Penn Foster Student Suffering with Oleson Village Map!!!

[ReMark]

At some point in the project (page 15) you are told that all trees must be moved due to an error with the benchmark. A benchmark typically refers to elevation not location so their use of the wrong terminology annoys the heck out of me. None-the-less moving all the trees at the same time is a relatively easy process. They have to move -2.32 on the X axis and +1.44 on the Y axis. If one puzzles this out in AutoCAD the result is the trees have to move 2.73 feet at a bearing of N58d10'12"W. I recommend you make one of the two tree layers "current" and freeze all the other layers (use the Layer Properties Manager to do this).

 

Now invoke the Move command. Select all the trees with a window. AutoCAD reports back: 68 found. Press Enter. AutoCAD asks for a basepoint. Pick a point anywhere on your screen. When prompted for the second point type: @2.73

 

Here is the sequence copied from the Text window:

 

Command: Move

 

Select objects: Specify opposite corner: 65 found

 

Select objects:

 

Specify base point or [Displacement] : Pick a point anywhere on your screen.

 

Specify second point or : @2.73

 

All of your trees have now shifted west and north. You can now thaw all the frozen layers.

[ReMark]

On the same page P-F has one other surprise for you. They now say all trees must have a diameter of 10 feet not 15. They want you to Explode and remake your block. Let's not but say we did.

 

Instead I suggest you use the Block Edit command or BEDIT for short.

 

Invoke the command and highlight the Tree-Oleson block. When the block editor opens you'll see your tree. I want you to use the Scale command and scale the entire tree using as the basepoint the center point of the tree. Use 0.6667 as the scale factor (15*0.6667=10.0005 or "close enough"). Close the Block Editor by clicking on the "X" in the upper right hand corner of the window. You want to keep your changes. When you are returned to your drawing all the trees will be smaller. Measure the diameter of one of them to prove they are indeed "10" not "15".

 

The Block Editor dialog window:

 

[ReMark]

Our tree block inside the Block Editor itself.

[ReMark]

So there you have it. We've basically completed all the geometry for the Oleson Village subdivision. The remainder of the project involves labeling roads, adding lot numbers, bearings and distances of property lines, a scale bar, north arrow, legend and most importantly a title block and border. I think you should be able to handle all of that on your own so I will leave you to complete those tasks. However, should you have any further questions or run into a problem feel free to post a question or two. I fully expect you to keep me updated on your progress considering the amount of time and effort I have expended to get you this far. I will check in from time to time so don't disappoint me. Good luck and I hope you get a good grade.

[AutoCad Student]

For sure I will keep you posted on my progress. Your help has been a miracle to say the least. I lost some momentum due to some unexpected events in the evenings a couple of nights and the sidewalk section held me up quite a bit.

 

So back to the sidewalk section again, so the street line is the outer most boundary???? I know you gave me a great explanation and photo, but in my pea brain it seems the street line would be the inner most line, then the curb then the sidewalk, then the buffer. If you walk out of your house and go toward the sidewalk, you get to the sidewalk first, then the curb, then the street. I'm pretty confused on this section.

 

Also, will I need to delete that perimeter line and box boundary you had me draw at the very beginning? I don't seem to recall that listed in the directions but maybe i over looked it in my panicked state! haha

Edited December 11, 2012 by AutoCad Student

[ReMark]

Re: streetlines and the location of buffers, sidewalks, planting strips (not parking strips) and curbs.

 

I will state this as plainly as I can. Here goes....The sketch provided by a faculty member of Penn-Foster posted to another Oleson Village thread is wrong. Refer to post #68 below.

 

I have researched this a couple of times already but to provide everyone with some proof to back me up I have attached a copy of a typical street cross-section detail as called for by the City of New Britain (state of Connecticut) Engineering Department that I worked in for a period of eight years.

 

 

The so called "buffer" is a one foot offset from the streetline to the back of walk. This is so contractors installing sidewalks do not disturb property pins or monuments. Then you have the sidewalk itself, a grassy strip, and finally the granite or concrete curb.

 

On a street with a streetline width of 50 feet, subtracting out 10 feet on either side for the buffer, sidewalk, etc. the end result is a paved roadway of 30 feet. This method of laying out a road is widely used across the country. You will find variations in streeline widths (up to 75 feet for a "boulevard") as well as for sidewalk and planting strip widths.

 

Another reference. Santa Monica, California - Right of way Information. http://www.smgov.net/departments/publicworks/streetrow.aspx

 

Bottom line. Draw the plan the correct way or draw it the Penn-Foster way. If you draw it the correct way and points are taken off you can cite the above example as one of many that can be found online. For further information pick up the phone and call your local Public Works or Engineering Department and ask them what falls between streetlines.

Edited December 11, 2012 by ReMark

[ReMark]

A little more of a graphical approach re: street cross-section.

[ReMark]

This is the sketch that I referred to earlier. It was sent via email from a Penn-Foster instructor. I wonder what the job description is for "instructor" at P-F? Anyone care to guess?

 

Anyway, this sketch is wrong! Do not follow it. Whoever came up with it hasn't got a clue and should not be advising students doing the Oleson Village project.

[ReMark]

"Also, will I need to delete that perimeter line and box boundary you had me draw at the very beginning? I don't seem to recall that listed in the directions but maybe i over looked it in my panicked state! haha"

 

Yes. Those were visual aides to keep you oriented otherwise you might have veered off course and found yourself in a galaxy far, far away.

[lucas1]

I had the same problem. If you're adding ' to your lengths that will happen. Ex: 49' @ S34'27"W. Omit the "foot" symbol in your length. Wrong thread.

Edited December 11, 2012 by lucas1
wrong thread

[ReMark]

AutoCAD Student: Where's the update? How about posting an image too.

[AutoCad Student]

Here I am. So sorry for not logging in last night. My mother has dementia and lives alone in Florida and Its been mass hysteria and chaos with her for the last few days. I'm afraid my studies have taken a back seat to all that.

 

I've scanned your last posts on the parking/sidewalk issue. So i agree that PF has it wrong, but don't I have to draw it wrong in order to get a better grade? Challenging their grade after the fact might not work. I think I will email the instructor to see what he says after I point out that their information is not correct based on my research of typical drawings, etc. I have printed out all your latest guidance and I hope to get back at it tonight. I will keep you posted. Thanks for checking in.

[ReMark]

Sorry to hear about your mother.

 

You have the option of how you want to locate the buffer, sidewalk and curb. However, since P-F gives no clear written guidance one can say the instructions were open to interpretation. How can they argue with that?

 

Should you decide to go with the way I have shown at the very least you can say it was documented. What's their comeback? "Oh, well, ah this is the way we do it?"

Edited December 12, 2012 by ReMark

[ReMark]

The subdivision inside a border sans lettering. Note the addition of the benchmark symbol as well.

 

BTW...you do not have to draw a separate polyline around the subdivision just to highlight it. You can use the PEDIT command to join the four lines that make up the boundary then assign it a width of "5" as per your instructions.

 

The scale factor for our border block should be 50 thus the scale of our drawing will be 1"=50'.

[AutoCad Student]

phew! What a whirlwind last few days. I'm in Florida right now helping my mom but I definitely plan to get on this project this weekend!!!!! I see I still have a lot of work to do, but thanks to you I would be still dealing with the first line!!! I will send you a pic of what I have so far soon. Thanks for your continued help!!!!!

[AutoCad Student]

Hi there. Finally back at it today. I put all my trees to be removed in but they are black even though they show as on the correct layer. They are supposed to be blue but no matter what i do they stay black. Any ideas what might be wrong? UPDATE: I think I figured it out!!! Never mind on this one.

 

Also, I've seen a couple other drawings and the streets are in black. I know you said earlier they should be magenta like the property lines though right?

 

Ok, all my trees are done. Next I'm going to work on the streets outside the subdivision. I will move and resize the trees after I finish these streets

Edited December 16, 2012 by AutoCad Student

[ReMark]

Anything on the Property layer will be magenta in color.

 

The Sidewalk layer is cyan colored.

 

The Curb layer is a light gray (color code: 9).

 

Nothing should be black unless you opted to have your model space background color set to white.

[AutoCad Student]

ok, things are progressing nicely. I tried to insert the north arrow and its about 400 times too big. How do i resize it?

 

Also, when I try to edit the tree block, its not visable when I type bedit. The editor opens up but my tree isn't listed.

Edited December 17, 2012 by AutoCad Student

[ReMark]

You can resize the north arrow using the Scale command.

[ReMark]

Click on one of your tree blocks then go to your command line and type BEDIT followed by pressing the Enter key. This is what you should see.

 

You did download the Tree-Oleson block I posted correct?

 

You did not explode the block did you?

 

Did you change your model space background color to white by any chance?