Stick with Polyline or Switch to Spline for Site Plans? Here's What I Picked

I had to make a call between using polylines or splines for a 3-acre commercial lot survey last month. The senior drafter said polylines are cleaner for plotting and revisions, but splines handle those curved parking lot edges way better. I went with polylines because the property lines were mostly straight and the city review board hates messy CAD files. Turned out fine, but I spent an extra hour faking the cul-de-sac curve with arc segments. Has anyone else run into pushback from reviewers about using splines on site plans?

2 comments

2 Comments

umab351mo ago

Man that extra hour faking curves with arcs hits close to home. Reviewers are picky about splines here too, makes you wonder why the software even has them.

christopher_west11mo ago

Exactly 60 degrees is the minimum angle you need for a smooth arc transition, and Ive seen reviewers reject parts for less than that. Look @umab35, the software gives us splines because real world surfaces arent perfect polygons, so blaming the tool for bad geometry is like blaming a hammer for a crooked nail. You can fake a spline with arcs but thats like trying to tune a guitar with a wrench, it might sorta work but the pros will hear the buzz.