The Good Letter #1
Q George Yerion

I was able to power the unit down by depressing the "ON/OFF" key for several seconds. I didn't see that in the documentation, but I guess it's intuitive.

I currently use TDS data collection software. It uses "layers" similar to CAD software layers to store points and control visibility. My projects are often an accumulation, or "mosaic", of both recorded and in-house boundary surveys. This enables me to fit new surveys into the "jigsaw puzzle" and rapidly find monuments I have not previously visited.

A Shawn Billings

My work is often very similar. I believe that the alignment features of J-Field may well suit your purposes. I have not fully developed the workflow for this, however, I believe the alignment procedure has the potential to give the surveyor a lot of power for fitting that mosaic together. Generally we think of an alignment as a road, but with J-Field an alignment can be a closed figure. An alignment could be created in an “unknown” coordinate system – which is technically correct when we are dealing with a record survey that was probably oriented to a compass bearing or assumed bearing. The geometry may be very precise, but we have not idea of orientation or translation. Using the alignment feature, we can create a parcel in an page with an unknown coordinate system. Once satisfied with the entry (acceptable misclosure) we can create points under manage points. This creates a series of stakes, named by station of the alignment. Then, we can tie in to a couple or more points from the record and develop a projection that satisfies those points. Once this is done, we can stake to the remaining points. At any time we can redo this localization to develop a better projection fit. This is because in the database, the surveyed coordinates are stored internally in ITRF08.

As to the layers question. Tags control connectivity. You could perform an entire topographic survey with elaborate linework with only one tag, if you collected each line one at a time. Once completed with a line, you would end that line and begin another. Tags help for those situations in which you are collecting more than one feature at a time. Ultimately Code is most like a layer. Codes control all of the attributes of a point, including (eventually) symbology.

Q George

I have some projects with over 200 layers. I can rapidly export all of the layers from my point-based CAD system. The visibility in TDS matches the visibility of the CAD file at the time of export. The linework can be on the same layer as the points, or on another layer. Some linework is point dependent, and some linework has no points. I only export the point-dependent linework to the TDS job file.

Javad apparently uses a "Page" to accomplish point visibility and only imports ASCII points. This will seriously hamper my work flow if this is true. There appears to be no way to import my entire project at one time, sorting it by "page" as it is imported. I realize the pages concept is far more versatile than the layering concept, because a page can have different coordinate systems and other features not available in a layer. However, is there a way to utilize the layering concept within a page?

A Shawn

You have a good understanding of the Page concept. Pages are relatively new to surveying, but are not far from Themes/Layers as understood in GIS. Eventually import and export of lines (in dxf and other formats) will be directly supported in J-Field but presently only import and export of ASCII points is directly supported. However you will want to investigate Justin Link, which supports import/export of numerous file types and can reproject them from one coordinate system to another.

Q George

Also: I do large topographic surveys by mounting my GPS receiver on a bracket on my UTV. I set the data collector to instruct the receiver to "store points by 2D distance" and begin driving. The receiver is mounted on the roof of the ATV on the passenger side. I either hold the data collector or mount it on a bracket, and press "enter" if I need intermediate shots.

Is this possible with the Triumph-LS? How can I remotely control it?

A Shawn

J-Field has a very powerful “Trajectory” routine. In Collect, press the upper right button labeled “Point” and options for Point, Line, Curve and Trajectory will appear. Check Trajectory and you will be given a world of options for what you are wanting to do. Rather than be limited to only time or only distance, you can choose both (whichever occurs first will trip a shot). Also setting the routine to not collect a shot unless a specified “traveled distance” has been met keeps the rover from continuing to store points when you are stopped to rest or study what you are doing.

The best way to accomplish a roof mount scenario will be to attach an external GNSS antenna to the roof and keep the LS in the cab so you can monitor progress.

I hope to have more information regarding your mosaic question soon, as this is of importance to me as well.

← back to list