5.9. Sites

A site is a named container for civil objects that share a topology — Civil 3D’s own organising concept, and compatible with it. A site is not drawn: it has no geometry, no style and no layer. It exists so that parcels, grading groups and alignments can be grouped by the piece of ground they belong to, and listed that way in the Prospector.

Membership rules:

Object

Site membership

Parcels

Always belong to a site. A parcel added without one is stamped with the default site, Site 1.

Grading groups

Always belong to a site, with the same default.

Alignments

Optional. An alignment with no site stays in the top-level Alignments collection, which is where a road centreline normally belongs. Put an alignment in a site when it is part of that site’s layout — a subdivision access road that defines parcel frontages, for instance.

Surfaces, points, corridors

Not site members. They live in their own top-level collections.

5.9.1. Sites in the Prospector

The Prospector’s Sites node lists every site in the drawing, with the count in brackets. Expanding a site shows four folders, each with its own count:

  • Alignments — the alignments assigned to this site, each with its element count and length.

  • Feature Lines — reserved; feature lines are not yet site members.

  • Grading Groups — the gradings in this site, with cut, fill and net volumes, or [stale] when a rebuild is pending.

  • Parcels — the parcels in this site, with their areas.

Sites with nothing in them are still listed, so a site created ahead of the work it will hold does not disappear.

5.9.2. Creating a Site

Right-click the Sites node (or any site under it) and choose Create Site…, then type a name. Names are compared case-insensitively, so Phase 1 and phase 1 are the same site; creating a name that already exists simply selects it.

Sites are also created implicitly:

  • Adding a parcel or grading with no site creates Site 1 if it is not there already.

  • Opening a drawing that names sites — an IQcad .iqz or a Civil 3D DWG — creates each one as it is read.

5.9.3. Assigning an Alignment to a Site

Right-click an alignment in the Prospector and choose Move to Site…. The dialog lists <none> plus every site in the drawing; <none> returns the alignment to the top-level Alignments collection. Typing a name that does not exist yet creates that site.

The tree refreshes immediately and the drawing is marked modified.

Note

Site membership is membership only. Unlike Civil 3D, assigning an alignment to a site does not subdivide the parcels it crosses, and moving an object between sites never changes its geometry.

5.9.4. Sites in the File Formats

Format

Behaviour

IQML (.iqz)

The site list is written with its names and descriptions, and each parcel, grading and alignment carries its siteName.

DWG

Civil 3D sites are read back with the objects that belong to them. Writing sites out as Civil 3D objects requires the Civil 3D objects survey-export mode — see DWG Compatibility.

LandXML

Sites are not part of the LandXML schema; parcels and alignments export without their membership.