Daughter of a Surveyor Needs Help

You have come to the right place for help. Be patient. Things get a bit slow on the weekends here, but will pickup rapidly no later than noon on Monday. You will definitely get some tremendous help from this group. But, they may ask you questions for which you don't have an immediate answer. Don't sweat it. Just do the best you can before replying. As most just check in once or twice per day it may take some time to communicate with a specific responder.

Those Questions

What level of technology does your family use now:

Total Station
GPS
Data Collector
Computer
Current Computer
CAD package

There are a number of options. I would not worry about sending data from the field to the office if one person is processing the data. Can't be in two places at once...

Do you know if he is already using some kind of electronic data collector or onboard electronic data collection in the instrument used to shoot the angles and distances? Or do you think he is writing the angles and distances in a field book?

Welcome aboard.
Mr. Cow is correct in that you will get plenty of advice here.

You may want to tell us what office software he is currently using to be sure others can chime in with any incompatibility issues with certain configurations.

If I had a laptop I would make certain I had the ability to hookup a "real" keyboard with a "real" mouse and multiple monitors. I personally can not stand laptop keyboards.

Good luck.
E.

Welcome to the Board!

What part of MS are you in? I am just north of MS in West TN.

You will probably get a ton of different opinions, but If you are wanting a basic laptop to take t the field, I would not spend a ton of money on it, just in case something happens to it.

I bought myself a Dell Inspiron 15 from Walmart. It has a wide screen, and a built in keypad, which is really, really nice. It is running Windows 8.1, and has 6GB of memory. I paid about $350 for it. It has become my main work computer.

I too, am a small outfit, and use a laptop in the truck on a regular basis.

If your dad is going to use this in the field, I would strongly recommend a good laptop stand for his vehicle. I bought one several years ago, and it worked great for my old survey pickup, but my new truck will need a more adjustable mount from Ram Mount.

Feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions. My email is jcsurvey at netzero.net

> Hi Everyone,
>
> This will be my first time posting, so please forgive me if this message is in the wrong area.
>
> My dad is a surveyor with a small crew (him, with the addition of my mom, myself, or one of my brothers to hold the prism), but he often has anywhere from three to eight jobs going at the same time, which can be time consuming for a 2-man crew...especially for topos. He always has to go to the office to download and draw up the points, which takes quite a bit of time.
>
> While I know how to hold a pole level, I honestly don't involved myself or understand the equipment or drawing process. With Christmas coming up, my brothers and I would like to buy my dad a computer for personal use, but also one that he can install his surveying programs and use at home. My questions are:
>
> - Is there technology out there (hardware or software) which would allow him to download information in real time from the field?
>
> - Between a PC and Mac, which is the preferred system for surveying? (He has an iPhone, but for certain surveying programs I would think a PC would be most compatible)
>
> - Do any of you have a specific laptop/notebook model that you use and recommend?
>
>
> Thank you very much in advance!

If he is downloading, he already has a computer, so what is he using? He is your dad, just ask him what he's doing, how he is connecting the points, what software is he using, etc. Home office, is it?

Chances the old man is set in his ways, so you and your brothers better talk to him first before buying him anything.

Could you or would you describe, or tell us what software he is using to do his work?

The computer is a piece of hardware. The software is now MORE expensive than the computer.

So, by telling us what he uses, then we can possibly see which way is "Uphill" from where he is.

N

Does he use cadd?
Does he have, or use a plotter?

Are his final surveys printed on a printer, or hand drawn?

What kind of survey inst does he use? Topcon? Which model?

Does he use a Data collector?

If you tell us this, we can often "plot a course" to faster performance.

N

> He always has to go to the office to download and draw up the points, which takes quite a bit of time.
>

Maybe he needs some quiet time to get the topo drafted.
OR
Maybe he just wants to get out of the house.

Buy him a PC and not a Mac. He will want to be mobile so get a laptop. DELL will have several options to choose from. A little pricey but he's worth it. Call a repre and tell them you want need cadd and graphic capabilities. Then tell him to get to work. The weather's perfect.

Look on Dell's auction site or dell Outlet, there you can get a business class laptop such as the 6520 that is mobile and can sit on a docking station for use with bigger monitors. Outlet laptops are those that have come off lease or refurbished.

I bought a 6520 3 years ago and is going strong and is used in the office and field.

I highly recommend one with a solid state drive as they are more stable than the traditional rotating disks.

Good business class laptops with power to run cad software are comparable in price through Dell outlet to the cheapies at Wal-Mart.

Can you help this young lady (from Saturday)

Daughter of a Surveyor Needs Help (Land Surveying)
by MTMississippi, Saturday, November 01, 2014, 11:38 (1 day, 22 hours, 6 min. ago)
Hi Everyone,

This will be my first time posting, so please forgive me if this message is in the wrong area.

My dad is a surveyor with a small crew (him, with the addition of my mom, myself, or one of my brothers to hold the prism), but he often has anywhere from three to eight jobs going at the same time, which can be time consuming for a 2-man crew...especially for topos. He always has to go to the office to download and draw up the points, which takes quite a bit of time.

While I know how to hold a pole level, I honestly don't involved myself or understand the equipment or drawing process. With Christmas coming up, my brothers and I would like to buy my dad a computer for personal use, but also one that he can install his surveying programs and use at home. My questions are:

- Is there technology out there (hardware or software) which would allow him to download information in real time from the field?

- Between a PC and Mac, which is the preferred system for surveying? (He has an iPhone, but for certain surveying programs I would think a PC would be most compatible)

- Do any of you have a specific laptop/notebook model that you use and recommend?

Thank you very much in advance!

Mr Cow, is referring to this lady

I wish my data collector would..... Do cogo easier...!

Windows computer. Running Windows 7 Ultimate - not Home. 64bit Operating System. I7 processor, 8Gb RAM, minimum. Solid state hard drive would be a bonus. Really good video card that will support multiple monitors. Fairly big screen, 15" is good. You are looking at spending $1500-$2000. Not cheap.

Dell Precison M4800 is good. Lenovo W500s are also.

Much less expensive computers can be used for some things or part time use. I've run AutoCAD on my $400 Dell Inspiron with an I3 processor. Certainly a few calcs and data transfers could be done with such a computer. But it wouldn't be very satisfactory for full time use, mostly due to the absence of a video card. Still, your Dad may make use of such a computer as a partial replacement, as I have

Yes

If she answers the specific questions.

Between all of us, we could suggest millions of dollars worth of equipment...

Yes

She hasn't responded, so I'm curious about the legitimacy. As the son of a surveyor, I know (and have always known) not to mess with any equipment, software, or process without full disclosure.

Hello! Wow...after reading the first reply, I didn't expect any activity until today. Thank you all for your responses and help thus far! I logged back on, hoping for one or two recommendations and was pleasantly surprised...thank you again.

To answer a few of the questions, my dad uses an older model data collector (TDI) with a TopCon total station.

All points and angles are then downloaded to the computer via hard connection. He does have a plotter and uses either that or for smaller jobs, a regular HP printer. The only program he uses on a daily basis is PC Survey. From what I understand, it takes up a good deal of space, so he would need a laptop which could handle that without slowing down tremendously.

We are all big Dell users, have been for years...so he has a Dell desktop at the office. We also have a Dell desktop at home, but he usually watches sports in the kitchen area and likes to have a mobile computer around there to grab and look up info easily. A rep with Verizon convinced him to buy a Samsung tablet, which he absolutely hates (glitches, freezes up, extremely delayed screen re-positioning...horizontal to vertical and vice versa).

Yes

She has replied to the original thread. It looks like he is using an old plotter, a desktop printer, and PC Survey. His field equipment is a Topcon total station with a TDI data collector.

So many choices...

Sounds like a Dell Laptop would be the best option.