I'm new to Access and trying to get the hang of it. It's set up quite a bit differently than the SurveyPro I'm used to using. Does all the same things I'm sure, just organized differently. One of things I spent part of the day wracking my brains over was the best way to comp out coordinates off of a plat, including through curves and the like. I'm accustomed to entering a starting point number and a bearing or azimuth (or point#-point#) in SP, then being able to add or subtract 90 degrees or some other deflection (for establish an radius point or deflection of a curve for example), but Access doesn't appear to give me that option in 'Cogo','Compute Point'. There must be another way of doing this, possibly in 'Key In'? Typical workflow for me on a lot of my jobs involves tagging some low hanging fruit in a subdivision, using a compass bearing and measured HD to get going off of those found corners, then computing out the rest of the subdivision corners of interest, usually on the hood of the truck or behind the wheel, inversing between found and comp'd from record. If my measured distances match up well with my comp'd distances, I can then rotate my survey onto the computed points off the plat. I'm now oriented to the plat bearings and away I go.
For you Access user out there, could you break down how you would go about computing out a subdivision plat using a DC? Naturally it's easier just doing this in the office but on smaller jobs, that's just not always an option. This time of year I have lots and lots of those little jobs, so I need to figure this out, promptly.
Thanks in advance. Willy out.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
Welcome to the transition, you'll find that there isn't anything like Survey Pro out there. I have 2 Survey Pro TSCe3s and 4 Access. Access is used for the Engineering applications and modules. Straight up surveying == Survey Pro
> Welcome to the transition, you'll find that there isn't anything like Survey Pro out there. I have 2 Survey Pro TSCe3s and 4 Access. Access is used for the Engineering applications and modules. Straight up surveying == Survey Pro
Thanks for the encouraging words Ralph. Had to transition to Access to run our new S6 but I'm finding nothing to be simple or straight forward with Access. Guess I just need to keep my 48 handy for those simple calcs that I took for granted in SP.
Two steps forward, one step back.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
Does your new DC have the windows excel mobil on it? If so I have some spreadsheets I have created over the years for curve calcs that I can let you have. You would have to use the chord dist and brg for pc 2 pt and a def angle & dist from the RP for points along the arc. If you want them I will get you a link tomorrow evening when I get back to the office.
I have been using it for a year and a half and I love it for construction layout. Boundary surveying it is horrendous. I will never buy another trimble anything until they will allow Carlson to support them. I wish I could help but the best suggestion I got was to buy a laptop to bring with me. It is a data collector only not made for comping in the field. Good luck and if you find anything let us know.
why cant you use survey pro? It has support for all trimble receivers.
Trimble robots will not work with survey pro and the gps trimble blocks Carlson each time you update the firmware.
Under compute a point, method, there is a drop down with 9 or so options to compute a point... the common one used being bearing and distance, turned angle & distance, etc etc.
You can use the calculator under access to help with the compute the deflection angle between 2 bearings, its linked to the database, so you can use your points stored or recorded to let it inverse and calc the deflection angle for you...no need to write down or remember the bearings.
If you are working with curves, stationing, horizontal and vertical alignments, you will need the roads module.
> Trimble robots will not work with survey pro and the gps trimble blocks Carlson each time you update the firmware.
Trimble robots work just fine with Survey Pro, remember Trimble owns Survey Pro.
I have a TSC3 which has Survey Pro and Access Loaded on it (I don't think you can do it on a TSC2). Works just fine.
To expand on the post above - Compute Point does in fact offer nine options for computing a point including the standard bearing and distance, turned angle and distance, four different types of intersections, and from a baseline.
You can define a bearing by two point numbers, just enter them with a dash separator. So if the points that define the bearing are 200 and 201 enter 200-201.
When you select Arc Solutions, if you hit Add at the bottom of the screen you get the options to select the start point, enter a back tangent and curve direction, and store the endpoint.
There is a comprehensive scientific calculator that will return values to other fields in the program.
You can in fact create, store, stake out, and offset horizontal alignments without the Roads program. You only need Roads if you want to include vertical alignments, cross sections, etc.
I would recommend that you download and read the Access manual:
http://apps.trimbleaccess.com/help/en?TrimbleAccess=2014-04-14
If that link works right it will take you to the Downloads page for v. 2014.10 - download General Survey Help.
There's a lot more to Access than meets the eye and with all due respect many who post here about Trimble products know little to nothing about them.
The fact of the matter is that Access is not as intuitive as Survey Pro. Trimble has heard from me and is probably tired of hearing it. Trimble's priority is not the Survey division. They've made a habit of acquiring other companies and not figuring out how to integrate them or consolidate them. This is a classic example. They've acquired Survey Pro and instead of figuring out how to extract the best features or use the best TDS minds, they've instead decided that it should be featured with the lower price point product (the spectra line).
If I gave 100 competent American Surveyors TDS, they be making it dance within a day. That's not the case with Access. I think they went a little toward Leica route (Although Access is far more user friendly than viva) when they designed Access.
The guys in Oregon knew the American workflow and thought process very well, I'm not sure that's the case in Christchurch.
The programs have different workflows (TDS and Access), Access in my opinion is not designed for on the fly calculations. Not that it can't be done,but that's not what it was intended for. The higher level modules and it's seamless interaction with TBC are the key to Access in my opnion. Trimble Access Monitoring is awesome as are roads and seismic. I've been in touch with the programmers from the Tunnel Division and I've discussed issues with the rail division. The rail applications for the Gedo are great, the tunneling needs some more functionality. The fact that they won't share the source code with Amberg is troubling and why we stick to Leica when it comes to tunneling.
First thing I did out of the box was print out the manual and bind it. I'm work my way through it, flagging as I go, but Ralph has a good point. It's simply not as intuitive as SurveyPro and it will just take me some time to work out the best work flow. SurveyPro option was an option when I was making the decision what software to run the gun with. The one feature that sealed my choice to go with Access was that SurveyPro does not support the Vision camera function of the gun. A function I very much wanted. An issue for me is the learning curve when I'm 'under the gun', no pun intended, to get work completed on schedule in Alaska's short construction season. I love a good challenge.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions and have a great week.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
Have a look at Cogo-Taped distances
Fast and easy input whit right and left turn, you tap the screen for the direction from your baseline and key in your distance.
I found the cogo in acces is powefull but well hidden. Reading the help files is a must!
Chr.
I don't disagree with you Ralph, SP is definitely more intuitive when it comes to COGO functions.
Staking out Curves~ Anybody?
Made some good progress today with Access and the S6 but still trying to figure out how to layout horizontal curves. Vertical component isn't an issue. Fairly straightforward in SurveyPro. Define the pc point, incoming tangent bearing, radius, curve left or right and stationing and badda-bing badda-boom. When using RTK I'll sometimes just stake out to the radius point of the curve and hold the radius distance to layout random stations on the curve, but using a total station, the curve has to be define to compute the angle and distance from the instrument to whatever station to be staked. Anybody have any tips on this? I suppose I could compute points along the curve using deflections and chords but seems a bit awkward. Frequently need to adjust stations to avoid obstacles when staking for clearing and whatnot. I'm reading up on 'Stakeout-Arcs' and not finding a comparable stakeout routine to SP.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
my bad
My bad I ment surv ce. My 2 month old was screaming as I was typing last night. Access is not user friendly I still haven't figured out how to use dxf line work in the data collector. It takes about twice as long to do any field comps with Access.
The mindset of Access is "the office controls". Need something, call the office. Survey Pro's mindset is "let's provide the tools that a chief can use to get the job done independently."
Staking out Curves~ Anybody?
I don't have a collector in front of me, but you can enter curves (arcs) by various methods under Key In, and these can then be selected through the Stakeout menu. You should be able to stake them like an alignment - along the arc, to a specific station, to a station/offset, etc. Once you key them in you should be able to view and select them in the Map screen.
Alternatively, you could import them as a DXF and select and stake from the map. Just remember to make the DXF an active layer first!
Sorry don't want to hijack this thread- Smaxwell, can you send me a message about your Mesa/ tesla for sale?
Staking out Curves~ Anybody?
As Alan said, it's under the Key In options. Check your manual for the differenjjt ways to define the arcs.
i disagree with the post below referring to the office, we can key in and stake all our lines and arcs in the field.
Chr.