You can create and work with design Options if your network is contained in a single project, or if it is segmented into in multiple and related sub-projects.

In both cases Neara's comparison features make it easy to highlight the differences between the new and existing Options, to track changes, and aid decision-making.

In this example, we're using a multi-project setup.

The steps in this example assume your main project already has at least one (1) existing design Option already created, ready for comparison with a proposed change in a new Option.

We'll import a new design Option that's been added to the related sub-project called Transmission - South.

On the Layers panel, under Sources select the action (…) menu next to the name of the related project that contains the new design Option, and choose Import from project:

Neara will inspect the related project, and the popup shows all currently available design Options inside it - in this case with a new design Option ("South - 28 August 2023") that has been added to this sub-project since the original design Option was imported:

Place a checkmark next to the new design Option, and optionally change its Name by clicking and editing it, and then click Import:

You'll notice that you cannot place a checkmark next to the South - 21 August 2023 Option, because that Option has already been imported into the main project. If you want to re-import an existing design Option, see below.

The new design Option from the related project will be imported into the main project and will appear under the Sources section of the Layers panel:

Neara provides a number of ways to help you understand what's different between two different design Options. In this example we'll compare the newly imported South - 28 August 2023 - version 2.0 alignment design to the original South - 21 August 2023 design.

You can toggle the visibility of each Option by using the eye icons to the right of the Option name:

With both Options displayed at once, it's clear in the Perspective View that most tower locations appear unchanged between the two versions, however two appear to be shifted slightly:

The Plan View provides a top-down view that can be useful to highlight layout differences between displayed Options.

Click the (+) to the right of the Perspective View tab, and place a checkbox next to Views > Plan on the popup. In Plan View and with both Options visible, we can see there's a difference in the paths of the two Options due to those two towers placed in slightly different locations (manually circled here in red):

To identify those differences between design Options that are harder to visually detect, or cannot be shown visually (for example, a change in the properties of a conductor or pole), use the Compare options feature.

Under the action (…) menu next to the project name in the Sources section of the Layers panel, choose Compare options:

A new panel for the Option Comparer will appear. We recommend that you dock that panel in the lower half of the screen, with the Perspective View in the upper half - the two work together to provide a complete comparison:

Select the Base and Comparison options to compare by clicking in each:

Click the eye icon next to the tab label for Option comparer:

This activates color-coding for each of the selected Base and Comparison Options:

A palette of different colors optimised for visual comparison is provided. Click the color picker next to each option to change it:

To remove the color from an Option, select the Transparent box (white with a red slash) on the color-picker.

To turn off color-coding Options completely, either click the eye next to the name for the Options comparer tab, or close the Options comparer tab.

With the Options Comparer active, both the Perpective View and Plan View will highlight a position change of an object (e.g. a pole or tower) between two different Options that contain that asset, with a dotted blue line:

Some changes made to objects between Options cannot be easily visualized. For example, changed conductor or pole properties.

To help you focus on and assess those types of changes, the Option comparer panel includes two detailed tables that list all changed structures and strain sections between the selected Options.

Each row in the tables corresponds to an observed difference between the two Options you've selected for comparison.

If there is a structure or strain section that exists in both the Base and Comparison Options, and at least one property of that structure or strain section is different between the Options, a row will be listed for the structure or strain section, and shaded yellow.

Cells with properties that are different in each row are highlighted in a brighter yellow. The cell includes information about the difference between the values in the Base and Comparison Options.

In this example, the Sink Depth for Tower 2 is 0.6m less in the Comparison Option when compared to the Base Option:

To navigate to and view that structure in the Perspective View, click the blue link text in that row.

If a structure or strain section is present in the Comparison Option, but not in the Base Option, it is displayed in a row shaded in green:

If a structure or strain section is present in the Base Option, but not in the Comparison Option, it is displayed in a row shaded in red and the previous property values are shown in strike-through text:

You can export the list of objects changed, added, or removed in each of the Structures and Strain Sections tables to:

Select the Download button in the upper-right corner of each table on the Option comparer tab: