Carlson Survey (IntelliCAD) with Survey Pro field software

Hi yswami,

We're all asleep over here now 😉 . I would be too if it weren't for some stuff I have to learn. I took a break and saw your post. You'll be getting a whole lot of advice tomorrow, but as someone who had to sink or swim learning autocad with no formal training I'll give my 2 cents worth:
Check out this guy on youtube with a site called cadeeze. He starts out with a video called AutoCAD 2011 - Tutorial 01 and assumes you know nothing. He's got kind of a pleasant way of showing you around the autocad world like you were on a tour. You will learn a lot about the basics of the autocad environment. He gets quite a few hits so I think you'll like it. I wish I had such a resource when I got dropped into the game. Anyway, you could follow him awhile and then when you know your way around you can jump in with the Carlson Tutorials and ask us any questions that you might have. Also in the autocad "add-on" survey software environment there's a lady called "That Cad Girl" named Jennifer DiBona. She combines the autocad and survey aspects very nicely and she will even sell you the Carlson software if you decide to go that route and I think if you buy from her you'll get some added tutorials that she has developed. She does or used to do presentations for Carlson Software.

Well it's back to work.
All the best!

The jump from field data collection to office is a rather large one in our business, one that a lot of people fail to ever make.

First, you need some basis AutoCAD skills. When I took a basic Autocad course many years ago it basically followed this textbook, page by page. This is not about surveying, it's about basic drafting in AutoCAD.

After that you might try Rick Ellis's book on Carlson Survey for survey specific stuff.

Reported

I'm giving myself one demerit for overuse of the word "basic". Henceforth I'm restricted from posting before I've had my morning coffee.

> Hi yswami,
>
> We're all asleep over here now 😉 . I would be too if it weren't for some stuff I have to learn. I took a break and saw your post. You'll be getting a whole lot of advice tomorrow, but as someone who had to sink or swim learning autocad with no formal training I'll give my 2 cents worth:
> Check out this guy on youtube with a site called cadeeze. He starts out with a video called AutoCAD 2011 - Tutorial 01 and assumes you know nothing. He's got kind of a pleasant way of showing you around the autocad world like you were on a tour. You will learn a lot about the basics of the autocad environment. He gets quite a few hits so I think you'll like it. I wish I had such a resource when I got dropped into the game. Anyway, you could follow him awhile and then when you know your way around you can jump in with the Carlson Tutorials and ask us any questions that you might have. Also in the autocad "add-on" survey software environment there's a lady called "That Cad Girl" named Jennifer DiBona. She combines the autocad and survey aspects very nicely and she will even sell you the Carlson software if you decide to go that route and I think if you buy from her you'll get some added tutorials that she has developed. She does or used to do presentations for Carlson Software.
>
> Well it's back to work.
> All the best!

Aloha, Coady:
Thanks for the pointers! Will check the references you provided.

Yeah, sometimes I forget that we are six hours behind East coast and three behind West coast. Then I ponder why the Beerlegers are being so quiet :whistle:

Thanks again Coady!

> The jump from field data collection to office is a rather large one in our business, one that a lot of people fail to ever make.
>
> First, you need some basis AutoCAD skills. When I took a basic Autocad course many years ago it basically followed this textbook, page by page. This is not about surveying, it's about basic drafting in AutoCAD.
>
> After that you might try Rick Ellis's book on Carlson Survey for survey specific stuff.

Aloha, Mark:

I trust you had couple cups of coffee by now:-D

Thanks for the links. I just checked them out. The online text book is about AutoCad. My demo is Carlson Survey with IntelliCad. Are these two functions the same way despite of different name?

Thanks

Carlson Survey office with Survey Pro field software

Users out there? Hoping you could chime in. Mahalo!

Carlson Survey office with Survey Pro field software

I'm all self taught. I don't know how I learned. I can do it, but I am not a real good teacher, and I probably would benefit more professionally, by taking a course in Carlson/Acad, than any other thing in Continuing Education.

A few things that come to mind though, is to learn to use the following commands from the keyboard:

i
O
Co
E

pl
l

Thats all I can think of

N

Carlson Survey office with Survey Pro field software

> I'm all self taught. I don't know how I learned. I can do it, but I am not a real good teacher, and I probably would benefit more professionally, by taking a course in Carlson/Acad, than any other thing in Continuing Education.
>
> A few things that come to mind though, is to learn to use the following commands from the keyboard:
>
> i
> O
> Co
> E
>
> pl
> l
>
>
> Thats all I can think of
>
> N

Aloha, Nate:
I learned on my own a lot stuff. Trying to determine a software will work for me in 30 days got a bit challenging when I don't even know where to start!

I uploaded few points into the program. It took me about 45 minutes to figure out that it won't show on the screen just because you imported the points:-(

Will spent more time with it this weekend.

Thanks!

I use this combination and have used most software packages. I do not yet recommend the intellicad version but I have not tried vers 7.2 or 8. I use the embedded autocad. I think the software works very well together, though you might find going all carlson would be slightly better integrated. Surv pro is well tested and works with many instruments. the raw data can be imported into carlson easily or you can import points. The field to finish is workable though Im still not happy with some of the behaviors, for instance if I define a GIS code for elevations and set them to layer SV_SPOTS, if the layer is not already created, the software ignores it and puts the label on the point layer...seems to me the program could easily create the layer (as it does for many other things). Thats a small glitch, there are others. There are plenty of software/hardware platforms....use what works for you.

> I use this combination and have used most software packages. I do not yet recommend the intellicad version but I have not tried vers 7.2 or 8. I use the embedded autocad. I think the software works very well together, though you might find going all carlson would be slightly better integrated. Surv pro is well tested and works with many instruments. the raw data can be imported into carlson easily or you can import points. The field to finish is workable though Im still not happy with some of the behaviors, for instance if I define a GIS code for elevations and set them to layer SV_SPOTS, if the layer is not already created, the software ignores it and puts the label on the point layer...seems to me the program could easily create the layer (as it does for many other things). Thats a small glitch, there are others. There are plenty of software/hardware platforms....use what works for you.

Aloha, Cliff:
Thank you!
The price for the AutoCad embedded is beyond my reach at this time. I did ask if Carlson would give discount for non-profit use. No reply yet:-D

I am very comfortable with Survey Pro hence the reluctant to switch to another field software. Beside that will be another cost for the field software as well.

Thank you for your honest assessment of the short comings. At least I know what I am getting into I choose to go this route!

What format do you export from Survey Pro to see the raw data in Carlson--TDS 4.X (.Job/ .Raw)?

Thank you so much again Cliff! Aloha

>... My demo is ...with IntelliCad. Are these two functions the same way despite of different name?
Intellicad seeks to mimic AutoCAD very closely. There are some differences but they are minor.

The way I learn was very simple. I knew nothing, never had a CAD class before starting drafting at work. In my first job, they gave CAD files. "Here do like this, this drawing is scale 1:500, your drawing is scale 1:500, cut and paste, see how the source data is done, do the same for the other one". That is basically how I learned. Like a monkey. Monkey see, monkey do.

> The way I learn was very simple. I knew nothing, never had a CAD class before starting drafting at work. In my first job, they gave CAD files. "Here do like this, this drawing is scale 1:500, your drawing is scale 1:500, cut and paste, see how the source data is done, do the same for the other one". That is basically how I learned. Like a monkey. Monkey see, monkey do.

Aloha, James:
That's the tough way to learn!

I am familiar with another architecture and 3D modeling software called Vectorworks. I use that for most of my design work--self thought. However, it is not design for Survey work. I can import survey data into for modeling and that's about it.

I will spent more time this weekend playing with Carlson see if I can get a handle on it. I am also using the another survey software called TraversePC but having tough time viewing raw data from my TDS Survey Pro.

Thanks again for the input!

> >... My demo is ...with IntelliCad. Are these two functions the same way despite of different name?
> Intellicad seeks to mimic AutoCAD very closely. There are some differences but they are minor.

Aloha, Mark:
Thanks!

I suggest you get the book by Rick Ellis: "A practical guide to Carlson Survey 2013". Excellent resource.

For the CAD side of things, get used in working with the osnaps and get some existing drawings that you can examine. Keep the properties box open and just click on the entities. You will get a lot of information.

Another important thing is understanding the concept of layers and learning how to work with them. Lastly, print and go through the list of commands. Once you are aware of what you can do, then it gets easy.

I have used Carlson for the last 12 years and also TravPC . I agree the raw file editor is difficult to read in Traverse PC . And Carlson raw editor is very visually pleasing .
. But as far as learning Carlson you have to have a CAD Background. I been using Autocad for 24 years and still learning. You will have a hudge learning curve learning cad. You can take a community college course to get the Cad class and the basics. Can you do it yes but its going to take a while.

Also Carlson has a stand alone raw editor (XPORT) that is basically the same editor in the cad program so you could view edit what have you and then bring into Trav PC with out spending the big bucks on a new program .

I personally like TRAVPC better for processing data, I did give it bad comments a while back but it was more my ignorance of the program. The Least squares program is the easiest I have ever used . Hold points as fixed , select traverse and boom done , nice report . ALTA standard report aswell . So easy to process . But it like TDS RAW file format the best . I had alot difficulty with Carlson rw5 files .

Carlson least squares is good too but you have to know what your doing . Is difficult to set up at times and is a bit touchy with how the data is arranged.

> I suggest you get the book by Rick Ellis: "A practical guide to Carlson Survey 2013". Excellent resource.
>
> For the CAD side of things, get used in working with the osnaps and get some existing drawings that you can examine. Keep the properties box open and just click on the entities. You will get a lot of information.
>
> Another important thing is understanding the concept of layers and learning how to work with them. Lastly, print and go through the list of commands. Once you are aware of what you can do, then it gets easy.

Aloha, James:
Thanks for the pointers! I did check out Rick Ellis' site per Mark's suggestion. Read through the table of content and definitely a good book. Also noticed the theCadGirl website per Coady's post earlier. They selling Carlson 2014 for much lower price bundled with guides as well.

I got enough information to meditate on right now! 😉

Thanks again for the specific pointers.

> I have used Carlson for the last 12 years and also TravPC . I agree the raw file editor is difficult to read in Traverse PC . And Carlson raw editor is very visually pleasing .
> . But as far as learning Carlson you have to have a CAD Background. I been using Autocad for 24 years and still learning. You will have a hudge learning curve learning cad. You can take a community college course to get the Cad class and the basics. Can you do it yes but its going to take a while.
>
> Also Carlson has a stand alone raw editor (XPORT) that is basically the same editor in the cad program so you could view edit what have you and then bring into Trav PC with out spending the big bucks on a new program .
>
> I personally like TRAVPC better for processing data, I did give it bad comments a while back but it was more my ignorance of the program. The Least squares program is the easiest I have ever used . Hold points as fixed , select traverse and boom done , nice report . ALTA standard report aswell . So easy to process . But it like TDS RAW file format the best . I had alot difficulty with Carlson rw5 files .
>
> Carlson least squares is good too but you have to know what your doing . Is difficult to set up at times and is a bit touchy with how the data is arranged.

Aloha, Djames:
I consider myself to be fair when it comes to computer (mainly Mac) and technology; however, AutoCad environment with all its bells and whistles is not that easy to pick up right away!
I was up and running with TravPC in less than two weeks. So easy to learn. I should look into XPORT. That will be a great savings.

How do I get the XPORT standalone software? Do you have any idea?

Thanks Djames!

It not on the Carlson web site anymore, Call Hayes Instruments in Tenn they can sell you Carlson products http://www.hayesinstrument.com/ and probably can get it. It comes free with the data collector software .