line width, polygon pattern and color, used in the elements
forming a segment, are used in the line style.
There are however a few exceptions to this rule:

1) Color: If all elements have the same color, lines of this style can be
given any color.
2) Line width:
a) The width of the line element that connects the two hotspots can be
changed with the menu "Line Width" if there is only 1 horizontal line
running from hotspot1.x to hotspot2.x.
b) The width of all other line elements will be only sensible for "Line
Width" if:
 all line elements have the same width
 there is either no line connecting the 2 hotspots, or there are
multiple horizontal lines running from hotspot1.x to
hotspot2.x.
Before calling the command "Create Line Style", all elements, inclusive the
hotspots forming the segment must be selected.
The dialog "Create Line Style" will show in a dialog window the line (5
segments) as it will appear in the drawing. The size of this line does not
correspond with the real size.
1) Attributes of a Line Style:
Scale dependent.
A scale dependent line style has real dimensions. (For example a line style
for a railway with a rail width of 1.7 m.). A line style, which is not scale
dependent, has dimensions corresponding with the size of the printout. (For
example a line style with small crosses of 1mm. every 10 mm. on the line).
Scale independent.
Scale independent line styles, so line styles, which need to be printed or
plotted independent of the scale of the drawing, can be best created in page
coordinates. It is also recommended to select "mm" as the default unit for
2) Library Line Style - Document Line Style
Similarly to symbols, line styles can be either placed in the library or in the
active drawing. All remarks made for symbols regarding Library and
document apply also for line styles.
(See PART I → Chapter 2: → Symbols / Line Styles / Patterns).
3) Group - Symbol
The name of every line style consists of 2 parts: group and symbol. After a
line style is created as a library or document line style, it will appear in the
menu's "Format" and "Defaults" under "Library Line Style" or "Document
Line Style" depending on the choice made.
Note:
 A line style may consist of a maximum of 3 lines, and each line may
consist of approximately 64000 elements.
 If all elements of a line style are of the same color, the color of the
line can be changed when using the line style in a drawing. However,
if the line style contains elements of different colors, you will not be
able to change the color of the line when using the line style in a
drawing.
 Line widths of the line elements (base line = the line that goes from
hotspot to hotspot):
The line is "line-width-sensitive" for the base line itself, even if there is
a base line without parallels of the same length. Line styles without
base line, which contain different line widths, are "insensitive" to
changes in the line width.

Create Pattern
The command "Create Pattern" ('File' → 'Symbols' → 'Create' → 'Pattern…')

allows you to create patterns to fill polygons.
In order to create a pattern, you first need to draw a rectangle with

dimensions that correspond with the dimensions of the pattern. Line width
and color of the lines are retained in the pattern. When all lines have the
same color, the pattern can be given any color. The boundaries of the
pattern, namely 2 diagonal points of the rectangle are indicated with a
Hotspot ('Format' → 'Point Style' → 'Hotspot'). The position of the hotspots is
indicated in the preview of the pattern.
Elements of a pattern may be lines in any direction, arcs and circles. In the
real hatch pattern, arcs and circles are split up in polylines with small
segments.
Note: It is recommended to use only horizontal, vertical and diagonal lines if

possible. When using lines in other directions and/or arcs and circles,
the pattern can become complex and drawing may become slow.
1) Attributes of a pattern:
a) Scale dependent.
A scale dependent pattern has real dimensions. A pattern, which is not scale
dependent, has dimensions corresponding with the size of the printout.
b) Scale independent.
Scale independent patterns, so patterns, which need to be printed or plotted
independent of the scale of the drawing, can be best created in page
coordinates. It is also recommended to select "mm" as the default unit for
Before calling the command "Create pattern", all elements that form the
pattern, inclusive the hotspots must be selected. Lines of the rectangle
forming the boundary may not be included in the selection, or should be
removed, if they are not part of the pattern.
The dialog "Create Pattern" will depict the pattern in a window. The size of
this preview corresponds with the real dimensions of the pattern as it will be
printed.
c) Rotation angle.
When defining the pattern, the angle of the pattern relative to the page
borders can be entered in the "Create Pattern" dialog box. The dialog
window will always depict the pattern as it will be printed. For simple
patterns, for example lines of 0.3mm at a distance of 3mm. and having an
angle with the page of 45°, it is sufficient to draw 1 line of 0.3 mm. in a
rectangle with a height of 3mm. By using the rotation angle of 45° the right
pattern is created.
2) Library Pattern - Document Pattern
Similarly to symbols, patterns can be either placed in the library or in the

active drawing. All remarks made for symbols regarding Library and
document apply also for patterns.
(See PART I → Chapter 2: → Symbols / Line Styles / Patterns).
3) Group - Symbol
The name of every pattern consists of 2 parts: group and symbol. After a
pattern is created as a library or document pattern, it will appear in the menu
"Format" under "Library Pattern" or "Document Pattern" depending on the
choice made.
Note:
 A pattern may consist of a maximum of 64000 directions, and each
direction may contain a maximum of 64000 elements.
 If all elements of a pattern are of the same color, the color of the
pattern can be changed when using the pattern in a drawing.
However, if the pattern contains different colors, you will not be able
to change the color of the pattern when using it in a drawing.
Create Typical Section
See PART III: Road Design.
Import System Symbols
All Pythagoras system symbols are stored in a file called PYTHAGOR.LIB.

This command ('File' → 'Symbols' → 'Import System Symbols') allows you to
import a symbol library.
Importing symbol libraries is used for:
 Copying a library to a computer where Pythagoras is newly installed.
 Restoring a backup of the PYTHAGOR.LIB file.
 Switching between Symbol Libraries.
This function overwrites PYTHAGOR.LIB with the Symbol Library that you
have selected.
All documents should be closed before using this function.
Export System Symbols
This command ('File' → 'Symbols' → 'Export System Symbols') allows you to

export the system symbol library. In fact this makes a copy of the
PYTHAGOR.LIB file. It is used for:
 Creating backup of the PYTHAGOR.LIB file.
 Creation of multiple libraries. This allows switching easily between
libraries. See 'Import System Symbols'.
Macros
Load Macro-library
Using 'Load Macro Library…' ('File' → 'Macros' → 'Load Macro Library…'), a

dialog window pops up with a list of available Macro-libraries. Select the
appropriate library by clicking on it.
Note: If only 1 library exists, no dialog window will pop up.

Macro-library manager
When selecting 'File' → 'Macros' → 'Macro Library Manager…', a window

pops up that allows you to manage the macro libraries.
The principle is similar to managing symbols: you can move document-

libraries to the system, you can rename libraries, delete, etc.
Startup library
You can assign one of the libraries as 'startup library'. This library is
automatically loaded when starting Pythagoras. This can be really handy to
automate certain routines while starting Pythagoras.
Locked
Locking libraries prevents users from being able to make changes to the
macro code of certain libraries. The lock is activated by entering a name and
a password. The lock can be 'unlocked' by entering the appropriate name
and password.
Macro-editor
A macro-library becomes active the moment it is loaded. This provides

access to the macrocodes, so you can make or edit your macro program.
When the Macro-editor ('File' → 'Macros' → 'Macro Editor') is active, the

menus also change accordingly:
 'File' contains all commands relating to file management.

 'Edit' contains the edit commands that can be useful during
programming, e.g. copy, paste, find, replace, etc.
 'Run' contains compile and run. Compile checks the program for
errors, and converts it into machine language. Run compiles the
program and runs it right away.
Please refer to the VBA-manual for more detailed information on

programming in VBA.
Import System Macros
All Pythagoras system macros are stored in a file called PYTHAGOR.MLB.

This command ('File' → 'Macros' → 'Import System Macros') allows you to
import set of macro libraries.
Importing a set of macro libraries is used for:
 Copying a set of macro libraries to a computer where Pythagoras is
newly installed.
 Restoring a backup of the PYTHAGOR.MLB file.
 Switching between sets of macro libraries.
This function overwrites PYTHAGOR.MLB with the set of macro libraries that
you have selected.
All documents should be closed before using this function.
Export System Macros
This command ('File' → 'Macros' → 'Export System Macros') allows you to

export set of macro libraries. In fact this makes a copy of the
PYTHAGOR.MLB file. It is used for:
 Creating backup of the PYTHAGOR.MLB file.
 Creation of multiple sets of libraries. This allows switching easily
between them. See 'Import System Macros'.
Tie Points
The dialog window that follows ('File' → 'Tie Points…') is used to upload and
manage sets of Tie points.
The principle of Tie Points library is similar to managing symbols: you can
move document-libraries to the system; you can rename sets, delete, etc.
When you import a set of tie points into

Pythagoras, you have to indicate the projection
systems, which this set is connecting. The
format of the tie point set ASCII file is
described in PART I → Chapter 1: Coordinate
Reference Systems.
Pythagoras will calculate the transformation for

you if the data in the set is sufficient (press
‗Calculate Transformation‘). The 'Export Result‘
button creates you the ASCII file of the tie point
set ready to pass to somebody else.
This is the result of the calculated
transformation and the residuals of all the tie
points. This file is not a tie point set ASCII file
anymore.
After confirmation, the tie

points set will appear in your
library and you can proceed
with further managing
actions.
You can get back to the

previous dialog to calculate
and export the transformation
any time by pressing the ‗Edit‘
button.

Select Sheet (Print Sheet)
Sheet manager
Sheet Management allows you to create and control multiple print sheets per
drawing.
The 'New' button is used to create new print sheets. After creating a new
print sheet, you can change certain properties using the menu options 'File'
→ 'Select Sheet' → 'Sheet manager…'.
If you already selected a sheet in the Sheet Manager Window, the 'New"
button will change into a 'Duplicate' button. This allows you to easily create
a new sheet with the same properties, but possibly covering a different area
of the drawing.
The 'Delete' button is used to delete sheets.
To make a sheet floating, simply click inside the "floating" column for the
appropriate sheet. This setting will hide the page. It is used to perform, as it
were, a 'Print screen' of your drawing. Simply zoom in on that part of the
drawing that you would like to print out and give the print command ('File' →
'Print'). The "print screen" window that pops up allows you to fine-tune the
position of the page. The screen will be slightly zoomed-out and the page
will be shown in order to clearly show what will be printed. The Print
command can be given directly from within this window. The number of
copies that you would like printed, can then be specified in the next window
that pops up.
A floating sheet can have page objects (objects in page coordinates)
as well as a print area. The page objects only become visible when selecting
"Page" as coordinates in the control panel.
When printing the sheet, the page objects are printout along with the
drawing objects.
The column 'Scale%' can contain a percentage. This is the percentage by

which text objects, line styles, line widths, etc. will be scaled up or down
upon printing.
The sheet that contains a little cross in the 'Active' column is the sheet that
is currently in use.
The column "Default View" indicates which "View" is active. This way, 2
identical sheets can look different, or, vice versa, the same theme (thematic
maps) can be visible in 2 different sheets.
(Print) Sheet
This list ('File' → 'Select Sheet') shows all available (thus already created)
sheets. The active sheet has a check mark in front of it. To activate another
sheet, simply click on it.
Printer
With this function ('File' → 'Printer…') you can set up the printer: page
format, orientation, etc. for the active print sheet. The dialog box appearing
when you select Page Setup will depend on the printer, which is selected at
that moment. For example, on an A0 plotter you have the option to select
one of the many different page formats (A0, A1, A2, A3, A4). On a laser
printer you will have fewer options.
This menu also allows you to change printers. A list of all installed printers
will pop up. The actual default printer is selected. You can choose another
printer freely. With the 'Settings' button you can eventually change the
printer's settings.
When the Pythagoras drawing is made for a printer other than the one
selected, Pythagoras will give a warning message. When you continue, the
drawing will be adapted to the selected printer.
When page setup is confirmed, Pythagoras continues with the Select Print
area command. (See below).
If you would like additional information on available printer settings, we

would like to refer you to the documentation that accompanied your printer.
Select Print Area
This command ('File' → 'Select print area…') controls the transformation of

Local coordinates in reference to Page coordinates.
When you select this command, or when the page settings (use of "Printer"
command) are confirmed, the Control panel will display the Select Print Area
dialog box.
The drawing window will display the page at reduced size. The page border
will be indicated by a solid rectangle, the printable area will be indicated by a
dashed rectangle.
You can always use the button '"Preview" to see the effect of the new
settings.
The scale factor can be changed either manually, or by using the "Fit on
Page" button. When pressing this button, Pythagoras will calculate the scale
factor so that the complete drawing will fit on the page. Only the objects in
the visible layers are taken into account and the center of the page remains.
The rotation angle can only be changed manually.
The translation parameters (x, y) can be changed in different ways:

 You may change them directly in the control panel.

 You may use the "Center" button. Pythagoras will calculate new
values for the translation parameters so that the drawing will appear
centered on the page. For the calculation of the center point of the
document, only the visible layers are taken into account.
 When you move the mouse inside the page rectangle, the cursor will
take the shape of a hand. You may drag the page over the drawing.
When you keep the CTRL-key down while dragging the page, the
page rectangle can only be moved horizontally and vertically. This
can be very useful if you need to make several prints of a drawing
using a small page format.
You can rotate the page relative to the drawing by moving the mouse to the
corner of the page. The shape of the cursor will change, and subsequently
you can rotate the page using the mouse. After rotation, you can use the
button "Preview" to judge the layout.
The "Select Print Area" function can be cancelled at any time by pressing the
"Cancel" button or using the Escape key.
The new settings become active by pressing the "Ok" button or by using the
Enter-key on the keyboard.
Remarks:
 You may use the zoom in, zoom out and scrolling functions any time in
order to position the page more accurately.
 When the page rectangle is not visible (the page is completely outside
the drawing), use the "Center" button to make the page rectangle visible.
Also refer to the -button in the Toolbar.
Print
The print command will print or plot the active drawing.
Important to note is that a created 'View' will define the layout of your
printout.
After selecting 'File' → 'Print…', a dialog box with 7 Tab pages pops up.
The selections will be identical to the display options (menu 'View' →

'Display View') selected at that moment. This means that if you confirm this
dialog box without changing any selections, the drawing will be printed as it
is displayed.
The first Tab Page called "Layers" allows you to select the layers that need
to be printed.
The second Tab, called "Show" allows you to select the objects that need to
be printed.
The next Tab, called "DTM" allows to select certain DTM options for printing
(when applicable).
The Tab Page called "Thematic Maps" allows to select a thematic map to be
printed.
The Tab Page called "Subdocuments" allows changing the subdocuments

that will be printed.
When a Sheet has a default View, all settings of the view, including thematic
maps and subdocuments, will be applied when printing the sheet.
The Tab Page called "Print" allows you to select the sheets that need to be
printed. Also, the number of copies that need to be printed can be specified.
Finally, the Tab Page "Print Options" allows you to convert data when
sending it to the printer. The conversion "Color to Black" can always be
selected. The other conversions can only be selected if a conversion table
has been loaded. See PART II → Chapter 5: → Preferences explained
further in this manual.
You can select:

 No conversion: this is the default.
 Color –> Black: all colors are converted to black.
 Color –> Width: the width of the objects in the drawing is ignored. The
new width and the new color are obtained from the conversion table.
 Width –> Color: the color of the objects in the drawing is ignored. The
new color and new width are obtained from the conversion table.
Only Windows
Plotting special colors in certain intensity percentages (75%, 50%, 25%…)
can cause problems. Certain plotter-drivers do not support these colors and
thus print a totally different color.

You can avoid this problem by checking on 'use solid colors for bitmap
patterns'. Pythagoras will calculate similar colors and those colors will be
sent to the printer as 100% color.
After confirmation, a printer-dependent dialog box will appear.
Recent documents
The names of the last 16 used Pythagoras drawings appear at the bottom of
the 'File' menu Management ('File' → 'Recent Documents'). Clicking on a
name in this list will automatically open the requested drawing.
Quit
The "Quit" command ('File' → 'Quit') closes all the windows on your screen
and ends the Pythagoras session. If you have made changes to the
drawings but have not saved them, Pythagoras will present a dialog box for
each non-saved drawing.
When you quit, Pythagoras saves all session information to a file. The
session information file contains the defaults and preferences, which were
set at the moment you quit Pythagoras. The next time you start Pythagoras,
this session information will be restored.
About
Pops up a dialog box that contains all relevant info on the current version of
your copy of Pythagoras, as well as the coordinates for technical support on
Pythagoras ('File' → 'About…').
You have also the possibility to open the configuration program by clicking
on the 'Configure' button.
Chapter 2: The Edit Menu
Undo
The "Undo" command ( ) restores the drawing to the state prior to the last
executed editing command.
The maximum number of undos is 25. Multiple undo levels can be very
handy when you want to make constructions in order to obtain a result. You
select the resulting point or line, place it on the clipboard, and call undo as
many times as required to delete the intermediate construction. When all
intermediate objects are removed, paste the result back on the drawing.
Remark: A new editing command after Undo will clear the "undone" editing
commands from the undo list!
Redo
The "Redo" command ( ) reverses the Undo command.
Select
The "Select" command ('Edit' → 'Select') can select:

- all points
- all lines
- all texts
- all polygons
- all paths
- all coordinate systems
- all objects
The "all" applies to the visible layers, and either to the objects defined in
Page coordinates or the objects defined in Local (and Global, and user)
coordinates, depending on the coordinate system currently selected.
Find
This function ('Edit' → 'Find' → 'Find…' or the -button in the Toolbar)

allows you to search for objects that satisfy specific criteria. The found
objects can subsequently be selected.
For example:
- search all blue texts in layer "Test";
- select all lines that are not red and are in layer "Test".
Reference The Edit Menu 79

You can search for specific object types: points, paths, polygons, roads,
images. You can also search for lines or specific types of lines: straight lines,
arcs, circles, curves or spirals. You can also search for either simple text or
rich text objects. In addition, you can define how to handle groups for each
search: either as separate objects or as group objects. This option influences
the highlighting and counting of found objects.
By selecting the "System Attributes" Tab, you can specify more search
criteria.
Note: A Rich Text object will be found only if the complete text has the
specified attributes.
Possible criteria:
 Color: objects must have the
specified color.
 Layer: objects must be in the
specified layer.
 Display level: objects need
to have a specific display
level.
 Style: objects must have the
specified style. A style per
type of object (line, point,
polygon or text) is provided.
 Point number: from x to y.
 If both x and y are filled
in: all points with point
numbers between x and y
(values x and y are
included).
 If x and y are not filled in:
all points without point
number.
 If only y is filled in: all
points up to point number
y.
 If only x is filled in: all points starting from point number x.
 Comment: the comment (object information) of an object must be
equal, start with or contain the given text.
 Elevation: height must be ±=, =, <= or >= a given value.
Finally, by selecting the Database Tab, you can also specify additional
database search criteria, assuming a database has been created inside the
Pythagoras drawing. Use the green "+" sign to add search criteria.
By using the button "Search", Pythagoras will search the objects that fulfill all
given criteria. The number of objects found is displayed in the dialog box.
By using the button "Select", the objects found will be selected. You may:
 Make a completely new selection.

 Add to the selection: the objects found will be added to the already
selected objects.
 Remove from the selection: the objects found will be deselected.
 Select from the already selected objects: only already selected
objects satisfying the given criteria will remain selected.
When searching for groups option is selected, all objects of a

group are highlighted if at least one member of this group
matches the search criteria.
In the "Find" dialog box you will see a "View Options"-button. With this button
you can define which part of the drawing you want to see when the Find
command is executed.
With "All selected objects + …m" you will define a border with a given radius
that needs to be displayed around the selected objects.
With the "Zoom Factor", a multiplicity factor will be set for the actual scale.
With this, we mean the scale that is used when the drawing is plotted. This
scale can be found by going to the "View" menu and by choosing "Actual
scale". This actual scale can be read in the upper left corner of the control
panel.
Another possibility is to leave the view as it is. To do this, you just select
"Don't change window".
Consider that only the choice "All selected objects + …m" gives you the
certainty that after the find command all objects found will be displayed.
The checkbox "Highlight selected objects" will not only select the objects
found, but they will also be blinking. Hitting the "escape" button will stop the
blinking.
To save your settings for the next search, press the button ‗Add‘ in the upper
part of the Find dialog and enter a name. The name together with
parameters will be stored in the .DEF file. You can load saved Finds (also
called "Named Find") by selecting them from the list. All "Named Finds" will
be listed in the submenu "Edit, Find". When selecting a "Named Find", the
corresponding Find will be executed.
Cut
The cut command ( ) will clear the selected objects, and copy them to the
clipboard.
The coordinates are written on the clipboard relative to the selected

coordinate system.
Copy
The copy command ( ) will copy the selected objects, and their attributes
to a clipboard.
The coordinates are written on the clipboard relative to the selected

coordinate system.
There is a difference between the Pythagoras clipboard and the Operating

System's (OS) clipboard.

Pythagoras Clipboard
Copying objects to the Pythagoras clipboard means they can only be used
inside Pythagoras. This is the default "Copy" command. It is used to copy
objects from one drawing into another.
OS Clipboard
Copying to the OS clipboard allows you to directly insert data (using "paste")
into other applications (such as MS Word, MS Excel, etc.), but not into
Pythagoras. Drawings made in Pythagoras can so be used to illustrate
documents in other applications.
Copy Active Terrain Model
Pythagoras allows you to copy the active terrain model. To do that you need
to make the DTM active. Then choose 'Edit' → 'Copy' → 'Active Terrain
Model'.
Paste
The paste command ( ) will copy all objects and their attributes from the
clipboard to the active drawing.
Coordinates read from the clipboard, are considered relative to the selected
coordinate system.
Also the elevation of the origin of the coordinate system is taken into
account.
When you copy part of a drawing when the user coordinate system CS S1-
S2 is selected and you select Paste in CS S3-S4, then a transformation
(translation and rotation) will be done and also the elevation will be adapted.
Paste in an empty document will automatically adapt the scale of the

drawing to the scale of the information on the clipboard. When the data on
the clipboard is in global coordinates, the new document will automatically
switch to global coordinates using the same transformation.
When you paste in a User Coordinate System, and there is a difference in

distance between the coordinate system on the Clipboard and the active
coordinate system, a warning will be given. You may then either paste the
objects with or without scaling.
If the clipboard contains a DTM (see Copy Active Terrain Model), this DTM
will be pasted in the drawing.
Paste Special
The "Paste Special" command ('Edit' → 'Paste Special') will bring up a dialog
box requesting a scale factor.
All coordinates on the clipboard will be scaled with the given factor before
copying the objects to the active drawing.
Mirror: the mirror axes can be the X-axis and/or the Y-axis.
With the button "Adjust sketch" you can perfectly insert an earlier made
sketch in your drawing. Select the objects in your sketch and copy them to
the clipboard. Open the drawing containing the points with exact coordinates
and select 'Edit' → 'Paste Special'. By checking the "Adjust sketch" button
and clicking "OK", the sketch will be properly inserted in your drawing.
CAUTION: The point numbers must be the same in both drawings.
Clear
The "Clear" command ('Edit' → 'Clear') removes the selected objects from
the drawing.
When a selected object is used by another object and that last object is not
selected, the selected object will not be removed. For example: the endpoint
of a line cannot be removed if the line is not removed.
Note: Coordinate systems also use the points making up the coordinate
system (see PART II → Chapter 3: → Commonly used tools: User
Coordinate System).
Cut Off
The "Cut off" command ('Edit' → 'Cut off') removes all objects (raster and
vector information) inside or outside an arbitrarily area. Objects on the edge
will be cut off (exception: texts and symbols). This item can only be chosen
when exactly one polygon is selected.
Note: With images, the content of multiple polygons can be cleared.
The following functions can be selected:
 Clipping vector raster information simultaneously

 Only vector information
 Only raster information
 Only terrain model
This way you can select random areas from maps and use them to print or
copy to another drawing. The edges are nicely cut.
Remarks:
 Careless saving of the map to the disk after clipping will change the
original of the drawing. Consider that clipping erases part of the map!
 Clipping will only erase visible objects. As a consequence, layers that
have been turned off or which are not visible is the actual scale, will
not be clipped.

Move
The "Move" command ('Edit' → 'Move') allows you to move selected objects
to another location.
When the Move command is selected, the shape of the cursor will change.
Place the cursor on one of the selected points, press the mouse button, and
drag the objects to the new position.
Note: When the polygon areas are displayed and areas change while
dragging objects, the new areas are continuously displayed.
Warning: The Move command changes the coordinates of the points moved.
Do not use these commands to position your main drawing relative
to the page. The Select Print area command is provided for this
purpose (see PART II → Chapter 1: → Select Print Area).
Rotate
The "Rotate" command ('Edit' → 'Rotate') allows you to rotate selected

objects around a given position.
When the "Rotate" command is selected, you need first to click on a point
around which the selected objects will be rotated. Next, you drag the
selected objects around this object.
Warning: The "Rotate" command changes the coordinates of the points

rotated.
Do not use these commands to position your main drawing relative
to the page. The Select Print area command is provided for this
purpose (see PART II → Chapter 1: → Select Print Area).
Texts are normally automatically oriented so that they are not displayed
upside-down, even when the document is rotated. There are however 2
exceptions:
 When you select a single text and turn it upside down, the new
orientation is retained.
 Dimensioning of points relative to a reference line (xy-offset), will
always place the dimensions in the direction of the reference line.
Duplicate
The "Duplicate" command ('Edit' → 'Duplicate') will make a copy of the

selected objects.
The duplicated objects will be placed on the drawing at a small distance of
the original objects and will be selected.
Note:
 Duplicated points will not get a point number.
 Comments belonging to objects will not be copied.
Delete Coordinate System
The "Delete Coordinate System" command ('Edit' → 'Delete Coordinate

System') will remove the selected (active) coordinate system.
Adapt
Save All Edited Images…
All edited images (cut off, erasing,…) can be saved into a folder. The names
of the images remain the same.
This function ('Edit' → 'Adapt' → 'Save All Edited Images') is only activated
when more than one image is modified. This means that this function will not
be activated when a drawing contains just 1 image. In this case you'll need
to double click on the image to save the changes with another name.
Convert to polylines
This command ('Edit' → 'Adapt' → 'Convert to polylines') converts strings of

lines into polylines. The reduced number of objects after this operation is an
advantage. The big disadvantage is the loss of points, point numbers and
comments. Snapping to the points is still possible.
This conversion will occur for the selected objects in ALL visible layers. It is
advisable to use this function only on layers which contain background
information and which are not used to make constructions.
Local  Page
This function ('Edit' → 'Adapt' → 'Local -> Page') moves objects from the
Local CS to the Page CS.
Page  Local
This function ('Edit' → 'Adapt' → 'Page -> Local') moves objects from the
Page CS to the Local CS.
Group
The "Group" command ('Edit' → 'Group') will combine the selected objects in
one group. Objects belonging to the same group will all be selected when
you click the mouse on any of the objects belonging to the same group.
The individual elements of the group can, however, still be edited by double-
clicking the appropriate object.

Ungroup
The "Ungroup" command ('Edit' → 'UnGroup') will restore all items of a

group as individual items.
Unpack
The command "Unpack" ('Edit' → 'Unpack') will divide the selected symbols
and special line styles in separate elements.
Set Print Area
With "Set Print Area" ('Edit' → 'Set Print Area') you can define random
polygons as a print area. All objects outside this polygon will not appear on
the printout. Objects partially inside the polygon will be clipped accordingly.
Unlike the clipping command, the definition of a print area does not affect the
drawing itself.
Besides, a print area is always page dependent, i.e. it describes an outline of

the page, not of the drawing. If the page is moved or rotated, the print area
will change with it accordingly.
The "Set print area" command is only active in the page coordinate system.
Thus, the polygon that describes the print area must be drawn in page
coordinates. An already existing print area will automatically be removed at
the moment the new definition occurs. In other words, it is not possible to
activate more than one print area at a time.
Clear Print Area
Using "Clear Print Area" ('Edit' → 'Clear Print Area') you can deactivate a
previously created print area.
Chapter 3: The Tools Menu
Introduction
Pythagoras provides several basic drawing objects to enable you to create

your drawing. This section describes the information on the commands used
to draw and select the basic objects.
Note:
 Most object tools in the Tools menu can also be invoked with a button in
the toolbox of the Pythagoras control panel.
 Using the SPACEBAR on the keyboard, you can toggle between select
mode and the last used toolbox mode.
Use of the Escape Key While Creating Objects
Creation of an object is aborted when you press the escape key. This feature
may also be used to obtain the distance between two points or the
perpendicular distance of a point to a line. Start drawing the line, which
would give you the distance you want to know. When drawing the line, the
control panel will display its length. When the cursor is at the endpoint, (you
can be sure when the sight is displayed), the distance you want to know is
displayed in the control panel. You can now press the escape key and the
line drawing will be aborted.
Entering the Location of an Object Using the Control Panel
When creating points or lines, and the location of a point is not exactly
defined, Pythagoras will prompt you to enter information in the control panel
in order to define the location of the object. The control panel contains the
following entry fields:
 The coordinate fields: in these fields the rectangular or polar

coordinates of a point can be entered.
 Two distance fields: in these fields you can enter the distance of a
point to the endpoints of an existing line.
 The line length field: in this field you can enter the length of a line you
want to create.
 The perpendicular distance field: in this field you can enter the
perpendicular distance of a point to a reference line.
The last two fields use the same position on the screen. The letters "L"
(Length) and "D" (Distance) indicate the meaning the field has at a given
moment.
When you will be prompted to enter information to define the position of a

point, one of the above entry fields will become the first field to be given in.
You can use the TAB-key to move to the next field. Pythagoras will only
allow you to edit the fields, which may be changed in the given context. If, for
example, the endpoint of a new line is on another existing line, then you can
either enter (1) the distance to one of the endpoints of the existing line or (2)
the length of the new line.
Reference The Tools Menu 87

When you press the TAB key, all fields in the control panel will be
recalculated and the position of the point or line will appear in the drawing.
To confirm the data you have entered, press the enter key or use the
Ok-button in the control panel. The Cancel button or Escape key will abort
the operation.
Note: In the distance fields you may enter negative values, indicating that a
point needs to be created at the given distance but outside the line
segment.
Commonly used tools
Point
The point is the most fundamental object of Pythagoras. Surveying requires

that the exact position of each point is known. Pythagoras assists you in
entering the measured points, and in creating new points at locations, and
with the restrictions you define.
Importing points from survey field data can be done either manually, or
automatically using the import command. The import command is described
in PART II → Chapter 1: → Import.
To create points manually, you select the point toolbox item in the control
panel or you select the "Point" item from the "Drawing Tools" menu. The
shape of the cursor will change to indicate that you want to create new
points.
Creating a Point using its Coordinates
Before creating new points, you need to verify that the coordinate system
and the preferences are set correctly. If not you first need to change them.
Position the cursor at any position of the screen, but not on a line, and press
the mouse button. Pythagoras will now prompt you to type in the coordinates
of the point, unless you have switched off the Defaults menu item "Point
Confirmation" ('Defaults' → 'Document Default' → 'Confirm Operation').
As has been explained in the section about the Pythagoras control panel,
you can define the coordinates in any of the coordinate systems, and in
either polar or rectangular coordinates.
If you want to create multiple points, press the Caps Lock key. This key
remains locked until you unlock it. When the coordinates of a point are
confirmed, the point is created and Pythagoras will prompt you again for the
coordinates of the next point. If you do not want any new points, press the
Escape key or click on the cancel button to abort the operation.
Creating a Point on a Line
You may create a point on an existing line by moving the cursor to a line.
When you press the mouse button if the "sight" is displayed, Pythagoras will
prompt you to enter the distance of the new point to one of the end points of
the line. Pythagoras will calculate the exact coordinates of the point.
Interpolation will be used to calculate the elevation of the point.
When the Caps Lock key is on, you can quickly define multiple points on the
same line by entering distance of the line end points.
Note:
 The style of a new created point will depend on the default point style
(See PART II → Chapter 5: The Defaults Menu).
 When you press one of the numeric keys 2..9, a Sight will be
displayed. When pressing a digit "n", the line will be divided into "n"
equal parts. The cursor will only snap to the points, which make up
the line parts.
This way you can quickly create points subdividing lines in equal
parts.
Changing the z-value of an existing point

If you hold the CTRL or ALT-key down and double click on a point, you get
to possibility to adapt the z-value in the control panel.
Creating a point on a path

If you have created a path, and would like to create points along the path,
select CDZ (instead of e.g. XYZ or NEZ) from the control panel. When
placing points, you will be able to enter coordinates directly in CDZ format.
Note: If you would like to place a point ON the path, it is best to click NEXT
TO the path to place your initial point, then enter the exact C value,
change the D value to zero (i.e. on the path), and enter the Z value if
needed.
Line
The Pythagoras line drawing mode allows you to create lines in any
direction.
In Pythagoras a line is defined by the coordinates of its end points. When a

line is created and one or both of its end points do not exist, they are
created.
If the toolbox item "Lines" is selected, the shape of the cursor will change to
a crosshair. When you move the cursor over the drawing, the shape of the
"sight" will indicate that the cursor is on a point or on a line.
The end point (starting point or end point) of the line can be:
 an existing point,
 a point on an existing line,
 a point defined by its coordinates.
The simplest case is to connect two existing points. You move the cursor to
the starting point, click the mouse button, move the cursor to the end point
and click again. Because both end points are known by Pythagoras, the new
line can be created.
When the starting point has been fixed, a line on the screen will follow all
mouse movement. Even now, you are able to scroll in the drawing, zoom-in
and zoom-out.
Note: When you press the CTRL key, the line will remain parallel to the X or
Y-axis of the active coordinate system.
When the starting point is not an existing point, its location is defined the
same way as the location of a single point (see "Point").
The end point of a line can be on another line. In this case, Pythagoras will
give you the option to enter the length of the new line. The end point of the
new line will be the intersection of the existing line and a circle.

Note:
 The style and the width of a new created line will depend on the
default line style and on the default line width (see PART II →
Chapter 5: The Defaults Menu).
 The endpoint of a line you are creating will snap to the following
points:
- The point on an existing line where the new line is perpendicular
to the existing line.
- The point on an arc or circle where the new line is tangential to
the arc or circle.
- The point on an arc or circle where the new line is perpendicular
to the arc or circle.
- The point on an arc or line at an interval of 1/2 .. 1/9 of its length
when the corresponding numeric key is pressed.
During the creation of a line the control panel will show extra information
about the line. By default the control panel shows the horizontal distance (L).
However by using the TAB-key, the control panel will show the slope
distance (S), the height difference (dZ), the gradient (%) and the bearing (B).
Lines with arrows at the endpoints
To create new lines with arrows at the end, switch the menu item "Line
Arrows" in the menu "Defaults" to on. If the switch "Line Arrows" is on, lines
at both ends will have an arrow. To suppress the arrow at one of the
endpoints, hold the SHIFT-key while you are creating that end point.
To return to the normal lines, turn the "Line Arrows" option in the "Defaults"
menu off.
To add or delete arrows on an existing line, select the line and the
endpoint(s) that you want to change. Then, select "On" or "Off" in the menu
'Format' → 'Line Arrows'. You can only change the line arrows if you also
select the endpoints of the line.
Note: Pressing the SHIFT-key when you confirm the second point of a line,
will start a new line. This can be very practical if you want to draw a
series of connected lines, with only arrows at the starting point and at
the endpoint of the polyline. If you want to draw a single line with one
arrow, start at the end without arrow, while holding down the SHIFT-key
and release the SHIFT-key while confirming the other end.
Parallel Lines
The toolbox item "Parallel line" allows you to create lines parallel to other
lines. When the toolbox item is selected, the cursor changes to a symbol
representing parallel lines. You indicate the reference line by clicking the
mouse button on the desired line, and the parallel-to symbol will be placed
on the reference line.
The starting point of a parallel line can be:

 An existing point,
 A point on an existing line,
 A point defined by its coordinates.
When the starting point is a point on an existing line, Pythagoras will give
you the option to enter either the distance to one of the end points of the
existing line, or to enter the perpendicular distance to the reference line, arc
or circle. The first field prompted in the Pythagoras control panel is the
perpendicular distance, but using the TAB key allows you to enter data into
one of the other fields.
When the starting point is defined, the new line will follow the mouse
movements, but remain parallel to the reference line. When moving the
mouse, Pythagoras will automatically calculate the intersection when the
endpoint is near a line. The Sight will clearly indicate the intersection. When
an intersection is indicated, you only need to click the mouse button to
create the parallel line.
When you click the mouse button if the endpoint of the new line is not on a
line, Pythagoras will prompt you to enter the line length in the control panel.
Note: The begin point of a parallel line may be one of the end points of the
reference line.
Tangential Line
The toolbox item "Parallel Line" (also used to draw parallel lines) allows you
to create lines either:
 Tangential to a circle or arc.
 Tangential to 2 circles or arcs.
 Tangential to a circle or arc and perpendicular to a line.
You indicate the first circle (or arc) by clicking on the desired object. As you
will note when you move the mouse, the line will remain tangential to the
indicated circle or arc.
When the starting point at the line comes close to an existing point on the
arc or circle, the starting point will snap to that point.
When you move the mouse near the point of a circle or arc where the line is
tangential to both objects, a Sight will appear.
When the mouse is near the point on an existing line so that the line is
tangential to the circle or arc and perpendicular to the line, a Sight indicating
the perpendicular position will appear.
When you click the mouse button while the Sight is displayed, the line will be
created.
Perpendicular Line
The toolbox item "Perpendicular line" allows you to create lines

perpendicular to other lines. When the toolbox item is selected, the cursor
changes to a T symbol. You indicate the reference line by clicking the mouse
button on the desired line, and the perpendicular on symbol will be placed on
the reference line.
The starting point of a perpendicular line can be:

 An existing point,
 A point on an existing line,
 A point defined by its coordinates.
When the starting point is a point on an existing line, Pythagoras will give
you the option to enter either the distance to one of the endpoints of the
existing line, or to enter the perpendicular distance to the reference line. The
first field prompted in the Pythagoras control panel is the perpendicular
distance, but using the TAB key allows you to enter one of the other fields.
When the starting point is defined, the new line will follow the mouse
movements, but remain perpendicular to the reference line. When moving

the mouse, Pythagoras will automatically calculate the intersection when the
end point is near a line. The "sight" will clearly indicate the intersection.
When an intersection is indicated, you only need to click the mouse button to
create the perpendicular line.
If the endpoint of the new line is not on a line, when you click the mouse
button, Pythagoras will prompt you to enter the line length in the control
panel.
Perpendicular line to an arc
With the toolbox item "Perpendicular Line" you also can create perpendicular
lines to arcs or circles.
You first click on the arc or circle to which the line needs to be perpendicular.
As you will note when you move the mouse, the line will remain
perpendicular.
When the starting point of the line comes close to an existing point on the
arc or circle, the starting point will snap to that point.
Arc
Arc tangential to line or arc
The toolbox item "Tangential Arc" allows you to create an arc, which is either
tangential to an existing arc or tangential to an existing line.
You click on the desired arc or line, then you enter the distance to one of the
endpoints. This point will be the starting point for the arc.
You may now move the mouse to an existing object or to an approximate

position. If clicked on an approximate position, you may enter angle and
radius of the new arc or the coordinates of the endpoint.
You can also create tangential arcs while you are drawing a line. Start
drawing the line, and move the mouse so that the line has the direction of
the starting point of the arc. Press the SPACE bar and the line will convert in
an arc tangential to the line that was seen on the drawing before the SPACE
bar was pressed.
Note:
 You change the direction of the arc by moving the mouse close to the
starting point (within approx. 2 mm) and then moving the mouse in the
other direction.
When the starting point of the arc is the endpoint of an existing arc or
line, you may click on the endpoint and no distance needs to be entered.
(If more than one line or arc has the same endpoint, you need to move
the Sight over the desired line or arc towards the endpoint).
 The endpoint of the arc you are creating will automatically snap to the
following points:
 Existing point.
 Points on an existing line or circle where the new arc is tangential to
that object.
 Point on an existing line where the new arc is perpendicular to the
existing line.
Arc tangential to two lines, two arcs or a line and an arc
The toolbox item "Arc Tangential to 2 Lines" allows you to create an arc,
which is tangential to either 2 lines, 2 arcs or a line and an arc.
When this toolbox is selected, the cursor changes into two parallel lines.
Click consecutively on the lines/arcs to which the arc needs to be tangential.
When moving the mouse, an arc will be shown tangential to both objects.
When you now click the mouse on an appropriate position, you either enter
the radius of the arc or the coordinates of a point on the arc.
Note:
 When you press the CTRL key while you confirm the arc, the reference
lines will be trimmed or extended up to the point of contact.
 The cursor on the new arc will automatically snap to the following points:
 Existing point.
 Existing line or arc.
 Point on an existing line where the new arc is tangential to that line
(the new arc will then be tangential to three lines).
 The new arc may be drawn in any of the 4 segments formed by the 2
lines you have indicated.
Two arcs through 3 points
This operation creates two arcs: one starting in the first point and ending in
the intermediate point, and another starting from the intermediate point up to
the endpoint. In that way the height of the second point is taken into account.
Arc with a given center and radius
After clicking the toolbox item "Arc with a given center and radius", click first
on an existing point to indicate the center point.
Then click either on an existing object or on an approximate position to

define the starting point of the arc. When you move the mouse, an arc with a
fixed radius will be drawn following the movements of the mouse.
Pythagoras will automatically calculate the intersection when the endpoint is

near another object (line, arc, circle). The Sight will clearly indicate the
intersection.
When the endpoint is not an existing object, you need to enter the radius of
the arc.
Note: When you press the CTRL key while you confirm the arc, a point at the
center of the arc will be created.
Arcs with arrows at the endpoints
To create new arcs with arrows at the end, switch on the menu item "Line
Arrows" in the menu "Defaults". If the switch "Line Arrows" is on, arcs at
both ends will have an arrow. To suppress the arrow at one of the endpoints
hold the SHIFT-key while you are creating that end point.
To return to the normal lines, turn the 'Line Arrows' option in the 'Defaults'
menu off.

To add or delete arrows on an existing arc, select the line and the
endpoint(s) that you want to change. Then, select "On" or "Off" in the menu
'Format' → 'Line Arrows'. You can only change the arc arrows if you also
select the endpoints of the arc.
Note:
 Pressing the SHIFT-key when you confirm the second point of an arc,
will start a new arc. This can be very practical if you want to draw a
series of connected arcs, with only arrows at the starting point and at
the endpoint of the polyline. If you want to draw a single arc with one
arrow, start at the end without arrow, while holding down the SHIFT-
key and release the SHIFT-key while confirming the other end.
 The elevations of the points on the arc correspond to the elevation of
the projection of these points on the chord of the arc. This also applies
to spirals (clothoids) and splines.
Circle
Circle with a given center and radius
After clicking the toolbox item "Circle with a given center and radius", click
first on an existing point to indicate the center point.
Then click either on an existing object or on an approximate position to
define the starting point of the arc. When you move the mouse, the circle
with a fixed radius will be drawn following the movements of the mouse.
When the endpoint is not an existing object, you need to enter the radius of
the arc.
Note:
 When you press the CTRL key while you confirm the circle, a point at
the center of the circle will be created.
 The cursor on the new circle will automatically snap to the following
points:
- Existing point.
- Existing line or circle.
- Point on an existing line, arc or circle where the new circle is
tangential to that object.
Circle through 3 points
When the toolbox item "Circle through 3 points" is selected, the cursor will
change to an arrow with a P.
Click 3 points on the circle circumference. The circle will now be created.
Note: When you press the CTRL key while you confirm the circle, a point at
the center of the circle will be created.
Parallel Lines / Arcs / Circles
The toolbox item "Parallel Objects" allows you to create lines, arcs and
circles, which remain parallel to the referenced object.
When the toolbox is selected, the cursor changes to a symbol representing

parallel objects. You may now click the mouse button on a line, an arc or a
circle. What happens will depend on the type of object you clicked:
Mouse clicked on a line
When the mouse button is clicked on a line, a new line parallel to the
reference line will be displayed following the mouse movements. This new
line has the same length as the reference line.
Mouse clicked on an arc

In this case, a new arc parallel to the referenced arc will be displayed
following the mouse movements. This new arc has the same aperture angle
as the reference arc.
Mouse clicked on a circle

In this case, a new circle with the same center as the referenced circle will
be displayed following the mouse movements.
When you click the mouse button on an approximate position, Pythagoras

will prompt you to enter the distance between the referenced and the new
object. You may also enter the coordinates of a point on the new object.
Mouse clicked on the snapping point of a polygon

When the mouse is clicked on a polygon, a polyline parallel to the polygon
will be formed. The polyline will consist of separate lines and arcs with
endpoints. The coordinates of the intersections are calculated, and because
these are ordinary points, point numbers will be assigned automatically.
Mouse clicked on the snapping point of a path

When the mouse is clicked on a path, a polyline parallel to the path will be
formed. The polyline will consist of separate lines and arcs with endpoints.
The coordinates of the intersections are calculated, and because these are
ordinary points, point numbers will be assigned automatically.
Note:
The cursor on the new object will automatically snap to the following points:
 Existing point.
 Existing line, arc or circle.
 This function allows you to create roads easily.
Text
The toolbox item "Title Text" allows you to create horizontal text. Use the
SPACE bar to change the orientation 90°. The text will then be displayed
vertically.
The text remains horizontal even if the local coordinate system is rotated
using the "Select Print area" command.
When the toolbox item "Text" is selected, the cursor will change to a vertical
bar. The size of this vertical bar will depend on the default point size and on
the actual zoom factor. The bottom of this vertical bar will correspond with
the underline position of the new text.
When the text cursor is moved close to points, lines or arcs you can make
the text cursor snap to the object by pressing the CTRL-key.
When you click the mouse button on a position on the screen, the "Edit Text"
dialog box will appear. You can enter text and change the default text
attributes, which are displayed in this dialog box:
 Horizontal alignment: Left, Centered, Right
 Vertical alignment: Top, Centered, Bottom
 Point size: 4 - 72 point. (1 point = ± 0.3 mm).
 Style: Normal, Italic
 Width: Light, Normal, Bold, Extra Bold

 Color
 Underline: None, Single, Double, Dashed
 Border: No Border, Single, Double.
 Line spacing: Small, Normal, Large
 Layer: The names of the available layers.
Remark: The border is not exported in DXF format.
You may enter multiple lines of text. By using the Return-key you go to a
new line.
The number of characters in a text is limited to 254.
You confirm the text object by pressing the Ok button, by using the Enter-key
(on the numeric keyboard) or by pressing the Return-key in combination with
the Command / Alt / CTRL key.
When you confirm this dialog box, the text will appear on the screen on the
position where the mouse was clicked. The text can be left aligned, right
aligned or centered relative to the given position.
Text can always be dragged to another location.
Note: An alternative to this text is to use the "Rich Text". Rich Text is not
limited in the number of characters and allows to mix multiple fonts,
styles, etc. within one text block. For more information see PART II →
Chapter 3: → New Object: Rich Text.
Object Text
The toolbox item "Object Text" allows you to create text parallel to or
perpendicular to a line. Use the SPACE bar to change the orientation with
90°. When the drawing is rotated using the "Select Print area" command,
object text will rotate with the drawing, provided that the object text is not
defined in page coordinates.
When the toolbox item "Object Text" is selected, the cursor will change to a
parallel symbol. You need to click to a line to indicate the direction of the
text. The cursor will change to a line, which is perpendicular to the reference
line. The size of the object text cursor will depend on the default point size
and on the actual zoom factor. The bottom of this line will correspond with
the underline position of new text. When you click the mouse button on a
position on the screen, the "Edit Text" dialog box will appear. You can enter
text and change the default text attributes, which are displayed in this dialog
box. For more information about the attributes see the above item "Text".
When you confirm this dialog box, the text will appear on the screen on the
position where the mouse was clicked. The text can be left aligned, right
aligned or centered relative to the given position.
Object Text can always be dragged to another location.
Note: An alternative to this text is to use the "Rich Text". Rich Text is not
limited in the number of characters and allows to mix multiple fonts,
styles, etc. within one text block. For more information see PART II →
Chapter 3: → New Object: Rich Text.
Polygon
The toolbox item "Polygon" allows you to create a polygon.

You create a polygon by sequentially selecting the points or arcs, which
make up the polygon. The polygon you are creating will be indicated on the
screen using bold lines representing the border of it. Pythagoras will
calculate the area, the perimeter and the center of gravity.
A polygon can be filled with a fill pattern, the area and perimeter can be
displayed, and when using the object tools "Measurement" or "Annotation"
texts containing area and perimeter can be created on the drawing.
You can align the fill pattern (created by user) with a given direction and
having a specified origin. To align a polygon pattern you need to execute the
following steps:
 Create pattern (see PART II → Chapter 1: → Symbols: Create Pattern)
 Create a user coordinate system. For example corresponding to a leg of
the polygon.
 Select the polygon(s).
 Select "Align Pattern" in the "Format" menu ('Format' → 'Align' →
'Pattern'). Note: Pattern should be created by user.
The fill pattern will be aligned with the direction of the active user coordinate
system. The origin of the fill pattern will correspond with the origin of the
coordinate system.
Note:
 You may define a Polygon of a circle. Instead of clicking a point, click
on the circle and a polygon on the circumference of the circle is
created.
 While creating the polygon, you can use the BACKSPACE key to
remove the last point or arc from the polygon.
 When creating a polygon by clicking in a region, it happens that new
points and/or arcs need to be created. Pythagoras will create these
objects in a System Layer that remains invisible.
Remarks:
 During the creation of a polygon, you may "double click" on a line or
arc. Pythagoras will automatically add all lines and arcs, in the given
direction, to the polygon up to a point where the lines stop or a
junction is encountered. When stopped, the polygon is not yet
created and more objects can still be added.
 If the O-key is down in selection mode, Pythagoras will only search
for polygons, and indicate the polygon closest to the cursor.
 When the mouse is clicked on the snapping point of a polygon, a
polyline parallel to the polygon will be formed. The polyline will
consist of separate lines and arcs with endpoints. The coordinates of
the intersections are calculated, and because these are ordinary
points, point numbers will be assigned automatically.
Path
A path is a sequence of points, lines and arcs. The objects to which the path
refers remain, however, separate entities in the document.
After the selection of the tool "Path", you can create a path by selecting - in
the right sequence - the points, lines and arcs forming the path. The end of
the path, (the last object) is indicated by:
a) Reselection of the first point of the path or,
b) Pressing the CTRL key when the last point or arc is selected.
The path you just created will be indicated on the screen by bold lines along
the path. Pythagoras will calculate the total length of the path and the
midpoint.
A path can be used for the following purposes:

 Calculation of the total length of a path,
 To obtain a cross- or longitudinal section along the path,
 To construct parallel lines / arcs to a path.
Remarks:
 During the creation of a path, you can use the BACKSPACE key to
remove the last point or last arc of the path.
 During the creation of a path, you may "double click" on a line or arc.
Pythagoras will automatically add all lines and arcs, in the given direction,
to the path up to a point where the lines stop or if a junction is
encountered. If no lines follow, the path will be created. When stopped at
a junction, the path is not yet created and more objects can still be
added.
 If the X-key is down in selection mode, Pythagoras will only search for
paths, and indicate the path closest to the cursor.
 A parallel path will be created when clicked on a path with the parallel
tool.
User Coordinate System
The toolbox item "Coordinate System" allows you to create a new

Temporary coordinate system or a new User coordinate system.
You create a new User coordinate system by clicking the mouse button first
on the point in the drawing, which will become the origin of the new user
coordinate system, then on a point, which is on the x-axis or north-axis
(depending on the selected preference).
The newly created user coordinate system will become the active user
coordinate system.
Note:
 When the CTRL key is pressed when you click on the origin of a new
coordinate system, a temporary coordinate system is created. The
axes of the newly created coordinate system are parallel to the axes
of the active coordinate system.
 When the CTRL key is pressed when you click on the point indicating
the origin of the new coordinate system, a temporary coordinate
system is created.
 When a new temporary coordinate system is created, the old one is
removed automatically.
Default Attributes - Current Layer
The new objects you create interactively will get the default attributes and
will be placed in the current layer.
Run Macro
This menu item is only active when a macro-library is loaded that contains
valid libraries. It shows the list of all macros that are available in the current
document and library.
Select
In "Select mode" you may:

 Obtain information about the basic objects on the drawing.
 Select and deselect objects.
 Drag text from one position to another.
Selection options
There are 3 ways to select objects in the 'Tools' menu ('Tools' →

'Select'):
 Arrow: also has snapping capability.
 Cross-hair: only allows selection of objects inside a
rectangle. Snapping is not possible.
 Freehand: "Lasso"-selection that allows you to draw a
random area. All objects inside the area will be selected.
Obtaining Information About Objects
Points
When you move the mouse cursor near a point in the drawing, the point
number and the exact coordinates of the point will be displayed in the control
panel. When the point number is visible, you may be sure that Pythagoras
has snapped to the point, and that the displayed coordinates are those of the
given point.
If you double-click the mouse button when the cursor is on the point, the
object info command (see PART II → Chapter 6: → Object Info) will be
executed (its properties appear).
Lines
When you move the mouse cursor near a line in the drawing, the horizontal
length of the line (L) and the identifiers of the endpoints will appear in the
control panel. By using the TAB-key, the control panel will show in
sequence: the slope distance (S), the height difference (dZ), the bearing (B)
and the gradient (%) of the line.
Arcs
When you move the mouse cursor near an arc in the drawing, the arc length
(L) and the identifiers of the endpoints will appear in the control panel. By
using the TAB-key, the control panel will show subsequently the radius (R),
the center angle (C) of the arc, the slope distance (S), the height difference
(dZ) and the gradient (%).
Circle
When you move the mouse cursor near a circle, the control panel will show
the circumference (L). By using the TAB-key, the radius (R) will be
displayed.
Text
When you double click on a text a dialog box displaying the text and its
attributes will appear. This way you can quickly change the text content
and/or the text attributes.
Polygon

When you move the mouse near the center of gravity of a polygon, an
indication (rectangle containing the letter P) will appear.
The control panel will show the area. By using the TAB-key, the control
panel will show the perimeter.
Path
When you move the mouse cursor near the midpoint of a path, the control
panel will show the horizontal length (L) of the path. By using the TAB-key,
the control panel will show subsequently the slope distance (S), the height
difference (dZ) and the gradient (%) between the first and the last point of
the path.
Remark: When specific information about an object is displayed, for example

the slope distance, then you can make this type of information the
default for the object type. Press the SHIFT-TAB key to change the
default for an object type while the desired information is displayed.
This default is not retained when leaving Pythagoras.
Selecting Objects
When the mouse is snapped to a Pythagoras object, and you click the
mouse button, the object will become selected, and all other objects will
become deselected. If the object was already selected, it will be deselected.
When you keep the SHIFT-key pressed at the same time you click the
mouse button, the object will be added to the selection or removed from the
selection.
When you select a line or arc, the endpoints are not selected. When the
CTRL-key is pressed during the selection, also the endpoints will be
selected. When the CTRL-key is pressed during the selection of a polygon or
path, the points, which are part of the polygon or path, are also selected.
If two lines or arcs are laying one above the other, the first click will select
the object on top. If a second time is clicked on the object, the object
underneath the first object will be selected.
Drag Text
When you keep the mouse button down on a text object, and then move the
mouse, a rectangle indicating the position of the text will follow the
movements of the mouse. Release the mouse button in order to place the
text at the desired position.
If, when dragging, the CTRL or the ALT button is held down, the text will be
duplicated when the mouse button is released. The new text will appear on
the place where the mouse button is released.
Notes:
 Dragging can be cancelled when you press the "Escape" key on the
keyboard while you have the mouse button down.
 In "Select Mode", Pythagoras will continuously search for objects located
near the cursor position. Since you may be interested in any object type,
Pythagoras will snap to any object, which is near the mouse position. If
several objects are close together, it can be difficult to select the desired
object. You can either zoom in, or you can press one of the following
keys to indicate in which object type you are interested:
"P": when the P-key is down, Pythagoras will only search points.
"L": when the L-key is down, Pythagoras will only search lines, arcs and
circles.
"T": when the T-key is down, Pythagoras will only search text.
"O": when the O-key is down, Pythagoras will only search polygons. In this
case the snap area will become much larger.
"X": when the X-key is down, Pythagoras will only search paths. The snap
area will also become much larger.
"I": when the I-key is down, Pythagoras will only search images.
Operations on Selected Objects
You can execute the following operation on selected objects:

 Delete the object: Cut and Clear command, or using the "Delete" key
on the keyboard.
 Change the attributes of the objects
 Move the objects to another layer
 Move the objects
These operations are described in detail in other sections of this manual.
Align Objects
This tool ('Tools' → 'Align Object') is used to align objects. First click on the
object that needs to be aligned (e.g. text, symbol). Then click on the object
that indicates the direction (a line, arc, circle, text, polygon).
This tool is a more intuitive method than making use of a coordinate system
to align objects.
This function can also be used to align an image to another image or text.
Join Objects
The Pythagoras Join Objects Mode allows you to extend and trim lines and
arcs. This mode also allows you to project points and texts on a line, arc or
circle.
When this toolbox item is selected, the cursor changes to a bold arrow.
When you first click on a point, then this point will be projected on the object
(line, arc or circle) you click on next.
For extending or trimming lines and arcs, you first click on the line or arc you
want to change. The cursor will now slightly change. Subsequently click on
another object. This may be an arc, line or circle. When double clicking on
the second object, also this object will be extended or trimmed to the point of
intersection.
The line or arc you first clicked will now be extended or trimmed according to
the following rules:
a) Line - Line
- The intersection is not on the line segment: the line will be extended.

- The intersection is on the line segment: the line will be trimmed. The
part of the line on which the cursor was first clicked will remain. The
other part will be deleted.
b) Line - Arc or Circle

- One of the endpoints on the line is an intersection: the line will be
extended or trimmed relative to the second point of intersection.
- The intersection most close to one of the endpoints of the line will be
the point relative to which the line will be extended or trimmed. The
rules describe in section "a) Line - Line" apply.
Normally the nearest intersection point will be used to make the join. If
you hold the SHIFT-key while you are clicking the arc, the other
intersection point will be used.
c) Arc - Line, Arc or Circle

- The intersection(s) of the line and the arc is or are not on the arc: the
arc will be extended or trimmed with the smallest possible extension.
- One of the endpoints of the arc is on the line: the arc will be extended
so that both the endpoints are on the line.
Remark: The "Join objects" command also can be used to obtain the
projection of points and texts on a line.
d) Align text and images

Texts and images can be given the same 0-point as another text or image
using this align button.
Example:
aaaaaa becomes aaaaaa

bbbbbb bbbbbb
When holding down the CTRL-key, the alignment will be horizontal.

Example:
aaaaaa becomes aaaaaa bbbbbb

bbbbbb
Cut Object
The "Cut object" tool removes a part of an object, which is defined by two
points of intersection.
Click the object to cut out. Then click the cutting edges. These can be points,
lines, circles and arcs. The edges or their extension need to be on the line
segment to cut off. If these are points, their perpendicular projection needs to
be on the line to cut off.
If the line crosses a circle, there are two possibilities to cut off. Pythagoras
considers the intersection point of the circle with the line nearest to the
mouse click as the cutting edge.
Divide Object
The "Divide object" command divides a line or an arc in 2 parts. You first
need to click on the object that you want to divide and then click on the
object that needs to divide the first object. This can be a point, line or arc.
If the two objects cross each other, the intersection point will be the dividing
point. In the other case the extension of the line will determine the dividing
point.
As mentioned, points can also be dividing points, whether they are on the
line or not. If they are not, a virtual perpendicular line from the point to the
line to divide will determine the dividing point.
Remark:
 A circle cannot be divided.
 The dividing points that will be created will be invisible, by default.
Intersection
Selecting "Intersection" in the Tools menu allows you to create the

intersection of 2 lines, a line and an arc, or 2 arcs.
When this tool is selected, the cursor changes to an "x1" symbol. You first
click on a line or arc. Subsequently the cursor will change to an "x2" symbol
and you click on the second line or arc. The intersection of both objects will
be created.
The height of the intersection is calculated by interpolation on the second

object.
If you want the intersection point to have the average height, you need to
use the menu 'Calculations' → 'Intersection…'.
Extend Line
The "Extend line" command allows you to extend or shorten lines and arcs.
You just need to click the object and then one of its endpoints. Then you can
drag this point to extend/shorten the line.
Cut off
The "Cut off" command erases all objects - possibly including parts of
images - inside or outside a rectangle. Objects on the edge will be cut off
(exception: texts and symbols).
The following choices can be made:

 Vector and raster information can be cut off at the same time.
 Cut off only vector information.
 Cut off only raster information.

New Object
Symbol
Selecting 'Symbol' in the 'Tools' → 'New Object' menu allows you to draw a
symbol. First you need to select the desired symbol with the menu 'Defaults'
→ 'Library Symbol' (or 'Document Symbol'). A symbol can be created either
by entering the coordinates of the hotspot or by placing the hotspot of the
symbol on a line, arc or circle.
The orientation of a symbol is defined by first moving the hotspot to a line

with the desired orientation. Click the mouse button and the symbol will take
the orientation of the line. Pressing the space bar will rotate the symbol over
90°.
Remark: The program will automatically come in the mode "Draw Symbol" if
you press the CTRL key while you select the symbol in the "Default"
menu.
If a symbol is placed on the drawing without giving it an orientation, and

without rotating it afterwards, the symbol will be considered as an horizontal
symbol, even if it is rotatable. The symbols will remain horizontal even if the
drawing is rotated using "Select Print Area".
Every point can be changed to a symbol. The coordinates of the hotspot of

the symbol will in that case correspond with the coordinates of the point.
Rich Text
The "Rich Text Editor" ('Tools' → 'New Object' → 'Rich Text') allows you to
type texts with specific formatting. You could consider this a "dressed down"
word processor. Most basic functions that you find in a word processor, you
will also find here.
Most functions will not require an explanation, but we would like to point out
a few handy features that will make your life (read: drawing) easier.
Quick key: click the text symbol in the control panel, while holding down
the CTRL-key
When selecting this function, the cursor will change in a '+'. You can now
draw the text-area by clicking and dragging a rectangular area (i.e. press
and hold down the left mouse button, then drag the cursor over the screen).
Depending on the direction that you drag your mouse, the window will have
different characteristics with respect to alignment:
a) Click and drag down:
The text-block will be 'top-aligned'
b) Click and drag up:
The text-block will be 'bottom-aligned'
c) Click and drag to the right:
The text-block will be 'left-aligned'
d) Click and drag to the left:
The text-block will be 'right-aligned'
Note:
 To align a text block "centered", you can make use of the menu
option 'Format' → 'Alignment' → 'Center'.
 Aligning the text block is independent of the alignment of the content.
For example, in a left-aligned text block, you can place centered or
right-aligned text.
Examples:
1) When clicking and dragging the cursor from top-left to bottom-right, you
created a text block that is top-aligned, and left-aligned.
2) When clicking and dragging the cursor from bottom-right to top-left, you
created a text block that is bottom-aligned and right-aligned.
Example 1 is useful if you want to place text in the top-left corner: the text
'grows' in a downward direction, while alignment remains left.
Example 2 is useful if you want to place text in the bottom-right corner of the
page: the text 'grows' - if need be - in height, while the alignment remains
right.
The width of the text blocks can always be changed by clicking and dragging
the solid line (widening or narrowing the text field). For left-aligned text, this
line is located at the right side of the text block. For right aligned texts, the
line is located at the left side of the text block.
While typing in the editor, you can format the text. When the text editor is
active, the menus also changed. The two most important menus are 'Edit'
and 'Format'.
Edit:
This menu contains the obvious edit functions such as undo and redo, cut
and past, etc. The items 'Find' and 'Replace' are worth a little explanation:
a) Find: This function searched for a string (a word or a group of words).
b) Replace: This function searches for a string (a word or a group of
words) and replaces these by the string in the 'replace' field.
There are additional find and replace options:

- Entire word only: will only search the entire word. If this is not checked,
the editor will also search for the string in parts of words.
- Case sensitive: if this is turned off, the editor will search for the string
exactly as it is, taking into account capital letters.
- Search backwards: searches the document backwards.
- Wrap around search: at the end of the document, the editor will start
again at the beginning.
Format:
This menu is primarily used for formatting texts. Most functions are obvious.
'Text Attributes…' pops up a dialog box in which most formatting functions

appear. This allows you to format the text using one menu selection.
"Line spacing" is used to set the distance between the different lines in the
text. Line spacing works for each paragraph.
"Alignment" determines the position of the text in the text block.

 Left: the text is left aligned.
 Right: the text is right aligned.
 Center: the text is centered.
This alignment works for each paragraph.
Paragraph: in a Pythagoras "Rich Text" you can use the "Return-(or Enter-)"
key to start a new paragraph.

Aligned Rich Text
This function ('Tools' → 'New Object' → 'Aligned Rich Text') is used to give a
Rich text block the same rotation as a line.
Refer to the section above for more information on Rich Text.
Curve
Curves (splines) are created with the "curve" tool ('Tools' → 'New Object' →
'Curve'). With at least 3 points a curve shaped structure will be created. The
points where the curve needs to run through need to be selected by clicking
on them. To obtain a closed curve, click as last point on the first point again.
If the curve needs to remain open, click the last point while holding the
"CTRL" key down.
The adjustable curvature determines the shape and the size of the radii. The
higher the curvature, the softer and smoother the changeover between
partial arcs will be. The checkbox "100% smoothed" handles a special case:
if the first part contains three linear points and the curve is forced to be
straight, a sharp changeover to a curve structure is obtained. With "100%
smoothed", which is activated by default, such a sharp (sudden) changeover
is avoided and, in extreme cases, a course of arcs is forced.
Points, which are necessary for the creation of curves, can vary in height.
This results in a three-dimensional curve.
Curves (splines) can now also have a library line style assigned to them.
Spiral
With this tool ('Tools' → 'New Object' → 'Spiral') it is possible to create

spirals. A spiral is a transition curve whereby the curvature proportionally
increases or decreases with the cumulated distance, i.e. if a vehicle with
uniform speed drives through a spiral, the speed of the rotation of the
steering wheel is a constant.
A spiral in Pythagoras is limited to a change of angle of 100gon (see picture

below).
A spiral is represented by the following formula:

R*L = K²
With: K: parameter of the spiral

R: radius of curvature
L: length of a part of the spiral measured from the point with R = 
A spiral can be constructed in 4 ways:
1. Insert an existing spiral.
Note: The accuracy of the entered data needs to be at least the same as
the number of decimals in the control panel.
2. With a beginning and an end point

a. Parallel to a line: defined by beginning and end point.
The beginning point has a R = . The 'K' value or the 'R2' (= radius
of the tangent circle in the end point) can be entered
b. Tangent starting from a specific point on an existing circle/arc.

The spiral will start with the R of the arc or circle and will be
constructed till a R = . The mouse movements can influence the
end tangent direction. This also goes for R < R circle. This just hasn't
so many results.
c. Tangent starting from a specific point on a spiral.

The spiral starts with the radius of the starting point on the spiral and
will be made to R = . This also goes for R < R spiral. This just
hasn't so many results.
3. Between existing objects:

a. Between an existing line and circle/arc
b. Between two circles/arcs
this is only possible when the circle with the smallest radius is inside
the one with the largest radius and with very little deviations.
4. Arc tangent to 2 lines with 2 spirals.
Almost all operations can be applied on spirals.
Edit Line
The following modifications can be made to lines ('Tools' → 'Edit Line'):

 Join.
 Cut Object.
 Divide Object.
 Intersection.
 Extent line.
All these modifications were described above for "Drawing Tools" tool panel.
Edit Curve
The following modifications can be made to curves (splines) ('Tools' → 'Edit

Curve'):

 Move Point: move the cursor to the point that you would like to move.
The cursor will change into a little cross. Move the point by clicking
and dragging it. If point confirmation has been turned on, you will be
able to enter the exact new coordinates of the point.
 Add Point: move the cursor to a place on the curve where you would
like to add a point. The cursor will change into a little cross. Click and
drag the curve to the new position (may, but must not be an existing
point). Confirm the new coordinates. If the new point was an already
existing point, you will notice that the cursor can snap to the point.
 Remove Point: move the cursor to the curve and click the curve. Little
circles will indicate the points of the curve. Click the points that you
would like to remove from the curve.
Edit Polygon
The same modifications as those on curves can be performed on polygons

('Tools' → 'Edit Polygon').
Edit Path
The same modifications as those on polygons can be performed on paths

('Tools' → 'Edit Path'), with one exception: moving points. If you would like to
move points of a path, we recommend that you use the traditional move
function ('Edit' → 'Move').
Edit Group
This command ('Tools' → 'Edit Group') allows you to add/delete elements

to/from a group. When you choose this menu item and put the cursor over a
group, it will indicate that a valid group is found by changing to a special
cursor . After selecting the group, you can choose the elements to add or
delete from it.
DTM
This command ('Tools' → 'DTM') allows you to modify the active DTM. The
following operations are possible:
 Swap diagonal
 Delete a triangle
 Delete a point
 Add a point
 Move a triangle vertex
 Change the elevation of a triangle vertex
These tools are only enabled if the triangulation is visible. The intensity of
the objects of the drawing will be reduced. The areas of the triangles will be
hatched in a light green color.
Note:
 Operations on a DTM cannot be undone. It is recommended to
make a backup of the drawing or DTM before editing the DTM.
 Operations on a DTM don't change the points or other objects that
were used to create the DTM. Only the DTM is changed.
Swap Diagonal
Use this option ('Tools' → 'DTM' → 'Swap Diagonal') to replace 2 adjacent

triangles by 2 triangles in the same quadrangle using the alternative
diagonal.
When this tool is selected, the cursor will snap to legs of triangles, except for
the legs that are at the border of the DTM. When you click the mouse button,
Pythagoras will replace the 2 adjacent triangles of the leg with 2 other
triangles that use the other diagonal of the quadrangle formed by the 2
original triangles.
Example: Result:
Delete Triangle
This option ('Tools' → 'DTM' → 'Delete Triangle') removes the selected

triangle from active DTM.
When this tool is selected, and the cursor is moved inside a triangle, then the
triangle will be marked. When you click the mouse, the triangle will be
removed from the DTM.
The area of the triangle will flash for about 0.5 seconds to indicate that it will
be removed. Triangle legs will be removed, unless a leg is still used by an
adjacent triangle.
Move Vertex
This option ('Tools' → 'DTM' → 'Move Vertex') allows you to move vertexes
of the DTM.
When this tool is selected, the cursor will snap to vertexes of triangles. You
can drag a point and enter the coordinates in the control panel. A point may
not be moved outside the polygon of the triangles that have the same vertex.

Note The resulting triangulation will not be made “Delaunay”. If you do not
like the resulting triangulation, you can use any of the other functions
to adjust the result.
Add Vertex
This option ('Tools' → 'DTM' → 'Add Vertex') adds a vertex to the DTM.
The cursor will snap to points in the drawing.
When this tool is selected, the cursor will snap to triangles and to points in a
drawing. When you move the cursor over a triangle it will be marked. On
mouse down, the x, y and z of the new point must be entered in the control
panel unless at the same time the cursor had snapped a point in the
drawing. The triangle to which the point was added will be replaced by 3
triangles.
Note: The new point does not necessary have to lie in a definite triangle, it
can also be placed outside the DTM. In this case, of course, the
number of new triangles can be different.
Delete Vertex
This option ('Tools' → 'DTM' → 'Delete Vertex') removes a vertex from the
DTM.
When this tool is selected, the cursor will snap to vertexes of triangles. On
mouse down, all triangles that have this vertex will be removed. The
resulting polygon will be Delaunay-triangulated (imagine, for instance, that
you delete the top of an N-angle pyramid).
Change Elevation
This option ('Tools' → 'DTM' → 'Change elevation') allows changing

elevation of the selected vertex of DTM.
When this tool is selected, the cursor will snap to vertexes of triangles. After
clicking on a point you have to enter the new elevation in the control panel.
Lasso
This command ('Tools' → 'Lasso') allows you to modify (make black or white)
partial areas of a raster image.
This operation will not be saved in the image itself, but in the Pythagoras
drawing with a reference to the image.
Eraser
This command ('Tools' → 'Eraser') allows you to "erase" parts of a raster

image or to make these parts black.
This operation will not be saved in the image itself, but in the Pythagoras
drawing with a reference to the image.
Dimension
The toolbox item "Dimension" ('Tools' → 'Dimension') allows you to

create/place dimensions (line lengths), areas and coordinates on the
drawing.
Creating a measurement creates a text object with the value of the

measurement. Like any other text object, you can change the content and
the attributes of a measurement. There remains no link between the object
of which the dimension is requested and the text object containing the
measurement.
When you request a measurement, and Pythagoras finds a text object at

exactly the same position, the new text will not be created.
The XY-Offset dimensioning will place the x and y offsets of a point on the
drawing relative to the active coordinate system. Also the baseline and the
perpendicular line to it will be constructed.
When you select XY-Offset in the toolbox, and keep the CTRL-key down
while you click on a point, you will automatically come in the mode to create
a coordinate system. Clicking subsequently on the first and second point,
which indicates the baseline for dimensioning, Pythagoras will automatically
create a temporary coordinate system.
Remark: You may obtain the XY-Offset dimensioning of a number of selected

points in one operation. Select the menu "Format", "Operation",
"Annotation", "XY-Offset".
Lines
When you click the mouse button when the cursor is near a line, an object
text, containing the length of the line will be created on the drawing.
Defaults ('Defaults' → 'Preferences…') regarding the representation of line
lengths are:
- text point size;
- text weight;
- number of decimal places;
- measurement pre-string and post-string.
The pre-strings and post-strings are optional characters which can be set in
front and after the value calculated by Pythagoras (using 'Defaults' →
'Preferences…'). For example if the pre string = "-" and the post string = " m.
-", then the value 12.50 will be represented as: "-12.50 m.-". The pre-strings
and post-strings can be set to empty values.
The line length will always be centered relative to the center of the line.

Polygon: Area and Perimeter
When you click the mouse button when the cursor is near the center of
gravity of a polygon, the line lengths of the perimeter and the area of the
polygon will be created on the drawing. The length of the lines have the
same defaults as those for single lines (see above).
Defaults ('Defaults' → 'Preferences…') regarding the representation of the

area are:
- text point size;
- text weight;
- number of decimal places;
- a pre-string and a post-string.
A title text is created by Pythagoras to bring the area of a polygon on the

drawing. The position will be the center of gravity of the polygon, and the text
will be centered.
Annotation
The toolbox item "Annotation" ('Tools' → 'Annotation') allows you to create

annotations belonging to polygons and points.
Polygon annotations include:

- Perimeter
- Area
- Comment (information linked with the polygon).
Annotations for lines and paths:

- The horizontal length.
- The slope length.
- The difference in elevation between the end points.
- The gradient.
- The bearing (only for lines).
The menu item "Horizontal length" can also be used to annotate the
horizontal distance between two points that are not connected to one
another with a line, or to annotate the perpendicular distance between a
point and a line.
All elements of a path will be annotated in one operation.
Point annotations include:

- Point number.
- The elevation of the point.
- Information linked with the point.
- The coordinates of the point.
Arcs and circles can have the radius and the center angle.
With the exception of "Comment" all other annotations can also be created
using the tool "Dimension". In contrast with "Dimension", the items are not
grouped but create individual text objects.
Create Viewport
Creating a Viewport ('Tools' → 'Create Viewport') allows you to copy a part

of the drawing in the same or in a different scale.
To create a Viewport, select the menu option ('Tools' → 'Create Viewport'),

and then click and drag a rectangle over the area that you would like to
appear in the Viewport.
By moving the cursor to the center of the Viewport, a cross appears, and the
Viewport can be clicked and dragged elsewhere on the drawing. Clicking
and dragging (the little hand) elsewhere in the Viewport, allows you to "pan"
inside the Viewport.
Zooming in and out can be done using the zoom function or by holding down
the CTRL-key while scrolling with the mouse button.
The size of the Viewport can be changed by clicking and dragging the border
or corners of the Viewport.
Right-clicking on the Viewport and selecting Properties, allows you to

change certain properties, such as the scale, the shape of the viewport
(rectangle or ellipse), whether you would like the border of the viewport to be
visible or not, or whether you would like a different View to apply to this
Viewport (a different view than the main drawing View).
Private Tool
This is a part of VBA.

A private tool ('Tools' → 'Private Tool') allows the user to send mouse-
actions to macros (also referred to as Event-macros). These macros can
then perform a certain function.
When Pythagoras is in "Private Tool" mode, it will search for "event macros"
and execute them immediately.
For more details, please refer to the "Pythagoras VBA manual" (you can find
it on www.pythagoras.net in "Downloads → Product Manual" section).

Chapter 4: The Format Menu
The 'Format' menu contains commands acting on selected objects.
Commands in the 'Format' menu will be enabled when one or more objects
of the corresponding type are selected.
Attributes
Copy
A selection of objects can easily be modified into a specific "look". All you
need to do is select an object, then select "copy" in this menu ('Format' →
'Attributes' → 'Copy'). The attributes (properties) of the selected object will
then be applied as the currently active attributes.
Paste
Using this menu option ('Format' → 'Attributes' → 'Paste'), the attributes that
are currently active will be pasted to (applied to) the selected objects.
Note: These copy & paste commands can also be accessed by clicking the right mouse button.
[List of User Defaults]
You can also apply User Default attributes to objects that are already in the
drawing. All you need to do is select the objects, then select the appropriate
User Default in this menu ('Format' → 'Attributes' → User Default). All
selected objects will change their "look" and will receive the attributes of the
chosen User Default.
Data
Copy
Database information linked to a selected object can also be copied into

other objects. All you need to do is select an object, and then select "copy" in
this menu ('Format' → 'Data' → 'Copy').
Paste
Using this menu option ('Format' → 'Data' → 'Paste'), the database

information that has been copied to the clipboard will be pasted to the
selected objects.
Reference The Format Menu 115

Note: These copy & paste commands are also accessible by clicking the right mouse button.
Point Style
The 'Point Style' command ('Format' → 'Point Style') changes the style of the
selected points to one of the following point styles:
 Hidden: a point will be visible on the screen, but it will not be printed
or plotted.
 Cross (+),
 X Cross (x),
 Slash (/),
 Round Dot,
 Round Dot hollow,
 Rectangle Dot,
 Rectangle Dot hollow,
 Triangle;
 Hotspot (used in Symbol creation),

 Reference Point (used in Road design - typical sections),
 Split Point (used in Road design - typical sections).
Library Symbol
This command (‗Format‘ → ‗Library Symbol‘) allows you to choose a symbol

from an existing library as a new style for the selected point.
Document Symbol
This command (‗Format‘ → ‗Document Symbol‘) allows you to choose a

document symbol as a new style for the selected point.
Line Style
The 'Line Style' command ('Format' → 'Line Style') changes the style of the
selected lines to one of the following lines styles:
 Solid,
 Dash,
 Dot,
 Dash Dot,
 Dash Dot Dot.
Library Line Style
This command (‗Format‘ → ‗Library Line Style‘) allows you to choose a line
style for the selected lines from an existing library.
Document Line Style
This command (‗Format‘ → ‗Document Line Style‘) allows you to choose a

document line style for the selected lines.
Line Width
The 'Line Width' command ('Format' → 'Line Width') changes the width of
the selected lines.
A number of values are proposed in the menus, but any value can be
entered manually in the entry field, ranging from 0.01 mm to 2.55 mm, in
increments of 0.01 mm.
Line Arrows
When you want to create lines or arcs with arrows at the endpoints, you
select 'Line Arrows' in the menu 'Defaults'. New constructed lines and arcs
will have arrows at the endpoints. You can suppress an arrow at one or both
endpoints if you keep the SHIFT key pressed while you confirm the
concerning point.
To draw lines without arrows, you need to reset 'Line Arrows' in the menu
'Defaults'.
To add or delete arrows on an existing line, select the line and the
endpoint(s) that you want to change. Then, select 'On' or 'Off' in the menu
'Format' → 'Line Arrows'. You can only change the line arrows if you also
select the endpoints of the line.
Note: Pressing the SHIFT-key when you confirm the second point of a line or
arc, will start a new line or arc. This can be very practical if you want to
draw a series of connected lines or arcs, with only arrows at the starting
point and at the endpoint of the polyline. If you want to draw a single
line (arc) with one arrow, start at the end without arrow, while holding
down the SHIFT-key and release the SHIFT-key while confirming the
other end.

Curvature
With this command ('Format' → 'Curvature') you set the curvature of the
curve. The smooth factor can be set from 0 to 10. A curvature of 0 results in
straight lines. A curvature of 5 comes close to circular arcs.
Text: Attributes
With the "Text Attributes" command ('Format' → 'Text Attributes…') you can
change one or more text attributes:
 Font: the font currently used.
 Horizontal alignment: left, centered, right.
 Vertical alignment: top, centered, bottom.
 Point size: from 4 up to 1000 points.
 Style: normal or italic.
 Weight: light, medium, bold, extra bold.
If you work with a high resolution printer, these differences in weight
will be noticeable. In case you work with a pen plotter, the result will
depend on what quality of pens you use.
We advise you to make a printing of text in different sizes and
weights. You can use this overview when you make your selections
during drawing.
 Underline: none, single, double, dashed.
 Border: none, single, double.
 Line spacing: small, normal, large.
 Opaque (i.e. non-transparent): yes or no.
This way, objects, which are under texts, can be hidden. When you
use different display levels, an object that is underneath another can
be transparent. So you can totally hide these objects.
 Orientation: horizontal, readable, absolute angle.
The text attributes apply to both regular text and rich text.
Text: Content
This menu ('Format' → 'Text Content…') item allows you to change the
content of selected texts into a new text. This new text can be typed as
usual, or may be selected from a list of pre-defined texts. To pre-define texts,
refer to this topic further in this manual.
Polygon Pattern
The 'Polygon Pattern' command ('Format' → 'Polygon Pattern') changes the

fill pattern of a polygon to one of the following fill patterns:
 no fill pattern,
 horizontal pattern,
 vertical pattern,
 diagonal pattern (upward direction),
 diagonal pattern (downward direction),
 cross pattern,
 single boundary,
 double boundary,
 single boundary (open),
 double boundary (open),
 100% (black),
 75% (dark gray),
 50% (gray),
 25% (light gray),
 12% (very light gray).
When a new polygon is created it will have no fill pattern.
Library Pattern
This command (‗Format‘ → ‗Library Pattern‘) allows you to choose a pattern

for the selected polygons from an existing library.
Document Pattern
This command (‗Format‘ → ‗Document Pattern‘) allows you to choose a

document pattern for the selected polygons.
Polygon
With this command ('Format' → 'Polygon…') you can change the specific
properties (pattern, border, etc.) of the selected polygons.
Note: Double clicking on a polygon allows you to you change more

properties (layer, color, etc.)
Scale
Symbol
The 'Format' → 'Scale' → 'Symbol…' command allows you to scale a symbol

in the x- and y-direction. Negative values can be entered to mirror the
symbol.

The value entered is an absolute value, unless you check the "Relative
scale" option. This makes sure that the symbols enlarge or shrink by a
specific percentage in reference to their current size, and not in reference to
their original size.
Text
The 'Format' → 'Scale' → 'Text…' command scales the text of the selected
objects. When the Scale Text command is selected, a dialog box will appear
requesting the scale factor. The scale factor is a percentage of the actual
point size.
When a factor smaller than 100 is entered, the point size of the selected text
will be reduced. When a factor greater than 100 is entered, the point size of
the selected text will be enlarged. For example: factor = 200, point sizes will
be doubled.
Note: The scaled point sizes will remain between 4 point and 1000 point, and
the values will be rounded to valid integer values. So rescaling of text
does not necessarily reproduce the same point sizes.
Scaling of all text of the drawing or portions of it is useful when you want to
make a copy of your original drawing on a different scale.
Image
The 'Format' → 'Scale' → 'Image…' command can be used to scale an

image. For more information see PART II → Chapter 1: → Import: Image.
scale" option. This makes sure that the images enlarge or shrink by a
Line
Using the 'Format' → 'Scale' → 'Line…' command you can scale the pattern
of the selected line. This way you can make the patterns of your line visible
when a line is too short by reducing the scale factor from e.g. 100% to 25%.
scale" option. This makes sure that the line styles enlarge or shrink by a
Polygon Pattern
With the 'Format' → 'Scale' → 'Pattern…' command you can scale a pattern.
scale" option. This makes sure that the patterns enlarge or shrink by a
Align
Pattern
The fill pattern of selected polygons can be aligned according the active user
coordinate system ('Format' → 'Align' → 'Pattern').
The fill pattern will be aligned with the direction of the active user coordinate
system. The origin of the fill pattern will correspond with the origin of the
coordinate system.
Note: Only polygons with user defined patterns can be aligned.
Text
The 'Format' → 'Align' → 'Text' command aligns the selected text according
to the active user coordinate system
Symbol
The 'Format' → 'Align' → 'Symbol' command aligns the selected text

according to the active user coordinate system
Note: this operation is only possible if the symbol had the rotatable
characteristic set when creating it.
Image
Using the menu option 'Format' → 'Align' → 'Image' you can align the
selected images in reference to the active coordinate system.
Layer
The 'Layer' command ('Format' → 'Layer…') moves the selected objects to

the indicated layer.
Display Level
With the 'Display Level…' command ('Format' → 'Display Level…') you can
set the selected objects to a specific display level or increase or decrease
the actual level by a specific value, so that the mutual relation is maintained.

Color
The 'Color' command ('Format' → 'Color') will change the color of all selected
objects to the indicated color. You can either select colors from the color
chart that pops up, enter the corresponding color number, enter the RGB
(Red, Green, Blue) value of the color, or enter the HSL (Hue, Saturation,
Luminance) value of the color.
Operation
Renumber Points
You have 3 choices ('Format' → 'Operation' → 'Renumber Points…'):
 Renumbering of points starting from a given number. If renumbering

would create points with an existing number, a warning message is
given. Then renumbering can be either aborted or continued.
When one or more polygons are selected, the points making up the
polygon will also be renumbered. However, their sequence will not be
random, but the numbering will be in ascending order in the same
sequence as the points appear in the polygon.
 Clear point numbers. The point numbers of the selected points will be
removed.
 Increment (numeric) point numbers. The existing point numbers will

be incremented by the given value.
Coordinate List
A list of the coordinates (in the active coordinate system) will be created in
Page Coordinates in the bottom-right corner of the page after you select
'Format' → 'Operation' → 'Coordinate List'. The appearance and the
attributes of the Coordinate List can be set with the dialog box "Preferences"
('Defaults' → 'Preferences…' → 'Annotation' → 'Coordinates').
The Coordinate list can be edited in Pythagoras using the Rich text editor. In
addition, it has a table format and can be copy-pasted into any spreadsheet
and/or word-processing program.
Polygon List
A list of the selected polygons will be created in Page Coordinates in the

bottom-right corner of the page after selecting Format' → 'Operation' →
'Polygon List'. This list contains the description (the object comment) of each
polygon, and its area. The units and attributes of the Polygon List can be set
with the dialog box "Preferences".
The Polygon list can be edited in Pythagoras using the Rich text editor. In
addition, it has a table format and can be copy-pasted into any spreadsheet
and/or word-processing program.
Adjust Elevation
Selecting this menu item ('Format' → 'Operation' → 'Adjust Elevation…') will

change the elevation of all selected points. Depending on the selection you
make in the dialog box, the points will either get a fixed elevation (Z) or the
elevation will be adapted with the value entered (dZ).
Change Comment
Selecting this menu item ('Format' → 'Operation' → 'Change comment…')

will display a dialog box, allowing you to enter new object information. All
selected objects will get this comment.
Annotation
This menu option ('Format' → 'Operation' → 'Annotation') annotates the

selected objects.

Chapter 5: The Defaults Menu
The defaults menu allows you to change defaults used by other Pythagoras
commands.
Snap
This menu ('Defaults' → 'Snap') is used to determine the behavior of the

cursor in Pythagoras.
By default, Pythagoras will snap to any object. Using this menu, you can turn
on or off snapping to specific objects.
User Defaults
This menu ('Defaults' → 'User default') allows you to select either the
standard defaults (None), or one of your user defaults. A user default may
overwrite one or more attributes of the standard defaults.
The creation of User Defaults is described further in this chapter, see
Defaults: User Defaults Manager below.
Point Style - Line Style - Line Width – Line Arrows
The above commands change the default settings of the point, line and text
attributes.
These defaults will be used when a new point or line is created using the
'Tools' commands.
Library Symbols / Line Style - Document Symbols / Line Style
These menu items allow you to select the default point symbol and line style
from the document or library.
Text
The above command ('Defaults' → 'Text…') changes the default settings of

the text attributes.
An exception is the "Annotation" command ('Tools' → 'Annotation'). The

default text attributes of text created by the "Measurement" command
Reference The Defaults Menu 125

('Tools' → 'Dimension') will depend on the defaults set with the Preferences
command ('Defaults' → 'Preferences…').
Polygon
With this command ('Defaults' → 'Polygon…') you can change the defaults of
the polygon properties.
Display Level
The default level for new objects can be set with this command ('Defaults' →
'Display Level'). You can set this value from –10 to 10.
Color
This command ('Defaults' → 'Color') allows you to change the default color.
All new objects created interactively will obtain the default color.
You can either select colors from the color chart that pops up, enter the
corresponding color number, enter the RGB (Red, Green, Blue) value of the
color, or enter the HSL (Hue, Saturation, Luminance) value of the color.
Defaults
User Defaults Manager
A "User Default" ('Defaults' → 'Defaults' → 'User Default Manager…')

specifies attributes for objects (points, lines, color, layer, etc.), which
overwrite the standard defaults when the User Default is selected.
You may define up to 256 user defaults.
In the dialog box "User Default Manager" you may create a new default by
entering a name and click on the "New" button. Next you define e.g. the
point, line, text and polygon attributes. When no value for an attribute is
given, the standard default will be used. Entering a value for an attribute will
disable the standard value (menu "Defaults").
[List of User Defaults]
You can also apply an existing User Default by selecting it from the list in this
menu ('Defaults' → 'Defaults' → User Default).
Note: This function can also be accessed by clicking the right mouse button.
Restore
You may return any time to the start-up defaults by selecting "Restore"
('Defaults' → 'Defaults' → 'Restore').
Save
During the start up Pythagoras, the following default attributes will be

initialized:
 Point style,
 Symbol,
 Line attributes (style, width, etc.),
 Text attributes (size, style, position),
 Color.
These default values are saved in the file PYTHAGOR.DEF.

When you want other start-up defaults, you first set all attributes in the menu
'Defaults' to your preferred value, and subsequently you select 'Save'
('Defaults' → 'Defaults' → 'Save').
Document Defaults
Confirm Operation
When creating new objects and "Confirm Operation" ('Defaults' →

'Documents Defaults' → 'Confirm Operation') is "On", Pythagoras will prompt
you to provide location information (coordinates, distance, line length) in the
control panel. When you are creating a survey drawing, "Confirm Operation"
will normally be set "On".
When the exact dimensions are not important, drawing can be faster when
"Confirm Operation" is turned "Off".
You can also turn "On" or "Off" "Confirm Operation", simply by clicking the
OK button: becomes and means "Confirm Operation" off.
Scale of Page Coordinate System
The command "Scale of Page CS…" ('Defaults' → 'Documents Defaults' →

'Scale of Page CS…') will change the scale of the page coordinate system.
When the page coordinate system is active, all dimensions will be calculated
based on the actual scale. The actual scale appears in the control panel.
Next Point Number
The "Next Point Number…" ('Defaults' → 'Documents Defaults' → 'Next

Point Number…') command changes the value used by Pythagoras when
assigning a new point number.
For every new point created interactively, Pythagoras assigns a point
number. This is by default a numerical value, which is increased
incrementally each time a new point is created.

The new point number applies for the active drawing. When a drawing is
saved, the sequence number is stored in the drawing data and will be
restored when you reopen the drawing at a later time.
Incrementing the point number can be done alphabetically and numerically,

and also combining both:
 Only numeric: 100, 101, 102, ...
 Starting with letter(s): ST1, ST2, ST3, ...
 Ending letters: SA, SB, SC, ...
 Letters, Digits, letters: REF15PNT, REF16PNT, REF17PNT, ...
 Digits preceded by zero: 0010, 0011, 0012, S001, S002...
Pythagoras is giving an overview of the free (ranges of) point numbers in the
active drawing.
Bearing of the Drawing
This ('Defaults' → 'Documents Defaults' → 'Bearing of the Drawing') allows

you to enter an absolute orientation for the drawing (corresponding to the
local north).
Set Coordinate Reference System
Menu 'Defaults' → 'Documents Defaults' → 'Set Coordinate Reference

System…' or -icon lets you choose CRS you want to set for your drawing.
By selecting a Coordinate Reference System from the list you give a certain
meaning to the coordinates in your drawing. Those can be either Local or
Global coordinates.
In the lower table you can choose a tie

points set for coordinates transformation,
provided you imported any tie points sets
in the Pythagoras library (see PART II →
Chapter 1: → Tie Points). The table will
list all tie points sets where the first
coordinate (in our case Lambert 2008)
corresponds to the CRS of the drawing.
If there is more than one set, you can

choose the appropriate one in the ‗Name‘
combobox by double-clicking into it.
Only the tie points set which is check

marked in the first ‗Use‘ column will be
used for coordinate transformations in
the drawing.
For every transformation you can choose the desired residual handling:
- None or no smoothing residuals

2
- 1/s : Inverse Distance Weighting method
- NN Area: Natural Neighbours by area method
Preferences
The 'Preferences' command ('Defaults' → 'Preferences…') allows you to

change the preferences for:
 Units
 Representation of annotations
 Date & Time conventions
 Data collector settings
 Coordinate reference systems
 Load texts and conversion tables
 etc.
The Preferences dialog consists of 7 tabs with different sets of parameters,

which are described below more detailed.
Units
Following unit settings can be defined:

 unit of length: km, m, cm, mm, feet, US feet and
miles;
 area measuring system: metric, acres, ha a ca;
 unit of angle: gon, degrees, radians, decimal
degrees, MIL & surveyor;
 positive angle direction: clockwise, anti-clockwise;
 North-East or XY coordinates;
 decimal sign: "," or ".";
 number of decimal places used to represent
coordinates, and dimensions (line lengths, areas in
the dialog boxes (including the control panel), the
drawing and in exported files);
 UTM zone prefix type.
Note: In the control panel WGS84 coordinates are always

displayed either in DEC (degrees decimal), or DMS (Degrees,
minutes, seconds). They are never displayed in GON, RAD or
MIL, so if you choose one of these three units in the
Preferences, the WGS84 coordinates will be displayed in
DEC. If you choose Surveyor, they will be displayed in DMS.
Annotations
You can determine which annotations should be shown

and what should be their layout for the following items:
 Coordinates
 Lines
 Areas
 Elevations
 Point IDs
 Comments
 XY Dimensions

Date and Time
This tab determines the Data & Time ICU formatting

strings:
 Long and short date formats
 Time format
 Field length
 2-digit year notation
More about the ICU date&time standard you can find here:
http://userguide.icu-project.org/formatparse/datetime.
Pythagoras supports formatting of the following items:
 y, M (except MMMMM), d, E (except EEEEE);
 a, h, H, m, s, S;
 unquoted text, text in quotes.
Please pay special attention to the ―Fixed length of fields‖ option. If it is

checked, this means that every item contains exactly as many characters as
is determined by the format above.
For example, we chose the ICU format yyyyMMdd. The current date is
written as 20100214. When decoding this string, Pythagoras cannot
determine whether it is 14-Feb-2010 or 2-Oct-20 with two spare digits. If the
fixed length option is true, this date can be only interpreted as 14-Feb-2010,
but the following string 100214 would be wrong – it contains not enough
digits.
―Fixed length of fields‖ option is not part of the ICU standard, because ICU
defines only the rules to encode date/time strings, but not to decode them.
Data Collector
The following instruments can be selected:

 Coordinate list format,
 Topcon FCTE1, FC-6/GTS-700, GTS-6/GTS-700 (FCTE1), GTS-
6/FC-5/FC-2.
 Leica all models (including
Leica 16-format).
Partial import of a file is
possible because with "File"-
"Import"-"Data collector" you
have the possibility to insert a
from/to point number option.
 Sokkia SDR22/24/26, SDR33,
Powerset and SET 2C/3C/4C.
The order of the coordinates
(NE or XY) for the SDR20
series and the SDR33 in the
stakeout list will depend on the
default setting in Pythagoras at
the moment of export.
 Zeiss Rec500 / Rec Elta, Elta
40R/50R and M5.
 Nikon DTM 300/400 and
700/800 series.
 Geodimeter.
 Pentax R100/R300, Pentax PCS, Pentax ATSTOPO and Pentax
Powertopo.
 Trimble.
 TDS 48.
 3Ta5.
Also you can define the ‗Measurement Mode‘ and the ‗Coding Options‘ for
the data collector.
Station Accuracy
This section allows you to set the accuracy of your total station. This value
will be used by the traverse calculations (see 'Traverse' command), to check
if the errors are within the allowable limits.
The accuracy for both the distance measurements and for angle
measurements may be entered. These values are given in the data sheets of
the total station you use.
Angle measurements: 20 cc = 0.002 GON
Code Description
A separate manual describes the Code Description File ("Pythagoras Coding

Manual", which you can find at www.pythagoras.net). This file defines the
codes, which may be used in a data collector file, their meaning (line, point,
symbol, etc.), and the attributes used by Pythagoras to generate a drawing.
CRS
This tab lets you determines the list of Coordinate reference systems which
you want to view in your drawing.
Load...
In this tab you can load standard texts, comments, conversion tables, and
terms cross-sections and profile.
Standard Texts/ Comments
You can enter often-used texts or comments in a text-file (ASCII format and
load it using this option. The content of the file is then available in the text
functions and the object comment fields of Pythagoras. You simply need to
double click the appropriate text to add it to a text object or to the comment
field. This can save yourself a tremendous amount of typing, if you make
frequent use of the same
texts/comments.
Conversion Table
 Printer: Color to Width

A text-file may be used to
define that colors need to be
converted to a certain pen
width and color during printing.
Data structure:
<color>-
><color>,<width>

or C<colornr>-><name color>,<width>
or C<colornr>->C<colornr>,<width>
or <color>->C<colornr>,<width>
e.g. MAGENTA->BLACK,W5
YELLOW->RED,W7
C2->MAGENTA,W3
C14->BLACK,W14
C36->C14,W10
RED->C25,W20
 Printer: Width to Color

A text-file may be used to define that the line width needs to be
converted to a certain pen color and width during printing.
Data structure:
<width>-><name color>,<width>
or <width>->C<colornr>,<width>
e.g. W1->BLACK,W2
W2->RED,W2
W3->BLUE,W2
W4->C5,W5
W5->C13,W3
 DXF export: Width to Color

In DXF files the width of a line cannot be specified. AutoCAD users
normally use colors to specify line widths. This table can be used to
specify the conversion of line width to color.
Note: You need to take into account that the use of widths is limited: you
can use values from W1 to W20 (=line width 0.1mm tot 2mm).
 DXF Symbols and Layers
Activate the option "Use Conversion Table" when exporting a DXF/DWG file
; Angle Units only applicable for IMPORT !

AUNITS=0 ; 0: Decimal degrees, 2 ; GRADS (GON), 3 = Radials
ANGDIR=1 ; 1: clockwise ,0: counter clockwise
CODEPAGE= 0 ; = AutoCAD DWGCODEPAGE;

; default = 0, dos850: dos code page
DEFAULT_LTYPE = Solid ; Don't forget to indicate the standard

; LTYPE in the LTYPES table.
; This style will be used for all
; linestyles that are not existing in the
; LTYPE table when exporting to a DXF/DWG
; file.
LTYPES(
1=My Linestyles,Fence ; DXF LTYPE name = Pythagoras Linestyle

(Group,Name)
17=My Linestyles,Hedge
18=My Linestyles,Wall
40=My Linestyles,Green
Solid = 0,0 ; 0, x: x means standard linestyle in
; Pythagoras (solid, dot, dash, ...)
)
DEFAULT_BLOCK = Symbdefault
; Don't forget to indicate the standard
; BLOCK in the BLOCKS table.
; This style will be used for all symbols
; that are not existing in ; the BLOCKS
; table when exporting to a DXF/DWG file.
BLOCKS(
Symbdefault = 0,1 ; 0, x: x means standard symbol in

; Pythagoras (round dot, triangle,
; X point, ...)
RoundDot=0,2
RoundDotHollow=0,5
RectDot=0,6
2=0,3
3=My Symbols,Tree
4=0,8
19=My Symbols,Pole
221=0,4
)
LAYERS(
1=W-HR,5,0,Solid ; DXF/DWG LayerName = Pythagoras

; LayerName,Default Color,
; Group Linestyle, Name Linestyle
2=W-AL,5,0,Dash
3=W-HR,5,0,Dot
4=W-AL,5,0,Solid
5=HD-HR,1,My Linestyles,Wall
)
Important remark:
When you print or save your work using conversion, check whether the
options in the "Print" dialog box are set correctly.
Terms Cross-section and Profile
This command loads a file containing terms that will be used for the
descriptions in automatically generated profiles and cross-sections.
You can find an example of such a text-file in the examples folder that is
installed during the installation of Pythagoras ('profiletexts.txt').
Other
In this tab you can some visual

settings for Pythagoras, e.g., switch
the background color to black, turn
on testing for duplicate point
numbers, and specify which
attributes must be taken over when
using copy/paste on an object.
Before, only the layer and comment
where copied (besides the visual
attributes). Now also display level
and point number can be copied as
well.

Chapter 6: The View Menu
The 'View' menu contains menu items, which define how your drawing is
displayed on the graphics screen of your computer.
The toolbox item "Pan" allows you to scroll the page over the drawing in any
direction. Press the mouse button on a location of the drawing, move the
mouse to its new location on the screen (you will notice that the drawing
moves along) and release the mouse button. The visible area of your
drawing will be adjusted accordingly.
While moving the mouse, a dashed line indicates the direction of the
displacement.
The scroll mode can be cancelled by using one of the following keyboard
keys: Escape, Space bar, Enter.
Note: A quick key to enter scroll mode is the "+" key on the numeric keyboard.
You can also scroll using the arrow keys on your keyboard.
Zoom In
With the "Zoom In" command ('View' → 'Zoom In') you can magnify a part of
your drawing on the screen.
When you have selected this command, the shape of the cursor will change
to a magnifying glass with a plus sign at the center. Move the cursor to a
desired starting location (top left, top right, bottom left or bottom right of the
area you want to enlarge), press the mouse button, and move the mouse. A
rectangle on the screen will follow the mouse movements. When the
rectangle encloses the area of the drawing you want to magnify, release the
mouse button.
Note:
 You will zoom in by a factor 2 when you simply click the mouse button
on the position where you want to zoom in.
 When zooming in, symbols are by default magnified by the zooming
factor. The amount of magnification can be set from 0 = no
magnification to 100 = linear magnification.
Pythagoras supports multiple zoom levels. Each time you zoom in

Pythagoras will remember the previous displayed area and the zoom factor.
This information will be used when you zoom out.
With "View-Actual size" you can read the actual scale in the upper left corner
of your screen.
Note: The shortcut key is the ">" key.
Reference The View Menu 135

Zoom Out
With the "Zoom Out" command ('View' → 'Zoom Out') you can reduce the
size of your drawing on the screen.
The "Zoom Out" command will display the area of your drawing using the
zoom factor at the previous zoom level.
Note: Shortcut is "<" key.
Actual Size
This command ('View' → 'Actual Size') will display the drawing on the screen
at the same size as it will be printed.
Note: Shortcut is "=" key.
Fit In Window
This command ('View' → 'Fit In window') will display the complete drawing
on the screen. The parts of the drawing that fall outside the page boundaries
will not be displayed.
Note: Shortcut is "-" key.
Display View
The "Display View" Command ('View' → 'Display View…') allows you to

control the way your drawing is displayed on the screen.
Note: Shortcut is CTRL+I.
A dialog box will appear when you select this command. To define a new
View, click first the "Add View" button and give it a name. Otherwise, the
changes you make will affect the
current view.
The Display View dialog box contains

5 Tab Pages. Define the content of
the just created view by selecting the
preferred options in the Tab Pages:
1. The first Tab Page called

"Layers" allows you to select the
layers that need to be visible.
The visible layers will be

displayed on the screen, layers
not marked visible will be hidden.
Objects in hidden layers cannot
be selected, and you cannot perform any operations on them.
2. The second Tab, called "Show" allows you to specify objects and
attributes that need to be visible:
 point numbers,
 comments,
 point elevations,
 polygon areas,
 texts,
 images,
 special line styles,
 polygon patterns.
When "Show Texts" is selected, all text in the visible layers will be
displayed on the screen. When "Show texts" is not selected, all text
objects will be hidden.
You can only select and drag text when "Show texts" is selected.
Note: When you create a new text object, Pythagoras will automatically
select "Show texts", and the hidden text will be displayed.
When "Show Patterns" is selected, the polygon patterns of all polygons

in the visible layers will be displayed. When "Show Patterns" is not
selected, all polygon patterns will be hidden. However, the polygons in
the visible layers can still be selected and all operations on polygons can
be executed.
Note: When you change the fill pattern of a polygon, Pythagoras will
automatically select "Show Patterns" and all hidden polygon
patterns will be displayed.
When "Show Point Numbers" is selected, the point numbers of all points
in the visible layers will be displayed. The point numbers displayed with
this option are not text objects. The status of "Show Text" does not affect
the visibility of the point numbers.
Note: The Annotation command "Point Number" ('Tools' → 'Annotation' →

'Point Number') will create a text object containing the point number
of the indicated points. The visibility of these point numbers is not
affected by the status of "Show Point numbers".
The same is true for "Show Point Elevations" and "Show Point
Comments".
3. The Tab, called "DTM" allows you to specify certain parameters for
visualizing DTMs (when applicable).

The active DTM can be selected, or a difference between 2 DTMs can
be calculated. You can show the triangulation of the selected DTM in
any color, and you can create a colorized map based either on elevation
on slope of the DTM.
4. The Tab Page "Thematic Maps" allows you to activate thematic maps.
More than one thematic map can be active at a time and all the maps
you select will be visible in the drawing.
5. The Tab Page "Subdocuments" allows you to apply subdocument

configurations.
Legend
This command ('View' → 'Legend') places a Legend of the active Thematic

Map(s) or DTM(s) in the drawing. The size of the Legend can be changed by
clicking and dragging the size of the Legend. The location can be changed
by clicking and dragging the center of the Legend. The properties can be
changed by using a right-mouse click.
When you are satisfied with the way the Legend looks, it can be "Frozen" in
the drawing (Click the right mouse button and select Freeze or select it, then
choose 'View' → 'Legend' → 'Thematic Legend' → 'Freeze').
Object Info
The "Object Info" ('View' → 'Object Info') lets you query the properties of an
object or link an external file to an object. This means that it's possible to
consult external files linked to an object from within Pythagoras, e.g. a
polygon can be linked to a text-file containing cadastral information, etc.
Attributes
The "Attributes" command ('View' → 'Object Info' → 'Attributes…') will bring

up a dialog box containing information about the selected object. The
information about the object can be changed.
Note: Object Info is disabled if none or

multiple objects are selected.
Image
For an image this information is:
 scale image,
 comment,
 layer,
 color,
 intensity,
 invert image,
 horizontal,
 opaque,
 scale factor,
 save changes.
Scale image
a) No scale is entered
If no scale is entered, the image will remain its original size (paper). When
the drawing's scale is changed (print scale), it will not affect the size of the
image; it remains unchanged.
E.g.: Photos,
Situation plans.
b) The original's scale is entered

The image will be displayed in real dimensions. This means that distances
given by Pythagoras correspond with the distances on the field. In case of
changing the print scale, the relation raster info – vector info remains
unchanged. The vector data as well as the raster data will be scaled.
E.g.: Geo referenced maps.
Digitizing of maps (creating drafts).
Color
Only the foreground color of monochrome images (normally black) can be
changed.
Intensity
100 = normal intensity: black remains full black.
50 = half intensity: black becomes gray.
0 = no intensity: everything is white.
Reducing the intensity allows you to enhance the contrast between the
image and the digitized drawing. (The lines, points, patterns, etc. drawn on
top of the image).
Horizontal
Since images can be rotated, they can also - just like text objects - receive
the attribute "Horizontal". This will make sure that the image always remains
horizontal in reference to the page.
Opaque:
This option specifies whether the image is or is not transparent.
Scale Factor (Reduce / enlarge)

An image that has not been scaled (scale factor = 100) will be printed by
Pythagoras at the same size as the original. An image can be scaled either
just to change the size, for example of a picture, or to correct distortions in
the x and/or y direction of the original.
Save changes
The modified image can be saved under another file name. This implies that
the original can't be overwritten. It is possible that the image still is used in
other drawings.
Note:
 This function is also accessible by using the right mouse button;
 the same dialog box can be obtained by double clicking on the object;
 different dialog boxes will pop
up if other objects are selected
(e.g. line, point etc.)
Data
The "Data" command ('View' →

'Object Info' → 'Data…') will pop up a

dialog box that contains database information about the selected object. The
database information about the object can be changed.
Note:
 Object Info is disabled if no (or
multiple) objects are selected;
 the same dialog box can be obtained
by double clicking on the object.
[Info]
The ‗Edit Object‘ dialog box has also a third

tab ‗Info‘, which shows additional information
of all object types. For example, for a
polygon it will be the area, perimeter, and the
list of points and lines forming this polygon.
Open External File
This command ('View' → 'Object Info' → 'Open External File') opens the
external file that is linked to the selected object. The external file can be any
kind of file, such as a MS Word or MS Excel document, another drawing, etc.
Note: This function is also accessible by using the right mouse button
Choose External File
This command ('View' → 'Object Info' → 'Choose External file…') creates the
link between the selected object and a file on your hard disk or URL. The
external file can be any kind of file, such as a MS Word or MS Excel
document, another drawing, etc, or any internet address.
If an object is linked to an external file or URL, it can be opened directly from

within Pythagoras.
Folder External File
With this command ('View' → 'Object Info' → 'Folder External File…') you
specify a folder/directory where you're keeping your linked files. This way
you avoid entering the whole path name in the "Choose external file"
command.
This becomes handy when files are moved to other computer systems. All
files can be saved in one folder/directory so you just need to specify one
folder per drawing.
External File Mode
This option ('View' → 'Object Info' → 'External File Mode') makes it possible
to open files that are linked to objects by double clicking these objects. If no
file is linked to the object, the double clicking will bring up the "Attributes"
dialog box.
Road Design
See PART III: Road Design.
Google Earth
You can view a Pythagoras drawing directly in Google Earth without

exporting it first to a KML file. If you select 'View' → 'Google Earth', a KML
file will be created in a temporary folder and Google Earth will be opened
with this KML file as a parameter.
This menu option is only enabled if conversion to WGS84 coordinates is

possible and any exportable objects (not in PageCS) are selected. All
features are the same as when you export to Google Earth yourself (see
PART II → Chapter 1: → Export: Google Earth).
Toolbars
Active DTM
This menu option ('View' → 'Toolbars' → 'Active DTM') hides or shows the
"Active DTM" toolbar in the control panel.
Configuration
This menu option ('View' → 'Toolbars' → ‗Configuration‘) hides or shows the

"Configuration" toolbar. This toolbar is used to select a different
subdocument configuration than the one that is currently active.
Defaults
This menu option ('View' → 'Toolbars' → 'Defaults') hides or shows the "User
Defaults" toolbar. It is used to activate User Defaults (if they have been
created).
Drawing Tools
This menu option ('View' → 'Toolbars' → 'Drawing Tools') hides or shows the
"Drawing Tools" toolbar in the control panel.

Layers
This menu option ('View' → 'Toolbars' → 'Layers') hides or shows the

"Layers" toolbar. This toolbar is used to select the active layer.
Macro Library
This menu option ('View' → 'Toolbars' → 'Macro Library') hides or shows the
"Macro Library" toolbar, which allows you to activate a Macro Library.
Sheet
This menu option ('View' → 'Toolbars' → 'Sheet') hides or shows the "Sheet"
toolbar. This toolbar allows you to make a sheet active.
Snap Info
This menu option ('View' → 'Toolbars' → 'Snap Info') hides or shows the
"Snap Info" toolbox. It allows you to view and change the status of snapping
to specific object types.
Standard
This menu option ('View' → 'Toolbars' → 'Standard') hides or shows the

"Default" toolbar. This toolbar contains items such as the icons to create a
new document, to open an existing document, undo/redo, etc.
Subdocument
This menu option ('View' → 'Toolbars' → 'Subdocument') hides or shows the

"Subdocument" toolbar. This toolbar is used to select a different
subdocument than the one that is currently active.
View
This menu option ('View' → 'Toolbars'

→ 'View') hides or shows the ‗View‘
toolbar. This toolbar is used to select a
different view than the one that is
currently active.
Customize Toolbars…
This menu option ('View' → 'Toolbars'

→ ‗Customize Toolbars…‘) invokes a
dialog that allows you to manage existing toolbars and create your own.
The first tab ‗Toolbars‘ contains the list of all available toolbars. You can
toggle the toolbars‘ visibility on and off, dock toolbars to comfortable
positions, change their sequence, and create new toolbars. If you press the
button ‗Reset‘ at any point of time, all custom toolbars will be deleted.
The second tab ‗Buttons‘ allows you to customize the contents of the
toolbars that you created. Add or remove available buttons from the left list
to your toolbar and select the sequence of the buttons in the list on the right.
Drawings in the View Menu
All open drawings will be listed in the View menu. Selecting a drawing in this
menu will make that drawing the active drawing. Its window will become the
top window.

Chapter 7: The Calculations Menu
Intersections
The "Intersections" command ('Calculations' → 'Intersections') calculates the

intersections of all selected lines and adds the resulting points to the
drawing. The point style of intersections is "x-point".
When lines cross each other instead of intersect, the point gets the average
elevation.
Center
The "Center" command ('Calculations' → 'Center') calculates and creates the

center of the selected arcs and circles.
Grid
This command ('Calculations' → 'Grid…') allows you to generate a grid

consisting of points or lines, separated by a pre-defined distance. You can
also have Pythagoras add text next to each point that was created. The
default text is the coordinates in reference to the active coordinate system.
You can change the formatting, layer, color and display level.
Best fit
This command ('Calculations' → 'Best Fit') calculates and creates the best
fitting line, arc or circle (on a DTM). The calculation is based on the least
square method.
Traverse
The "Traverse" command ('Calculations' → 'Traverse') calculates the

precision, the errors of closure and the coordinates of a traverse.
The closed traverse and the following 5 cases of open traverses are
provided.
The Traverse dialog box refers to points 0, 1, n and n+1. Point 1 is the
starting point of the traverse and point n is the end point. Points 0 and n+1
(the reference points) define the orientation of the starting point and the end
point respectively.
Pythagoras provides the following cases:

- points 0 and 1 are known
- points 1 and n are known
- points 0, 1 and n are known
- points 0, 1, n and n+1 are known
- points 0, 1 and n+1 are known
The traverse dialog box is adapted to the case you select. Before starting to
give in the traverse data, you need to fill in the coordinates of the starting
point, the end point and of the orientation points. If these points exist in the
active drawing, you may enter the point numbers. Pythagoras will display the
coordinates.
When all points are entered, you may continue to enter the traverse data.
Using the "<" and ">" button, you can scroll through the data you have
entered, and the input data can be edited.
Once all data has been entered, the coordinates of the traverse points will
be calculated. Pythagoras calculates the precision and the errors of closure
(if applicable for the given type of traverse), and the results will appear in the
dialog box.
With the "close" check boxes you can control whether the coordinates of the
traverse will be unclosed, partially closed or totally closed.
The "Create Points" button will create all points of the traverse on the
drawing.
Intersection
The "Intersection" command ('Calculations' → 'Intersection…') calculates the

point of intersection for the following situations:
 Angle - Angle: calculates the point of intersection of two lines given a
point on, and the angle of, each line.
 Distance - Distance: calculates the point of intersection of two lines given
a point on each line and the distance from the point to the intersection.
 Angle - Distance: calculates the point of intersection of two lines given a
point on each line, the distance from the point to the intersection of one
line, and the angle of the other.
When the coordinates of the points named P1 and P2 in the Intersection

dialog box are entered, you select the type of intersection and you fill in
bearing(s) and/or distance(s).
When the "Calculate" button is pressed, the point (or points) of intersection is
(are) calculated. When two solutions are found, you can select one of the
solutions.
The point of intersection may be created on the drawing using the "Create
Point" button.
Resection
The "Resection" command ('Calculations' → 'Resection…') calculates the

location of an unknown point from three known points and angles.
When the coordinates of the points named P1, P2 and P3 in the Resection
dialog box are entered, you can enter the angles P1-P2 and P1-P3. The
resulting point may be created on the drawing using the "Create Point"
button.
Reference The Calculations Menu 145

Transformation
2 points
The "Transformation" function of Pythagoras ('Calculations' →

'Transformation' → '2 Points…') allows you to define the transformation
between the local coordinate system which is the default coordinate system
and a second coordinate system called the global coordinate system (see
PART I → Chapter 1: Coordinate Systems).
With the "Look up coordinates" button, points with identical point numbers
will be searched for in another drawing. The coordinates of the points found
in the other drawing will automatically be inserted in the dialog box.
Use the button "Scale" in order to change the scale of the complete drawing
so that the local and global coordinates of both points defining the
transformation match exactly.
A global coordinate system is used if you want to copy and paste between
two drawings with a different local coordinate system.
Defining transformation parameters
With a translation without rotation (P1=P2):
P1 and P2 must contain the same coordinates. First you need to fill in the
coordinates of the local system and then those of the global system. This
results in a parallel displacement of the coordinate system
With a translation with rotation (P1≠P2):
In this case you need to enter the coordinates of two points whose
coordinates are known in both the local and global coordinate system.
The new calculated coordinate system will be active when the OK button is
pressed.
Helmert transformation
This command ('Calculations' → 'Transformation' → 'Helmert

transformation…') allows you to calculate the best transformation, starting
from several points whose coordinates are known in another coordinate
system. This calculation is often useful. For example it could be required to
transform a drawing to some standardized land coordinate System (e.g.
State-Plane). If the coordinates of at least 3 points are known in the other
coordinate system, the function "Helmert transformation" will calculate the
best transformation parameters.
Select the points whose coordinates are known and select the menu item
'Calculations' → 'Transformation' → ‗Helmert transformation…'. The number
of points is not limited, The Transformation dialog box will display the
selected points and their local coordinates. Enter the coordinates in the new
coordinate system (or load them from a file using ‗Load from File‘ button)
and calculate the transformation. Pythagoras will calculate the parameters
based on the least square method.
Using the "Look up XY coordinates"
button, Pythagoras will search for points
that have identical point numbers in
another drawing. The coordinates of the
points found in the other drawing will
automatically be inserted in the dialog
box.
You can define whether a transformation

scale parameter should be calculated by
Pythagoras. It is also possible to define a
scale parameter. Pythagoras will display
the transformation parameters: scale,
dX, dY, and the rotation angle Fi. Also
the standard deviation is shown. If the
maximum tolerance is known,
Pythagoras will indicate the points that
are outside the maximum tolerance.
Points that need to be removed from the
calculation can be deselected.
You can also choose to smooth out residuals. There are two options: Natural
2
Neighbors by Area (NN Area) and Inverse Distance Weighting (1/s ). These
smoothing methods are described in PART I → Chapter 1: → Tie Points.
After the calculation is complete and you are content with the result, you can
save it to a file as a
- Rich text table (.rtf),
- Webpage table (.html),
- Text table separated with comma (.csv), semicolon or tabs (.txt).
Affine transformation
The command 'Calculations' → 'Transformation' → 'Affine transformation …'

provides you a tool to calculate the affine transformation, starting from
several points whose coordinates are known in another coordinate system.
Select the points whose coordinates are known and select the menu item
'Calculations' → 'Transformation' → ‗Affine transformation…'. This dialog box
is very similar to the previous Helmert transformation. Enter the coordinates
in the new coordinate system (or load them from a file) and calculate the
transformation. Pythagoras will calculate the parameters based on the least
square method.
Using the "Look up XY coordinates" button, Pythagoras will search for points
that have identical point numbers in another drawing. The coordinates of the
points found in the other drawing will automatically be inserted in the dialog
box.
In this transformation you cannot define any parameters, they will be

calculated by Pythagoras and shown in the dialog box: scale X and Y, dX,
dY, rotations angles Fi X and Fi Y, and the standard deviation. If you give
the maximum tolerance, Pythagoras will indicate the points that are outside
the maximum tolerance. Points that need to be removed from the calculation
can be deselected.
Again, you can choose to smooth out residuals either with the Natural
2
Neighbors by Area (NN Area) or with the Inverse Distance Weighting (1/s )
methods.

Adjust Elevation
This command ('Calculations' → 'Adjust Elevation…') allows you to adjust

the elevation of all objects in the drawing. The height difference can be
defined by entering the number of a point in the drawing. Pythagoras will
display its elevation and subsequently you must enter the new elevation of
this point. If for example the new elevation of a point is 7m and the original
elevation is 4.8m, then the elevation of all objects in the drawing will be
increased by 2.2m.
To other CRS
This command ('Calculations' → 'to other

CRS…') allows you to transform one CRS to
another using a Tie Points set if applicable.
DTM
Terrain Model
The command "Terrain model" ('Calculations' → 'DTM' → 'Terrain Model…')

calculates a Delaunay triangulation.
After having selected the points, lines, arcs and maybe a

polygon, you call the "Terrain model ..." in the menu
"Calculations". Now you can enter a name for the terrain
model.
Complexity of the DTM (the number of triangles) can be

reduced if a certain error is acceptable. The tolerance (error)
is defined as a function of the distance of the point to the
endpoints of the triangle the point lies in. For smaller error
values, frequent peaks are omitted, but the general trend for
increasing elevation is noticed. For larger error values, on
the contrary, all the frequent terrain changes will be noticed
and not the smooth elevation changes.
Once a Terrain model has been calculated, the control panel will show the
elevation on the position of the cursor in the drawing.
A Terrain model can be deleted by clicking the "Delete" button in the Terrain
Models manager described in PART II → Chapter 1: → Terrain models.
You can hide a terrain model by deselecting the 'Show Triangulation' check
box in the 'DTM' Tab Page from "Display View" dialog box.
Combine 2 Terrain Models
You can use this command ('Calculations' → 'DTM' → 'Combine 2 Terrain

Models…') to create a third terrain model that is based on the combination of
2 other terrain models. This is useful for calculating cut-and-fill areas.
Remove Boundary Triangles
You can use this command ('Calculations' → 'DTM' → 'Remove Boundary

Triangles…') to remove boundary triangles that have very small angles
and/or edges larger than a given value.
Make Delaunay
This command ('Calculations' → 'DTM' → 'Make Delaunay') recalculates the

Active DTM so that it becomes a Delaunay triangulation.
Note: When a new DTM is made, it is always a Delaunay triangulation. But

when editing a DTM, only the directly affected triangles are changed.
This is mostly the purpose. If anyway you want to make a modified
DTM Delaunay, this command allows you to do it.
This function will make the DTM completely Delaunay without taking into
account
(1) original breaking lines and
(2) any Swap Diagonal operation(s) eventually done.
Pythagoras will give you a warning when you select this command and ask
you for confirmation.
Change Elevation
This command ('Calculations' → 'DTM' → 'Change Elevation') converts DTM

by adding a given value (which can be negative) to the z-coordinates of all
vertexes.
Contour Lines
The command "Contour Lines" ('Calculations' → 'DTM' → 'Contour Lines…')

will generate contour lines based on the selected Digital Terrain Model. The
line style, the equidistant, the color and layer may be specified. The contour
lines will become Pythagoras polyline objects. Any operation on polyline
objects will be applicable to contour lines.
The contour lines will be drawn within the boundaries of the selected Digital
Terrain Model.
To annotate the elevation of a contour line, select the menu item 'Tools' →
'Annotation' → 'Elevation' and click on the contour line.
Volumes
The command "Volumes" ('Calculations' → 'DTM' → 'Volumes…') calculates

the volume within an area defined by the selected polygon. The polygon
defining the boundary for the volume calculation may contain points, lines
and arcs.

Note: If the polygon lies partly outside the terrain model, the volume of the
non-overlapping part will be estimated based on extrapolation of the
DTM.
When a two or more terrain models have been calculated, you can select the
appropriate terrain models from the pop-down-box. When you make this
selection, Pythagoras will calculate the volume between two terrain models.
The result of both the cut and fill will be given.
Click the button "Save Result" when you want to save the result of the last
calculated volume. A text-file will be created with an overview of the volumes
of all cross sections.
This file can be opened quickly by selecting the name of the file in the menu
'File' → 'Open text files'.
You also have the choice to save it in the REB format, but because this
format is only used in Germany we will not go into it.
Cross Section
Along Path
The command 'Calculations' → 'DTM' → 'Cross Section' → 'Along Path' will

calculate and create a profile along a selected path from your drawing
(please refer to PART II → Chapter 3: → Path to create paths).
The initial start value of these accumulated distances can be different from
"0". A new value can be entered in the path's attributes window (by double
clicking on the path or via the menu View – Object Info - Attributes)
You can also add reference objects to the cross-section. Select the
reference objects along with the path, prior to selecting the menu option
'Calculations' → 'DTM' → 'Cross Section' → 'Along Path'. You may also want
to refer to the section of the tutorial that covers this topic.
Perpendicular to Path
The command 'Calculations' → 'DTM' → 'Cross Section' →

'Perpendicular to Path' will calculate and create a number
of profiles perpendicular to the selected path from your
drawing (please refer to PART II → Chapter 3: → Path to
create paths).
The appearing dialog box will allow you to enter some
personal settings that will be applied.
Layout of the result drawing:
The calculated profiles will be pasted automatically in a

new drawing and they will be put on the clipboard as well.
Use the "Paste" or "Paste Special" command to insert the
profiles in an existing drawing.
The chosen parameters in the "Layout of the result drawing" will be applied
to the new drawing.
The button 'Select prototype drawing…' allows you to select an existing

(prototype) document in which the profiles need to be pasted.
Chainage and Step:

Here you can specify which part of the selected path should be used for the
calculation of the sections. Pythagoras will take the limits from the path as
default values. Also the number of steps can be entered, this is the
intermediate distance between 2 profiles.
Layout of a cross section:
The button "Cross Section Parameters" allows you to select the terrain
models to be shown in the calculated sections. You can choose to display a
DTM in the profile itself and/or in the legend under each profile.
Add sections on plan:
All generated profiles can be indicated on your original drawing. Lines

perpendicular to the selected path will be generated, with our without profile
numbers. The attributes of these lines can be specified by clicking on the
"Attributes…" button after activating the "Add sections on plan" checkbox.
The attributes of the section lines can be specified in the next dialog box.
3D-View
The command 'Calculations' → 'DTM' → '3D-View' will generate a

perspective view of the active Terrain model. When you select this
command, the cursor changes in a camera symbol. First, click in the drawing
on the viewpoint for the perspective. You do not need to click on an existing
point. You enter the height of the camera in the z value of the control panel.
Then click a second time on the drawing to indicate the view direction.
Again, you don't need to select an existing point and you can insert a height.
Now the viewing angle and direction are specified. A dialog box appears and
you can select the number of grid lines and change the scale of the level
axis.
There are two kinds of models:

1. a "Lines" model,
2. a "Grid" model.
The first model will appear during construction. If you click within the 3D
model, your actual drawing will reappear. During the calculation of the
second kind of model, a progress indicator will come up indicating the
progress of the calculations.
You can cancel the calculation by pressing the ESC-key. The 3D View is
placed on the clipboard. Use "Paste" or "Paste Special" to paste the 3D View
in the current drawing or in a new drawing.
Remarks:
 The grid lines are drawn as Pythagoras polyline objects.
 A 3D View can only be calculated of terrain model with a maximum of
50000 points.
Slope Intercept
This command ('Calculations' → 'DTM' → 'Slope intercept') allows you to

calculate a slope intercept. The selected path indicates the top or bottom of
the slope intercept. You have the choice to calculate a slope intercept, which
connects to the terrain at a fixed slope or a slope intercept with a fixed
distance.

Connection to the terrain
A slope intercept can be connected to:
- a horizontal plane
- an existing terrain model
Left-Right
You have the choice of calculating the slope intercept either left or right of
the selected path.
Gradient
The gradient of the slope intercept both upwards and downwards needs to
be given.
Step or Cross Section

The step is the distance of points on the path used to calculate the
connection points of the slope intercept. A small step will yield a more
precise result. A very small step could yield too many points when the path
contains arcs.
Maximum width
The calculated connection point will not be generated on the drawing if the
distance to the path is larger than the maximum width.
Slope Area
To calculate a 2 and/or 3-dimensional area, simply calculate the DTM,

specify the perimeter of the area by creating a polygon, and select the menu
option 'Calculations' → 'DTM' → 'Slope Area…'.
A dialog window will pop up that specifies both 2D area (horizontal area) and
3D area.
Note: If the polygon lies partly outside the terrain model, the slope area will
be estimated.
PART III Road Design
Reference Road Design 153

Chapter 1: Concepts
Start with (a combination of) a line, an arc, a path (no spline!) to activate
'Road Design' from the 'View' menu. To activate an existing road project,
hold down the letter 'R' while selecting the road. A path with a profile created
in Pythagoras v11 will be automatically converted to a road in Pythagoras
v12.
Pythagoras has 3 special windows: the "Profile" window, the "Plan" window
and the "Cross Section" window, each with their own control panels. All
windows can be viewed simultaneously.
The Plan Window
The plan window displays the horizontal alignment of the road and the
existing terrain in plan view. Points and lines selected as reference objects
are displayed in the plan window. These reference objects can be fixed
points and lines that need to be taken into account when the horizontal
alignment is being designed.
In the plan window you design the horizontal alignment of the new road axis.
More specifically, you define the horizontal transitions and intersection
points. Those transitions can either contain straight lines, arcs and splines.
The Control Panel
The control panel constantly displays the information about the horizontal
alignment at the position of the cursor in the plan window.
When the cursor comes near an object (intersection point, transition object
or reference object), the control panel will display the relevant information
(distance, height and difference in height). When moving the cursor in the
plan window, you will obtain instantly the distance, the inclination and the
data of a horizontal transition at the position of the cursor.
Buttons for the creation of intersection points are provided. Using the control
panel you can define the position of an intersection point exactly.
The Profile Window
The profile window displays the centerline of the road and the existing terrain
in profile according to the station distance. The scale factor can be changed
to exaggerate the elevation difference. Points and lines indicated in the plan
window can also be shown in the profile window. These reference objects
can be fixed points and lines that need to be taken into account when the
profile is being designed. The height of the reference objects may be
changed in the profile window. Therefore, reference objects also can be
objects whose position and height need to be defined in function of the
profile of the road (e.g. sewage, cables, pipes, etc.).
In the profile window you design the new profile. More specifically, you
define the inclinations, the position and parameters of the vertical curves and
the position and type of cross sections and cross section markers.
The vertical curve can be either a circular arc or a parabola. The radius and
the length can be changed at any time.
The Control Panel
The control panel constantly displays the information about the profile at the
position of the cursor in the profile window.
When the cursor comes near an object (intersection point, cross section, or
reference object) the control panel will display the relevant information.
When moving the cursor in the profile window, you will obtain instantly the
distance, the inclination and the data of a vertical curve at the position of the
cursor.
Buttons for the creation of intersection points and cross sections are
provided. Using the control panel you can define the position of an
intersection point exactly. Similar to the use of the control panel in the plan
window of Pythagoras, you can enter the distance, the elevation or the
inclination left or right. Also the exact position of a cross section is defined by
using the control panel.
The Cross Section Window
The Cross section window displays the cross section at the position of the
cursor in the profile window. The cross section window displays the existing
terrain, the cross section, the slopes, the superelevation and the reference
objects. By moving the cursor slowly from left to right over the profile
window, the cross-sections will be displayed as in a movie. This is very
helpful during design.
The Control Panel
The type of typical cross section can be selected from the control panel.
The control panel allows entering the values for topsoil calculations.
Typical Cross Sections
You design a typical cross section by making a drawing of it in a Pythagoras

document. All drawing functions can be used. Therefore, a typical cross
section can contain lines, arcs, fill patterns and text. The centerline of the
road, reference points and slope intercept points must be indicated. A typical
cross section can be saved either as a document or a library typical cross
section. Offset, width and slope should be entered if you want to apply
superelevation on your cross section.
When the elevation heights in a road become too large, Pythagoras will
automatically adjust (and round) the reference level when calculating cross
sections to obtain a clear and organized result.

Finishing profiles and cross sections
When the design is completely finished, Pythagoras can generate a detailed

drawing of the longitudinal section. This drawing is placed on the clipboard
and will be pasted in a new drawing as well. If required you can adapt the
drawing or add some additional information. You have the choice to place all
or some of the following information in the detailed drawing: the distance,
existing terrain, the information of the vertical curves, the height and position
of the reference objects.
You can also obtain a detailed drawing of each cross section defined in the
profile window. The distance relative to the centerline of the road, the height
of the existing terrain, the height of the design and eventual reference
objects can be placed in the detailed drawing.
It is possible to select more cross sections (holding down SHIFT while

selecting the cross sections) and put these in one drawing. The positions of
cross sections and section numbers are indicated in the plan window on the
road.
Chapter 2: Menu Items
Chapter 2: Menu Items

The Road Design mode has a menu similar to the main menu of Pythagoras.
Here we provide a detailed description of the menu functions.
1. File Menu
The file menu is used to organize your Road Design projects.
New
The New command creates an empty drawing in a new window.
Open
The Open command opens a drawing and displays it on your screen.

When Open is selected the standard "Open" dialog box will appear.
To open a drawing, either select the drawing you want to open and click the
"Open" button, or double-click the name of the drawing.
If you want to have more information on the possibilities of the "Open" dialog
box, consult the Windows manual.
Close Road Design
The "Close Road Design" command closes the road design.
Save
The "Save" command saves the active drawing and the accompanying
profiles on disk using the filename displayed on top of the window. If it was a
new drawing, a dialog box appears requesting the name of the new file.
The profile information (the profile and its attributes, reference objects, etc.)
are saved together with the information of the path to which the profile
belongs.
Open text files
This command allows opening new or existing text files in the Pythagoras
text editor.
Make Profile
The "Make Profile" command creates a dressed up drawing of the profile on

the clipboard of the computer.
In addition, the dressed up profile becomes an independent drawing. With
the editing functions of Pythagoras you can make any changes you need.
When "Make Profile" is selected, a dialog box will appear. You can enter the
following information:
 Height of the reference elevation,

 From chainage
 To chainage
 Floating
 Reference level
 X-scale,
 Y-scale,
 Annotations you would like included on the dressed up drawing,
 DTM.
To generate a profile that does not cover the complete road, the chainages
in From and To fields indicate starting and ending chainage of the profile
section that must be generated.
If "Floating" is switched on, the requested referenced level will be applied if

the lowest part of the profile, including references, and DTM, is in a band
that lies between 2 and 10 cm (paper dimensions) above the reference level.
If the profile is outside this band, the reference level will be calculated by the
program.
Make Cross Section
This menu item is enabled if one or more cross sections are selected in the
profile window.
The "Make Cross Section" command creates a dressed up drawing of the
cross section(s) on the clipboard of your computer. The clipboard content
will be pasted automatically in a new drawing. With the editing functions of
Pythagoras you can make any changes you need.
When "Make Cross Section" is selected, a dialog box will appear. You can
enter the following information:
 the height of the reference elevation,
 the width of the drawing,
 the scale,
 the annotations you want to have on the dressed up drawing,
 DTM.
The field "Width" gives the total

width of the dressed up cross
section. It is obvious that the width
must be large enough to display the
connection of the cut or fill slopes
with the terrain.
When multiple cross sections are

selected, a different dialog box
appears. In this dialog box you can
change the reference height, the
width, scale, annotation and DTM,
as well as the lay-out of the
drawing:
 The number of profiles on a raw,
 Distance of the profiles,
 Prototype drawing.
Convert to drawing
This function provides the automatic drawing of all calculated data (like road
axis, reference points, slope intercepts,…) in the plan view. You can also
create stake out points automatically. All you have to do is check the
checkboxes of the appropriate elements you want to create.
The properties of the objects you want to create can be set in the dialog box
that pops up after selecting this tool in the menu.
Following settings can be made:
 Line style,
 Line width,
 Color,
 Layer.
You can also set the precision of the calculation. There are two possibilities:
 With a given number of steps,
 With a distance between the theoretical profiles.
It is obvious that the higher the number of steps or the lower the distance
between the profiles, the more precise the result will be.
Remark: After you make your design and you click in the menu 'File' →
'Convert to drawing' WHILE pressing the CTRL key. This is not the
normal way but the result is mathematically better with CTRL key
pressed. The road objects are split up into arcs, spirals and
tangents in the ground plan. Without CTRL key, those are
converted into a spline (containing only straight lines), but you will
be able to give colors, layers, etc. to the splines.
All elements from your design will be included in your ground plan drawing.
Distances and angles can be measured; the drawing can be exported to
DXF/DWG.
Quit
The "Quit" command closes all the windows on your screen and ends the
Pythagoras session. If you have made changes to the drawing but have not
saved them, Pythagoras will present a dialog box for each non-saved
drawing.
When you quit, Pythagoras saves all session information to a file. The
session information file (PYTHAGOR.DEF) contains the defaults and
preferences that were set at the moment you quit Pythagoras. The next time
you start Pythagoras this session information will be restored.
2. Edit Menu
The 'Edit' menu allows executing some standard operations like "Undo" and
"Redo" and has in addition typical Pythagoras menu items.
Undo
The "Undo" command restores the profile to the state prior to the last
executed editing command.
Remark: A new editing command after "Undo" will clear the "undone" editing
commands from the undo list!
Redo
The "Redo" command reverses the "Undo" command.

Select
The "Select" command allows to select 1 or more cross sections, cross

section markers or all cross sections and cross section markers in the profile
window.
In the plan window the ‗Select‘ command allows to select intersection points,
reference objects and cross section markers.
In the cross section window only intersection points can be selected.
Add Multiple References
The "Add Multiple References…" command launches the intelligent search

engine where you can specify the characteristics of the objects you want to
add to your project as reference objects.
Copy
The "Copy" command copies the selected object(s) to the Pythagoras

clipboard.
Paste
The "Paste" command pastes the objects from the Pythagoras clipboard in a
Pythagoras document.
Delete
The "Delete" command removes the selected objects from the drawing.
Move
The "Move" command allows you to move a selected intersection point to

another location.
First you select an intersection point. Next, select the item "Move" in the
'Edit' menu. The shape of the cursor will change. Place the cursor on the
selected intersection point, press the mouse button, and drag the
intersection point to the new position.
3. Tools Menu
The 'Tools' menu allows selecting design tools, as possible from the different
control panels. The content of this menu will vary depending on the activated
view ("Plan", "Profile", "Cross Section").
Select
By choosing the item 'Select' in the 'Tools' menu (or by pressing the
corresponding toolbox button), the program will enter the select mode.
In the "Cross Section" window only intersection points can be selected.

In the "Plan" window intersection points, reference objects and cross section
markers can be selected.
In the "Profile" window you can select intersection points, cross sections
(normal and exceptional) and reference objects:
 Cross sections can only be deleted.
 Intersection points can be deleted or moved.
 Reference objects can be deleted.
When you double-click on an intersection point, you can change the

attributes, namely the position and the parameters of the vertical curve.
When you double-click on a cross section, you can change the type of cross
section.
Intersection Point
The command "Intersection Point" (or pressing the corresponding toolbox

button) allows you to add intersection points in the profile or plan window.
When the position of the intersection point is confirmed, Pythagoras will
automatically create a vertical curve in the profile window or adapt the
horizontal alignment in the plan window.
Depending on the status of the item "Point Confirmation" in the 'Default'
menu, you may need to confirm the position of the intersection point in the
control panel.
In "Profile" Window: When Point Confirmation is on, you can enter the
Distance (dS), the elevation (Z), the inclination left (%L) and right (%R), and
the radius (R) or length(L) of the vertical curve.
The vertical curve will either be an arc of a circle or a parabola depending of
the settings of "Vertical Curve" in the menu 'Default'. When the radius or
length of the vertical curve is not specified, the arc will start in the midpoint of
the shortest leg.
In "Plan" Window: When Point Confirmation is on, you can enter the
horizontal position (X, Y coordinates), the type of transition and depending
on the chosen type parameters like length, radius and K factor.
Type of transition:
 Automatic: formula
V2
R
127(e  f)
where:
R = Radius (m)
V = design speed (km/h)
e = max superelevation in m/m
f = friction
These values can be defined in the menu 'Defaults' – 'Road
characteristics'.
 Discontinuous
 Arc: R
 Sp-Arc-Sp: R, and K-factor:
In this type of transition, the spiral in and spiral out are symmetric.
You only have to define the spiral in.
 Sp-Arc-Sp*: spiral in: R, L and K-factor AND spiral out: R, L and K-
factor
Here the spiral in and spiral out are asymmetric.
 Spiral: R and L

New Cross Section
The command "Cross Section" (or pressing the corresponding toolbox

button), allows you to add cross-sections in the profile.
Click the mouse button at the location where you want to add a cross
section. After confirming its position, a dialog box will appear. You can either
select a document or a library typical section. You can even indicate whether
the cross section is exceptional. This means that this cross section is only
applicable at the location where it is made.
By selecting the toolbox button and clicking on a reference point or

intersection point in the plan window you can create a cross section exact on
that point of the road axe where that intersection point or reference point is
situated. The cross section will be projected perpendicular from that
reference point or intersection point to the road axe.
Cross Section Mark
The command "Cross Section Mark" allows to enter a number of markers on

your profile. It is not possible to specify the type of cross section. Those
markers are used to create cross section drawings on the indicated
positions.
Road Bed
In the menu 'Tools' → 'Road Bed' you can determine the roadbed. A red line
will appear (roadbed) on the cross-section, going from the left slope to the
right one, once you select this tool.
Creating points in the road body does this. Every time you create a point,
you will need to confirm with "OK" or you can adjust the X and Y values. The
X,Y coordinates in this window are relative to the hotspot of the typical
section (hotspot = 0,0)
If you want to cut or fill topsoil, you do the following operations:

 Double click on any point from the road bed (with the normal selection
cursor).
 Enter the values for topsoil cut, fill and bulking factor in the control
panel. By confirming these values you will return to the cross section
window.
 In the control panel you choose the button to indicate the parts of
topsoil that need to be excavated. Click in the cross section window
on those parts that need to be excavated. These parts will be
displayed in brown
Then, if necessary, you can use the button to indicate the parts of
topsoil that need to be filled. These parts will turn green.
By confirming in the control panel, you will return in the cross section
window. In the profile window the cross sections used for cut and fill
calculations will be displayed in brown or black. The brown cross section
means that everything is OK about that cross section: parameters (width,
slope, ...), road bed points and topsoil parameters.
The black one means that there is something wrong about these parameters
and it asks for some verification.
You can also add an exceptional cross section. This is a cross section that
will be used only on that place where it was added (ex). These profiles are
displayed in orange.
Add Reference
The Add Reference command allows to add a single reference object to your
project.
4. Transition Menu
Horizontal
The menu is only available in the plan window.

When an intersection point is selected, the values can be adjusted in the
control panel:
 X and Y coordinates
 Type of transition and characteristics:
o Automatic: formula
V2
R
127(e  f)
where:
R = Radius (m)
V = design speed (km/h)
e = max superelevation in m/m
f = friction
These values can be defined in the menu 'Defaults' → 'Road
characteristics'.
o Discontinuous.
o Arc: R.
o Sp-Arc-Sp: R, and K-factor:
In this type of transition, the spiral in and spiral out are
symmetric. You only have to define the spiral in.
o Sp-Arc-Sp*: spiral in: R, L and K-factor AND spiral out: R, L
and K-factor.
Here the spiral in and spiral out are asymmetric.

o Spiral: R and L.
Superelevation
The transition menu is active when 1

intersection point is selected in the plan
window.
Superelevation can be applied for the whole
road project (See ‗Defaults‘ → ‗Road
Characteristics‘ → ‗Horizontal transitions‘) or
for every transition individually.
Transition type: Spiral-Arc-Spiral
Incoming crossfall: slope of the normal

crown when starting the superelevation
process (cross slope of the road).
Outgoing crossfall: slope of the normal
crown at the end of the superelevation
process (cross slope of the road).
These crossfalls cannot be adjusted in this
window. They were defined when the cross
section was drawn.
Curve in:
Below are some fields where you can steer the superelevation process. You
can indicate the position where the NC should start evolving into HC and
FSE. Those positions are relative to the point where the Tangent converts
into a Spiral (TS), according to the driving direction on the road.
NC – TS: start of superelevation process. Last Normal Crown position

relative to point where Tangent changes into Spiral.
dS: enter distance where process should take place, relative to place where
tangent becomes spiral (=TS).
NC – TS: -20 m means that superelevation process should start 20 m before
TS.
Chainage can be given too, this is a more absolute value.
HC – TS: point where Half Crown should be reached, relative to Tangent to
Spiral point.
FSE – SC: point where Full Super Elevation should be reached, relative to
point where Spiral changes into Curve.
Curve out:
CS – FSE: point where Full Super Elevation is finished and starts evolving
into HC, relative to point where Curve changes into Spiral.
ST – HC: point where HC should be reached, relative to point where Spiral
changes into Tangent.
ST – NC: point where NC should be reached, relative to point where Spiral

Transition type: Arc
Curve in:
NC – TC: start of superelevation process. Last Normal Crown position
relative to point where Tangent changes into Curve.
dS: enter distance where process should take place, relative to place where
tangent becomes curve (=TC).
NC – TC: -20 m means that superelevation process should start 20 m before
TC.
Chainage can be given too, this is a more absolute value.
HC – TC: point where Half Crown should be reached, relative to Tangent to
Curve point.
FSE – TC: point where Full Super Elevation should be reached, relative to
Tangent to Curve point.
Curve out:
CT – FSE: point where Full Super Elevation is finished and starts evolving
into HC, relative to point where Curve changes into Tangent.
CT – HC: point where HC should be reached, relative to point where Curve
CT – NC: point where NC should be reached, relative to point where Curve
Those positions are also reflected in the Plan Window and in the Profile
Window in Pythagoras.
In the Plan Window:
Transition type: Spiral
Reading from left to right:

The first vertical line indicates the start of the superelevation process (NC).
The second vertical line indicates the point where the Half Crown (HC)
position is reached.
The third vertical line indicates the point where the Full Superelevation (FSE)
is reached.
The fourth vertical line indicates the point where FSE starts evolving in HC.
The fifth vertical line indicates the point where HC is reached and starts
evolving in NC.
The sixth vertical line indicates the point where NC is reached and the
superelevation process is finished.
The first dot indicates the start of the spiral (TS), the second one the start of
the arc or curve (SC), the third one the end of the arc or curve (CS) and the
last one the end of the spiral/start of tangent (ST).
The upper dot in between SC and CS is the IP: intersection point of

tangents.
In the Profile Window:
The dash lines indicate the area of the superelevation process (NC), the dot
lines indicate HC, FSE, FSE and HC.
The red line indicates the tangent (straight line), the blue line indicates the
spiral, and the magenta line indicates the arc. Corresponding vertical areas
are also colorized.

In the Plan Window:
Reading from left to right:

The first vertical line indicates the start of the superelevation process (NC)
The second vertical line indicates the point where the Half Crown (HC)
position is reached.
The third vertical line indicates the point where the Full Superelevation (FSE)
is reached.
The fourth vertical line indicates the point where FSE starts evolving in HC.
The fifth vertical line indicates the point where HC is reached and starts
evolving in NC.
The sixth vertical line indicates the point where NC is reached and the
superelevation process is finished.
The first dot indicates the start of the arc or curve (TC) and the other one the
end of the arc or curve/start of tangent (CT).
The upper dot in between TC and CT is the IP: intersection point of

tangents.
In the Profile Window:
The most left and right dash lines indicate the area of the superelevation
process (NC), the other dash lines indicate HC, FSE, FSE and HC.
The red line indicates the tangent (straight line), the magenta line indicates
the arc. Corresponding vertical areas are also colorized.
5. Defaults Menu
The Defaults menu allows to set some general defaults for the whole
project.
Scale ratio
This setting defines the scale ratio between the x-scale (distance) and the
elevation, to exaggerate the elevation.
You can choose a scale from 1/1 to 1/10.
Confirm Operation
If Confirm Operation is "On", Pythagoras will prompt you to enter exact

information (distance, height, etc.) when you create an intersection point or a
cross section.
When the exact position is not important, you can work faster with Confirm
Operation switched "Off".
Road
Characteristi
cs
General:
Give starting
chainage of road if
different to 0.
Attributes are used

to represent the road
in the plan window
when you're working
in the Road Design
module. It is a kind
of visualization for
your project and the
influence of some of its parameters.
To speed up the drawing, zooming and panning processes, the width of the
area where Pythagoras tries to connect the project with the existing terrain,
is limited to the width of the road x 10.
For example, a road with 2 carriageways of each 4m will be extended till

40m left and right from the centreline. When no connection with the natural
terrain can be found within this area, Pythagoras will give up calculating the
connection.
'Make system defaults' will store those defaults for the next Pythagoras
session.
Horizontal Transitions:
The following formula is

used by Pythagoras to
define the relation
between (1) speed, (2)
radius, (3)
superelevation and (4)
side friction:

V2
ef  ,
127R
where:
e = superelevation,
f = friction factor,
V = design speed,
R = curve radius.
The user must give the design speed and the minimum and maximum
superelevation. The parameters "Friction factor" and "Minimum radius" are
derived from the design speed and the maximum superelevation.
Friction factor: the default friction factor will depend on the design speed.
Pythagoras uses defaults between 0.18 (40 km/h) up to 0.06 (120 km/h).
The default values used by Pythagoras are rather conservative. Smaller
values ensure adequate safety and give a better driving comfort. The friction
factor can be overwritten.
Max. rate of rotation: the maximum rate of rotation is used to calculate the
length of superelevation development. The following formula is used:
0.278(e1  e2 )V
Lrr  ,
r
where:
Lrr = superelevation development length (m) based on the
rate of rotation criterion,
e1 = normal crossfall (%),
e2 = full superelevation crossfall (%),
V = operating speed (km/h),
r = rate of rotation (% per second).
Relative Grade: the rate of the longitudinal rise (or fall) of the side of the
carriageway, relative to the longitudinal rise (or fall) of the centerline. It is a
parameter to reach a comfortable visible effect when driving the road.
When type of transition is 'arc', percent of Runoff on tangent will be
activated. This is length of transition period to reach FSE, normally 1/3
(runoff) on arc and 2/3 (runout) before arc.
Runoff: the section of the road in which the transition from HC (half crown) to
FSE is done.
Runout: the section of the road in which the transition from NC (normal
crown) to HC is done.
6. View Menu
The 'View' menu contains menu items, which define,

how your drawing is displayed on the graphics screen
of your computer.
The toolbox item "Hand" allows you to scroll the page

over the drawing in any direction. Press the mouse
button on a location of the drawing, move the mouse
to its new location on the screen and release the
mouse button. The visible area of your drawing will be
adjusted accordingly. While moving the mouse, a
dashed line shows the direction of the displacement.
The scroll mode can be cancelled by using one of the following keyboard
keys: ESC, SPACE bar, Enter.
Remark: A quick key to enter scroll mode is the "+" key on the numeric
keyboard.
Zoom In
With the "Zoom In" command you can magnify a part of your drawing on the
screen.
When you have selected this command, the shape of the cursor will change
to a magnifying glass with a plus sign at the center. Move the cursor to a
desired starting location (top left, top right, bottom left or bottom right of the
area you want to enlarge), press the mouse button, and move the mouse. A
rectangle on the screen will follow the mouse movements. When the
rectangle encloses the area of the drawing you want to magnify, release the
mouse button.
Remark: You may zoom in with a factor 2 when you just click the mouse
button on the position where you want to Zoom In.
Pythagoras supports multiple zoom levels. Each time you zoom in,
Pythagoras will remember the previous displayed area and the zoom factor.
This information will be used when you zoom out.
You can zoom in up to a maximum of 5 zoom levels.
Remark: Shortcut is ">" key.
Zoom Out
With the Zoom Out command you can reduce the size of your drawing on
the screen.
The Zoom Out command will display the area of your drawing using the
zoom factor at the previous zoom level.
Remark: Shortcut is "<" key.
Fit In Window
This command will display the complete drawing on the screen.
Remark: Shortcut is "-" key.
Cross section zoom in
This command allows you to zoom in the cross section window while
working in another window.
Cross section zoom out
This command allows you to zoom out in the cross section window while
working in another window.
Display View
This command allows you to define and select views. Those views decide
the content and layout of your drawing (see also PART I → Chapter 2: →
Views).

Remark: Changes in the display view option DTM are not showed in Road
Design. In this module only the DTM (with colorized map) is shown
that was active at the time Road Design was activated.
Toolbars
This command allows you to switch on or off some items from the Road
Design window:
Road Design: the 3 icons on top of the toolbar to switch between "Plan",
"Profile", "Cross Section" Windows.
Road Tools: the drawing and designing tools from the different control
panels
Standard: the general Pythagoras toolbar
7. Calculations Menu
The calculations menu allows you to calculate volumes based on your road
design project.
Cut and Fill
Before cut and fill can be calculated, the roadbed and the cut and fill
parameters of the cross-sections need to be defined:
 Parts that need to be excavated and/or filled.
 Bulking factor.
 Expansion factor.
You can determine the:

 Distance starting point.
 Distance ending point.
 Number of cross-sections.
The distance of the cross-section where you created your roadbed needs to
be less than the distance where you start your calculations.
With the "Calculate" button you will start the calculation. When you get the
results, you have the possibility to save them as a text file. This file can be
opened in 'File' → 'Open text files'.
Following values are stored in the file:

 Number of the cross-section.
 Distance.
 Fill (you will find the totals at the bottom).
 Cut (you will find the totals at the bottom).
 Bulking/expansion factor.
 Corrected cut = cut * bulking or expansion factor.
 Mass haul = fill – corrected cut + upper total.
 Topsoil fill.
 Topsoil cut.
You close the cut and fill calculations dialog by clicking the "Cancel" button.
PART IV Expression Language
In PART I of this manual we already presented a general description of
Expressions and their use in Pythagoras (see PART I → Chapter 4:
Expressions). In this part you will find a detailed reference on Expression
language and instructions on writing your own expressions.
Chapter 1: General Terms
An expression is commonly applied to a CAD object or to a row of a rowset.
Some expressions defining a database view are applied to pairs of rows
from base rowsets. Thus, expressions are called one- or two-dimensional
respectively. The unit of compilation that we are considering here is a single
expression.
String to compile
A string to compile is a sequence of Unicode characters. It may not contain

any control characters (except final zero).
Lexemes
Lexemes (or tokens) are separated by one or several blank characters from
each other. Lexemes may be not separated if they are correctly recognized.
There are the following types of lexemes:

- constants,
- field names,
- function names,
- prefixes,
- operators,
- dot,
- comma,
- parentheses.
Comment is not allowed.
Constants
Constants of the following types are supported:
 Integer numbers: Must be represented as a sequence of digits.
 Real numbers: Must be represented as a sequence of digits with a

decimal point inside, before or after. Infinite value can be represented
in two ways: as ∞ or as a function call INFINITY().
To designate integer or real negative values a unary minus can be

used, see below.
 Strings: Must be represented within double quotes. If a string

contains a double quote inside, it must be repeated twice.
Constants of other types can be represented as function calls with constant

arguments or without arguments, for example:
TRUE(), DATE(2005,12,15).
References Expression Language 175

Field names
Field names are names of columns of a rowset. Field names can be

expressed in two ways:
 First way is to use the name as it is; this is possible only when the
name is a correct identifier, i.e., it begins with a letter and contains
only letters and digits. Characters ‗$‘ and ‗#‘ are treated as letters and
character ‗_‘ as a digit.
 Second way is to enclose the name into single quotes. If this name
contains a single quote inside, then it must be repeated twice.
Both ways, the letter case is ignored.
Function names
All function names are predefined; see details in the syntax definition below.
Letter case is ignored in function names.
Prefixes
In two-dimensional expressions it may be necessary to distinguish between

objects of different base rowsets. Special names called prefixes are used for
this purpose: MAIN for a main and AUX for an auxiliary base.
Separating dot
After a prefix, a dot must be used to separate the prefix from a function or
column name.
Operators
All possible operators are described in Syntax section below.
Some operators have two representations: one is more usual, combined

from common characters, for example, an inequality can be represented
either as ≠ or as <>. The second form is designed to facilitate keyboard
input.
Item separator
Item separator (usually comma) is used only to separate list items, for
example, actual arguments in a function call.
Parentheses
Left and right parentheses are used in two cases: to enclose item lists and to
define order of operations.
Language versions
There are two language versions: localized and international (actually US

English).
Localized version is used when you are viewing or editing the sources.
International version is used in two cases: in expression strings stored to
Pythagoras documents and in expression strings handled via the VBA.
An expression string can be unambiguously converted from one version to

another if it is syntactically correct.
Preferences
Compilation is done using Pythagoras preferences, which as a rule coincide

with the current preferences. But preferences are stored together with
database views, named Finds and Thematic maps and remain untouched. If
you change the current preferences or use a named Find with another
document, the used preferences may differ from the current ones.
For localized versions, decimal points and item separators in the compiled
expression are expected to be as in the preferences (for example, comma ‗,‘
as the decimal point and semicolon ‗;‘ as the item separator). For
international version, dot and comma are assumed respectively.
Some built-in functions get arguments and return results in units set in the
preferences. It is supposed that angle unit is not set to so-called survey unit.
Short date and time formats from the preferences are used when converting
strings to date and/or time and back.
GermanYX setting in the preferences changes semantics of functions X, Y,

XY and YX.
Localization
Function names and prefixes MAIN and AUX are a subject of localization. In
a localized version they are obtained from resources, in the international
version English names of functions and of these prefixes are used for all
localizations. In this document only such function names and prefixes are
specified.

Chapter 2: Syntax and semantics
Data types
The following data types are supported:
 Numeric types: integer and real numbers.
 Date and time types: date and time together, date only and time only.
Date and time together (referenced further as date-time) has

moments of time as values. They may be interpreted as UTC or as
local time.
Date only (referenced further as date) is a type whose values are

dates.
Time only (referenced further as time) is a type with time durations as

values. They may be interpreted as the time of day, the value is non-
negative and equals to the time duration from the beginning of the
day to the described moment. The other interpretation is the time
interval between two moments, the value may be negative.
 String type: Unicode strings.
 Boolean type: TRUE() and FALSE() (function calls).
 Graphic object type: graphic objects of the current document.
 Coordinate type: only XY is supported.
 Graphic object type: POINT(), LINE(), POLYGON(), TEXT(), ARC(),

CIRCLE(), SPLINE(), PATH(), IMAGE(), CLOTHOID(), RICHTEXT(),
ROAD() and COMPOUND() (function calls).
Type coercion
Only two cases of implicit type coercion are supported: integer to real and
date to date-time. In the second case, time of day is assumed to be 0 hour
(beginning of the day).
NULL value
A special NULL value may occur either as a term or as a value of an

expression (subexpression). NULL value is compatible with every type.
NULL as an error signal
The result of any operation or function where at least one argument is NULL
is also NULL. This rule has few exceptions described explicitly below. The
result of an operation or function can be also NULL if it cannot be calculated,
for example, Date(2005,2,30) (30th of February).
Function NULL()
The function call NULL() always returns the NULL value. It may be used as
the NULL constant value. Sometimes it is necessary to specify the NULL
constant value explicitly, see an example in Chapter 5: Examples.
Empty string and NULL values
In most RDBMSs including all versions of the SQL standard empty strings
and NULL values are treated differently. But in other databases and in many
other cases (CSV and DBF files) they are not distinguished. One of the
reasons for this is that both values are intuitively treated as identical by many
users.
Empty strings and NULL values are indistinguishable in Pythagoras

expression language. Particularly, a value of a column of string type is never
obtained as NULL. It is an empty string in any case, independent of whether
it is actually an empty strings or a NULL value.
Comparison operations
All comparison operators return Boolean values.
Less/greater
Expressions of the following types can be compared:

- all numeric,
- all date and time,
- string.
Both operands must be of the same type except integer-real and date/time-
date combinations. The following comparison operators are available:
‗<‘, ‗≤‘ (or ‗<=‘), ‗>‘, and ‗≥‘ (or ‗>=‘).
Order between strings is assumed to be alphabetic case insensitive in the
current locale.
Equality/inequality
Expressions of all types can be compared. Both operands must be of the

same type except integer-real and date/time-date combinations. The
following comparison operators are available:
‗=‘ and ‗≠‘ (or ‗<>‘).
String operands are assumed to be equal when they differ only by letter case
in the current locale.
Note that ‗NULL = NULL‘ equals to NULL. To compare a value with NULL, a
special function ISNULL() is used.

Arithmetic operations
Unary minus
The ‗–‗ (minus) sign is used before an integer or real expression to negate its
value.
Addition
The ‗+‘ (plus) sign is used between expressions to add their values. The
following type combinations are possible:
Left operand Right operand Result Comment

type type type
integer Integer integer
integer Real real
real Integer real
real Real real
date-time Time date-time
date Time date-time
time date-time date-time
time Date date-time
time Time time
date Integer date integer value is the
number of days
integer Date date integer value is the
number of days
Subtraction
The ‗–‗ sign is used between expressions to subtract their values. The
following type combinations are possible:
Left operand Right operand Result type Comment

type type
Integer integer integer
Integer real real
Real integer real
Real real real
date-time date-time time
date-time date time
Date date-time time
date-time time date-time
Date time date-time
Time time time
Date integer date integer value is the
number of days
Date date integer integer value is the
number of days
Multiplication
The ‗*‘ (asterisk) sign is used between expressions to multiply their values.
The following type combinations are possible:
Left operand type Right operand type Result type
Integer integer integer

Integer real real
Real integer real
Real real real
Time integer time
Time real time
Integer time time
Real time time
Division
The ‗/‘ (slash) sign is used between expressions to divide left value by the
right one. The following type combinations are possible:
Left operand type Right operand type Result type
integer or real integer or real real

time integer time
time real Time
String concatenation
The ‗&‘ sign may be used between string expressions to obtain string
concatenation.

Chapter 3: Functions
Function calls
Pythagoras expression language supports only embedded functions. Each

function is distinguished by a unique name.
A function call has the syntax

name (arg1, arg2,…, argN),
where name is a function name (keyword). Number of arguments in
parentheses is arbitrary; parentheses are necessary even when there are no
arguments.
Prefixing
In two-dimensional expressions prefixes can be used to define one of two

dimensions. They must be followed by a separating dot and then by a
column name or a function call.
Only functions which depend on dimensions can be prefixed:
 OBJECT(),
 object feature functions with omitted arguments
 aggregate functions.
See also Chapter 4: → Determining main or auxiliary rowset below.
Type conversions
Implicit type conversions are functions with names equal to types and mostly
with one argument (there is one exception). The following conversions are
possible:
Function Argument(s) Comment

name type(s)
INTEGER date As days
INTEGER string
REAL integer or string
REAL date-time, date As days
or time
DATETIME real As days
DATETIME date
*
DATETIME string
DATE integer As days
*
DATE string
TIME real As days
*
TIME string
STRING integer
STRING real and integer a real is converted and represented with
number of decimal places equal to an
integer
*
STRING date-time
*
STRING date
*
STRING time
STRING Boolean TRUE—Y, FALSE—N
Conversions are made using short date and time format strings from the
current preferences.
All these functions can be also applied to an argument already having the
desired type – in this case they merely return the value of the argument.
Special functions are used to convert real to integer: TRUNC and ROUND.
The first one converts to the nearest integer value less or equal by the
absolute value, the second one converts to the nearest integer value.
In all conversions of strings the letter case is ignored. In real–string

conversions a decimal separator defined in the current preferences is used.
Unit conversion
The following functions return specified units:

MM(), CM(), DM(), M(), DAM(), HM(), KM(), INCH(), FOOT(), USFOOT(),
MILE(), GRAD(), DEGREE(), MIL() and RADIAN.
To convert linear length or angle values, you can multiply or divide by these
constants:
 If columns HEIGHT and VOLUME contain values expressed in

meters and cubic kilometers respectively, these values can be
expressed in a length unit from the preferences as HEIGHT*M() and
VOLUME*CUBE(KM()).
 Elevation of the current graphic object can be expressed in meters as
Z()/M().
 To express HEIGHT in miles, use the expression
HEIGHT*M()/MILE().
The above functions can also have one argument of type real. In this case,
the argument value is divided by the corresponding constant. The latter
examples can be rewritten respectively:
 KM(KM(KM(VOLUME))) (not recommended);

 M(Z());
 MILE(HEIGHT*M()).
XY assembler and disassemblers
Functions XY and YX accept two real arguments each and return an XY

value. Functions X and Y accept an XY argument and return a real value
expressed in length unit from the preferences.
All these functions are GermanYX setting dependent. On the contrary,

functions EN, NE, E and N (east and north) are GermanYX setting
independent.

Comparison functions
The following functions return Boolean values. Comparison is case

insensitive.
Function Arguments number Meaning

name and type
BETWEEN three arguments e, a, and e ≥ a and e ≤ b
b of the same type; type
must be admissible for ≤
comparison
IN two or more arguments of first argument is
the same type except equal to one of
Boolean other ones
LIKE two arguments s and p of see text below
string type
STARTS two arguments s and p of s begins with p
string type
ENDS two arguments s and p of s ends with p
string type
CONTAINS two arguments s and p of s contains p
string type
ISNULL one argument of any type result is TRUE
when an argument
has value NULL or
is an empty string
The function LIKE returns TRUE if the compared strings correspond in the
following sense:
- a special value ANYSEQ() in p corresponds to any sequence of
characters in s (including an empty sequence),
- a special value ANYCHAR() in p corresponds to any character in s,
- other characters in p must correspond to the same characters in s.
See an example of function ISNULL in the description of the Function IF.
Logical functions
Logical functions have arguments and results of Boolean type.
Function name Number of arguments

NOT one
AND two or more
OR two or more
 If at least one of AND operands is FALSE, the result is also FALSE,

even if some of the other operands are NULL.
 If at least one of OR operands is TRUE, the result is also TRUE,
even if some of the other operands are NULL.
Function IF
This function has three arguments, the first one must be of Boolean type and
the other arguments must be of compatible types. The type of the result is
defined by the types of the last two arguments:
Arguments types Result type

integer and/or real integer if both arguments are integers;
real otherwise
date and/or date-time date if both arguments are dates;
date/time otherwise
any other type (same for the same type
both arguments)
If the first argument is TRUE, then the second argument is regarded as the
function result; if the first argument is FALSE, then the third argument is
regarded as the function result.
Example: We have an attribute table containing data about some parcels.

Column „Price‟ contains the known price of a parcel or NULL if the
price is unknown. We want to write down an expression
containing the supposed price of a parcel: if the price is unknown,
then this price is calculated as the area of the parcel multiplied by
212 (supposed price of 1 area unit). The expression will be
if (isnull(price), area() * 212, price)
Function COALESCE
The function COALESCE has one or more arguments. Types of all

arguments must be compatible in-between themselves. Type of the result is
defined in the same way as for the IF function above.
The result of this function is the first argument value being neither NULL nor
an empty string. If every argument value is either NULL or an empty string,
then the result is an empty string if at least one of the arguments is an empty
string, and NULL otherwise.
This function is useful to substitute NULL by some other values. The

example for the IF function above can be rewritten simpler:
coalesce (price, area() * 212)
Functions MINIMUM and MAXIMUM
These functions have one or more arguments. Types of the arguments and
of the result are described in the following table:
Arguments types Result type

integer and/or real integer if all arguments are integers;
real otherwise
date and/or date-time date if all arguments are dates;
date/time otherwise

time time
string string
Note: Names of these functions in version 11 of Pythagoras were MIN and

MAX. They have been changed because a new aggregate functions
MIN and MAX were introduced (see below). This must be taken into
account when reading/writing Pythagoras v11 documents.
Numeric functions
All numeric functions have only one argument; type of the argument must be
the same as the expected result type. Functions with real result may be also
applied to an integer argument.
Function name Result type

ABS integer, real or time
SQUARE integer or real
SQUAREROOT real
CUBE integer or real
EXP real
LOG real
SIN real
COS real
TAN real
ASIN real
ACOS real
ATAN real
Functions SIN, COS and TAN get values and functions ASIN, ACOS and
ATAN return values in angle units set in the preferences.
Date/time functions
There are two functions without arguments:
Function name Result type Comment

NOW date-time UTC time is returned
TODAY date local date is returned
Also there are some functions with one argument:
Function name Argument type Result type Comment

UTCTOLOCAL date-time date-time
LOCALTOUTC date-time date-time
DATE date-time date
TIME date-time time time of day
YEAR date-time or date integer
MONTH date-time or date integer January = 1
DAY date-time or date integer day of month
DAY time integer number of full days
HOUR date-time or time integer 0÷23
MINUTE date-time or time integer 0÷59
SECOND date-time or time integer 0÷59
The following functions compose date and time values:
Function Arguments meanings Result Comment

name and types type
DATETIME date and time date-time
DATETIME year, month, day, hour, date-time arguments may be
minute and second, all omitted beginning
integers from hour
DATE year, month and day, date
all integers
TIME day, hour, minute and time the argument day is
second, all integers the number of full
days; arguments may
be omitted beginning
from hour
String functions
Function Arguments Result Comment

name meanings and type
types
LEN string integer
LEFT string and String - left substring of specified length;
length(integer) - if the specified length is greater
than the actual length, the whole
string is returned
RIGHT string and String - right substring of specified
length(integer) length;
- if the specified length is greater
than the actual length, the whole
string is returned
MID string, string - substring beginning from
position(integer) specified position of specified
and length;
length(integer) - positions are numerated from 1;
- if the specified position is
greater than the actual length, an
empty string is returned;
- if the specified length is too big,
then a shorter string is returned
LTRIM string string eliminate all blanks from the
beginning of the string
RTRIM string string eliminate all blanks from the end
of the string
TRIM string string eliminate all blanks both from the
beginning and the end of the
string
UPPER string string
LOWER string string
UNICODE string integer Unicode code of the first
character of the string
CHAR integer string returns a string with one character
with the Unicode code equal to
the argument value

Function OBJECT
To reference a graphic object itself, build an expression with a special

function OBJECT(). For example, an expression OBJECT()=NEXT can be
used to check whether a value in the column NEXT references the object.
Graphic object features
The functions returning graphic object features always have a single

argument – the graphic object they are applied to. If the argument is omitted,
it is interpreted as applying the function to OBJECT():
 Both COORDINATES(OBJECT()) and COORDINATES() return

coordinates of the object.
 But both COORDINATES(NEXT) and COORDINATES('NEXT')
return coordinates of an object referenced in the column NEXT of a
rowset.
If the function name is preceded by a prefix, the argument must be omitted,

and the argument prefix.OBJECT() is assumed:
 Both AUX.COORDINATES(OBJECT()) and

COORDINATES(AUX.OBJECT()) return coordinates of the object of
the auxiliary base rowset.
 But both COORDINATES(AUX.NEXT) and
COORDINATES(AUX.'NEXT') return coordinates of an object
referenced in the column NEXT of the auxiliary base rowset.
Some functions are meaningful only for graphic objects of certain types.
Being applied to graphic objects of improper type, they return NULL.
Distances, areas and angles are assumed to be in units specified in

preferences.
Function name Object types Result type Value for compound Comment
TYPE all object type COMPOUND()

CONTAINER all object type NULL for compound element
the compound is
returned; otherwise
NULL is returned
COMMENT all except text, string NULL not NULL except text,
rich text and rich text and compound
compound
DISPLAYLEVEL all except integer NULL
compound
LAYER all except string an empty string
compound
SELECTED all except Boolean NULL
compound
FLAGGED all except Boolean NULL
compound
POINTNUMBER point string an empty string
XY point, text or XY NULL synonyms YX, EN and
rich text NE may be also used
X point, text or real NULL GermanYX dependent
rich text
Y point, text or real NULL GermanYX dependent
rich text
E point, text or real NULL GermanYX
rich text independent, synonym
RW may be also used
N point, text or real NULL GermanYX
rich text independent, synonym
HW may be also used
Z point real NULL
LENGTH line, arc, circle, real sum of values for all
spline, lines, arcs, circles,
clothoid, path splines, clothoids and
or compound paths
PERIMETER polygon or real sum of values for all
compound polygons
BEARING line real NULL
DELTAZ line, arc, real NULL
spline, clothoid
or path
SLOPELENGTH line, arc, circle, real sum of values for all For splines length is
spline, lines, arcs, circles, calculated now instead
clothoid, path splines, clothoids and of slope length
or compound paths
SLOPEPERIMETE polygon or real sum of values for all
R compound polygons
STARTINGPOINT line, arc or graphic NULL
clothoid object
ENDPOINT line, arc or graphic NULL
clothoid object
RADIUS arc or circle real NULL
APERTURE arc real NULL
CENTER arc or circle XY NULL
MINZ spline real NULL
MAXZ spline real NULL
CONTENT text or rich text string NULL
AREA polygon or real sum of values for all
compound elements being
polygons
Pythagoras specific functions
Function First argument Second argument Result Comment

name type
DISTANCE XY or graphic object XY or graphic object real this function returns NULL
of one of the of one of the when one of arguments is
following type: point, following type: point, a spline other than a
line, polygon, arc, line, polygon, arc, broken line or a compound
circle, spline, path, circle, spline, path, containing such spline
clothoid, compound clothoid, compound
INSIDE XY or point graphic object Boolean a point lies inside the
(polygon or specified polygon or inside
compound) a polygon being an
element of the specified
compound

Aggregate functions
Aggregate functions differ from the others in the way that they are applied
not to one row (object) but to an entire rowset. A subexpession being an
argument of an aggregate function is calculated for each row, and then the
function is applied to all values.
Function Argument type Result type Comment

name
COUNT no argument integer number of rows
MIN numeric, date, time, the same minimal value
date/time or string
MAX numeric, date, time, the same maximal value
date/time or string
SUM integer, real or time the same sum of values
AVG integer, real or time time for time, SUM(…) / COUNT()
real otherwise
 COUNT and SUM return 0 when applied to an empty rowset, others

return NULL.
 If a subexpression value is NULL at least for one row, the result of

SUM and AVG will be also NULL.
 For AVG, the function value is also NULL when the rowset is empty,
i.e. contains no rows.
 For MIN and MAX functions, the result is the minimum (maximum)
value of all non-NULL values. If all subexpression values are NULL or
the rowset is empty, then MIN and MAX functions also return NULL.
Chapter 4: Expression Kinds and Compilation
Target expressions
We will call target expressions the ones used as final expressions as

opposed to the expressions building views. You use target expressions in
the Find dialogue to search for a set of objects or in thematic maps to range
objects.
Expression kinds
From the point of view of syntax and semantics we have to distinguish

between five kinds of expressions.
1. One-dimensional expression without aggregate functions
This is the most common expression kind. An expression is applied to one

rowset and does not use aggregate functions. For example:
 where expressions for simple views;
 target expressions in Find dialogue.
2. One-dimensional expression with aggregate functions
An expression is applied to one rowset and can use aggregate functions

applied to the same rowset. For example:
 column expressions for simple views;
 target expressions in Thematic maps.
3. Match expression in aggregation views
An expression is applied to two rows belonging to different rowsets. They

cannot use aggregate functions.
4. Where expression in aggregation views
An expression is applied to a row and a rowset; the row belongs to other

rowset than the argument. Only aggregate functions applied to the second
dimension can be used.
5. Column expression in aggregation views
An expression can reference only objects and columns of the main

dimension. Aggregate functions of both dimensions can be used but have
very different meanings.
An aggregate function applied to the auxiliary dimension is applied to all

rows of the auxiliary base rowset corresponding to the current row of the
main rowset. An aggregate function applied to the main dimension is applied
to all rows of the main base rowset.

Determining main or auxiliary rowset
In aggregation views, columns and objects of two dimensions are present in

expressions. Mentioned above prefixes Main and Aux can be used to
indicate the dimension.
In some cases such indication is unnecessary. For example, if only one base
rowset is an attribute one, then the function OBJECT() can be applied only to
this dimension; if the referenced column is present only in one base rowset,
etc.
In all cases of ambiguity there are default values:
 Inside an aggregate function applied to an auxiliary dimension call

this dimension is assumed.
 If an aggregate function is called in a column expression of an

aggregation, the auxiliary dimension is assumed.
 In all other cases the main dimension is assumed.
Expression compilation
Each expression is entered in textual form and needs to be compiled.

Expression compilation is provided at the moment depending on its kind and
many other factors.
Of course, compilation can be successful or not. In case of failure, you will

be provided with a description of lexical or syntax errors, and in most cases
the part of the expression that caused the error will be highlighted.
Chapter 5: Examples
One-dimensional expressions
Without aggregate functions
Find example
Find all graphic objects, where comments contain the substring ―electr‖ (in
any letter case):
like (comment, anyseq() & “electr” & anyseq())
Find using database
Find all graphic objects connected to an attribute table and having in column
Completion a date between 2006-01-01 and 2006-03-15:
between (completion, date(2006,1,1), date(2006,3,15) )
Find using IF function
Find all points, where comments begin with the percentage (‗%‘) sign, and all
other objects, where this sign is in the second position:
if (type=point(), like(comment,”%”&anyseq()),
like(comment,anychar()&”%”&anyseq()))
Using NULL function
We have an attribute table describing parcels. The table has columns Price
and PriceDate containing respectively price estimate and the date when this
estimation was made (or two NULL values if the price is unknown). We want
to calculate the most trustable price. If the price in the database is not older
than 5 years we will recalculate it assuming inflation level of 3% per year.
Otherwise, we will return NULL because we have no trustable price. This
task can be solved as following:
if (real(now()–pricedate) < 5*365, price * exp (real(now()–

pricedate) / 365 * log(1.03)), null())
Note that this expression gives a correct result also in cases when either
Price or PriceDate is NULL:
 If the value in Price is NULL, the second argument of the IF function

is calculated to NULL, and therefore, the result is also NULL.
 If the value in PriceData is NULL, the first argument is calculated to

NULL, and therefore, the result is also NULL.

Using aggregate functions
Table view
We have an attribute table Roads linked to paths and having a column

Width. We want to find all roads at least 10 m wide and display their lengths
and widths. We also want to see the total length of all such roads.
The main rowset is, of course, the Roads table. A where expression can be
defined as
width ≥ 10*m()
Column expressions can be defined as
length()
width
sum(length())
The second column can be defined as ordering in the descending order.
We will obtain a rowset containing three columns. All roads are sorted by
their widths in ascending order. The first two columns are length and width;
the third column contains the total length being the same value for all rows.
Aggregations views
Find using an aggregate function
We have the same table Roads as in the example above and an attribute
table GasStations linked to points. We want to find roads with more than 1
gas station per km.
First of all let us define a view to be used in the Find dialog. The main rowset
is the Roads table, the auxiliary rowset is the GasStations table. The match
expression can be defined as
and (aux.Propane, distance (object(), aux.object()) ≤ 100*m())

Here Propane is the name of a column of Boolean type, i.e., we are
searching only for gas stations, where propane refueling is possible. The first
time the function object() is unprefixed; this means that the main rowset
object is assumed (default). The where expression can be defined as
true()
This means that all roads are included into the new view. Column
expressions are absent; we need no columns in the new view. The Find
dialog references the created view. The target expression is
count() / km(length()) > 1
Find using telescope
The previous example has a serious drawback. To build a match lattice, all
row pairs of the tables Roads and GasStations will be searched through. But
actually, very few gas stations have the propane option – it would be faster
to find all such stations first.
We will solve the task in two steps:
1) Build a simple view PropaneStations containing only gas stations with the
propane option. The base rowset is the table GasStations. The where
expression is Propane. No column expression is necessary.
2) The second step is close to the example above. The main rowset is also
the Roads table, the auxiliary rowset is the PropaneStations view. The match
expression is
distance (object(), aux.object()) ≤ 100*m()

The where expression is also true(). The further actions are as in the
example above.
Table view using aggregate functions of both kinds
Continuing previous examples, we want to build the same view but extended
by two new values: number of filling stations per km for each road and in
total.
The main rowset is the Roads table, the auxiliary rowset is the
PropaneStations view. The match expression is
distance (object(), aux.object()) ≤ 100*m()

The where expression is
width ≥ 10*m()
Column expressions are:
km(length())
width
km(main.sum(length()))
count() / km(length())
sum(count()) / main.sum(km(length()))
Note that main. is necessary twice. Otherwise, the expression
sum(km(length())) would mean an absolutely different and strange thing: the
total length of all filling stations close to the current road. As filling stations
are points, their length is calculated as NULL and this expression would be
calculated to NULL also.

Appendices
Appendixes 197
Appendix A: Coordinate List Format
A coordinate list is a text-file containing the point number, and the
coordinates of a number of points. In PART II → Chapter 1: →
Import/Export it is explained how Pythagoras uses this text file.
A coordinate list can be made with almost any word processor or with
spreadsheet programs (Microsoft Excel, Lotus 123, etc.).
A coordinate list has the following structure:
<PointId> TAB <Coord1> TAB <Coord2> TAB <Coord3> TAB

[<InstrH>] TAB [<ReflH>] TAB <Comment>
The coordinates can be:

- XYZ
- NEZ
- HDZ
- HVD
- HVS
The separator-symbol can be either TAB, space, comma or semi-colon (;).

Appendix B: Shortcut Keys
To activate menu items, Pythagoras supports the shortcut keys which are
standardized on Microsoft Windows. Consult the user manual of the system
you have if you want to learn more about the standard use of shortcuts.
Besides the standard menu shortcut functions, you may use a number of
Pythagoras shortcut keys to do some operations faster.
Note that the ALT and the CTRL have the same functionality.
Important remark!:
When using the CTRL-, ALT- or SHIFT key, those keys must remain pressed
until the operation is completed.
Key Function
ALT or CTRL key
a) In Select mode:
When the CTRL key is pressed when selecting a line or arc,

also the endpoints of the line or arc will be selected.
When the CTRL key is pressed when you drag text, the text will
be duplicated. The CTRL must only be pressed when you
release the mouse button.
b) While creating text:
When you mouse the text cursor over the screen while the
CTRL-key is pressed, the text cursor will snap to lines, arcs and
points.
c) While drawing lines:
When pressed during line drawing, the new line will remain
parallel to the X-axis or the Y-axis of the active coordinate
system.
d) Drawing circle or arc with given center and radius:
When pressed when you confirm the circle, a point at the center
of the circle will be created.
e) Drawing arc tangent to two lines:
When the CTRL key is pressed when you confirm the tangential
arc, the lines are trimmed or extended up to the points of
contact.
This is a shortcut for the "Fillet" command.
f) If in the mode "Dimension" the CTRL-key is held down,

Pythagoras will temporarily go to the mode "User Coordinate
Appendixes Appendix B: Shortcut Keys 199

System". By clicking subsequently the origin and the
direction of a baseline, Pythagoras will create a temporary
coordinate system and the program will return to the mode
"Dimension". This feature is useful for quickly creating XY-
dimensions relative to a baseline.
g) Creating a temporary coordinate system parallel to the

current CS:
When the CTRL key is pressed when you click on the origin of a
new CS, a temporary coordinate system is created.
The axes of the newly created coordinate system are parallel to
the active coordinate system.
h) Creating a temporary coordinate system:
When the CTRL key is pressed when you click on the point
indicating the direction of the new coordinate system, a
temporary coordinate system is created.
i) Move command:
When the CTRL key is pressed when moving objects, the

objects can only be moved parallel or perpendicular to the
active coordinate system.
j) Join command:
When the Join command is executed, the original endpoint of

the line or arc is not cleared.
k) Setting active layer in the control panel.
Holding the CTRL key when a layer is made active, the selected
objects will be moved to the active layer.
l) Parallel line segment.
Holding CTRL key when confirming distance. Pythagoras will

construct a rectangle. The height is the distance of the parallel
line to the reference line. The rectangle consists of separate
lines.
m) Selection of 'Library Symbol' or 'Document Symbol' in the

menu 'Defaults'
Holding the CTRL key when the default symbol is selected, the
program will automatically come in the mode "Draw Symbol".
n) During rotation of objects
When the CTRL-key is pressed while you rotate selected

objects, the angle of rotation will be a multiple of 90 degrees.
o) When you make the Page Coordinate System active while
you keep the CTRL-key down, the selected objects will be
transformed to page coordinates.
p) When you make the Local Coordinate System active while

you keep the CTRL-key down, the selected objects will be
transformed to local coordinates.
q) By holding the CTRL-key down during the confirmation of the

creation of a point on a line, the line is automatically split in 2
parts. The created point becomes the endpoint of the first
line, and the starting point of the second line.
The properties of the original line remain.
r) Holding the CTRL-key down and hitting the T-key pops up

the Thematic Maps Manager.
s) Holding the CTRL-key down and hitting the I-key pops up the
Display View dialog box.
SPACEBAR
a) Toggles between "Select" mode and the last used toolbox

mode.
b) Line mode
The line will convert in an arc tangential to the line that was
seen on the drawing before the SPACEBAR was pressed.
c) Creation rotatable symbol
When the default point style is a rotatable symbol, and you

define a point, you first need to click the cursor on a line to
indicate the angle of the symbol. Press the SPACE-BAR if you
want to rotate the symbol over 180°.
SHIFT key
a) In Select mode:
When the SHIFT key is pressed, you can add or delete objects
from the selection.
b) While drawing lines:
Clicking the mouse on the endpoint of a line, while the SHIFT

key is pressed, will start drawing of a new line starting from the
same endpoint. This way you can draw lines connecting
multiple existing points faster.
c) When drawing parallel line segments.

Press the SHIFT key and move the cursor over an adjacent line
or arc. The result is the same as the creation of a parallel
polyline to a path.
Shift Lock / Caps Lock
When "Point Confirmation" is switched on, Pythagoras will

automatically request exact information to locate the new object
you want to create. When the Shift Lock or Caps Lock key is
down, you activate repetitive entry of data. This means that the
program remains in confirm mode after confirmation of data.
Using this feature, you may for example quickly generate points
on a line.
">" key
Will activate Zoom In

(same as selecting "Zoom In").
"<" key
Will activate Zoom Out

(same as selecting "Zoom Out").
"=" key
Will select "Actual Size".
"-" key
Will select "Fit in Window".
TAB key
a) During input in the control panel:
Will move to the next field in the control panel.
b) In most drawing modes when the cursor is on a line.

The control panel will show subsequently:
- the line length,
- the slope length,
- the elevation,
- the bearing,
- the gradient.
c) In most drawing modes when the cursor is on an arc.

The control panel will show subsequently:
- the length of the arc,
- the radius,
- the angle at the center,
- the slope length,
- the elevation,
- the gradient.
Shift-TAB keys
If certain information about the object has been chosen, the

SHIFT-TAB combination will make this the default information of
that kind of objects as long as you don't quit Pythagoras.
ESC key
Cancels drawing operations. Has the same effect as re-

selecting the toolbox function.
"0".."9" keys
Used to find the point on a line or arc at intervals of 1/2 .. 1/19

of the length of the line or arc.
When the numeric key (or keys) are pressed during the creation
of points, lines, arcs or circles, the cursor will snap to the points
at the requested interval.
"2": interval 1/2, "3": interval 1/3, ... "9": interval 1/9, "0": interval
1/10, "1": interval 1/11, "1" and "2": interval 1/12, "1" and "9":
interval 1/19.
"T" key
If pressed down, only text will be selected while creating a

selection window with the cursor. All other object types inside of
the window will not be selected.
"P" key
If pressed down, only points will be selected while creating a

"O" key
If pressed down, only polygons will be selected while creating a

"X" key
If pressed down, only paths will be selected while creating a


"R" key
If pressed down, only roads will be selected while creating a

"L" key
If pressed down, only lines will be selected while creating a

"I" key
If pressed down, only images will be selected while creating a

"B" key
If pressed down, only images will be selected while creating a

"A" key
If pressed down, only arcs will be selected while creating a

"G" key
This key is used to convert a non perpendicular angle into

perpendicular and to create a square based on the length of the
both sides. Select the offset tool and click on the base line (the
one who needs to maintain its direction), snap to the other line,
press "G" key and move the cursor. The perpendicular situation
will be constructed. Click anywhere in the drawing and the
square will be closed automatically.
DEL - BACKSPACE
a) Same as the menu command "Clear".
b) While creating a polygon:
The last object of the polygon will be removed.
Double click
a) During the creation of a path or polygon.
Double click on line or arc: adjacent lines and arcs are added to
the polygon or to the path until a junction is encountered or until
there are no adjacent lines.
b) In selection mode
CTRL - SHIFT - Double click:

the attributes of the object will become the new defaults.
(E.g. For text: size, width, style, alignment)
SHIFT - Double click:

the attributes of the object will be changed to the actual
defaults.
The combination of the 2 previous shortcuts allows you to

quickly assign the attributes of an object on the drawing to
another object.
CTRL - Double click on a point:

The elevation (Z) of the point can be changed in the control
panel.
CTRL - Double click on a text:

The text will be rotated over 180 degrees.
c) Join function
When you click once on the second object, only the first will be
trimmed or extended. But when instead you double click on the
second object, also the second object will be trimmed or
extended.
d) During the creation of a perpendicular line, parallel line,

parallel path, object text. When you double click on the
reference object, the reference object remains selected after

the creation of the object.
The selection is removed by using the ESC key or the
SPACEBAR.
e) When double clicking on a line, it is possible to check the

'Turn around' box. This mirrors the line style. It is quite
obvious with asymmetric line styles.
Middle mouse button
a) Double click
Same as the menu command "Fit in Window".
b) CTRL - Double click
If no link to an external file exists yet:

Same as the menu command "Choose External File".
If a link to an external file already exists:

Same as the menu command "Open External File"
Appendix C: Place Holders
Place holders can be used in a Pythagoras text field (not in a Rich text field).
Specific information will be filled-out in place of the place holder, depending
on the place holder that is used.
Overview
^s: is the place holder for "scale"
^d: is the place holder for "date"
^f: is the place holder for "file name"
^p: is the place holder for "sheet name"
^u: is the place holder for "user name"

This name corresponds with the user name used to log on in Windows.
^c1: is the place holder for "the X coordinate of the bottom left printable part
of a sheet"
^c2: is the place holder for "the Y coordinate of the bottom left printable part
of a sheet"
Appendixes Appendix C: Place Holders 207

Appendix D: PYTHAGOR.INI file settings
The file Pythagor.ini is located in the C:\Windows folder (not in the
Pythagoras folder)
MAXIDS
The maximum number of objects in a drawing. The standard version is

limited to 65000 objects. The limit in Pythagoras Pro is 4 million objects.
Example: MAXIDS=65000
MAXUNDO
The maximum number of operation which can be undone. The limit is 25.
Example: MAXUNDO=3
EXT_DC_IMPORT
This parameter defines the standard extension displayed in the "Open File"
dialog box when you want to import a data collector file.
Example: EXT_DC_IMPORT=DAT. The files with the extension ".DAT" will
be displayed in the "open File" dialog box.
EXT_DC_EXPORT
This parameter defines the standard extension displayed in the "Save File"
dialog box when you want to export a data collector file. (Stakeout list)
Example: EXT_DC_IMPORT=DAT. The files with the extension ".DAT" will
be displayed in the "Save File" dialog box.
MOUSE_WHEEL_ZOOMING
This is where you specify whether the scroll-wheel needs to behave as a

scroll-function or as a zoom function.
Values:
1 = zoom in/out
0 = Scroll
AUTOMATIC_BACKUP
This setting will determine whether Pythagoras automatically saves a spare

copy upon opening a document.
Values:
0 = no automatic reserve copy

other = automatic reserve copy
AUTOMATIC_SAVE
This setting specifies whether or not Pythagoras should automatically save

the drawing (while it is open) after a pre-determined time period.
Values:
0 = off
other = on
AUTOMATIC_SAVE_INTERVAL
This specifies the automatic save interval in minutes.
CMDLINE
For internal use only.
Appendixes Appendix D: PYTHAGOR.INI file settings 209

Appendix E: Saving System Files
When starting up Pythagoras and pressing the CTRL-key, the following
dialog box will appear:
This dialog allows you to perform the following actions to the system files
(PYTHAGOR.LIB, PYTHAGOR.MLB, PYTHAGOR.DEF, PYTHAGOR.PLB):
 See the paths where Pythagoras system files are stored

 Specify other places to store these files
 Import system files obtained from other users/computers.
You can copy the system files from the indicated locations using any file
managing program you like.
Index
Index
" C
"A" key ................................................................ 204 Calculate ............................................. 103, 145, 172
"B" key ................................................................ 204 Calculations ................................................ 144, 148
"G" key ................................................................ 204 Caps Lock ........................................................... 202
"I" key .................................................................. 204 CDZ format ........................................................... 89
"L" key ................................................................. 204 Center ................................................................. 144
"O" key ................................................................ 203 Change Elevation........................................ 110, 149
"P" key ................................................................ 203 Circle............................................... 94, 99, 101, 102
"R" key ................................................................ 204 Clear ....................................................... 83, 86, 101
"T" key ................................................................ 203 Clip........................................................................ 83
"X" key ................................................................ 203 Clipboard ........................................................ 81, 82
Close............................................................. 45, 158
Code Definition ................................................... 131
2 Color .. 36, 52, 54, 66, 69, 77, 80, 95, 122, 126, 127,
131, 132, 139, 159
2 terrain models .................................................. 148 Columns ................................................................ 21
Comment .............................................. 80, 112, 123
Comparison................................................. 179, 184
3 Compounds........................................................... 12
Concepts and terminology ...................................... 2
3D View .............................................................. 151 Configuration....................................................... 141
Configure .............................................................. 58
Constants ............................................................ 175
A
Contour lines ....................................................... 149
Control Panel .................................................. 44, 87
About .................................................................... 78
Conversion Table .......................................... 77, 131
Accuracy Station ................................................. 131
Coordinate List ........................................ 46, 53, 122
Active DTM ......................................................... 141
Coordinate List Format ....................................... 198
Actual Size .......................................................... 136
Coordinate Reference Systems .............................. 4
Adapt .................................................................... 85
Coordinate System ................................... 82, 84, 98
Add Vertex .......................................................... 109
Coordinate Systems................................ 4, 7, 8, 146
Adjust Elevation .......................................... 123, 148
Coordinates............................................. 82, 88, 122
Affine transformation ........................................... 147
Copy ............................................................... 11, 81
Aggregate functions ............................................ 190
Copying Attributes (properties) of a selected object
Aggregation .............................................. 23, 60, 61
.......................................................................... 40
Align ...................................................... 97, 101, 121
Create ............................. 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 97, 145
Aligned Rich Text ................................................ 105
Cross section ........ 32, 150, 151, 156, 159, 162, 163
ALT key ............................................................... 199
Cross Sections .................................................... 156
Annotation ............................. 96, 111, 112, 123, 137
CTRL key ............................................................ 199
Annotations ......................................................... 129
Curvature ............................................................ 118
Applying Attributes (properties) to selected objects
Curve .......................................................... 105, 162
.......................................................................... 40
Customize toolbars ............................................. 142
Arc .................................................. 92, 93, 101, 102
Cut .................................. 14, 81, 101, 102, 103, 172
Area .................................................. 67, 75, 76, 104
Cut off ................................................................. 103
Arithmetic operations .......................................... 180
arrows ....................................... 90, 93, 94, 117, 125
ASCII editor........................................................... 38 D
Attribute tables ...................................................... 20
Attributes . 53, 59, 67, 69, 70, 98, 115, 138, 139, 140 Data .................................................................... 115
Autofill ............................................................. 65, 66 Data Collector ......................................... 50, 58, 130
Database .................. 18, 22, 49, 60, 61, 62, 80, 115
B Database manager ............................................... 60
Date and Time .................................................... 130
Date/time functions ............................................. 186
BACKSPACE ...................................................... 205
Defaults .. 4, 9, 36, 40, 41, 58, 68, 69, 70, 88, 89, 90,
Basic Concepts ....................................................... 9
93, 103, 111, 117, 125, 126, 127, 128, 141, 200
bearing ............................................ 90, 99, 112, 145
DEL key .............................................................. 205
Best fit ................................................................. 144
Delete ..................................................... 67, 84, 161
boundary triangles .............................................. 149
Delete Triangle .................................................... 109
Delete Vertex ...................................................... 110 I
Dictionary ........................................................ 20, 60
Dimension ........................................................... 110 Image ...................................... 51, 55, 120, 121, 138
Display level .............................. 36, 52, 80, 121, 126 Images .................................................................. 13
Display Levels ....................................................... 15 Import ................................................ 14, 46, 50, 130
Display Options ................................................... 148 Import System Macros .......................................... 72
Display View................ 15, 59, 66, 76, 136, 171, 201 Indexing ................................................................ 21
Divide .................................................................. 102 Info ........................................................ 46, 138, 139
Document defaults ................................................ 36 Information ............................................................ 99
Document Line Style ........................................... 117 Intersection.................................. 103, 145, 161, 162
Document Pattern ................................... 70, 71, 119 Intersections ................................................ 103, 144
Double click ......................................................... 205 Inverse Distance Weighting..................... 6, 128, 147
Drag .................................................................... 100
Drawing Tools ..................................................... 141
J
DTM . 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 76, 82, 108, 109, 110, 137,
138, 144, 148, 149, 150, 151, 152, 159, 171
Join ............................................................. 101, 102
Duplicate ............................................................... 84
DWG ............................................. 46, 47, 52, 53, 54
DXF ........................... 46, 47, 52, 53, 54, 55, 95, 132 L
DXF Symbols and Layers.................................... 132
Lasso ............................................................ 14, 110
Layer ........................................... 52, 80, 95, 98, 121
E
Layers ..................................................... 10, 59, 141
Legend ................................................................ 138
Edit .............................................. 79, 83, 95, 96, 161
Lexemes.............................................................. 175
Edit Curve ........................................................... 107
Library Line Style ................................................ 117
Edit Group ........................................................... 108
Library Pattern..................................................... 119
Edit Line .............................................................. 107
Line ...... 68, 69, 70, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 101, 102,
Edit Path.............................................................. 108
103, 116, 117, 118, 120, 125
Edit Polygon ........................................................ 108
Line attributes................................................ 36, 127
Elevation ................................................................. 4
Line Style ........................................ 68, 69, 116, 125
Eraser............................................................ 14, 110
Line Styles........................................... 11, 68, 69, 70
ESC key .............................................................. 203
Line width ............................................................ 117
Escape ...................................................... 76, 87, 88
Lines ................................................................... 111
Export .................................................................... 52
List ................................................................ 58, 122
Export System Macros .......................................... 73
Load ...................................................... 77, 131, 133
Expression kinds ................................................. 191
Load Macro-library ................................................ 71
Expression Language ......................................... 173
Local Coordinate System ................................ 4, 7, 8
Expressions........................................................... 27
Logical functions ................................................. 184
Extend ................................................................. 103
external file .......................................... 138, 139, 140
M
F
Macro Libraries ..................................................... 35
Macro-buttons (Pythagoras VBA).......................... 41
File .... 44, 45, 46, 47, 53, 58, 78, 130, 131, 150, 172
Macro-editor .......................................................... 72
Find ................................................................. 79, 80
Macro-library manager .......................................... 72
Fit In Window .............................................. 136, 171
Macros .......................................... 34, 35, 41, 71, 73
folding.................................................................. 192
Mail Merge ............................................................ 62
Format ............. 68, 69, 70, 71, 90, 97, 111, 115, 117
Make Delaunay ................................................... 149
Full access ........................................................... 25
Making a Layer Active ........................................... 41
Function calls ...................................................... 182
Making a User Default Active ................................ 41
Functions............................................................. 182
Measurement ................................ 96, 110, 112, 125
Menu ... 44, 68, 70, 79, 115, 125, 135, 143, 144, 170
G Menu Functions..................................................... 43
Middle mouse button ........................................... 206
Global Coordinate System .................................. 4, 7 Move ................................. 67, 83, 84, 135, 161, 171
Google Earth ................................................. 57, 141 Move Vertex ........................................................ 109
Graphical attributes ............................................... 36
Grid ..................................................................... 144
N
Ground Model ................................... 30, 55, 66, 148
Group ............................................ 11, 68, 69, 70, 85
Natural Neighbors by Area .................................. 147
Groups .................................................................. 59
Natural Neighbours ......................................... 6, 128
New ............................... 44, 117, 126, 127, 128, 158
H New Object.......................................................... 103
NULL value ......................................................... 178
Helmert transformation .............................. 6, 14, 146 Numeric functions ............................................... 186
11-212 Index Index

Rotate ................................................................... 84
O RTF editor ............................................................. 38
Run Macro ............................................................ 98
Object ............... 87, 88, 99, 102, 125, 138, 139, 161
Object List ............................................................. 58
Object Text............................................................ 96 S
Open ....... 38, 44, 46, 53, 58, 83, 140, 150, 158, 172
Operation ............................................................ 122 Save ................................ 45, 85, 127, 139, 150, 158
Operators ............................................................ 176 Save As .......................................................... 45, 55
Saving System Files ........................................... 210
Scale .... 52, 59, 67, 69, 70, 119, 127, 138, 139, 146,
P 169
Scale dependent view ........................................... 59
page . 7, 8, 44, 45, 46, 67, 68, 69, 70, 75, 76, 84, 86, Select . 58, 67, 75, 76, 79, 80, 82, 84, 95, 96, 97, 98,
96, 122, 127, 135, 136, 170 100, 104, 111, 161
Page Coordinate System ............................ 4, 8, 127 Select Sheet (Print Sheet ...................................... 74
Page Setup ........................................................... 75 Selecting Coordinate Reference System .............. 40
Parallel Lines .................................................. 90, 94 Selecting Objects ................................................ 100
Paste....................................................... 82, 83, 151 Selecting Rectangular or Polar Coordinates ......... 42
Paste Special ...................................................... 151 Selecting the Coordinate System .......................... 42
Path ................................................................ 97, 99 Selection options................................................... 99
Pattern .................................... 70, 71, 118, 120, 121 semantics ............................................................ 178
Patterns ................................ 11, 55, 68, 69, 70, 137 Series of images ................................................... 51
Perpendicular .................................................. 91, 92 Shape ............................................................. 47, 55
Place Holders...................................................... 207 Sheet .................................................................... 75
Plan..................................................................... 155 Sheet manager ..................................................... 74
Point..... 9, 68, 70, 88, 89, 92, 93, 94, 112, 116, 118, Sheets................................................................... 16
125, 127, 128, 137, 144, 145, 162, 169 SHIFT key ........................................................... 201
Point Confirmation ...................................... 127, 162 Shift Lock ............................................................ 202
Point Number ............................................ 9, 80, 127 Shift-TAB keys .................................................... 203
Point style ..................................................... 36, 127 Shortcut Keys...................................................... 199
Polygon ..... 96, 97, 99, 112, 118, 119, 120, 122, 126 SICAD-SQD .............................................. 50, 53, 58
Polygon: Area and Perimeter .............................. 111 Slope Area .......................................................... 152
polylines ................................................................ 85 Slope intercept .................................................... 151
Preferences... 36, 37, 50, 54, 77, 122, 126, 129, 177 Snap ................................................................... 125
Print ............................................ 67, 75, 76, 84, 104 Snapping ........................................................... 9, 85
print area ............................................................... 86 SPACEBAR ........................................................ 201
Print View .............................................................. 15 Spatial aggregation ............................................... 24
Printer ........................................................... 75, 131 Spatial Interpolation ........................................ 29, 66
Private Tool ......................................................... 113 Spiral................................................................... 106
Profile.................................................. 133, 150, 155 Stake-out .............................................................. 58
Profile Texts ........................................................ 133 Standard ............................................................. 142
PYTHAGOR.DEF.......................... 36, 127, 160, 210 standard texts ..................................................... 131
PYTHAGOR.INI file settings ............................... 208 String functions ................................................... 187
PYTHAGOR.LIB ..................................... 11, 71, 210 Style ...................... 68, 69, 70, 80, 95, 116, 118, 125
PYTHAGOR.MLB ................................... 72, 73, 210 Subdocument ...................................................... 142
PYTHAGOR.PLB ................................................ 210 Subdocument Manager......................................... 60
Pythagoras VBA................................ 34, 35, 41, 113 Subdocuments .................................... 9, 60, 76, 138
Pythagoras-Toolbar .............................................. 40 Superelevation .................................... 164, 167, 168
Swap Diagonal .................................................... 108
Symbol .... 11, 36, 67, 68, 69, 70, 103, 104, 119, 121
Q
Symbols ............................ 11, 54, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71
Syntax ................................................................. 178
Quit ............................................................... 78, 160
System tables ....................................................... 22
R T
Read access ........................................................ 25
TAB key .............................................................. 202
Read/write access ............................................... 25
Table ................................................... 49, 56, 57, 64
Recent documents ................................................ 78
Table columns....................................................... 21
Redo ............................................. 79, 160, 161, 163
Table Viewer ................................................... 25, 62
reference objects ................ 155, 156, 157, 158, 161
Tables ............................................................. 19, 20
Renumber Points ................................................ 122
Tangential ....................................................... 91, 92
Representation rules ............................................. 65
Temporary Coordinate System ........................... 4, 8
Resection ............................................................ 145
Terrain Model ...................................................... 148
Restore ............................................................... 127
Terrain Models .............................................. 30, 148
Rich Text ..................................................... 104, 105
Text .. 38, 46, 47, 53, 58, 95, 99, 100, 118, 120, 121,
Road Bed ............................................................ 163
125, 137, 150, 172
Road Design .. 32, 71, 141, 154, 155, 158, 169, 171,
Text : Content ..................................................... 118
172
Index Index 11-213

Text attributes ....................................... 36, 118, 127 User defaults ................... 36, 40, 115, 125, 126, 141
Text Editors ........................................................... 38
The Pythagoras Control panel............................... 42
Thematic Map ..................................................... 138 V
Thematic Map Editor ............................................. 64
Thematic Map Manager ........................................ 64 VBA access.......................................................... 25
Thematic Maps .......................... 28, 64, 76, 138, 201 VBA editor ............................................................. 39
Tie Points .......................................... 6, 73, 128, 148 View ...... 15, 74, 76, 80, 81, 135, 136, 142, 143, 170
Toolbars .............................................................. 141 Viewport .............................................................. 112
tools............................. 14, 87, 88, 96, 103, 104, 163 Viewports .............................................................. 16
Transformation .................................................... 146 Views .......................... 15, 17, 22, 23, 55, 60, 61, 62
Traverse ...................................................... 131, 144 Volumes .............................................................. 149
Type conversions ................................................ 182
Typical Section ...................................................... 71
W
U Width ................. 69, 77, 95, 117, 125, 131, 132, 159
Undo.............................................................. 79, 160

Ungroup ................................................................ 85 Z
Units .................................................................... 129
Unpack .................................................................. 86 Zoom ................................................... 135, 136, 171
Update Plan ........................................................ 159
User Default .................................... 36, 41, 115, 126
11-214 Index Index

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Pythagoras

The standard for both

Pythagoras CAD+GIS V12 Reference Guide

March 11, 2010

Microsoft, MS-DOS and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

IBM is a registered trademark of International Business Machines Corporation.

(C) Copyright Pythagoras BVBA. All rights reserved.

PART I CONCEPTS AND TERMINOLOGY ......................................... 2

CHAPTER 1: COORDINATE SYSTEMS ............................................................................ 4

COORDINATE REFERENCE SYSTEMS .................................................................................... 4

CHAPTER 2: BASIC CONCEPTS ...................................................................................... 9

CHAPTER 3: PYTHAGORAS DATABASE ...................................................................... 18

DATA TYPES AND VALUES .................................................................................................. 18

CHAPTER 4: EXPRESSIONS .......................................................................................... 27

CHAPTER 5: THEMATIC MAPS ...................................................................................... 28

EXAMPLE THEMATIC MAP ................................................................................................... 28

CHAPTER 6: TERRAIN MODELS .................................................................................... 30

CREATING DTM ................................................................................................................ 30

CHAPTER 7: MACROS .................................................................................................... 34

GRAPHICAL ATTRIBUTES .................................................................................................... 36

ASCII EDITOR ................................................................................................................... 38

CHAPTER 10: PYTHAGORAS-TOOLBAR ...................................................................... 40

Selecting Coordinate Reference System .................................................................................... 40

CHAPTER 11: THE PYTHAGORAS CONTROL PANEL ................................................. 42

Selecting the Coordinate System ................................................................................................ 42

PART II MENU FUNCTIONS ............................................................. 43

CHAPTER 1: THE FILE MENU ........................................................................................ 44

CHAPTER 2: THE EDIT MENU ........................................................................................ 79

CHAPTER 4: THE FORMAT MENU ............................................................................... 115

ATTRIBUTES ................................................................................................................... 115

CHAPTER 5: THE DEFAULTS MENU ........................................................................... 125

ZOOM IN ......................................................................................................................... 135

CHAPTER 7: THE CALCULATIONS MENU .................................................................. 144

INTERSECTIONS .............................................................................................................. 144

PART III ROAD DESIGN .................................................................. 153

CHAPTER 1: CONCEPTS .............................................................................................. 154

THE PLAN W INDOW ......................................................................................................... 154

CHAPTER 2: MENU ITEMS ........................................................................................... 157

1. FILE MENU ............................................................................................................... 157

CHAPTER 1: GENERAL TERMS ................................................................................... 175

LEXEMES ........................................................................................................................ 175

CHAPTER 2: SYNTAX AND SEMANTICS..................................................................... 178

DATA TYPES ................................................................................................................... 178

CHAPTER 3: FUNCTIONS ............................................................................................. 182

FUNCTION CALLS ............................................................................................................ 182

CHAPTER 4: EXPRESSION KINDS AND COMPILATION ............................................ 191

EXPRESSION KINDS ......................................................................................................... 191

CHAPTER 5: EXAMPLES .............................................................................................. 193

ONE-DIMENSIONAL EXPRESSIONS..................................................................................... 193

APPENDICES .................................................................................... 197

APPENDIX A: COORDINATE LIST FORMAT .................................................................. 198

APPENDIX B: SHORTCUT KEYS..................................................................................... 199

APPENDIX C: PLACE HOLDERS .................................................................................... 207

APPENDIX D: PYTHAGOR.INI FILE SETTINGS .............................................................. 208

MAXIDS ..................................................................................................................................... 208

These 5 Coordinate System types are:

1. The Local Coordinate System

To express coordinates, Pythagoras supports the following conventions:

- XYZ: rectangular coordinates expressed in a XYZ (horizontal X-axis)