This routine allows field entry of vertical alignment files for roads, sewers and other types of alignments. Vertical alignments can also be loaded and edited. In addition, high and low points can be calculated and the elevations of individual stations can be calculated. Vertical alignments are stored as files with a .PRO extension. Vertical alignments are typically referred to as profiles. In Carlson SurvCE, the station ranges of the profile and centerline do not need to match. As long as they have station ranges in common, any profile can be used with any centerline for all advanced Roading commands as well as Survey menu routines such as Offset Stakeout and Elevation Difference by Road Design files.
Profile Entry
Profiles are extremely easy to enter. When the command is selected, if no prior profile has been entered, you will encounter the blank Input-Edit Profile dialog. You can also obtain a blank screen and start a new profile by tapping the Clear icon (eraser) at the top of the screen.

- PVI Station: PVI stands for Point of Vertical Intersection, similar to a PI (Point of Intersection) for the horizontal alignment. In some locations, the term VPI is used (Vertical Point of Intersection). You can start immediately by typing in the starting station under the PVI column. For our highway example, the starting station is 10078.69.
- PVI Elevation: The starting elevation is 526.49. So simply press Enter and move from the PVI column to the PVI Elev. column and enter 526.49. Pressing Enter again moves onto the next PVI field, where you can enter 10600 for the next station, then 529.10 for the next PVI elevation.
- Slope %: Once a second station and elevation are entered, the program will calculate the percent slope. Alternately, if you enter under the Slope % before entering the PVI elevation, then the program will calculate the PVI elevation. The slope column is a nice check against bad entries in the PVI elevation column. In other words, you often expect even slopes, and you can check the computed slopes against the plans. Slopes can be entered as ratios when that option is clicked, and if you click "Show Zeroes", the dialog will show a consistent number of decimals (typically 4) in all columns, causing the data and decimal places to line up vertically.
- VC Lng: For road jobs, you can enter the vertical curve length in this column. This is the total length of the vertical curve. If the length entered is 600, this means that the vertical alignment transitions through a curve (parabola) beginning 300 units (feet or meters) before the PVI and ending 300 units after the PVI. If a vertical curve is uneven, that is, it transitions from, say, 400 feet before the PVI to 200 feet after the PVI, then the curve must be entered using the form 400-200 (the before and after distances separated by a dash). SurvCE assumes all vertical curves are parabolas (U.S. road industry standard). However, you can tap the circular curve option when that applies. For sewer and water line alignments, there is typically no vertical curve transition, so this column can be left blank, or 0’s can be entered for vertical curve lengths.
- Check Station: When the profile for a highway job has been entered in a dialog, you can also enter a value to Check Stations. This feature is at the bottom of the dialog. This will check the grades at any desired station. When entering stations, you may include the “+” that is often used, as in 12+680.5 (English) and 126+80.5 (metric).
- Load: The Load command presents a list of all previously stored profiles. When one is selected, it displays the profile information in the dialog. To load a stored file, you simply enter the name (for example, "Demo"). No file extension is necessary. Alternatively, you can select a name from the list and accept it by pressing OK or Enter.
- Add: The Add button will create a new row at the curser position with 0 entries (with the exception of slope, which will compute based on the 0 entries). If, for example, you touch line 1 (to move the blinking cursor to line 1--the first row), the Add command will allow you to insert a new row in the front of your profile. This would be necessary if you needed to start the profile at an earlier station. To add to the end of your profile, just click the down arrow key at the right until a blank line becomes available and make your new entries.
- Remove: This button deletes the current line.
- High-Low: This button can be used to calculate high and low points.

- Save As: This command will save your profile to a specified file name. There is no need to enter a file extension. If you want to save the file as Baker.pro, just enter "Baker". The Save As command will default to the current profile name. If you are entering a new profile, it will default to the current coordinate file name.