Survey Phases
NullCad organizes work into four phases, each with independent camera state and status tracking. Geometry and operations are tagged with the phase they’re created in, so switching phases filters what’s shown and keeps work-in-progress in one phase from cluttering another.
| Phase | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Setup/Search | A virtual desk for laying out plans, research, and annotations before modeling begins. |
| Boundary Model | Building the surveyable model from historical plans. This is the default phase. |
| Reinstatement | Comparing field measurements against the boundary model and adjusting. |
| Drafting | Finalizing the plan for submission — page proxies, viewports, PDF export. |
Switching phases
Use the phase tabs at the top of the window. Each phase remembers its own camera pan/zoom position independently, so returning to a phase puts you back where you left off.
Why phase-based?
Cadastral survey work naturally moves through stages — research, modeling, field verification, and final drafting — each with different working material and different geometry. Tagging geometry by phase lets each stage stay visually uncluttered by the others, while still keeping everything in one document with a single operation history and undo/redo stack.
Phase status tracking
Each phase tracks its own completion status, useful for keeping a survey project’s overall progress visible at a glance.
Related tools
- Traverse Tool — used mainly in Boundary Model, to build the model from bearings and distances.
- Comparison Tool — used in Reinstatement, to compare field measurements against the model.
- Page Proxies & Viewports — used in Drafting, to lay out final sheets.