Carlson Xport

[Tom Whatley]

We are using Carlson Explorer and TDS data collectors. Our linework
procedures have been revised with the addition of the Carlson Explorers. One
of the things we all like about Carlson is the ability to put linework
commands in the desc. i.e.. "B AS1 C3", upon conversion to a fbk we get:
--
BEG AS1
C3
.............AS1
--
with TDS, and using Survey link for conversion, you had to enter "BEG" and
"C3" as notes to produce the above.

Obviously we like the Carlson method. We don't want to have two sets of
field procedures and since we can use Carlson Xport for conversion of
Explorer and TDS rw5s we've instructed all the crews to use the Carlson
method for linework commands. The problem(s) is this:

Some very important raw data input, using TDS, is getting thrown out by
Carlson Xport. When our guys shoot something in error they recall the point
and either (1) change the description to the correct one (if that was the
error) or (2) change the description to "VOID" and reshoot (if bad rod
height or something). We don't use the coord file, only the raw, and in a
Survey Link converted fbk you would see the changed description prompting
you to either correct the shot or remove the shot. In Xport's fbk the
"change line" is completely thrown out! There is no indication that there
has been any corrections attempted or needed for that shot!

Another problem is that in TDS the rw5 line which indicates the backsite
point number (starting with "BK"), is thrown out by Xport, and the backsite
setup is replaced by the next sideshot! So when the crew instructs the data
collector to backsite point 3, then shoots sideshot number 1500 as "BSCK3",
Xport sets up the fbk with a backsite at 1500. I have RTFM and cannot find
anywhere that explains how to reprogram the conversion of TDS rw5s. Also, as
far as I know Survey Link doesn't have support for Carlson Explorer, though
we are still using V7.14.
Currently we have suspended any type of electronic edits and are relying
solely on the note in the field book. That's fine but it seems like a step
backward. Has anyone found a solution? FWIW we have enough Carlson Explorers
to replace the TDSs but our robotic uses TDS. We can't have one crew using a
different set of procedures since the instrument operators often have to
switch crews.
____
Tom

[Tom Whatley]

The programmers at Carlson have jumped on this and made a nifty patch for
our particular problem. Thanks Carlson!!

[mike pratt]

FWIW we use mostly TDS with 1 SurvCE data collector. You can enter the
codes in a TDS collector the same as you do in the Explorer and survey
link will convert the field book the same. If you enter "B AS1" as a desc
in the TDS collector, survey link will still convert to BEG AS1. The next
point would be coded as "C3 AS1" to start the 3pt curve. To make things
faster in the field look up descriptor codes in the TDS software. Our
collectors are set up so that the field crew would type in something like
"B+1" or "C+1" which the collector would immediately convert to "B AS1" or
"C3 AS1".

Survey link may look different at Raw files than coord files, I'm not sure
since we use only the CR5 files. We only use Raw to correct field
problems and even then we generate a new CR5 file after the correction.
Raw files are a pain to work with for the reasons you stated.

I'm still working to get our Carlson collector to act more like the TDS
collectors.

-Mike



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