2.7.1. Level Editor

2.7.1.1. Overview

The Level Editor is an editor and adjustment tool for geometric (spirit / digital) leveling. It imports differential-leveling runs — per-setup backsight / foresight readings and distances — reduces them to height differences, and, against a set of known benchmark heights, computes:

  • a single-line misclosure adjustment (the misclosure distributed over the setups),

  • a dual-line (two-face) closure check between the two runs of the same span, and

  • a rigorous least-squares height network adjustment with per-mark standard deviations, residuals and blunder detection.

Results are presented as a booking report and can be exported to an Excel workbook or a PDF report; plan and profile sketches visualise the network and any selected line.

The tool is found under Calculations > Level Editor in the sidebar. It works with Trimble DiNi M5 raw files (.DAT), Excel setup tables (.xlsx) and its own .lvproj project files.

2.7.1.2. Import

The Import tab is the entry point:

  • Import DiNi file… — reads a Trimble DiNi M5 raw file (*.DAT). Back/fore readings (Rb/Rf), horizontal distances, point names and the span markers (Start-Line / End-Line) are read; two-face (dual-line) files are detected automatically and each face becomes its own line of the same span. Sample files are installed under testfiles/Level_Editor/dini/.

  • Import Excel… — reads a flat one row per setup worksheet. The header row is matched case-insensitively; the required columns are Line, BackPt, Rb, BackHD, ForePt, Rf, ForeHD (common aliases such as BS, Backsight, Back dist are accepted), with optional From and Face columns. Rows sharing the same Line value form one line.

  • Open project… / Save project… — load / store the whole session (lines, benchmarks, coordinates, settings and notes) as a .lvproj file. Closing with unsaved edits asks “Discard unsaved changes?”.

Imports append to the current project, so several files can be combined; duplicate lines can be removed on the Runs tab.

2.7.1.3. Runs

The upper grid lists one row per line — its Active checkbox, Span, Face, From, To, the setup count and the total ΔZ. Span, face and the end-mark names are editable; unchecking Active takes the line out of every calculation (adjust, closure, network, sketch) without deleting it. Delete line removes the selected line.

The lower grid shows the setups of the selected line: Back Pt, Rb, Back HD, Fore Pt, Rf, Fore HD are editable; ΔZ and Z cumul are recomputed on every edit. A highlighted summary row totals the distances (Db=, Df=) and the height difference (ΔZtot=).

2.7.1.4. Benchmarks

The known heights the adjustments are computed against: Name, Height, a Fixed flag (fixed marks are held as datum by the network adjustment) and optional X, Y plan coordinates, used only by the Sketch. Rows can be added / deleted manually or imported from a CSV file (Name, Height[, X, Y]).

2.7.1.5. Adjust

Single-line misclosure adjustment. Pick a Line and its Start and End benchmarks (auto-filled when the line’s end marks are benchmarked), then choose:

  • Distribution — how the misclosure is distributed over the setups: By distance (proportional to each setup’s back + fore distance) or By setups (equally).

  • Tolerance mode — Distance (k·√L) with the K coefficient (default 4 mm/√km, L the one-way length in km) or Setups (2σ√n) with Sigma (default 0.3 mm) and n the setup count.

Adjust fills the results grid (raw ΔZ, correction, adjusted ΔZ and adjusted height per setup) and reports the misclosure, the tolerance and a green PASS / red FAIL verdict.

2.7.1.6. Closure

The two-face agreement check. The two runs (Face 1 / Face 2) of each span are paired and compared: the grid shows both reductions side by side (Db I, Df I, Z I / Db II, Df II, Z II), their difference ΔZ(I-II) in millimetres, the span length, the tolerance and an OK / FAIL verdict — spans with only one run are marked single face. The same tolerance settings as the Adjust tab apply; the header line summarises the mode and the OK / FAIL counts.

2.7.1.7. Network

Least-squares height network adjustment over all active lines, with the Fixed benchmarks as datum. Choose the observation Weighting (By distance — 1/L, or By setups — 1/n) and the blunder threshold (default 3.0 standardized residuals), then press Adjust network.

Results:

  • Sigma0 (unit-weight standard deviation, mm) and the Redundancy (observations − unknowns).

  • A marks grid — adjusted height and standard deviation (mm) per mark (- for fixed marks).

  • A residuals grid — observed ΔH, residual (mm) and standardized residual per line; observations whose standardized residual exceeds the threshold are flagged as blunders and shaded red.

Editing any line, setup or benchmark clears stale results so outdated numbers are never shown next to changed input.

2.7.1.8. Sketch

Two panes separated by a draggable splitter:

  • Plan view — the network drawn from the benchmarks’ X,Y coordinates: squares for fixed marks, circles for free marks, labelled with name and height; arrowed edges per line colored green (uphill) / red (downhill) with the signed ΔH at mid-edge. Adjusted heights are used when the network is solved, raw reductions otherwise (the info label states which).

  • Elevation profile — a distance-vs-height staircase of the line chosen in Profile line, nodes labelled by point name, rising segments green and falling segments red.

Both panes zoom with the mouse wheel, pan by dragging and reset with a double-click. Save PNG… writes the composite image to a file; Copy puts it on the clipboard.

2.7.1.9. Report and export

The Report tab shows the full booking report as text: per line a setup table, the summary and the adjustment verdict, followed by the network-adjustment and closure sections.

Export… offers:

  • Excel workbook (XLSX)… — four sheets: Booking (per-line setup tables), Summary (one row per line with misclosure / tolerance / verdict / adjusted end height), Network (marks and residuals) and Closure (the two-face table).

  • PDF report… — the booking report as an A4 document, with PASS/OK in green and FAIL/blunders in red, including a Network Sketch (plan) section.

2.7.1.10. Notes

  • All numbers are displayed and exported with a dot decimal separator, independent of the system locale.

  • A ready-to-use sample project (test1.lvproj), DiNi .DAT files, Excel setup tables and an example PDF report are installed under testfiles/Level_Editor/.