Carlson Questions - Exporting Points from Raw

I'm not sure what you are trying to edit but go to the points pull down and chose edit points to add your edits.

I have a .rw5 file with a combination of GPS points and robot points. I was trying to create a .crd of just the GPS points and another .crd of just the robot points, but somehow I've turned this process into rocket science.

I strictly work with .crd files imported and exported from Carlson in a .csv format. Carlson does give you the option to import and export most major file types but I can't tell you how to switch those file extension/format options. I would suggest going to their web site where they have great tutorial videos or calling tech support. I'm betting that there is a way to do what you want to do without beating your head against the wall.

Yeah, I read through their help section on this particular routine a few times and still couldn't get it to work so I gave the tech guys a call.

We set up our projects in state plane so I was trying to learn or re-learn how to use Carlson's routines to scale the data, and whether the process would adversely affect the total station data (it doesn't, so no need to have separate .crd files).

The Carlson guys suggested calcing the scale factor in the field and replacing the assumed coordinate with the OPUS solution coordinate later on. I have worked elsewhere where the company did that without issue, but my current employer had a bad experience with that process in the past so I don't know that they'll want to revisit it...

I would prefer doing all of the processing in the office assuming the routines in Carlson cad would allow me to do so, but the tutorial didn't seem particularly clear in that regard and none of the Carlson guys seemed to be fans of that method either so...

Don't think about it as exporting point but more processing points. What I do is save as the raw file and break it into two files (I believe this is no longer necessary but I do it for ease in my mind).

GPS:

-Delete all robot work

Save a file with GPS added

-Hit adjust, GPS, settings go to what you want (if you are using RTK or Locailized data set geoid to none)

-Process

-Write down point range, in main drafting area make point group of those points (Carlson doesn't see GPS as points for some reason when using the editor create point group)

-Then use scale routine, etc depending on what you want (You can also have the DC do this, but I like reviewing the data)

Robot

-Delete GPS work

-Save file with Robot

-Hit adjust, no adjust or what you want, review your setting

-Process

-Under tools select point group and it will create it for you

-Exit and draw

Yes...There is more to it like how to review the raw file, etc. Funny thing is you will start finding out how often your field crews goof up that doesn''t get reflected in a CSV or TXT format import.

Look under setting in the editor and set your check shots code and the editor will automatically check and review your checks shots

You can also export your CRD from your DC if it is Carlson and then under coordinate utilities merge your dc CRD into your main CAD CRD

I've opened the .rw5 which contains both GPS and total station data and have scaled the GPS data. The routine asks me if I want to save my changes to the .crd file and I choose yes, but then when I set that .crd in CAD and draw the data there are no total station points, only GPS. Guys talk about Carlson like it's the greatest thing for surveyors since sliced bread, but so far it seems like the most unintuitive nonsense I've ever seen in my career.

I feel your pain. I'm not a CADD guy. In 2007 I started working for myself out of the basement and bought Carlson. I spend days trying to get a basic boundary survey out. I downloaded a 30 day trial of TraversePC and never looked back. It is an awesome system for a surveyor that doesn't need all the complexity od AutoCadd type software. I have done many a project's for engineers and match there layers when I export a DWG for them.

My introduction to CAD came in the early 1990's release 10 DOS version. I used a COGO program called Design Plus to calculate an entire large Levitt Builder's filed plans and brought the points, section by section, into CAD and connected the line work on a single layer.

I was introduced to Carleson in 2004 when I was doing a ton of large residential subdivision layout work, but, still, never produced a final drawing with the appropriate line types, symbols and layers.

To this day, I still can't, and have no interest in completing a drawing conforming to standards, that's what I have drafters for. When I ran my own shop, I still used Carlson for my calcs and crude line work, then farmed the drafting out to a friend of mine that did excellent work.

Did you run the GPS separate from the robot work? Each time you need to save and close the file (not sure why this has been that way on my machines). I also do my scaling in the main part of Carlson and not in the raw file editor, seems easier that way and I haven't tried scaling in the editor. Also you need to remember to write the GPS point range down as the tool for point groups in the editor doesn't see the GPS points.

You also note creating a .crd in the editor....I create mine when I create the drawing and that is where all my points for the project are stored (should be linked to your editor). Are you running multiple .crd for one drawing (I do know surveyors who do this)? It may be that you are creating points in a different .CRD then the drawing is referencing.

The process you'd follow to convert a .rw5 file with a combination of GPS points and robot points into two separate coordinate files (e.g. .crd of just the GPS points and another .crd of just the robot points) would be to:

1. Open or Import the .rw5 file in the Edit-Process Raw Data command.
2. Create an empty coordinate file via its File -- Open/New CRD File command (e.g. data-gps.crd).
3. Issue the Process (Compute Pts) -- GPS command to expose the GPS processing settings dialog box.
4. Upon reviewing the results and closing the report, create an empty coordinate file via the File -- Open/New CRD File command. You'll be prompted to save the current coordinate file (you'd likely respond Yes). Continue with the creation of the robot coordinate file (e.g. data-rts.crd).
5. Issue the Process (Compute Pts) -- [one of the first five processing options, No Adjust, Angle Balance Compass, Crandall, Transit] command to expose the RTS processing settings dialog box.
6. Upon reviewing the results and closing the report, save or exit from the Edit-Process Raw routine.
7. For the "Save coordinate file changes?" prompt, you'd likely respond Yes.
8. If prompted with a "Save raw data changes to RW5 file?" dialog, I typically reply No to this unless I have purposely made edits to the raw data.

Note: It is possible to generate a coordinate file that contains records from both equipment types by eliminating Step 4 above. Alternatively, SurvNET can be used to simultaneously process and adjust the data (see the SurvNET Tutorials for additional instructions).

I hope this information helps.

@<b style="font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; color: var(--bb-body-text-color);">terminus-nc

I'm getting a little bit better handle on things now and talking with the Carlson guys has definitely helped. I had sort of assumed the edit-process raw routine was what I needed to use for all of the processing but it turns out it's a combination of that and the Point>Adjust Coordinates routines.

But yeah I had been attempting to do everything in the editor from creating the .crd to doing the scaling and translating. I have an appointment with the Carlson guys to do a screen share walkthrough tomorrow so hopefully that makes everything crystal clear.

Needing to flip back and forth between the edit process raw and the point>adjust coordinates routines and messing around with both .rw5 and .crd files seems just needlessly complicated to me. Why not have a plain old raw data file, a .txt or .csv file, and a single processing menu, ya know?

@terminus-nc I had been trying to use the edit-process raw routine for everything because I had assumed it was the best tool, but turns out the better process uses a combination of that and the points>adjust coordinates routines.

I have an appointment scheduled with the Carlson guys to do a screen share walkthrough tomorrow so hopefully that makes everything crystal clear. Bouncing between 2 different routines and 2 different file formats just seems needlessly complicated and annoying to me. Can't we just have a raw file, a .txt or .csv point file, and a single processing menu? I mean geez...

IMHO it is easier to go the edit raw and then adjust points command afterwards. I also like Ladd's workflow above, but I typically like just the one .crd file for the project. If you like what the DC is producing you can always just export a TXT/CSV from a DC and import it under the points download. I know a lot of surveyors who do it that way, but I oversee 8 crews with varying degrees of experience so I like reviewing the raw.

@terminus-nc Yeah, the Carlson guys would prefer we do everything in the collector. They tell me the processing in SurvCE is better than what's in Carlson Survey, but the problem at my office is they used to do it that way but at some point scale factors that were computed in the field were being erased or somehow disappearing from the job files on projects that hadn't been visited after a long time and nobody could figure out why. So, the solution was to move all data processing to the office instead.

I'll be sticking to one .crd file from now on. The Carlson guys tell me it's not necessary to separate data so I definitely won't be making things more complicated than they already are.