This was an incredible utility in the InRoads environment which saved much time in the creation and revision of alignment chains. In my experience, it was generally used during right-of-way and easement chain creation. This allowed the user to only have to create the points that would make up the chain rather than having to go through the arduous process in OpenRoads Designer of creating points, then lines and curves, and finally creating a complex geometry to create a closed alignment.

The InRoads tool provided the ability to snap to the points making up the chain, to be able to pause in that process to create a curve in the alignment, and then pick back up to close the chain. One could also just type all of the information in directly to create the alignment, no snapping required. On the back end the tool also allowed for easy revision of the chain if a point needed to be moved or new points inserted in the chain. There was no need to break the chain and start from scratch. One only had to pull up the toolbox, select the alignment that needed to be altered, and the new point name entered in the correct location it was needed. The OpenRoads workflow to create similar chains is unnecessarily cumbersome. And, if an edit has to be made to the chain, one has to drop the alignment and start over from scratch. This wastes a lot of time and energy.