A Harris, post: 338894, member: 81 wrote: MY all time favorite is Carlson Surveyor1 Cogo Software. It is the mother and father of SMI, TDS and maybe it is the root of all of today's cogo on any language, format and under most every label.
From Wikipedia:
COGO is a suite of programs used in civil engineering for solving coordinate geometry problems. COGO was originally a subsystem of MIT's Integrated Civil Engineering System (ICES), developed in the 1960s.
Yes all of the above BUT it won't cut line, buy coffee or clean the truck. When my last helper left, replaced by a robot, I had to go back and start doing all of the grunt stuff again that I thought that I had left behind me. Having said that I will admit that there is great satisfaction in knowing that you can do it all , the entire job from start to finish!
Here are a couple of my favorite small tools:
The one on top is a repurposed pavement grinder bit. It has a tungsten carbide tip, which makes it an excellent tool for putting punch mark in monuments and control points, even in hardened concrete nails. (The red stuff is some heat shrink tubing that I added to make it easier to find when I drop it in the weeds.)
The one on the bottom is a rule graduated in tenths and hundredths of a foot. I made it out of 1/8"x3/4" aluminum. I looked high and low for a commercial product like this, but came up empty so made my own. I carry this in my vest pocket, an use it daily. The bottom edge is worn, because I use it as a straightedge for scribing crosses in concrete, and the carbide scriber has been eating away at the soft aluminum. (I guess I can't really call it a straightedge anymore.)
hey, anybody remember civil tools on a floppy disk? some of those could still be handy today.
I suppose my most productive tool is currently my hiper lite + rtk/ static, second is my yamaha rhino.
My favorite is the setup we have today with R10's and VX's. The good old days weren't so good. My time started at the tail end of chaining and other terrible ways of surveying compared to today. 🙂
That is a probe. It definitely takes a special type of person to enjoy one of those!
I miss my right angle prism.
I spend most of my time in the office now and leave the slogging in the mud for the younger kids.
But I do have some fond memories of throwing a chain and using a T-16 for traversing. I started out in the field in what were probably some of the last days that anyone considered pulling a chain for "serious work". There's something satisfying about pulling a chain and holding my plumb bob steady while I waited for the rear chainer to call "good" so I could read the distance.
The upside to that experience is that I feel like I got a very solid understanding of the principles behind the newer electronic measuring systems.
I hear that loud and clear..........:beer:
It would be a toss-up between a Topcon GTS 2B, loved that Semi Total station and a HP 41X.
Carlson and his buddies packaged his program for apple in the 1970s
It was translated to work on Windows in the 1980s
Allowed to go public and many put it into the HP48 operating system via card slot by many
Still the backbone of todays Carlson software
I may be the only person that is using the last updated version circa 1987 on DOS nearly every day
:beer:
Hblair, post: 339025, member: 3599 wrote: It would be a toss-up between a Topcon GTS 2B, loved that Semi Total station and a HP 41X.
I have a gts 2b, just with no battery or charger. Still in its old beat up case
Tom Wilson, post: 338942, member: 247 wrote: Yes all of the above BUT it won't cut line, buy coffee or clean the truck. When my last helper left, replaced by a robot, I had to go back and start doing all of the grunt stuff again that I thought that I had left behind me. Having said that I will admit that there is great satisfaction in knowing that you can do it all , the entire job from start to finish!
I like doing the little things myself. The freedom of only needing to keep my own hands busy is my favorite aspect of working alone.
Warren Smith, post: 338911, member: 9900 wrote: Don't forget the Timely plastic pocket sized template for tracing symbols in your field book.
That would be the trusty T41. .
My cell phone (Verizon, Galaxy S4, 64GB card, Android 5.0.1) with the following apps:
GPS Essentials by mictale.com- use search coordinates to consistently get within 5'-10' of corners
Google Earth - to view location and information on all past and present jobs with basic info (i.e. job number, APN, description, price, etc.)
Smart Travel Notes by Fabio Saracino- Document monuments with photos, audio, video and text, exporting to google earth file
GstarCADMC - CAD app for viewing and manipulating my drawings
CamScanner by IntSig Information Co - keeping track of business receipts
Timesheet-Time Tracker by aadhk - Keeping track of hours and percent of job completed
Swiss Army Knife by Digital & Dreams - flashlight, ruler, level bubble (once used on tribrach with broken bubble) and other tools
Droid48 - Hp 48 emulator
Clinometer
Galaxy S4 Sensors - measures temperature, pressure, humidity
Not to mentioned that ALL of my business is stored on the 64GB card (i.e. job files, maps, references, everything) It's truly my office in my pocket.