# Road workflows

The Trimble Access Roads software supports two main workflows for staking roads and similar linear objects.

## Road design files

The Road design file workflow enables you to stake from a road design file that consists of an alignment (the road centerline) with either one or more related strings that define the road, or related cross section templates. All stationing is derived from the alignment.

Supported road design files are RXL files and LandXML files.

For more information on how to create and use these files, see Road design files.

## Strings and surfaces

The Strings and surfaces workflow enables you to stake strings as linear objects similar to roads, typically when you do not have a road design file. For example, you can stake traffic islands or curbs, or the cut and fill of any linear feature that has a top surface and a bottom surface, such as an embankment or construction earthworks.

Strings can be lines, arcs or polylines that are keyed in to the job or they can be selected from any linked files that contain linework, including DXF, IFC, or 12da files.

Select a string as the primary stationing string and then stake one or two strings with stationing relative to the primary stationing string. When staking one string you can also select a surface. When staking two strings a surface is created between the strings. Additional surfaces can also be selected.

For more information, see Strings and surfaces.