I came into a construction surveying job where 60% of the job is calculated in a Carlson data collector. I was forced to import all the points into TBC. I have started layering the points for the guys in the field to be able to find what they need on the map with more ease, considerring Trimble's mapping software is not as simple to use as Carlson's as far as selecting points from the map or even seeing what's going on when you have several different points on different elevations.
I have exported the job to our data collectors (Trimble TSC3), the .job and .dxf. The layers are shown after correctly importing the .dxf into the .job.
The issue we're having is not being able to filter out different layers in the map on the data collector to get rid of different elevations that are not needed at that point in time. We have already turned off the point names in the map which is something I'd rather not do for obvious reasons.
I would recommend only putting control points in the Job file.
Make a separate text file of the points to stake based on what they are. Water, Sewer, Curb, Centerline etc. The different txt files can be linked to the job and turned on and off from job properties.
I can suggest using DXF files for the linework showing how the points are related and using excell CSV files for all the point co ordinates. You can link the csv files on and off as you need them.
They are very easy to manage and can easily be replaced with a later revision of the file. You can also not edit the linked points on the TSC3 unless you copy the point into the database of the job file.
You just have to be careful about your point numbering system, as if there are similar point names already in your data base or other linked csv files, they will not display.
With regards to dxf, I manage them in autocad , get their colours , line styles and layer names correct , then drop them staight into the tsc3 directory for that job. To turn off the layer on a tsc3, the box should just be unchecked with no outline around it too.
If you are going to be linking csv's and dxf's you need to put that whole job and all csv & dxf files in a separate job directory.
I normally have different csv files for the different civil services, such as water, sewer, telecom & stormwater, all files have a rev number next to them, so at any point in the field we can check to see if we are using the correct revision of the file on any controller, makes managing updates across multiple controllers much easier.
I do a variation of what Tim suggested when starting a large construction job in the DC. I export my points from Cad, Terramodel, MS, etc. by layer into separate point files. When I import each file into the DC I can choose what layer these points go to, and I set a new layer with the same name as my cad. I can always turn some on and some off as needed that way. This becomes my control file while I work in a daily file that way my control file stays clean.
