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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

[TODO: FILL IN — UI flow: selection → invoke copy → specify offset (interactive drag, or numeric distance + bearing) → confirm.]

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

[TODO: FILL IN — UI flow: selection → invoke move → specify displacement → confirm. Note whether move snaps to existing references during the displacement specification.]

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

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)