Creating Section(s) from Plan Map

The Create Section(s) from Plan Map tool enables you to create a cross sectional view with coordinates, reference grids, a plan view, topography profiles, etc… without having a drillhole project open as a requirement. The resulting section maps can be used to:

Plan drillholes interactively
Display section grids or voxel slices
Display geosurface slices in section
Digitize geological interpretations to be used in wireframing

The section map options are provided in easy-to-use tab menus, similar to the drillhole section plot tools, enabling quick access to all the settings from a single dialog.

Create a Section from a Plan Map

On the Section Tools menu, click Create Section(s) from Plan Map.

The Section Parameters dialog will appear.
To specify the section location parameters, select the Section Location tab. Set the Location and Orientation, Section Azimuth, Vertical Extent and Multiple Sections parameters.
If you select multiple sections, each section will be displayed in individual maps.
You can edit the location coordinates either by specifying the values in the Easting Ref or Northing Ref boxes or by clicking the Define button to interactively select the location coordinates from the plan map.
To plot a topography profile across the section, select the Topography tab and select the Plot topography on section box to enable the topography parameters. Using the Browse button, locate and select the topography grid file to use to calculate the topographic profile across the section. To edit the line style, click on the Line Style box beside the grid file name.
To specify the plan map window parameters, select the Plan View tab and select the Plot plan view box. You can include selected map groups by browsing to a plan map and selecting the groups to plot.
To specify the profile window parameters, select the Profiles tab. To enable the plotting of a profile window, select the Plot grid data profiles box. Using the Browse button, locate and select the grid file to use to calculate the profile across the section.

The rectangle box to the right of the Browse button displays the selected Line Style. To edit the line style, click in the box. The Line Attributes tool will appear.
To plot voxel or 3D vector file slices, click the Slices tab. Browse to the files to slice into the section. Voxels are sliced along the centre plane of the section; a section grid is created and displayed. 3D vector files can be sliced along the front, centre and back of the section or only along the centre plane of the section.
To specify the page layout of the section plot, select the Page Layout tab. To specify the section map layout, click the Map Layout button.

The Section Map Layout dialog is displayed. This dialog enables you to specify the layout of your section map. To accept the layout and return to the Page Layout tab, click the OK button.
To enable the title parameters, check the Plot titles box and add your titles content as required.
Click the OK button on the Section Parameters dialog. The section map is created and displayed.

There are many additional section-plotting options that enable you to include other parameters. As you become more familiar with the system, we recommend that you experiment with the other options to create a custom map of your own.