Questions about the Gleisplaneditor & .st2 files

[2100_vvvf]

Hi!

I have been getting into Zusi recently, and the editor is of special interest to me. I have been working through the tutorial but there are still some questions I do not have answer to (some things may have been lost in machine translation ^^)

1 - The route "profile" is saved as .st2 which is basically an XML. I can easily understand that straights, clothoids, arcs... are listed with start and end coordinates (and more if applicable e.g. radius or superelevation). But taking the attached from the tutorial files as an example:

Code: Alles auswählen

<Gerade st2Typ="1" ProfilName="Wenholthausen" spTrass="16.66667" Oberbau="Stahl K-Oberbau">
        <PunktWinkel X="-29.30414" Y="43.82437" W="-0.9446389" />
        <PunktWinkel X="187.3776" Y="-255.7719" W="2.196954" />
      </Gerade>

X Y are coordinates, but in which unit/system exactly? Seems like some sort of UTM distance which is corroborated by my testing but I am a bit confused about the details. And I really cannot guess what W is (only that it is always within -1 and +3 or so...?). Also, what is spTrass?
For a route I want to build, I have access to basically all the info used in the .st2 but as a csv and with a different formatting that I could easily convert, so long as I understand the Zusi file format well enough.

2 - Assuming I have a partly-made st2 file with tracks laid in the right place/coordinates but no height data. Is it possible to open the st2 in Gleisplaneditor, then apply DEM height profile (as per chapter 3.2.2.4 of Doku)?
I tried this with a st3 file created by transdem, but got a "point {x=... y=....} cannot be aligned with profile" error. (I tried importing a georef bitmap, and creating the profiles before importing the routes but with no luck. I am guessing this has to do with using a st3 and not a st2 as input...? But the height profile assignment is still reflected, in terms of name and color.)

3 - On this topic it seems like the way to build routes is to split them in modules.
What is the typical size/track length for one module? I assume you would split off major stations in separate modules, but how many km would a countryside high speed line module be for example?

4- What formulae/method does the editor use for calculating clothoids/transition curves? There are some variations depending on the country, the principle is the same but the numbers vary to some extent. I know the methodology using the american methods but their units are messed up ^^

5- In the st2 file, the straights/curves/clothoids are listed in a certain order. Does this order matter at all ? i.e. Is it possible to list all the straights, all the curves, all the clothoids grouped by type rather than in the actual order they would appear if you travel on the line?


Sorry, this may be a lot of questions... And others may still come . But the options are very deep and I am enjoying it.

Thank you in advance for your help

Elie

[Johannes]

X Y are coordinates, but in which unit/system exactly? Seems like some sort of UTM distance which is corroborated by my testing but I am a bit confused about the details. And I really cannot guess what W is (only that it is always within -1 and +3 or so...?). Also, what is spTrass?

Zusi's coordinate system is explained in chapter 5.2.1 of the (German, full-length) documentation. They're in met(er|re)s, +X=east, +Y=north, both relative to the UTM reference point (<UTM>).

W is an angle (German: Winkel).

spTrass = Trassierungsgeschwindigkeit = design speed of the line. (Might be higher than the actual speed at which the trains run, which is dependent on other factors.) According to the docs, it's not currently used by Zusi.

For a route I want to build, I have access to basically all the info used in the .st2 but as a csv and with a different formatting that I could easily convert, so long as I understand the Zusi file format well enough.

Good news: You don't have to fill in all the values, the format is quite redundant. See here: https://zusiwiki.echoray.de/wiki/Erg%C3 ... .28.st2.29

2 - Assuming I have a partly-made st2 file with tracks laid in the right place/coordinates but no height data. Is it possible to open the st2 in Gleisplaneditor, then apply DEM height profile (as per chapter 3.2.2.4 of Doku)?

Applying heights directly to track elements isn't possible. You'll have to create a separate track of type "height profile" that defines the positions of the height points, then edit the height profile for it (<HoehenProfil>, <StuetzPkt>) and assign the track elements to that height profile.

4- What formulae/method does the editor use for calculating clothoids/transition curves? There are some variations depending on the country, the principle is the same but the numbers vary to some extent. I know the methodology using the american methods but their units are messed up ^^

Only clothoids (Euler spirals) are supported at the moment.

5- In the st2 file, the straights/curves/clothoids are listed in a certain order. Does this order matter at all ? i.e. Is it possible to list all the straights, all the curves, all the clothoids grouped by type rather than in the actual order they would appear if you travel on the line?

Yes, the order does not matter. There is no linking relationship among the track elements, only their geometric position matters.

[Alwin Meschede]

What is the typical size/track length for one module?

If possible, modules longer than approximately 10 km should be avoided, because they become tedious to handle.

spTrass: This should usually be set to the maximum running speed of conventional (= non-tilting) trains on this route. If you don't do anything else, this speed will show up in the timetable of the trains.

[2100_vvvf]

@Johannes, thank you very much for your detailed answer, I see more clearly now. Regarding:

You'll have to create a separate track of type "height profile" that defines the positions of the height points, then edit the height profile for it (<HoehenProfil>, <StuetzPkt>) and assign the track elements to that height profile.

Sorry - I actually made a stupid mistake and forgot to set some of the elements' type to "gradient" in the editor. I did it just now and it seemed to work. Things are coming together slowly

@Alwin, thanks for explaining this. I noticed that lag tends to get quite bad when opening some finished/longer modules. I suppose 5 to 10km can be a good starting point for now then. Noted for spTrass, I guess it does not add much more effort to set it correctly either way.