1.

1 GENERATING CONTOUR MAPS

1.1.1 Contour interval

Contour is a line connecting same elevations thus represents the shape of a mass of land or
other object, especially its surface or the shape formed by its outer edge. Consequently, contour
map is a map that uses contour lines to show the shapes and elevations of land surfaces.

To represent such map it needs to specify intervals or spacing. Contour interval is also called
vertical scale. It is used to allow the determination of a point in three dimensional space. Minor
contour lines need to be generated from 0.25 to 1.0m intervals on flatter and steeper slopes
respectively. Whereas, index or major contours need to be plotted at 5 or 10m interval in
accordance with the above minor contour interval.

In case of strip survey requirement (where distance between headwork and command area is
far apart i.e. long idle length) the strip has to be surveyed 100m from the proposed centerline
and plotted on a scale of 1:1000. The longitudinal profiles need to be plotted with a vertical
scale of 1:20, 1:50 or 1:100 and the cross-sections to a scale 1:20, 1:50 or 1:100 depending on
size of the reach.

1.1.2 Generating contour maps from survey points

Contour map is a two-dimensional representation of a portion of the three-dimensional surface

of the earth. Contour maps also called topographic maps can be generated using different
software like Global Mapper, AutoCAD-Eagle Point, ArcGIS, Civil Designer, Terra model;
LandCAD; Surfer, etc. These software take raw data in the form of coordinate system (x, y) and
elevation (z), description, remark, etc. Thus, data brought from the field shall at least contain
these components.

But, as Global Mapper is simpler, procedures for generating contour maps using it is
summarized here under in section 1.1.3.

1.1.3 Generating contour maps from 3D/ DEM

Contour maps can be generated from topographic survey data as follow. (Before importing
topographic survey data to GM, the data set has to be arranged properly on excel as follow):
 Arrange all data without any rows on top (X-coordinate should come first then Y-
coordinate & then Z or elevation and description if you want, but no title on top is
required)
 Select all data, and Click ‘File’ and then
 ‘Save as’ ‘Text (Tab delimited)’ or ‘.CSV (Comma delimited)’ then Click ‘Ok’
 If it asks you ‘The selected data …’ you simply click ‘Ok’
  Again it asks you ‘Do you want to keep the workbook in this format’, then you click
‘Yes’
 Close excel
 If it asks you to save it click “No” as it is already there.
 To load data, it needs to be converted to shape file, if from Arc GIS i.e. “.shp” or text
(Tab delimited) file if from Excel i.e. “.text”, or “.CSV (Comma delimited for both)”,
before working it with GM;
 Open GM and import or open the text file;
 When it asks you ‘Generic Text File Import Option then click ‘Points only’ and then
‘Ok’;
 Now it asks you projection. Thus give appropriate projection in the area of your
interest i.e. “UTM” then “Africa” and then “Adindan UTM Zone-37”. The data will then
be loaded. Here while loading there are four options (as shown in figure below): so
you can use either of them but we recommend point data only as we can generate
depending on our interest;
 Then, select all loaded data by ‘digitizer tool’;
 Click ‘Analysis’ on top of the window in menu bar;
 From drop down list, click ‘Create Elevation Grid from 3D Vector Data’ ;
 DEM must be loaded or created from data.
 Note “Contour cannot be generated from any vector data like point data”;
 Then activate ‘Digitizer tool’;
 Then set contour intervals ‘say 0.5m for minor and 10m for major’ in the ‘Advanced
contour interval multiplier’;
 Click on ‘smooth Contour Lines/Area to improve Appearance’
 Click ‘ok’
 In case you want to generate for only part of the dam, then you need to click on
‘contour bounds’ then ‘draw box’ or ‘crop to selected area feature, if you have
boundary’
 Note: If there are crossing contours then you need to check raw data that might
cause such incidences.

Note: DEM can also be created from contour map. Moreover, X & Y data shall not be reversed
as it can take us far away from our project site.
Figure 5-1: Options of data importing types in GM
 1.1.4 Characteristics of contours

Contour lines are used to determine elevations and are lines on a map that are produced from
connecting points of equal elevation (elevation refers to height in meters, above sea level).
Thickness of such contour lines should be identified between major contours and minor
contours before making it ready for plotting.

We need to know the following general characteristics of contour lines before we use it for other
purposes:
 Contour lines never cross each other or merge with contours of different values
except at an overhanging or vertical cliff (excavation);
 Contour lines never split. A split could occur only when a knife edged ridge or valley
coincides exactly with a contour line, which does not occur in nature;
 Contour lines do not divide unless otherwise they go beyond boundary of the survey;
 Closely spaced contour lines represent steep slopes, conversely, contour lines that
are spaced far apart represent gentle slopes;
 Concaving slope has closely spaced contours at the higher elevations with greater
spacing at the lower levels;
 Convex shaped slope has a spacing greater at the top and closer together at its
bottom;
 A uniform slope has evenly spaced contours;
 On a plane surface, the contours are straight, evenly spaced and parallel;
 Every contour is a continuous line which closes upon itself somewhere on the earth's
surface, not necessarily within the limits of a drawing. Thus, contour lines may or may
not stop within the confines of a drawings;
 Contours can actually follow around the cheeks and a riser of steps and coincide with
structure limits;
 A summit or a depression is indicated by a closed contours surrounded by other
contours. The highest or lowest elevation is shown by a spot elevation at center.
 Contour lines are perpendicular to lines of the steepest slope. Consequently, the
shortest line between the two contours indicates the steepest slope.
 When a contour line crosses a stream, the contour first goes upstream, crosses the
stream at right angles and then runs downstream;
 The highest contours along ridges and the lowest contours in valleys, always go in
pairs;
 Contours of the same value must be repeated to indicate a reversal of direction of
slope; Contour lines trend up valleys and form a "V" or a "U" shapes where they cross
a stream, but they form an “n” where they cross a ridge (depending on direction of
increase or decrease in elevation values, as shown in figure 3-1).
2 STANDARDS OF DRAWING ELEMENTS
2.1 LAYOUT OF DRAWINGS

2.1.1 Standard A-size papers

Technical drawings need to be drawn on standard A-size papers. Such papers are usually used,
for which there is a fixed relation of 2:1 between the length and width of the paper (For details,
refer figure below). The size of drawing sheets are generally required to be in accordance with
the ISO 'A' series (International Organization for Standardization)

This relation indicates that the length is about 1.41 times the width of the same paper. The width
of one paper size is equal to the length of the next smaller size and the length of one size is
equal to two times the width of the next smaller size. This means that the area of the next
smaller size is half the area of the preceding size. Such fixed relation between length and width
lets reductions and enlargements of drawings to be made accordingly.
 2.1.2 Procedures for drawing layout & fixing paper sheets

The general procedures for working with drawings, layout and fixing paper sheets in AutoCAD
are summarized as follow:
 Open AutoCAD program;
 Set it to ‘acadiso.dwt’ by clicking ‘ctrl-n then ‘acadiso.dwt’ or file then new then
‘acadiso.dwt’ then double click on it;
 Then set your drawing limits by establishing the length, angle, unit and precision you
want;
 Establish your dimension style then set it to current;
 Create layers with corresponding colors for all the expected features;
 Start first polyline or point or whichever feature by giving UTM coordinate;
 “If not”, work freely and then project by selecting it all at the end by moving to known
reference point to the location you want;
 To modify the feature use trim, extend, mirror, offset, move, rotate, chamfer, fillet, etc.
 Then create layout with the required size of printer or PDF file whichever you want;
 Establish a template, i.e. insert a new template, by clicking ‘attach’ and show its
location. if you do not have it, use the standardized one and modify it to your
requirement,
 Click ‘View’ then ‘Viewport’ then create manually a box in the template and arrange it
to the required scale by varying standard figures in the ‘properties’ then ‘Standard
scale’ or ‘Custom scale’;
 Set your drawing scale depending on paper size you want and establishing title
blocks & notes;
 Then plot by selecting ‘window’ but be sure snap is on to select it precisely;
 If not fit to paper being set in the preview, get back and double click on ‘Model or
paper space’ then pan it to the required size & check if it is to the standard scale
otherwise reset it. Then double click on outside of viewport to return to plotting mode.
 Do not forget to set it to 1:1 while plotting, otherwise the established scale may not be
maintained i.e. it will be modified!
 Insert it by ‘external reference’ or in case file location is changed, clicking the
template asks you ‘found at’ then you simple click the ‘…’ in the ‘details’ wizard &
indicate its location;
 If multiple copies of the same or different drawings are required, you simple copy the
first template and paste parallel to it as much as the intended scale demands;
 But you need to manually insert elevations by looking at initial layout (accuracy is
important here as it is manually inserted);
  If vertical scale is too large to be accommodated within standard paper size, then
regenerate the profile by smaller scale on Zprofile or the same profile by cutting in to
separate views which is consistent with the prior profile (e.g. for canals running in
deep cut).

4
5

Figure 6-2: Typical layout of plotting AutoCAD

2.2 LEVELS/ELEVATION AND DIMENSIONING

2.2.1 Levels/Elevation

The levels in a drawing give the distance of a position above or below a defined datum of
hydraulic structures. Normally, it is preferable to use a National survey bench mark as a datum.
For hydraulic works, it is preferable to use a National survey as a temporary bench mark or
datum such that all other points in the drawing have positive levels. But mixing up both is not
allowed.

Levels/Elevation are important parameters in defining cross sections of structures. Geo-

references for these levels/elevations however need to be specified in the legend so as to
define them clearly (especially for the layout maps).

Levels in drawings need to be linked to a datum, determined by benchmarks of the national (or
local) system (in AutoCAD). Cross sections of structures should be in line with their
corresponding plan in the direction of sight.
 2.2.2 Dimensions

The dimensions given in a drawing normally give the distances between two points or surfaces
as the case may be. As a rule, only those dimensions which are essential for carrying out the
work should be given and unnecessary repetitions of these dimensions should be avoided as
much as possible to make the drawing attractive.

The unit of dimensions should be in meters or millimeters but Chainage and levels should be
given in meters. However, if other units are found obligatory to use, they should be stated in the
drawing. As a general rule, mixing up the units are strictly forbidden.