Total Station Levelling Trick

Connect AutoCAD to Google Earth!

With Plex.Earth tools for AutoCAD you can connect your project with Google Earth
allowing you to:

- Import GEOREFERENCED aerial imagery right into your project, at any level of detail you need
- Easily import terrain data and create Contours
- Publish your project directly to Google Earth for great presentations
- Calculate volumes between surfaces

and much more...

Our software supports almost every coordinate system available!

To find out more visit our website at:

http://www.plexscape.com/plexearth.aspx?ptnsrc=bavas

Convert AutoCAD drawings to Picture Files!!!!!

Here's a handy little program if you want to send a client an image file of your survey, without creating a PDF or sending the DWG!

AutoDWG DWG2Image is a batch converter which converts DWG or DXF files to BMP, JPG, TIF, GIF, PNG without need of AutoCAD,Support AutoCAD 2011 now.

With AutoDWG DWG2Image Converter you can generate qualified bitmaps for:

1. Publishing your drawings to the Internet;
2. CD-ROM to store and manage your drawings.
3. Desktop publishing software;

Conversion options:
DWG to JPG (JPEG)
DWG to TIF (TIFF)
DWG to GIF (recommended)
DWG to PNG
DWG to BMP

An ActiveX Control named DWG2ImageX aslo available now let you convert dwg to jpg, dwg to tif, bmp, gif, etc. by programming.

Grab your copy today. I just did and its great!

 

Co-ordinate calculator - a very useful tool!!!

This Coordinate Calculator can calculate Lat/Lon coordinates to/from coordinates in different projection, local datums (264 datums) and on different spheroids(33 spheroids).

 

It differs from previous version with new copy protection system - you can use all functions and expanded list of spheroids during evaluation period (reduced set of spheroids in previous version).

 

Grab your copy now!!!

CADopia 11 - The alternative to AutoCAD?

CADopia 11 Standard Edition, is an ideal tool for engineers, architects, and others who need comprehensive drafting features, but do not need advanced features; such as photo realistic rendering, solid modelling, and programming features.

Written for the Microsoft Windows environment, the Standard Edition is well-suited for working in conjunction with other Windows applications.

 

Grab your copy now

The major features supported in CADopia 11Standard Edition are:

Powerful CAD functionality:


• AutoCAD 2.5-2012 DWG Support.
• Export Adobe Acrobat (PDF) files from your drawings
• Comprehensive suite of drafting, design and detailing tools.
• Print Style Tables.
• Save and restore drawing environment variables.
• Import/export files to DWF for viewing on the Internet
• Import Shape Files in .SHP format.
• Template files.
• Supports standard CAD commands.
• Supports standard menu (.MNU) and script (.SCR) files.
• TrueType Fonts.
• True color support.
• 3D surface commands.
• Group command.
• Fly over snapping.
• Polar tracking.
• Reference file support.
• Clipping support for references, images and viewports.
• Complex linetype support.
• Integrated Flexible License Managment tool including optional support for floating network licenses.
• The digital User Guide is included in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
  
  Productivity Tools:
  
  
• Tabs for paper-space layouts.
• Drawing Recovery and Error Checking support.
• Property sheets for easier editing.
• Entity Lineweight Support.
• User Profiles Manager.
• Fly-over snapping.
• ActiveX support.
• Real time pan and zoom.
• Copy with base point.
• Paste as block.
• Advanced Layer Management tools.
• Script recorder.
• Add/edit voice notes.
• Property Painter support for easier formatting.

System Requirements (Windows ®)

• Microsoft Windows 8, 7, 2008 server, Vista, 2003 server (32 bit and 64 bit).
• Intel Pentium processor (minimum) or greater (recommended).
• 1 GB of RAM, 2 GB or higher recommended.
• 2 GB of free hard-disk space for installation.
• High Color (16 bit) graphics card (3D graphics accelerator card recommended).
• 1024 x 768 screen resolution.
• High speed Internet access for product downloads and technical support.

Grab your copy now

GCI Expansion: Cambodia

After 15 years of survey and mapping operations in Indochina from our base in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) Vietnam, Geomatic Consulting International is expanding west into Cambodia through the establishment of our office in Phnom Penh.

With this new facility we intend to better serve our existing clients and add new ones to our customer base. Our services (and experience) includes:
- Land surveying: Cadastral boundary surveying and topographic mapping (golf courses, resorts, urban developments, site investigations and power stations)
- Engineering Surveying: Civil engineering and construction, (cable-stayed bridges, power stations, highways and
- Control Networks: Conventional and virtual, (GNSS networks, CORS, site control)
- Remote sensing services: Satellite imagery, aerial photography, LiDAR (resource management, feasibility studies, forestry inventory)
- Road design: Access and haul roads, provincial roads (Rural roads, access roads)
- Terrain Modelling & Volume Calculations: Earthworks, stockpiles, timber volumes (golf courses, road construction, mining)

GCI is managed by three internationally qualified survey engineers with a collective Indochina experience of over 25 years. This core management group is supported by local surveyors, technicians, remote sensing and CAD technicians, totally over 25 people.

For more information, please contact Dave Mitchell at davem@gci-int.com or call +84 913 808 160.
Thank you.

IP-S2 makes short work of QLD flood mapping

Global Infrastructure Surveys (GIS), in conjunction with Rapid Survey Solutions (RSS), used Topcon's IP-S2 to map flood-affected areas in Central Queensland for risk assessment.
Central Highlands Regional Council (CHRC) is based around the town of Emerald, located in central Queensland's coal-rich Bowen Basin – and one of the regions particularly badly affected by the floods. Mining in the region has still not completely recovered.
The council contracted GIS and RSS to map Emerald so it could extract floor levels for every house for future flood management measures, which involved surveying a total street length of around 450 km.
It is primarily using the data captured by the IP-S2 for risk assessment purposes, allowing it to know where existing house floor levels are for future flood management, as well as planning of new buildings and the floor levels the council would require to minimise the chances of flood damage.
Topcon's IP-S2 – which is sold and supported in Australia through Topcon's distributor Position Partners – allows users to map, log and locate all objects along any roadway, rail reserve or construction right-of-way, with accuracies of 30-50 mm, at distances of up to 50 m – all within posted on-road speeds.

The IP-S2, which is vehicle-mounted and works off a standard 12-volt power connection, combines dual-frequency GNSS signal tracking and positioning and inertial measurement to integrate laser scanning and high-resolution digital imaging.
Using laser scanners and cameras, the data collected is integrated and time-stamped, allowing accurate combination of LIDAR point cloud information and digital imaging data, to build 3D models of the areas covered.

In mapping Emerald, the IP-S2 vehicle, driven by RSS co-director Nick Nolan, was able to cover every street in the council's prescribed area over a very short period, giving the council the ability to capture data on the floor levels of a most houses in the town.

Once the data has been completely processed and analysed, the council will know the floor level of each house within the surveyed area – for example, whether it is a "Queenslander" style house with a raised living area above the surrounding ground, or a more modern design with a concrete slab on the ground, or anything in between.
In addition, CHRC purchased a copy of Topcon's Spatial Factory, which allows viewing, analysing, and extracting features from processed IP-S2 datasets.
Shortly after the devastating floods hit Queensland, Lyle Harman, the CHRC's recovery co-ordinator, contacted Les Whalley, managing director of GIS.
"The council was interested in obtaining the floor level of the houses in the affected areas of town primarily to allow better flood management and assessments on how future floods would impact various parts of the town," said Les.
"The council needed a rapid solution; we'd previously worked in conjunction with RSS and we knew the capabilities of the IP-S2 technology – and so we recommended this system to CHRC.
"Not only was the IP-S2 exactly what they were after, it also saved considerable time and money," he said.
RSS co-owner Brad Chambers said that CHRC saw potential in the IP-S2 captured data, not only for meeting its immediate needs in post-flood studies of floor levels, but also for the data-mining of information captured for other purposes.
"One of the big benefits that they could see out of this system over any other, was that it was able to generate photographic images as well as three-dimensional survey detail and because the information captured was quite rich, they could data-mine additional information later on – and that was really the key to their deciding to go ahead with it," said Brad.
"Basically, we left Melbourne on the Friday night, drove up the centre of the country and landed there on Sunday in time to do a reconnaissance mission around the town to work out the best way to attack it.
"We had a base station set up so that we split the town into six areas, of fairly equal size and bounded by a major road, giving us some overlap with the LIDAR data.
"For each one of those areas, we had a base station and recorded all the positions of the survey marks in the area," he said.
"This involved placing numerous ground control points – something which was far more time consuming than the actual IP-S2 Survey, and which needs to be taken into account on any project requiring tight positional tolerances.
"Each one of those was recorded by GPS base and rover, then later on was imported into Spatial Factory so that we could register all that control in the IP-S2 run; that ensured that we got the accuracy that the council required for level control and position," Brad said.
For the short period of time the RSS team was in Emerald it collected imagery and LIDAR data for around 450 km of streets. The remainder of data was processed on its return to Melbourne.
According to Brad, one challenge the team faced was situations where houses were behind high fences or trees.
"The problem is that if you can't see the house, you can't see the floor level.
"However, we were recording images every 3 metres, which was a lot more than we normally would and that gave us the chance to see up driveways and down in between houses.
"So, if we can actually see the house and the scanners can get some points on the building, we can then interpolate off the points and off the images as to where the floor level would be," he said.
Once the data had been captured and processed, the council used Topcon's Spatial Factory to analyse it.

By going through each image and clicking on the floor, its survey team can create points for CHRC's GIS system.
"Each point has an X, Y, Z position, which effectively gives the council an address for each of those houses; then, once it is in the GIS, it can run a report function on any of the attributes collected," said Brad.
"That has allowed the council to take the data that we and RSS supplied to them and then process and analyse everything themselves without us having to extract it for them."
According to Les, the capabilities of the IP-S2 allowed the council to capture far more data, at a far lower cost, than it had originally planned.
"Initially for this project, the council wanted to just map flood-affected areas, but due to the cost-effectiveness of the IP-S2 and its speed of operation, the council was able to map the entire town, capturing data for a wide range of purposes that it can use for many years to come," he said.
Further information, Global Infrastructure Surveys: Ph 07 5520 3304 enquiries@globalsurveys.com.au

Note:This article was recently published on Position Partners website -
http://www.positionpartners.com.au/survey-newsletters/survey-spatial-e-news-november-2011/ip-s2-makes-short-work-of-qld-flood-mapping/
and has been published here on Global Surveyors with their permission

Email received 100 years later - Douglas Mawson - Explorer.

We received an email from a gentlemen requiring information about an
old theodolite.
Ironically, we received this email on the day being the 100th year
anniversary of the explorer Sir Douglas Mawson in Antartica.
Can you help!

"Dear Global Surveyors,

I have a Brush & Mac Donnell (Melbourne) theodolite in its original
leather covered carry box, lightweight tripod, Günter's chain, Ice
stand and Plumb bob.
I believe it was used by Sir Douglas Mawson at the South pole on one
of his expeditions.
It was acquired some 35 years ago from an Adelaide based institution
that Mawson was associated with.
How can I find out some more information regarding this interesting
piece of equipment?
I would be very interested in its value, both economically and historically.

Another ironic thing is that the instrument was stored in an old shed
in the Adelaide hills for over 25 years.
The road name which the shed was located on is the same as Sir
Douglas's surname. Mawson Rd. Adelaide Hills"

Regards, Dave E -
Adelaide.

Please respond in the comments section below.

Troughton and Simms Circa 1880

Office decorating TIPS