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How to use terrain cleanups

Tired of vehicles, temporary stockpiles, or even permanent structures messing up your volume calculations? Terrain cleanups are the essential tool we use to ensure the accuracy of your earthwork quantities. This guide walks you through how to quickly remove these obstacles from your terrain model, flattening or modifying specific ground areas so you can measure the true progress of your site without interference. 

Who can access this feature?

Users with Process permission can enable/disable cleanups, make edits, or delete them.

ℹ️ Note: Users that only have edit permission can not toggle on the visibility icon and make any changes to the current list of cleanups. 

Create a terrain cleanup

There are two ways to create a cleanup: drawing one manually or converting an existing polygon measurement.

Option 1: Draw a polygon boundary

  1. Navigate to the Survey tab
  2. Click the Cleanup icon (brush button)
Terrain Cleanups Create Terrain.svg
  1. Define your boundary:
  • Magic polygon: Hover over a distinct object. The tool will suggest a boundary.
  • Manual draw: Click points around the object to draw the shape yourself.
  1. Refine the shape:
  • Move points: Click and drag the large white nodes to adjust the boundary.
  • Add points: Click the smaller white nodes between lines to create new vertices.
  • Delete points: Select a point and delete it in the left-hand menu.
  • Move the whole shape: Hover over the polygon until you see the crosshair icon, then click and drag to shift the entire boundary without altering its shape.
  1. Snap shape to ground: Ensure this box is checked so the edges blend seamlessly with the surrounding terrain.
Terrain Cleanups Add Breakline.png
  1. Click SAVE
💡 Tip: Made a mistake? Press Delete on your keyboard to undo your last point, or hit the RESET button to send the polygon back to its original location

Option 2: Copy as cleanup

If you have already drawn a polygon to measure a stockpile or building pad, you do not need to redraw it.
  1. Navigate to the Measure tab
  2. Select the polygon measurement surrounding the object
  3. Click the three-dot menu next to the measurement name
  4. Select Copy as cleanup
  5. The shape moves to the Cleanups folder in the Survey tab, and the terrain is flattened instantly
Copy as a Cleanup.gif
ℹ️ Note: Terrain cleanups flatten the data, not the photo. You will still see the object in the image, but its volume has been removed. This allows you to measure the area accurately without the stockpile or equipment interfering with your numbers.

Managing slopes and elevations

A simple cleanup might make the ground under a bridge or on a slope look unnaturally flat. Apply breaklines to your terrain model and ensure accuracy.

Apply breaklines for slopes

Breaklines force the new surface to "fold" along specific lines, matching the surrounding topography.
  1. Draw your cleanup boundary around the structure.
  2. Click + ADD BREAKLINES.
  3. Draw lines across the cleanup area where the slope changes (e.g., the top and bottom of a bank).
💡 Tip: Your breaklines must start and end outside the cleanup boundary. For a smoother slope, click to add extra points (vertices) along the line inside the area. This gives the model more data to work with.
Terrain Cleanup Breaklines.png

Edit specific coordinates and elevations

If you need to set a structure to a specific design level (height):
  1. Click on any vertex (point) on your cleanup boundary or breakline
  2. An editor will appear
  3. Uncheck Snap shape to ground
  4. Type in the exact Elevation (Z) value or
  5. You can hold shift and select multiple points to raise or lower the entire surface at once
Terrain Cleanups Delete Point.svg

Manage your cleanups

All cleanups are stored in the Cleanups folder within the Survey tab. You can manage them individually or in bulk to keep your project organized.

Available actions

  • Copy to another dataset: Move a cleanup (like a permanent bridge) to a new survey so you don't have to redraw it
  • Disable/Enable: Toggle the visibility of a cleanup to compare the "clean" terrain against the "raw" terrain
  • Delete: Permanently remove the cleanup from the project

How to apply these actions

  • Individual actions: Click the three-dot menu next to any specific cleanup name to select an action from the menu
  • Bulk selection: Hold Shift on your keyboard and click multiple cleanups in the list to apply an action all at once
  • Folder-level actions:
    • Copy all: Click the three-dot menu next to the main All Cleanups folder to copy every cleanup to another dataset.
    • Toggle all: Click the eye icon next to the main folder to show or hide all cleanups instantly.

Export a surface with terrain cleanups

Once you’ve made your adjustments, you might want to use that "cleaned" surface model in CAD or other specialized software.

  1. Navigate to the Measure tab

  2. If you haven't already, use the Polygon tool to create a measurement around the area you want to export.

  3. Click the three-dot menu next to that polygon measurement.

  4. Choose the desired file format (e.g., DXF, TTM).

  5. Notice: The exported file will incorporate any Terrain Cleanups within that boundary. For example, a DXF export will contain the surface as a 3DFACE (TIN) entity type reflecting your edits.

Export a Measurement as Surface
💡 Tip: You can also use the Custom Export tool in the Outputs tab to download larger sections of updated surface data that incorporate your terrain cleanups.

I still can't do it!

We wrote these articles to equip you with everything you need to get the job done on your own, but we understand that sometimes this isn't sufficient.

If you're stuck, you can connect with our support team by clicking the question mark button at the top right corner of your user portal.

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