# Define an RXL road

To define a new road, you can key in the definition or select items in the map and then create the road from the selected items. When working from the map you can select points, lines, arcs, or polylines in the job or in DXF, STR, SHP, or LandXML files.

Roads are stored as RXL files in the current project folder.

Once a road is defined, you can edit it as required.

To define a road by keying in components

1. Tap and select Define. Alternatively, with nothing selected in the map, tap Define.
2. Tap RXL road.

3. Tap New.

4. Enter a name for the road.
5. To define a new road from an existing road definition, enable the Copy existing road switch and then select the file to copy from. The file must be in the current project folder.

6. To define a new road, specify the Station interval for lines and the Station interval for arcs and transitions, and then select the method you will use to key in each component.

   1. To define the horizontal alignment you can use the:

      - Length or coordinate entry method
      - End station entry method
      - Points of intersection (PI) entry method
   2. Select the transition type. See Transition types.

   3. To define the vertical alignment or the vertical geometry of additional strings you can use the:

      - Vertical points of intersection (VPI) entry method
      - Start and end point entry method

7. Tap Accept.

   The list of components that can be defined for the road appears.

   If the list of components shows only Horizontal alignment, Vertical alignment, and Station equations, tap Options and select the Enable templates and additional points/strings check box.

   To change the entry method or the transition type for the road, tap Options. However, once you have entered two or more elements defining the horizontal or vertical alignment definition, the entry method and transition type cannot be changed.

8. Select each component and define it as required.

9. Once you have defined the components for the road, tap Store.

   The road definition screen closes and the software shows the map.

   To configure the software to display the road selection screen when you tap Store instead of the map, in the Select a file screen, tap Options and select the Display the road selection screen on escape check box.

To define the road from selected items in the map

1. If the items you want to select are not visible in the map, tap in the map toolbar to open the Layer manager and select the Map files tab. Select the file and then make the appropriate layer(s) visible and selectable.

2. In the map, tap the items that will define the horizontal alignment.

   The order in which items are selected and the direction of the lines, arcs, or polylines defines the direction of the horizontal alignment.

   If the items have elevations, then the elevations are used to define the vertical alignment.

3. Tap and hold in the map and select Store road.
4. Enter the road name, start station, the station interval for lines, and the station interval for arcs and transitions.

5. Tap Accept.

   To add other components such as templates and superelevation to the new road, tap and select Define. See To define a road by keying in components.

Road scale factor

This functionality is a requirement for the Ministry of Transportation Quebec, Canada but may have application elsewhere.

The default Road scale factor is set to 1.00000000. If required, in the list of components for the road definition, tap Options and change the Road scale factor.

The specified scale factor scales the road's horizontal alignment definition but retains the original station values. When you define the road, all values are entered and appear as unadjusted values. The scale factor is applied to the length/radius values defining each element/curve when computing the coordinates for the road definition. When surveying and reporting the road, the station values are not adjusted by the scale factor.

- For a road defined by entering end coordinates or end points, Trimble recommends you do not change the scale factor after initial entry. Otherwise the scale factor rescales the alignment elements, and since the end coordinates/end point coordinates are not changed, a change in station values must occur.
- For a road defined by PI (Points of Intersection), Trimble recommends you do not change the scale factor after initial entry. Otherwise the scale factor rescales the curve components, and since the PI coordinates are not changed a change in station values must occur.