# To stake out an alignment

The Trimble Access software supports the following alignment formats:

- RXL: Defined in the Trimble Access Roads or Trimble Business Center software, or a number of third‑party design packages including Autodesk AutoCAD Land Desktop, Autodesk Civil 3D, Bentley InRoads, and Bentley GEOPAK.
- LandXML: Defined in the Trimble Business Center or Tekla Civil software, or a number of third‑party design packages including Autodesk AutoCAD Land Desktop, Autodesk Civil 3D, Bentley InRoads, and Bentley GEOPAK.
- 12da: Defined in the 12d Model software as alignments or super alignments. Trimble Access can work with both alignment types.
- IFC: Define an alignment using the IFC 4.1 schema using a number of design software packages.

These files can be easily shared between jobs and with other controllers.

When staking an alignment defined in an RXL file, you can work from the map or from the menu. When staking an alignment defined in a LandXML,12da, or IFC file, you must work from the map.

Before you start, configure your navigation display settings. You can stake relative to a DTM or the design elevation, if required.

To stake out the alignment:

1. In the map, tap the alignment and then tap Stakeout. Alternatively, tap and select Stakeout. Tap Alignments, select the alignment to stake and tap Next.

   If the alignment you want to stake out is not shown 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. The file must be in the current project folder.

2. If you have not yet started a survey, the software prompts you through the steps to start the survey.

3. Enter a value in the Antenna height or Target height field and make sure that the Measured to field is set correctly.

4. Enter the Station interval for lines and Station interval for arcs and transitions or accept the default value set when the alignment was defined.

   Station interval values are required when staking out a station on a string. These values are optional for other survey methods.

5. To display the cut or fill relative to a surface during stakeout, enable the Cut/Fill to surface switch.

   1. In the Surface field, select the surface file from the current project folder. Alternatively, in the map select surfaces from BIM files. The Surface field indicates the number of surfaces you have selected in the map.

      If you cannot select surfaces in the map, make sure the BIM file is set to selectable in the Layer manager. If the Selection mode button on the BIM toolbar is button is yellow , tap it and select Surface selection - Individual faces mode.

      You can select Surface selection - Whole object mode, but when using Whole object mode the software selects both the top and bottom surface and calculates the cut/fill to whichever surface you are closest to.

   2. If required, in the Offset to surface field, specify an offset to the surface. Tap to select whether the offset is to be applied vertical or perpendicular to the surface.

   3. To show the distance to the surface in the stakeout navigation screen, tap Options. In the Deltas group box, tap Edit and select the V. Dist surface or the Perp. Dist to surface delta. Tap Accept.

6. Tap Options to configure preferences for Grade, As-staked point details, and Display.

7. Tap Next.

   The alignment is ready to stake, using your preferred stakeout method. For more information, refer to the topic for the selected method. See:

   To stake out to the alignment

   To stake out a station on an alignment

   To stake out the side slope from an alignment

   To stake out a station at a skew offset from an alignment