.dat file into TBC for Kent
I have not yet purchased my version of TBC. After reading your post I asked the person I am getting my program from about your problem. What he said (don't hold me to this because I have not confirmed this) is that there was/is a problem just like you described. But there were upgrades to fix it. You would have to upload the newest firmware for your receivers and have the latest version of TBC and there would be no problem. The names and HIs will then appear in a box similar to TGO. So I am told.
.dat file into TBC for Kent
> I have not yet purchased my version of TBC. After reading your post I asked the person I am getting my program from about your problem. What he said (don't hold me to this because I have not confirmed this) is that there was/is a problem just like you described. But there were upgrades to fix it.
Well, what I learned from Trimble Support is that the software evidently needs a patch for this problem. I sent them the DAT, TXT, and EPH files that had been generated when the receivers were downloaded, and the point names disappeared for them on import into TBC, also.
> I for one thank you people for showing me just how massively lame Trimble support and software continue to be. Eventually when I finally get GPS it will be in the form of ABT - anything but Trimble.
Bryan, just be sure to ask for, no, DEMAND software that will automatically produce a finished map once the GPS receivers are downloaded. There should be no reason for a faulty human interface to have to intervene in the process once all the settings are just right. Getting the settings just right may take days or weeks, but once that is done, the map will just automatically appear.
See, in the old days, like, say, fifteen years ago, deeply faulty software such as GPSurvey that could be learned in about twenty minutes required an actual human to look at baseline processing results and enabled an actual human user to just ... process baselines and send the vectors off to some widely used program such as, say, STAR*NET, for adjustment in combination with conventional survey measurements.
Those were the dark ages before surveyors expected to have software with at least ten thousand little buttons on the screen at all times and menus that would remind the user how vital it was to have at least a week of training on the software before attempting to do anything.
So, demand software that is as loaded up with features as possible. Sure, objectively you may never use them and, maybe you don't even think you want them, but the learning curve will be so much fun that you'll need an excuse to prolong the experience.
I am not familiar with GRAFNET. Is it a sort of "throwback" type/basic processing software that does not come with all the bells and whistles?
> I am not familiar with GRAFNET. Is it a sort of "throwback" type/basic processing software that does not come with all the bells and whistles?
Unfortunately for me, I won't be taking a closer look at GrafNav/GrafNet until I buy some non-Trimble receivers. Evidently Trimble's proprietary receiver file formats defeat identifying the antenna types on import into GrafNav. So GrafNav really works best with antennas that are on the NGS list of calibrated antennas and identified as such in the receiver file, and not so well with unknown antenna types.
Since GrafNav is really just a vector processing program with GrafNet being the network adjustment module of the software (as I understand it), it doesn't try to do all the Magic-Castle-type stuff that the massively complicated programs available do. I'd be surprised if it took very long at all to become proficient at vector processing. On the other hand, I was surprised that GPSurvey and TGO crapped out at a billion seconds and I was surprised that the replacement, Trimble Business Center, while 700 megabytes of pure programming intensity, couldn't do what the dead software once could.
> I am not familiar with GRAFNET.
Nor am I, though it appears to come packaged with GrafNav. The difference between the two, as I understand it, is that GrafNav is designed to work primarily with kinematic data (though it can process static), while GrafNet is only for static data. Whether they're each launched from a common user interface is something I haven't learned yet.
I have a GravNav/GrafNet demo coming soon. I'm hoping that the installation procedure is less painful than the once I'm experiencing with the TBC demo.
I posted about a month ago that computers reached their pinnacle roughly 10 years ago.
I remember installing TGO on a computer; it was fairly painless, put in the codes and it just worked.
None of this standing on one foot while holding your tongue just right or it won't work stuff.
Windows 7 is just painful. Purchase a computer with 5 times more resources but W7 needs 20 times more resources not too mention all of the hidden stuff.
> I have a GravNav/GrafNet demo coming soon. I'm hoping that the installation procedure is less painful than the once I'm experiencing with the TBC demo.
I'll be particularly interested to know what you think about that Waypoint Software, Jim. I certainly want it to be a viable alternative to some of the other GPS processing software out there.
.dat file into TBC for Kent
Kent I am confused, because this seems like such a basic need, and this software has been out and used for several months now, has it not? I would think this would be a question among Beta testers, or at the very least come up the first time a regular user tries to use the software.
.dat file into TBC for Kent
Trimble Business Center
Version 1.10
Revision A
September 2006
The software has been around for a while.
.dat file into TBC for Kent
I don't like the sound of that. Were the .dat files from an old job? I've got some from as far back as 1997. I figure I can keep TGO around if I need to process something old, but I really want TBC to work for anything going forward. And I've got some old receivers that still really work great. If it's only a firmware update fine.
.dat file into TBC for Kent
> I don't like the sound of that. Were the .dat files from an old job?
No, the DAT files were recent. Is Trimble even continuing to update firmware for the 4000 series receivers? It wasn't clear to me from the information provided by the Trimble support staff what was unusual about my data that was resulting in the station names disappearing on import into TBC.
.dat file into TBC for Kent
I have to admit that I haven't looked a firmware for my 4700's or 5700's for awhile. It's something I'll be doing this weekend. I could be waaaay back with them. Updating Trimble is always a day long process. You start with software (for 12 computers-each have to be updated), then you move to the receivers, then to the data collectors. I've always set aside a day to do it, but the last one was some time ago. But since I have to install TBC anyway....
> I posted about a month ago that computers reached their pinnacle roughly 10 years ago.
>
> I remember installing TGO on a computer; it was fairly painless, put in the codes and it just worked.
>
> None of this standing on one foot while holding your tongue just right or it won't work stuff.
>
> Windows 7 is just painful. Purchase a computer with 5 times more resources but W7 needs 20 times more resources not too mention all of the hidden stuff.
It seems to me that someone will eventually realize that there is a market for simple and reliable. It may well be that the earlier generation of software designers who had DOS in their resumes approached the whole problem with more taste and common sense than the present generation who seem to want to create software that mainly just provides employment to programmers fixing bugs or selling training to carbon-based lifeforms.
If you can make a Rinex file I will have a shot at running it through GNSS Solutions.
I think the Rinex format should have all the individual stop&go points in it.
When you bring a S&G file into GNSS solutions it doesn't look like much. When you process the file then you see all of the vectors (baselines) show up along with the individual points.
Jargon-in Aschtech jargon Kinematic is a continuous file (like one shot every 10 seconds) and stop and go is a file with individual shots. S&G in Aschtech jargon is what Trimble calls PPK.
I would need a rinex of the base static file too.
GNSS might already have the antennas in it but they are pretty easy to add (it has a graphical antenna routine). For experimenting purposes it wouldn't really matter, just use the phase centers to see if it works or not.
> If you can make a Rinex file I will have a shot at running it through GNSS Solutions.
Thanks for the offer, Dave, but it would be a hassle to have to convert all receiver files to RINEX format from now on just to process them. If I can't find software that works with Trimble's native DAT format, I guess the mandatory RINEX conversion might not be bad as part of a short-term fix, though. Who knows where the LightSquared mess will end up? I'm certainly in no hurry to buy another system with yet another manufacturer's adventure in processing software until that all gets hosed off the sidewalk.
> I did download it, apparently without issue, and the install seemed to go fine. However, I just spent about half an hour on the phone with a support tech who had me try a bunch of things related to the License Manager (uninstall this, reinstall that), but none of them worked. He's going to call back in the morning when the software engineers are around to give it another try.
Kudos to Chad Lewis of Trimble, who persevered and got my TBC install to recognize the temporary license. The problem was related to the HASP software licensing mechanism, but it's hard to nail down the specifics. My guess is that it's related to the Windows 7 UAC protocol. In any case, Chad provided necessary files and walked me through a complex process that resulted in success. I now have 30 days to evaluate the application.
> > If you can make a Rinex file I will have a shot at running it through GNSS Solutions.
>
> Thanks for the offer, Dave, but it would be a hassle to have to convert all receiver files to RINEX format from now on just to process them. If I can't find software that works with Trimble's native DAT format, I guess the mandatory RINEX conversion might not be bad as part of a short-term fix, though. Who knows where the LightSquared mess will end up? I'm certainly in no hurry to buy another system with yet another manufacturer's adventure in processing software until that all gets hosed off the sidewalk.
Converting to Rinex? No problem in TGO. You find it in utilities before you start a file. It's easy as pie. As for GNSS I downloaded it off the internet. About as simple and basic as TGO. It interfaces okay with the 4600's as a antenna diagram pops up right pronto. I've done post processing with it no problem for one station per file (static). But in kinematic it won't recognize the rest of the shots. The lady in the Cali office said that to get the kinematic shots I have to have the full version. In order to get the full version you have to get a password from a dealer and they'll give you a 30 day trial. I've done that and I am just waiting for a computer part for my laptop (battery charger went dead). My advice, before you buy anymore software I'd try the GNSS off the internet first.
So the free version of GNSS Solutions won't recognize multiple shots in a Rinex file?
It certainly will do stop&go in an Aschtech file but that is its native format.
