In my assessment the weakest part of Leica soft is the support and support literature. It is not educational toward the user, is too dry, is written in some strange amalgamation of European English and certainly not in terms familiar to the average American Surveyor/User.
User support would also go a long way toward pushing the product.
If they could incorporate the functionality of the old Liscad data collection routines such as robust instructional coding and attribute based descriptor codes, along with better literature to explain and educate the user about how to use the TS and ref line, plane, stakout etc. I think they could do really well. The other soft is much more plug and play, Leica needs to shorten the gap, many users are not willing to make front end investments of time, which is too bad.
As far as little things, I really like Pt.#-Pt.# input for cogo functions, direct pt stake to pt in direction staking like in Surve CE, I would like to be able to calc in the manner of manual instrument input, although that only comes up rarely, I would like to be able to apply reciprocal elev correction to station on backsight shot when traversing, lock the key pad so I could carry the gun on in the case for short distances and not need to wait for boot up, control ascending/descending Pt.# order when staking, I would like to see vertical curve in ref line although I assume they did not add it in order to push road runner, I think hidden point should be part of survey, I would like a hardcase backpack that opens from the top, not just for the tm30, I think they should still sell the bracket for hanging a Leica mini on a plum bob, the new controllers do not look very rugged at all and I do not like the keyboard, qwerty has never been a desire of mine in a DC, neither have touchscreens I wear gloves and work in rough environs. I think I may have just set a personal run on sentence record.
As far as innovation, I would like to see a instrument that can stake by shooting reclectorless to a surface, and find the stake point on the surface by trial and error, the way a person does but faster. This would only be useful for a small subset of users but would be pretty awesome, especially for tunnel work.
Chef,
On the support and documentation …. Amen. I worked in Leica Tech Support and this was always the main issue. This is being addressed again from what I have seen in recent meetings. The manuals are prepared for basic starting reference on the hardware options and technical references. The actual How To Guides are basically left for local markets to prepare and distribute. We need more of that no doubt.
The ease of inversing to fill a calculation field such as point number – point number that recalls a distance has been communicated to Factory.
I have also often thought of just having the ability to manually enter data… it does come up from time to time. Also there needs to be a application that allows the instrument to become just a manual instrument. Just the ability to have no job attached… just orientate circle and turn angles manually.
Using reciprocal vertical angles is only in the Traverse application right now.
You can put the new Viva total stations in sleep mode to avoid rebooting between setups. TPS1200 still needs to be shutdown each time.
There is a need for better point listing in stakeout. This has been brought up also.
You are dead on about having a vertical curve… only in alignments in road runner for the most part.
I cannot talk about the instrument case. I have begged for a better case and yes the ones for the TS30, TM30 and the new Nova line is what we need for all total stations.
The CS15 is a well discussed issue.
On the reflectorless staking… RoadRunner has some built in as far as slop staking. RoadRunner Tunnel does have the trial and error with reflectorless you are discussing for tunneling. I never got into RoadRunner Tunnel application. I have no tunnel experience and cannot hold much support with that world. I can find out details about the trial and error in RoadRunner Tunnel if you would like to pursue it more.
Thanks for the feedback.
In regards to trial and error by robot staking, I think that if they had developed it for any application it would be integrated into others.
I did not do a good job of describing what I am talking about though so let me give that a shot. Say you want to cut a hole in a wall to punch a pipe through, and need to lay out the cutline on the wall. The way I would do it is using refline and perp dist at the desired radius of the cut, shooting the wall and dialing till it is close, shoot again and dial and shoot until I hit my tolerance. I would be neat if the gun would shoot, make those predictions, turn shoot, incorporate the second shot into its "knowledge" of the plane allowing it to make a better prediction and dial in the point.
Another application would be a variant on the turn to 3d position feature, stake point, position 3d, shoot and start dialing in the point.
I bet you would see a lot more people surveying in the dark so they could see the laser.
It would also be nice if you could compare a stored shot in RR, so much data while you are doing it but so gone after you hit store.
I am a big fan of the SmartWorx software, I find it very well thought out for the most part.
The one minor thing I would like to see (off the top of my head) is either:
1. Automatically change control jobs for Stakeout etc. to current working job when switching/creating jobs
2. Provide a setting to handle this behavior to work as it currently does or to work as outlined in 1. where a global job change happens, control, working, etc.
I've been using v4.60 so I don't know if this has been addressed or not, but I believe that since the 1200 days there has always been a control job setting that is independent from the working job, when I would say from personal use I want those to be the same 99/100 times.
Also, from training new users with the software I find that the hidden Fn options are not intuitive to new users, and there could be some improvements on how that is handled.
Jacob
Chef,
No... you described it fine and I do have enough with support to know what you are suggesting. I just need to get the right person in contact to give details because I am 95% sure what you are talking about is already in RoadRunner Tunnel. It is not a matter of providing this to other software companies... physical the instrument is capable... It is just that Leica RoadRunner Tunnel has already done this feature.
I will try to get in touch with the right person next week to get the specifics. I do know that getting the tunnel design into Leica SmartWorx is another step to conquer but from what I remember the LandXML is the easiest way to do this import.
Let me work on this one.
Jacob,
The current version is FW 5.50 but the way the software handles Control Jobs is still the same for now. I am also not sure how to handle the hidden Function Key - options that are embedded. They collector only has 6 fields and this is necessary. Maybe one of the the keys... say F5 should say MORE to drive the user to the "hidden functions. That would be an improvement I think.
I am going to send this up the line also. I never really thought of that this way.
Thanks for the feedback.
HI Mark
I love reading your replies, always so objective. You should take on a Trimble dealership too, it would be great to have access to open , honest advice and opinions. Good stuff.
It seems to me that it is software and software enhancements that actually drive this industry and productivity forward.
I'd like it if the point numbers and codes didn't disappear if you back out of Survey to the main menu, and then go back into Survey.
It would also be nice if you could stake points and lines in the same routine, without having to back out to Stakeout and Stakeout+. It is tedious, especially if you have a big control file.
if i had my wishes, they would be dedicated to smart codes. the idea of smart codes is good, but not solid.
1 a smart codes page takes too much time to build/set up
2 a smart codes page would be good to have some typical pages built that can be called up in a few keystrokes, rather than built from scratch for each project or working file
3 smart codes only allows control of one attribute beneath a code. two attributes would be better for me
4 the controller bogs down pretty quick when i am really cooking on a mapping job. maybe some more ram can be allocated to smart codes.
I would like to see an editable map screen. I would at least like to have the option add rod height and code inputs on this screen instead of having to bounce back and forth between the two pages. Also a function in the 3-pt arc in line work that allows you to shoot the end of the curve and begin a new one without having to take a second shot at that location, sort of a END ARC/BEGIN NEW. Also, and this may be that I haven't figured it out, but is there a reason that you can't change a prism/prism offset AFTER a shot?
Agreed on losing the current number if you exit the Survey application. I have heard this one allot and it bugs me as well. I am not sure what could be done to say combine the point and line staking. I think what could happen would be just to have a Stakeout Icon... just one.... then you would have a list of tasks that would contain all staking options... this could be easily done if the path of development does away with the Control file or makes it optional.
One thin to consider is that the Reference Line Application (Stakeout Plus - Stake to Line and Survey Plus - Measure to line) is an optional application. It still could be done. If you purchase the key for the reference line application the list under the Stakeout icon could just grow longer and include the new options from Reference Line
I would like to see Traverse and Reference Line just become part of the standard package even if the pricing went up a little. We always sale Reference Line application on all controllers anyway.
Moe,
I think some of the new coding improvements may be worked around the concept of using SmartCodes. I agree they take a little time to set up but you can save them permanently once you set them up. I am not sure if this is in the manual but the explanation works for both System1200 and Viva.
So quick explanation… remember that with the Leica job data base (DBX) your codelist and coordinate system you choose when you create a new job. The Smart Codes setups are saved to the codelists in the working job. So if you set up a few templates and want to save them to your “Master” code list that is stored on the collector…So setup you SmartCode template the way you want it… then choose the Code Block field at the top of the page layout…. Then select F2 (NEW) and then enter the name you want to assign to the SmartCode template and accpt the name and get back to the SmartCode page.
To save the SmartCode template to your Master code list just go to Job properties when the job with the templates is the current working job. F6 (Page) to the Codelist page… Select the green function key (which is the shift function) and the select F2 (Export)… Finally highlight the codelist you want to save the templates in and then select F1 (OK). Now when you attach the codelist to a new job or and old job the SmartCode templates you saved will be avaible.
I am not sure if this method of saving SmartCode templates is mentioned anywhere in the manuals.
I have not considered the attribute issue. I now the attribute that is available is the stringing attribute. I think it would be an improvement if an attribute page automatically appear after the measurement is taking so the user could fill out all attributes. This would be nice instead of what happens now.
I will need to look into the decreased performance when the user is cranking out shots with allot of onboard line work. I wonder if something could be improved by review of the program code that controls the graphic display. I can ask around about what is happening with this…. Also turning off point IDs or other such items in the map view would probably help if you have allot of detail being displayed. I will ask around about this issue.
here's one that's become salient just this afternoon (i may just be missing this).
wanna archive all the jobs currently on the collector into a mass file on the server. know of any way to dump all the txt and rw5 files en masse? and, likewise, then subsequently delete them off the collector...
otherwise this is gonna take a bit.
Aaron23,
Agreed with this one also… It would be nice just to stay in the Map View and work. Maybe if newer collector designs have larger screens Leica can work this into a map view interface.
Ahhh… the curve issue…Yep if you are doing a cross-section method to map say a roadway… you cannot have the curves open. Not good. This has also been discussed many times. I know I am beginning to sound like a broken record by saying “this has been discussed”. The curve issue is a weak point. This defeats the purpose of trying to save walking when mapping.
The limit on editing data in the field is part of Leica’s core design. Yes the only thing you can change in the field is the Point ID and rod height. You can edit the road height, prism definition, Atmospheric PPM corrections, etc. in the Leica office software but that is after the raw field data is imported – the original data cannot. There are just very few items that Leica allows to be edited because the structure is to have raw data stay raw data. You can convert to a RAW., RW5, FBK, and FWD which are all ASCII files that can be edited in anyway. The Leica database (original field data) cannot be edited.
Leica’s data philosophy may not be agreeable to all users but I do not see that changing. Personally, I think this is strong point.
Pdop,
I appreciate the comments. I agree about the software enhancements. The hardware is getting better of course but overall it is the interface and options that helps the user work faster and/or have the ability to see multiple positional relationships at one time. I think the industry needs a hardware change for the data collectors in order to allow more improvements to software. Current data collector screens are to small and tablets are to big (in my opinion). Maybe something in between that will allow the software to be improved because their is more real estate for the display.
Solo,
For the Leica RAW data you can use say a USB stick and then use from the main menu User - Tools and Utilities -> Transfer User Objects -> change the Object to transfer: to Job and then check the box at the bottom "Transfer all objects of the selected type". This will dump all the Leica databases for all jobs of the selected memory device in the From: field to the USB stick.
Ok… now to get rid of them… two scenarios….
Scenario One – Jobs and Export Files Kept in Internal Memory on CS Controller
If you have your jobs saved to the internal memory you will have to delete them one by one if you do the deletions inside SmartWorx. This is just the way Leica allows deletions. It is a safety feature.
…But… if you connect the CS controller to your PC you can browse the data folders on the CS through Windows Explorer and mass delete all jobs and exported text and RW5 files (usually exported to the Data folder). You will need the Leica GEV234 cable or a mini USB to full USB (not a Leica cable) depending on which connection module you purchased on your CS controller. You will need to download the drivers for the CS/GS/TS form Leica myWorld and get the proper connection established on your PC. Then you can do this and other things quickly. Leica does sell a USB desktop cradle for the CS controller which can be used to transfer and charge the CS at the same time. You will also need to install Windows Mobile Device Center if you are using Windows Vista or above. You can use ActivSync with Windows XP.
Scenario Two – Use a SD card in the CS to store and export all Files
To me this is the easiest option…. You create and work on all jobs on the SD card which will be installed under the top cap of the CS. You can also export to the USB stick daily or via a cable connection as normal. When you need to get rid of allot of old data you simply double check that you have downloaded everything and then format the SD card…. All gone in 5 seconds. This is also a good practice because you routinely format your storage media and the memory will run better. Same thing as defragging a hard drive on a PC.
Ekillo,
Sorry.... I did not see the return post....
To switch profiles...
Main Menu -> Instrument -> GPS Settings -> RTK Rover Wizard -> If you want to load a different configuration Choose - Load an Existing Profile - F1 (NEXT) -> in the next screen there is a field (RTK Profile:) which allows the user to choose between profile setups. Choose the one you want and select F1 (Finish)
When you choose to load any profile the system basically shuts down everything being used and then "reboots" everything needed in the profile that was loaded. So, it may take about a minute to get all devices active and connected to the internet. Then everything is ready to use. This is also a good support action if you are in the field and the system seems to not be responding due to communication issues. You can reload a profile and then all of the system is rest according to the settings.
Working with a TS06. I find it very awkward to set the orientation, and double traverse and/or monument points.
The BS setup: Known Backsight or Set Orientation? When I use Known Backsight, the TS display isn't my H angle. The Viva controller display shows the Az. I don't know why Leica can't just make it simple like all the other DC softwares do.
John,
I can explain what is happening and how to fix the displayed angle on the CS controller. The issue here is that no matter what angle you set to the backsight each data collection software is using some form of Azimuth (or Bearing) to calculate the coordinates of measured points. Leica instruments are all directional instruments. There is no upper or lower motion and no hold angle function.
I agree that when the TS06 is displaying one version of the angle orientation and the CS controller is displaying another it can be a cause of confusion and also a cause for no having confidence in the gear in that something might be going wrong…. Or just because it is a user’s personal preference to have them not the same. So what is happening on the TS06 is that when the instrument is orientated by using SmartWorx on the CS controller the Azimuth from the instrument to the backsight is entered and that is what us surveyors in North America call our zeroed instrument. This is especially true if you are using angle right.
So on the CS controller you can display multiple versions of your horizontal angle orientation. It sounds like you want to see an angle right method zero on both the instrument and the data collector. Like it love it or hate it the TS06 is not going to display zero at the backsight. However you can customize and easily check your orientation on the CS controller…
If you want to see angle right in Survey or if you just want to customize you display…..
From main menu select User icon -> Next select Work Settings -> next select My Survey Screen -> In the next screen the edit page will default to Define Page: 1 Name: Survey this is what is displayed on the survey page in the Survey application. Again you can display 16 lines in any order you want but only the first 8 lines are visible without having to scroll down -> Select F2 (Config..) -> Highlight the line that is currently displaying - Hz angle - I think this is what should be displaying by your description. -> when all of the choice list options appear after you highlight and select ENTER or just tap on the line … scroll up until you are highlighting Angle Right - Select F1 (OK) to accept changes – Select F1 (OK) again when you are back at the My Survey Screen Settings page to save changes – now when you are back in survey you will be displaying Angle Right where 0°00’00” will be at your backsight.
There is also a nice Check Point option under the Star Key menu… select the Star Key on the keyboard… go to the second page and select the Check Point option… The Point ID: field default to the point used as the backsight… measure a distance with F2 (Dist)… You will get the errors listed on the screen. You may have to select the F5 (More) key to see the delta values.
Let me know if this did not answer your question.
Thanks, Mark,
I have already configured the controller screen to show the angle right. I am old-school, I know it, and like the instrument to display the AR, same as the DC.
Thanks anyway.