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Copy and move facilities

Copy and move are the bulk geometry operations: duplicate a selection at an offset, or relocate a selection by a fixed displacement. Both preserve attributes, explosives, and relationships unless you explicitly ask otherwise. Use them when you have a row of magazines to mirror, an operating line to relocate, or a set of features to duplicate as the starting point for a what-if comparison.

Learning objectives

By the end of this lesson you should be able to:

  • Copy a selection of facilities to a new location
  • Move a selection of facilities by a known displacement
  • Recognize the effect on relationships, fronts, and prior analysis

What carries forward​

When you copy or move a selection:

  • Attributes are preserved on each feature
  • Explosives are preserved
  • Front assignments are preserved (relative to each feature, not absolute on the map)
  • Relationships within the selection are preserved
  • Relationships across the selection boundary (to features not in the selection) are typically dropped on copy and preserved on move — verify the current behavior

[TODO: FILL IN — confirm the relationship-preservation behavior for both operations in the current Siter version. Verify whether copy creates new relationships within the duplicate or shares them with the source.]

Copy​

Copy duplicates the selection at an offset, producing a new set of features in the same project. Use it for:

  • Mirroring a row of magazines along a parallel operating line
  • Building a what-if scenario without disturbing the source features
  • Quickly populating a layout with several similar facilities

Flow: open apps Add/Edit > Bulk Edit > Copy Facilities, select facilities in the footbar list or on the map (Point, Rectangle, or Polygon selection tools), drag the selection to the destination, and save. The footbar list shows facility names as plain text — rename facilities on their Details tab, not in the copy list. Name, layer, and type-code columns sort naturally ("Bldg 2" before "Bldg 10"). The footbar shows Selected and Pending Edits counts, an Undo last edit button, and a Snap to facility edges toggle for precise placement. Closing with unsaved edits prompts Save, Don't Save, or Cancel.

After copying, review the duplicated features:

  • Confirm relationships are correct in the duplicate (typically you want to add sameline within the duplicate set, and related between the duplicate and the source)
  • Confirm fronts are still pointing the right direction
  • Re-run analysis

Move​

Move relocates the selection by a fixed displacement. Use it for:

  • Shifting a planned operating line to a new location after a siting decision
  • Correcting a systematic placement error in imported data
  • Aligning a set of features to a control point after a coordinate-system fix

Flow: open apps Add/Edit > Bulk Edit > Move Facilities — the tool works exactly like Copy (select, drag, save), including the Snap to facility edges toggle and Undo last edit, but relocates the originals instead of duplicating them.

Moving invalidates analysis on every affected feature; re-run after moving.

If a copy or move fails to save, the error message gives the server's reason — for example, a facility label longer than 300 characters.

Moving to another layer

Move Facilities changes where facilities are, not which layer they belong to. To move a selection to another layer, use Move to Layer… from the Feature List's bulk actions menu (see Bulk editing).

Fronts after a copy or move​

Fronts are stored as a direction relative to the feature — see Calculator: Segments and sides for the underlying mechanics. A copy or move preserves the relative direction — so a feature whose front was "north-facing" on the source is still "north-facing" on the duplicate.

If the operation included rotation, the front does not automatically rotate. After a rotated move or copy, re-confirm front direction. Multi-face type codes that lose orientation will land in Requires Analysis.

Try it​

In a sandbox project:

  1. Select three magazines in a row, all sameline with each other
  2. Copy them to a parallel offset position
  3. In the duplicate, confirm the within-duplicate relationships are still sameline (or set them if not)
  4. Add a related cross-group relationship between the source and the duplicate
  5. Run analysis and verify the source-to-duplicate pairs evaluate as related (no barricaded reduction available)