All I have ever used is Trimble. Looking at an iGage and it would require switching to SurvCE. How steep of a learning curve am I facing?
Good question.
WE (Matt in the field & myself in the office) made the transition a year or so ago. There has been ( and sometimes still is) some head scratching involved.
IF (big if), your work is limited to finding (navigating to) monuments, and then "tying" them in, it really isn't all that steep. It IS different, and there are +s & -s that may or may not be problematical to you.
If you are talking about ALL of the "other stuff" that many folks do with GRS/RTK (machine control, route surveys, etc.etc....), then I have no clue (I don't do dat kind of verk).
Loyal
My boss and I made the jump to iGage in March after having both run Trimble for over a decade. The learning curve hasn't been terrible. The customer support from Mark Silver eclipses ANYTHING we ever got from Trimble. I still learn tricks and shortcuts in SurvCE on at least a weekly basis, but overall, I like it. If you are patient and don't mind figuring out a new system, I don't think you will have any regrets.
I swapped from trimble m3 to survpc. The survey styles is similar to the job settings, you gotta configure all your codings, the way the readings are read. But once it is set up, it is quite a breeze to use, its not that much different compared, But each have their quirks in doing some stuff.
Drilldo, post: 453306, member: 8604 wrote: All I have ever used is Trimble. Looking at an iGage and it would require switching to SurvCE. How steep of a learning curve am I facing?
I made the switch about a year ago. Personally, SurvCE makes more sense to me than Access. You can get up and running in the field pretty quickly. But like others have said, there are a few quirks here and there like any other software. I think programmers (all software developers) get lazy or are under the gun sometimes and just stick a function or a toggle for an option in a random location. Those are the ones that can be frustrating and leave you scratching your head. But overall, I am a SurvCE fan over Access.
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They are the two most user-oriented data collection software on the market (Well, whatever they're calling TDS these days is probably just as good, too).
The biggest difference IMO is the amount of files Carlson DC software creates and learning what to do with them. Using the actual DC software is a piece of cake.
The only other major difference, and isn't important to most people, is that the Carlson system isn't a true geodetic data collection system. But for 99% of the projects that 99% of people do - I wouldn't think that would be an issue.
Plumb Bill, post: 453392, member: 226 wrote:
The only other major difference, and isn't important to most people, is that the Carlson system isn't a true geodetic data collection system. But for 99% of the projects that 99% of people do - I wouldn't think that would be an issue.
Plumb,
I have heard this before (from Shawn as I recall), but I am [more than] a little fuzzy on exactly what you mean.
Could elaborate a little?
Thanks in advance,
Loyal
Perhaps something to consider is that while SurvCE does run Trimble R8 (not sure about R10) GNSS equipment, it doesn't run the Trimble S series total stations, so if you move to SurvCE, it is a step away from being able to use Trimble total stations.
Loyal, post: 453450, member: 228 wrote: Plumb,
I have heard this before (from Shawn as I recall), but I am [more than] a little fuzzy on exactly what you mean.
Could elaborate a little?
Thanks in advance,
Loyal
The DC stores all points observed as coordinates of the datum specified.
The vector ecef delta information is stored as a note. The office software can evaluate the vector information and perform statistical analysis, LSA, etc. So it is all sort of a semantic difference.
In SurvCE, the .CRD file holds coordinates computed in the currently selected/defined projection.
But the underlying data (for GPS observations) is Lat/Lon/EllipHeight and is stored in the .RW5 file. So it is a quick 'File: Raw Data' process GPS to compute a points in a new projection, add a GEOID, localize/calibrate to a previous system, add a scale factor.
The user is presented with a list of projected coordinates, but the underlying data is geodetic and is always available.
