Localization cheat sheet

[Duane Frymire]

I've had some questions about localization so sent this to some folks I'm working with. It fits on one page (printed both sides) to be easy to keep in the case for those of us that don't use the process all that much. Please share if you think it worth sharing.

Thanks,
Duane

 

[David M. Simolo]

I have not been using localizations because I usually failed at my earlier attempts and things have kept changing--it's been on my to-do list. Thanks for creating and posting this Duane.

I don't recall ever restarting the base and am wondering if this is a crucial step or if there is another way to do this.

 

[Duane Frymire]

I have not been using localizations because I usually failed at my earlier attempts and things have kept changing--it's been on my to-do list. Thanks for creating and posting this Duane.

I don't recall ever restarting the base and am wondering if this is a crucial step or if there is another way to do this.

Dave, there may be another way to do this. The earlier manual had instructions to restart the base, but the current one does not mention it. Which was one reason I put this together; a couple other places where I wasn't sure what to do. So, tested a few ways and came up with something that works. I still can't properly explain the why of a few steps. Will leave that to the experts. And there's much more you can do with localizations, but this should work to get a basic one done.

 

[Nate The Surveyor]

Localize is strictly a lens or window to look at your latitude longitude. Think of it as a filter. It doesn't actually change the lat long.

 

[Matt Johnson]

There is no need to restart the base. Restarting the base was once needed in a localization procedure that corrected an autonomous base position from points with known coordinates. We now have Real Time Position Shift for this instead of using localizations.

Also please post what is not clear in the manual (pages 112 - 120) and I can try to make revisions in the next release of it.

 

[Nate The Surveyor]

Think of localized like running your lat Long's through a spreadsheet and then looking at them. In localize, your core coords don't change... Only their expression changes!
Once you get your mind wrapped around this... Yer gonna be dancing!
N

 

[Duane Frymire]

There is no need to restart the base. Restarting the base was once needed in a localization procedure that corrected an autonomous base position from points with known coordinates. We now have Real Time Position Shift for this instead of using localizations.

Also please post what is not clear in the manual (pages 112 - 120) and I can try to make revisions in the next release of it.

Hi Matt, maybe it's just that the button pushing sequence is easier when separated from the theory and technical explanations. I first shared Shawn Billings writings with folks, which are great for understanding what localizations are and are good for and not. I have a good understanding of what the localization is and what it is and isn't doing. But accomplishing it was a bit murky, not sure I can point to any particular thing but others were having trouble as well. I've had a pretty positive response from my customers (one is laminating the cheat sheet for field crews). I would not want to see less explanation in the manual because it's important folks know more about it than pressing buttons. But, a simple workflow in addition to the long explanation is sometimes useful.
I'm a little confused by your last statement. I thought shift routine was best only used to shift from autonomous to corrected state plane, or differences of only a few meters at most, rather than a local coordinate/state plane conversion?
Which brings up another question; what is proper workflow to tie into old local system, convert those coordinates to state plane, and work the job as state plane from thereon? Would I do a localization and then simply change the design coordinates page from local to state plane?

 

[Matt Johnson]

I thought shift routine was best only used to shift from autonomous to corrected state plane, or differences of only a few meters at most.

Yes, this is correct. At one time a localization procedure that required restarting the base was used to accomplish this but this has been removed from J-Field.

Which brings up another question; what is proper workflow to tie into old local system, convert those coordinates to state plane, and work the job as state plane from thereon? Would I do a localization and then simply change the design coordinates page from local to state plane?

Are you referring to a local coordinate system you already have in another project in J-Field?

 

[Duane Frymire]

In the same project. I want to tie into for instance a 5000,5000 based coordinate system. So, I localize to get the best conversion, instead of shift. Now that I have the best conversion, I want to work in state plane so new positions will be truly state plane and the old design/local coordinates will have transformed as best as possible.

 

[Matt Johnson]

Coordinates are displayed in the coordinate system of the current page. In the database, survey coordinates are always stored as WGS84 (ITRF 2008). So in actuality you are always working in WGS84 but the coordinate system of the current page determines what coordinate system the coordinates are being displayed in throughout the interface.

 

[Duane Frymire]

Coordinates are displayed in the coordinate system of the current page. In the database, survey coordinates are always stored as WGS84 (ITRF 2008). So in actuality you are always working in WGS84 but the coordinate system of the current page determines what coordinate system the coordinates are being displayed in throughout the interface.

Yes, so after localization it shouldn't be a problem to just change a page coordinate system. Not sure how to say it, guess I was worried the underlying conversion might now be incorrect because of the localization.

 

[Duane Frymire]

It's been pointed out that in my cheat sheet step 6 needs to be done before step 5. Otherwise you don't see the change.

 

[Felix Wolter]

Thanks for the cheat sheet, it helped me greatly to localize a 5000,5000 survey into UTM. Good work!

 

[Jim Campi]

I certainly had a misunderstanding of how localization was implemented. Thank you!