Working with the toolspace:

 Think of the Toolspace as the Civil 3D “command centre” where all Civil 3D data and settings

are laid out in a nice, orderly arrangement. It has several main functions that are represented by

the different tabs it can contain. Altogether, the Toolspace can house four tabs: Prospector,

Settings, Survey, and Toolbox.

Prospector tab

Prospector is arguably the most important part of the Civil 3D user interface. As you build your design,

Prospector arranges the different components of your design in a tree structure (see Figure 1.7). Why a

tree structure and not just a list of items? Later in this book, you’ll study how Civil 3D creates

relationships between different parts of your design. In some ways, this tree structure helps represent

some of those relationships as a hierarchy. Another, more practical

reason for a tree structure is that it’s an efficient way to show a long list of items in a relatively small

area—the branches of the tree can be collapsed to make room to expand other branches.

F i G u R E 1 . 7 The Prospector

tab showing a portion of the tree

structure.