Matt Johnson PE
Here is what I have found so far working with the Triumph LS.
Likes
- The adjustable and telescoping pole is lightweight and easy to collapse. This will make it easy to walk through woods and put into a car to drive around.
- The built in compass makes it very easy to stake out points. The stakeout screen points you in the right direction and gives you the distance to the point.
- Long battery life.
- I haven't done a lot of testing yet but it seems to fix reliably in locations where other receivers would stand a slim chance of fixing.
Dislikes / Things I haven't been able to figure out
Q
I don't see a way to start the base station on a new point by averaging the autonomous position and then saving the point. It will start the base station on an autonomous position but it doesn't save that point. I would then like to be able to later enter an OPUS position for that point and have all the coordinates be adjusted so they are real state plane coordinates.
A
Javad:
We save the coordinates of the base station in every point. In the next release we will show the coordinates and you can see them in “Edit” screen. Also we will add the feature that if you change the coordinates of that base station, all related points will move automatically. You can save the coordinate of the base station as a point too. This will be done in May 24 releases.
Q
Some of the buttons on the touch screen do not seem to respond properly even when I am using a stylus. I tried calibrating the screen which did not help. Partially the month selection buttons in the calendar.
A
Javad:
We will look into this issue. For now use the navigation buttons (arrow buttons) to get to the small icons and click the OK button to select the item.
Q
I do not see a way to stake a line in real time. The COGO command lets you create points from line offsets but I would like to be able to enter 2 points and have the station and offset between them shown in real time as I move around.
A
Shawn: J-Field distinguishes between surveyed points (which are referred to as "Points") and Design points (which are referred to as Stakes). If you are wanting to stake a line between two surveyed points go to HOME>STAKE>MORE>STAKE LINE. Define the line by the two end points P1 and P2. Set N (number of points along the line) to 0. Create the alignment, save it as a name (ie "WBL 10.00 Ac"). Under settings, check the box for "nodes only". Then Stake. The top values will show you the station and offset as you walk this line. Once you are ready to store a point, press Start, Stop, Accept. The routine will create a stake at the perfect station with zero offset and populate the actual measured coordinates of this stake point with your observation.
A
Mike Drakin: To stake a line, please go to the HOME>STAKE screen, switch mode to “Alignment Stake Here” (see Help to that stake screen for what the icons mean), go to MORE>STAKE LINE, define endpoints for the line, press “Create alignment”, enter name for the alignment. After that, you can press “Preview” and next “Stake” to start staking. In this mode, current station and offset will be displayed on the screen, and each time you press Start – Stop – Accept, a new stake point will be created at current station/offset. To edit settings, go again to HOME>STAKE>Edit alignment. If you need to create points strictly on the line, go to alignment Settings and check the “Snap to Centerline in Stake-Here Mode” option.
Q
I have not been able to find a way to apply a grid to ground scale factor. I would like to be able to have the software calculate the scale factor and apply it to all the measured points with it being center around a measured point (I usually use the point the base station is set up on).
A
Shawn: Presently there is a way of doing this. However it could be simplified.
There is also a calculator in COGO for viewing the average factors (scale, elevation, combined) and convergence angle for the points in a page. This routine would be better if based on a single point than all of the points in a page. I will forward this on. The routine is found in HOME>COGO>TRANSFORM>FACTORS. These factors can even be copied to a clipboard.
There is also a method for modifying a coordinate system (such as State Plane) with Northing offset, Easting offset, rotation and scale. This is to satisfy certain DOT type projections that use a modified State Plane system scaled to Ground. This is available through COORDINATE SYSTEM>ADD> (select parent grid system) > ADJUST GRID-TO-GROUND & RENAME. The caveat to this procedure is that presently the scale factor for the adjust grid-ground and rename routine is looking for ppm while the factors from the FACTORS screen are decimal. So the adjust grid-ground scale factor will be asking for a value such as -62ppm rather than 0.999938.
You may be happy to find, though, that you can work in a proper State Plane projection and view inverses in Grid (direction and distance) or geodetic direction and ground distance. You may also create points by direct offset using grid/geodetic/ground values as well. I realize sometimes, such as DOT work, a user must employ a modified State Plane system, but if this is not the case, I’d encourage you to make use of the geodetic tools in COGO and leave the grid unmodified.
A
Vladimir:
1. In COGO, we will add switch between scale factor as-is and scale factor in ppm.
2. Also you can use localization by adding measured point and its design coordinates. Please use ‘Setup’ in Localization to type-in fixed parameters. To input parameters related to given State Plane system please select it in ‘Surveyed’ CS.
Q
I like to work in a modified State Plane system because aerial imagery and contours are available in grid coordinates for the whole state here (Ohio). I tried these two methods. With the first method at the page that shows the scale factors, nothing happens when I press the preview icon. It just stays on the same page. Also like you said I would like to have the option to center the scale factor transformation around a specific single point. I was able to get the second method to work but found it applied the transformation around 0,0. I would be able to calculate offsets to bring the adjustment around the point of my choosing but that would be a more difficult process than it should be.
A
Shawn: The first method wasn’t really a method per se. It’s a step in the process you’d asked about. This process could be streamlined. But I wanted to make you aware of the ability to see the combined factor of a page, that you could then copy this (by pressing the tile that the relevant factor resides in), and apply it elsewhere. This data should be based on a single point, rather than a page, and the scale factor notation should be the same in this screen as in the Grid to Ground screen. Both issues have been noted.
Yes. The flexibility to scale around a specific point other than 0,0 would be a good addition.
Q
I like the page that shows the status of the satellites but it would also be useful if it would show which satellites it is receiving base station corrections from.
A
Javad: We can show the satellites that we receive corrections from, but we have six parallel RTK engine. Each engine may use different sets of satellites. On each engine we show how many GPS and how many GLONASS satellites are used.