Topo setup

[Clifton Keith]

I have an 83 Acre topo to do. Some in the open and some in the woods. What is the best way to setup the LS?

 

[Shawn Billings]

Soon there will be a release that will allow you to create different collection profiles that you can toggle between. We've been testing it for a few weeks and it is working very well. Until that release, you'll have to make the following changes item by item. Here's what I use for topo.

Start with Start Button
Stop After 10 Epochs
Verify with V6 Resets: OFF
Minimum Fixed Engines:2
Consistency: 10
Validate: ON with 2 Engines.

Pay attention to this part, it's extremely important. These settings offer minimal protection against a bad fix. So it is possible to get a bad fix with these settings, particularly in the woods. My solution to this has been to set a white box on the collect screen to "LAST". This shows the horizontal and vertical distance to the last point you collected. Generally in a topo survey, you have a density of points such that you can see what you would realistically expect the vertical difference to be from the last shot you collected. Watch the LAST distances and see if they are within expectation. This way you are the filter for what is likely a bad fix. This saves valuable time when trying to collect many points without waiting for minutes for the usual verification process to work it out automatically. It requires that the user pay careful attention, but the payoff is that it saves time, which is important when trying to collect lots of points quickly. If the LAST values look suspect, Reject the shot instead of accepting it, reset the engines and start again.

These settings will record 20 epochs of data. At 5Hz that's only 4 seconds or so. With the consistency set to 10, this may require additional epochs, depending on how many engines are fixed. More fixed engines = shorter time to reach consistency. Also with these settings (validation), collection will interrupt and get a new fix after the first 10 epochs, wait until two engines are fixed and collect for 10 more epochs.

 

[Shawn Billings]

In the open, over smooth terrain, you might want to explore using the above settings with the exception of:

Start when Lifted
Auto Accept: ON

When you get to a point to collect, you plumb the receiver up and it starts without any button presses. Then it collects for the 20 epochs described above. Then it automatically stores the collected point without any user interaction. This is great if you aren't changing the description very often and are just collecting lots of similar points. I wouldn't recommend this for uneven terrain that requires you to stop and step over obstacles as it may start recording when you didn't intend for it to do so. Also, I would not use auto accept in challenging environments with the verification turned off as I described above. You want to be able to decide from the LAST values whether the shot is acceptable or not, so you need the choice.

 

[Clifton Keith]

Thanks. Why is verify with resets off?

 

[Shawn Billings]

Thanks. Why is verify with resets off?

Time. In the woods it takes time to go through the verification process. If I can rule out bad fixes using the LAST values, I can save time. If the terrain is too rugged, I might not be able to tell what the difference is between my current shot and the last shot, so it's not always a perfect method. But over relatively smooth ground, I can tell if I have a vertical difference of 10 or 30 feet from my last shot, I don't need verify to figure out that the current fix is bogus. If the terrain is too rugged, you may be better off using verification and working more slowly.

 

[Clifton Keith]

In the open, over smooth terrain, you might want to explore using the above settings with the exception of:

Start when Lifted
Auto Accept: ON

When you get to a point to collect, you plumb the receiver up and it starts without any button presses. Then it collects for the 20 epochs described above. Then it automatically stores the collected point without any user interaction. This is great if you aren't changing the description very often and are just collecting lots of similar points. I wouldn't recommend this for uneven terrain that requires you to stop and step over obstacles as it may start recording when you didn't intend for it to do so. Also, I would not use auto accept in challenging environments with the verification turned off as I described above. You want to be able to decide from the LAST values whether the shot is acceptable or not, so you need the choice.

When doing a topo I normally stake to a line to give me some sort of a grid. Using this method I think I will get all that unnecessary info in the points list.

 

[Clifton Keith]

This terrain is rugged.

 

[Shawn Billings]

Using this method I think I will get all that unnecessary info in the points list.

What unnecessary info are you referring to?

 

[Clifton Keith]

Like this

 

[Adam]

When doing a topo I normally stake to a line to give me some sort of a grid. Using this method I think I will get all that unnecessary info in the points list.

The compass is real handy for staying on a line if the shots don't have to be dead on line. A side note, I did a big open field, hundred acres or so using my gator and the trajectory option. I surveyed the whole thing in about 10 hours.

 

[Clifton Keith]

Splain this trajectory option.

 

[Adam]

Clifton, where you select to survey point, alignment, trajectory, etc. Select Trajectory, there you can input the parameters for collection. Time, Distance, a few others. I have used 10' to 20' horizontaly. It will store the point when you move the specified distance. I drove around about 2 - 4 miles per hour. Its much like you would do if your were on a tractor bailing hay or spraying.

 

[Adam]

Works great for fields, not so much in the woods.

 

[Clifton Keith]

Sounds good.

 

[Adam]

You will not see a clutter of points on the map. All of the trajectory shots are stored as a trajectory. When you export you can export each individual point.

 

[Clifton Keith]

How about when you down load into your PC?

 

[Adam]

You export and select trajectory as points. Clifton, I don't have my LS with me so I may be missing a step or two.

 

[Clifton Keith]

Does that give you only the point # coors, elev, and description. Not all that other stuff as the above attachment?

 

[Adam]

It was something like traj_1 for the point name. You can set it to export point name, north, east, elevation, codes, description, etc. I don't think you can change the way it numbers the points at this time. I just renumbered them in the office.

 

[Matt Johnson]

When doing a topo I normally stake to a line to give me some sort of a grid. Using this method I think I will get all that unnecessary info in the points list.

STK_842,443806.635,1689016.655,379.174,$126 - 134 50.128 0.000 " - As Staked Point 842"

In the point name field you have the option to prefix staked design points with "_STK" enabled. When you store a staked line point, it is stored as a design point with staked survey coordinates. You could change this in the export settings with the options under More Settings so that the prefix is blank:

In the last field of your export you are seeing the name of the line, station and offset of it because they are stored in the Attributes field of the export which you are exporting:

You could remove the Attributes fields from the export if you desire not to see that information.

The simpler option for most users is to the "Accept As" whitebox to just store it as a new Survey point with the Code, Attributes, and Description you want.