Edit-Process Raw Data File

This program reads or creates a raw data (.RW5) file that contains various lines of data (records) that could be likened to a surveyor's field book. You can specify point coordinates, job information, notes, and the angles and distances that make up traverse or sideshots records. Once the raw data is created or read it can be processed/reduced to coordinates that are stored in the current coordinate (.crd; .cgc; .mdb; .zak) file.

The raw file can also be created or appended using the Locate Point, Traverse, Sideshot, and Inverse commands on the COGO menu. To store the data inputs from these commands into a raw file, first toggle on the Raw File ON/OFF command on the COGO menu. It is possible to always have the raw data file open to store data inputs. To enable this option, choose Configure from the Settings menu, then choose Survey Module, then choose General Settings. Turn on the Automatic Raw File toggle in this dialog.

The raw files created by TDS data collector programs are also compatible without conversion. The command Data Collectors on the Tools menu has options for reading other data collectors native file formats and converting them to raw data (.RW5) format. Within the raw data editor, the File menu includes an import menu for converting raw data from other formats.

When you select the Edit-Process Raw Data File command you are prompted to specify the name of the raw data (.RW5) file. The current coordinate file is used automatically. To change the current coordinate file, use the Set Coordinate File command in the Points menu before starting this command. If no coordinate file is current, the program will prompt you to set the current coordinate (.CRD) file.

Edit-Process Raw Data File uses a spreadsheet for editing the raw data as shown. Each row of the spreadsheet is represented by a number located at the far left side of the editor. Various messages and reports often reference possible problems with the data by this row number. Each row of the spreadsheet represents one record of data. There are 14 types of data records. The type of data record is shown in the first column. Different record types use different numbers of columns. Whenever the data record type changes between rows, a record header is added to the spreadsheet that describes each column of data in the following row. To edit the raw data, simply highlight the cell and type in the new value. To change the type of record, pick on the down arrow in the first column and choose a new data type from the list. To delete a row, highlight any cell in the row and hit the Delete key or choose Delete Row from the Edit menu. Records can be added pressing the Insert key, pressing the down arrow key from the last line in the spreadsheet, or by choosing one of the add records from the Add menu.

The different record types are described below.

TR (Traverse)
The traverse record contains the occupied point number, foresight point number, angle mode, horizontal angle, distance, vertical angle and description. When processed, this record will calculate and store the coordinates for the foresight point. Traversing also moves the setup by making the traverse foresight point the next occupied point and the traverse occupied point becomes the next backsight point. The different angle codes are NE for northeast bearing, SE for southeast, SW for southwest, NW for northwest, AZ for azimuth, AL for angle left, AR for angle right, DL for deflection angle left and DR for deflection angle right. To set the angle code, pick on the Code down arrow and choose from the list. The horizontal and vertical angles should be entered as dd.mmss. For example, 45.2305 is 45 degrees, 23 minutes and 5 seconds. The vertical angle can be shown as vertical angle (0 degrees level), zenith angle (90 degrees level) or elevation difference. The vertical angle mode is set in the Display menu. The distance mode is also set in the Display menu as either slope or horizontal distance. The description field is used as the foresight point description.

SS (SideShot)
The sideshot record is the same as the traverse record except that sideshot does not move the setup.

HI (Instrument and Rod Height)
This record sets the instrument and rod heights used in elevation calculations. This record should precede any traverse and sideshot records that you want the heights applied to.

BK (BackSight)
The backsight record contains the occupied point number, backsight point number, backsight azimuth and the set azimuth. This record should precede any traverse and sideshot records that use this setup. If no backsight point is entered, the program uses the backsight azimuth to turn angles from. The Set Azimuth is the circle reading of the instrument when sighting the backsight. A Set Azimuth of zero is the default.

PT (Store Point)
The store point record consists of a point number, northing, easting, elevation and description. When processing, this data will be stored as a point in the coordinate file. If the first Occupied point and/or the initial Backsight point are not defined in the coordinate file set for processing to, both points will need to be added to the rw5 file as PT (Store Point) records.

DS (Description)
The description record is an additional note that appears in the spreadsheet editor and printouts. This record can contain various information that is recorded in data collectors during field operations. This data can vary from user, temperature and general data to each line of data associated with "Set Collection". When "Sets" of data collected using various brands of data collection software is converted/imported into the raw editor, the actual measurements made during the spinning of the angles and distances are recorded as DS records and the mean value of the angle and distance is recorded as a SS record. DS records are not used in processing.

CL (Closing Shot)
The closing shot record is the traverse record where the foresight point is the closing point for the traverse. This record is used by the adjustment commands in the Process menu. There should be only one CL record in each Traverse loop (Name Record) in the raw file. If there is no CL record, the process adjustment routines will prompt for which shot is the closing shot. The closing shot can also be define in the field by using special codes defined in the Open Settings found under the File pulldown within the editor. Please refer to the "Open Settings" documentation below for more information on these codes.

AB (Angle Balance)
The Angle Balance record is the measurement data observed that closes the angles of the traverse. Typically this record is the measurement data recorded from the closing shot to the initial backsight point. The backsight could be either external or internal to the traverse. Angle Balance routine in the Process menu uses this record and compares the angle between the occupied point and foresight point of this record with a user-specified reference angle. There should be only one AB record in the raw file. If there is no AB record, then the Angle Balance routine will prompt for which shot to use as the angle balance.

CL + AB (Closing Shot and Angle Balance)
This record is used as both the closing shot and angle balance records.

FD (Foresight Direct)
The foresight direct is a traverse record used in a direct and reverse set. When the program finds one the of direct-reverse measurement records, it will look for the other three records to complete the set.

FR (Foresight Reverse)
The foresight reverse is a traverse record used in a direct and reverse set.

BD (Backsight Direct)
The backsight direct is a traverse record used in a direct and reverse set.

BR (Backsight Reverse)
The backsight reverse is a traverse record used in a direct and reverse set.

EL (Elevation Only)
This record sets the elevation in the CRD file for the specified point number. Often used when an existing point with good vertical control is being traversed through. Using this record type for the point would keep the elevation from changing on the existing point regardless of the measurement data.

AZ (Azimuth Only)
Applies to SurvNET, the optional Network Least Squares analysis and adjustment routine.

CSE (Control Standard Error)
Applies to SurvNET, the optional Network Least Squares analysis and adjustment routine.

SSE (Set-up Standard Error)
Applies to SurvNET, the optional Network Least Squares analysis and adjustment routine.

MSE (Measurement Standard Error)
Applies to SurvNET, the optional Network Least Squares analysis and adjustment routine.

NAME (Traverse Name)
This record acts as an identifier for the group of records that make up a traverse. All the records after the NAME record belong to that traverse up to the next NAME record or the end of the file. This record allows you to have multiple traverses in one raw file. When running one of the Process commands, the program will bring up a list of all the traverse names. Simply choose which traverse to process. If you have only one traverse in the raw file, then you don't need the NAME record.

GPS
This record contains the Latitude and Longitude of a point as measured by GPS surveying equipment using Carlson SurvCE data collection software. This record has additional information tied to it such as localization files, geoid files, coordinate projection systems etc. This record has its own processing routine in the Process pulldown within the editor. Processing procedures are discussed in the Process (Compute Pts) pulldown documentation.

Raw Data Editor Pulldown Menus

File Menu

Open RW5 File
 This command prompts for a rw5 file to load into the editor.

New RW5 File
 This command clears the editor spreadsheet.

Save RW5 File
This saves the rw5 file. If the file hasn't been named you will be prompted for the file name and the location to save the file. After you perform the first save, this command acts as a quick save and saves the file to the name and location specified during the initial saving of the file.

Save RW5 As
 This command saves the raw editor data in the spreadsheet to a rw5 file and always prompts for file name and location to save.

Open CRD File
 This command prompts for an existing coordinate file to set as the active coordinate file for the raw editor.

New CRD File
 This command prompts for a new coordinate file to set as the active coordinate file for the raw editor. The coordinate data will be initialized as empty.

Save CRD File
This command saves the current coordinate data in the raw editor to the current coordinate file.

Save CRD As
 This command saves the current coordinate data to a specified coordinate file name.

Report/Print
There are three types of reports: Raw Data, Coordinates and Summary. A sample of the raw data report is shown below. This report shows the data from the raw editor spreadsheet. The Coordinates report lists the point data (point number, northing, easting, elevation, description) from the current coordinate file. The summary report groups the traverse, sideshot and store point numbers along with a list of the setups and the shots from each setup.

Raw File> c:\data\survey.rw5

CRD File> c:\data\survey.crd

   Note

   Survey Example

   PntNo   Northing Easting   Elevation Desc

   1       5000     5000    100       START

   OcPt    BsPt     SetAzi

   1

   InstHgt RodHgt

   5.32    6.0

   OcPt    FsPt     HorzAngle SlopeDist ZenithAng Desc

TR 1       2     AR 268.5330  711.420   89.4050   P2

   InstHgt RodHgt

   5.43    6.0

   OcPt    FsPt     HorzAngle SlopeDist ZenithAng Desc

TR 2       3     AR 262.5448  457.760   89.3236   P3

   InstHgt RodHgt

   5.4     6.0

   OcPt    FsPt     HorzAngle SlopeDist ZenithAng Desc

TR 3       4     AR 208.5710  201.310   89.1803   P4

TR 4       5     AR 247.1657  497.120   88.5235   P5

TR 5       6     AR 277.4835  223.980   90.2926   P6

TR 6       7     AR  92.4113  233.880   90.2746   P7

   InstHgt RodHgt

   5.42    6.0

   OcPt    FsPt     HorzAngle SlopeDist ZenithAng Desc

TR 7       8     AR 261.2756  387.250   91.4405   CLOSE

SS 7       19    AR 289.3456  112.450   91.3423   SS1

Report/Print Settings
 This dialog has settings for the report functions. The Use Report Formatter option allows for customized reports and exporting to Excel. The Use Distance Scaler allows for reporting distances in different units. For example, the survey distances could be in US Feet and then use a scale factor to report the distances in chains.

  Import
These routines convert raw data from other formats into the current Carlson RW5 format. The converted raw data will be added to the end of any existing data in the editor. In many cases, the raw data file to import can be downloaded directly from the data collector or instrument using the Data Collectors command. The following supported formats (along with their standard file extension) are listed here. Some Sample File Formats are listed at the end of this section.

C&G (.CGR;.RAW;.TXT;*)
 CalTrans (.DMP)
Carlson (.RW5)
 EFB (.RAW;.OBS) Electronic Field Book
 Fieldbook (.FBK): From Softdesk, Land Development Desktop or Civil 3D. The import handles the following record types:
AD
AZ / AZM / AZIMUTH
B / BRG / BEARING
BEG / BEGIN
BS / BACKSITE / BACKSIGHT
C3
END
F1
FC1
NE / NEZ
PRISM
STN / STA / STATION
ZD

Geodimeter (.OBS; .RAW; job;*)
Horizon (.RAW)
 LandXML (.XML): LandXML is the industry standard data format for exchanging project data. It can contain any number of different data types including surfaces besides raw measurements.
Leica (.GSI; .RAW; GRE): This reads the Leica raw file in Wildsoft, Liscad, 10-20-30-40, C&G, or GeoComp format. There are options to specify direct-reverse shot order if any and to convert from International Feet to Leica US Feet.

Maptech (.FLD)
MDL Laser (.CDS)
Nikon (.TRN; .RAW)
PC Cogo (.BAT)
SDMS (.prj;*)
SMI (.RAW)
Sokkia SDR (.SDR; .RAW;*)
StarNET (.DAT) The import handles the following StarNET record types: E – Elevation record
C – Coordinate record
B – Bearing / Azimuth record
M – Measurement record
SS – SideShot record
TB – Begin Traverse record
T – Traverse record
TE – End Traverse record
DV – 3D Distance Record (creates a slope distance/zenith angle record)
D – 2D Distance Record (creates a horizontal distance)
A – Horizontal Angle Record (creates an angle-only record)
V – Zenith Angle record (creates a zenith angle-only record)

When parsing these records, if a measurement, coordinate or azimuth has standard errors assigned to it, then standard error records are created in the RW5 file so none of that information is lost. The import also handles the following DOT commands:
.ORDER – Specifies point order (AtFromTo or FromAtTo) in the measurement record, and/or the order of NORTH/EAST or EAST/NORTH in control records.
.DELTA – Specifies whether the data is SlopeDist/Zenith or HDist/VDist. The default is SD/ZE.
.2D / .3D – Specifies the data format. Without this information the fields can be confused while parsing.
SurvCOGO (.RAW or .TXT)
SurvCE Archive (.SC5) When downloading a rw5 file from SurvCE using SurvCOM, there's an option to copy the rw5 file to a sc5 file as a read-only backup.
Survis (.RAW)
TDS (.RW5; RAW)
Topcon (raw;*)
Trimble (.dc)
3TA5 (.TXT)
Zeiss (.DAT)

Export
These routines convert the Carlson raw data (.RW5) file to other formats. The following file formats are supported.

CalTrans (DMP)
 dgDialog (.DGD)
Fieldbook (.FBK): This export routine provides an option to "Setup Fieldbook Codes". This allows the user to substitute the raw description contained in the rw5 file with the fieldbook code used in AutoDesk Land Desktop or Civil 3D.

FL DOT (.OBS)
 GPS Data (.TXT;*)
LandXML (.XML)
Leica (.GSI)
MOSS (.MOS)
RMGeo (.txt)
SDMS (.PRJ) This export routine provides an option to "Setup SDMS Codes". This allows the user to substitute the raw description contained in the rw5 file with the SDMS codes used in SDMS program.

SFN: This format is used in the Netherlands.
Sokkia (.SDR)
TDS (RW5;RAW)
 Topobase (PO)
Trimble (JXL)
VA Dot (TOP)
WinCMM (.LSA)

Open/Save Settings
 This option allows for defining codes that represent the closing shot and angle balance shot of a traverse. These codes can be entered in the description of a point while in the field. When the rw5 is opened in the raw file editor, the measurement data containing the closing shot code will be set to a CL record and the measurement data containing the angle balance code will be set to an AB record. This allows for quick processing of the survey data and saves the time spent setting up the file for processing.

Exit
 Exits the raw file editor.

Edit Menu

Undo:This command undoes the last data entry or the last copy, cut or delete command performed on keyboard entered data only. This will not undo a change to the Type or Code columns, nor a cut or copy command to a row.

Cut:Standard windows cut command. Removes data from editor and places it in the windows clipboard.

Copy:Standard windows copy command. Copies selected data to windows clipboard.

Delete: Deletes selected data or row of data. Will not delete headers if data is present below the header.

Find: Tool to search and find a particular word, letter, numeric value or a combination of all. Provides options to Match whole word only and/or case. Allows for a up or down directional search from the active cell in the editor. The Point Number Search allows you to search for occupy or foresight point numbers.

Replace: Tool to search and replace a particular word, letter, numeric value of a combination of all. Options to Match whole word only and /or case is provided for the search criteria. Provides further options to Replace individual items one at a time or to Replace All.

Go To: Tool to advance the focus of the active cell to a specified line number.

Delete Row: This command deletes the row containing the active cursor or cell. You can delete a row by placing the cursor in any of the cells in the row that you wish to delete, or by picking on the row number at the far left of the editor.

Modify Measurements: This option allows for a change in distance, horizontal angle, vertical angle or lat/lon by a specified amount for the entire file or for a specified point number or line number range.. To modify a measurement, choose which field to modify, enter the change in either distance or angle in dd.mmss format. The Distance Factor method multiplies the distances by the specified value which can be used to convert distance units between feet and meters or to apply a scale factor. The Lat/Lon/Z Delta can be used to adjust GPS records in case of a shift due to adjusting the base position. Next choose how to apply the modification. If all is selected, the change will be applied to all records in the specified field. If By Point Number is chosen, enter the point number or range of numbers in the Range of Points field. If by Line Number is chosen, then define the area for the change by specifying the Starting and Ending line.


Convert Points To Notes Records: This function converts point (PT) records to note (DS) records. This leaves the information of the point coordinates in the rw5 file as display only and without having the point coordinates stored to the coordinate file when the file is processed. The point data in the DS records can be converted back to PT records by picking the Code field in the spreadsheet and switching DS to PT.

Edit Coordinate File: This option allows for editing and/or listing of the coordinate data in the active coordinate file. The active coordinate file is displayed in the Header of the raw data editor. This routine brings up the edit point dialog and allows editing of the points one at a time.

Display Menu

Angles:This option chooses the angle format between degrees/minutes/seconds (dd.mmss) and Gons-400 decimal degree circle (dd.dddd). This setting applies to the angles in the spreadsheet editor as well as the angle format for reports. There is also a separate setting to Show Decimal Seconds which use edit and process angles to the nearest tenth of a second (dd.mmsss).

Vertical:The options contained in this menu allow for specifying the type of vertical measurement information you will input or is contained in the rw5 file. The Vertical Angle selection assumes the barrel or scope of the instrument is level when reading 0 (zero). With this setting, the vertical component of a measurement record will have a header of VertAng. The Zenith Angle selection, most commonly used, assumes the barrel/scope to be level when reading 90. Using this setting results in a header of ZenithAng. Elevation difference displays the elevation difference between the occupied and foresight points. If the Distance option is specified as Slope, this elevation difference will be used to calculate the horizontal distance of the measurement. The header for this record is ElevDiff. The None selection assumes all distances are horizontal distances and removes the vertical component for a measurement from the editor. Switching modes can be performed at any time.

Distance: This option controls the display of either Slope or Horizontal Distances. Changing the display results in the distance data adjusting to reflect the correct value for the selection made. The Vertical data, VertAng, ZenithAng or VertDiff, is used to convert the distance value when changing this display option.
Graphics: The Raw Data Editor uses an optional graphics window to display the points and traverse lines in real time. As data is entered or edited, the graphics window will be updated to show the configuration or new configuration of the traverse. The option of whether to show sideshots is also available. When a cell is selected, the traverse or sideshot line in the display window will change to the color yellow for a graphical reference. The graphics window is toggled on or off from the Display | Graphics Window menu inside the raw file editor.

Graphics>On: Turns the graphics window on.

Graphics>Off: Turns the graphics window off.

Graphics>Show Sideshots: Controls the display of the sideshot data in the graphics window. Figure 1 shows the graphics window with sideshots on. Figure 1A shows the graphics window with sideshots off.

Figure 1 Sideshots On

Figure 1A Sideshots Off

Graphics>Zoom Mode: Within the graphics window, real time zoom is available. To zoom in press and hold the left mouse button and drag in the direction of the + symbol. To zoom out, press and hold the left button and drag in the direction of the - symbol.

Graphics>Pan Mode: Real time pan is available within the graphics window. To pan, set the graphics window to pan mode, then press and hold the left mouse button and then drag to desired position.

Graphics>Resize Text: With the this option on the text becomes smaller/larger in the view when you zoom in/out.

Graphics>Fixed Text Size: With this option on, the text stays a fixed size while zooming in and out.

Spreadsheet Colors: This option allows for the assignment of colors to record types. To change/define the color for a particular record, select Spreadsheet Colors from the Display pulldown within the raw editor. From the Color Settings dialog select the record to edit by clicking on the select button next to the desired record.

The color slide beside the select button shows the current setting for the record. After selecting the record, the Select Color dialog box will be display. Select the Set button next to the desired color for the record.

Display>Hide Row: This option allows for hiding single or multiple rows. This could be used to prevent crucial information from being accidentally altered during editing of data or data entry. Hiding a record does not exclude it from processing. To hide a record click on the row number at the far left of the editor. The entire row of data will highlight, now select the Hide Row option. Multiple rows or data can be selected by selecting the first row of data to hide then while holding down the shift key on the keyboard, select the last row to hide. All rows in between these two selections will be highlighted, now select Hide Row. When a row or rows of data are hidden, the row numbers will reflect the hidden rows. For example, Figure 2 below shows a multiple selection of rows 10-17 to hide. Figure 2A shows the editor with the rows hidden. Notice that the row numbers indicate hidden rows by showing a gap from rows 9-18.

Figure 2

Figure 2A

Show Row:This option shows rows that have been hidden. To show hidden rows, the row above the first hidden row and the row below the last hidden row must be selected by using the shift key selection method described in Hide Row above. After selecting the appropriate rows, select the Show Row option. Figure 2B shows the selection of rows 9 & 18 in order to show the hidden rows 10-17. Figure 2C shows the editor after the Show Row option has been selected.

Figure 2B

Figure 2C

Hide By Point Numbers: This function prompts for a range of point numbers and then isolates records containing those point numbers by hiding all other records. This feature is useful to focus on certain point numbers in a large file.
Hide Selected Rows: This function hides the rows that are currently highlighted. To highlight multiple rows, pick in a cell with the mouse and then hold the Shift key while picking a cell on another row.
Show Selected Rows: This function unhides rows previously hidden by the Hide Selected Rows function.
Show All Rows: This function unhides rows previously hidden by the Hide Selected Rows or Hide By Point Numbers functions.
Hide Description Records:This option controls the visibility of the Description records contained in a rw5 file. The description record is an additional note used to store useful information in addition to typical point data. Sometimes these records clutter the raw file and make it hard to review actual survey data. The ability to control the description record visibility is a useful tool when reviewing survey data.

Show Description Records: This option shows (unhides) description records contained in the rw5 file.

Hide Record Headers: This option hides the in-line headers such as the PntNo, OcPt, FsPt, etc. The editor contains "Smart Headers" that changes with the type of data that is in the active row. These headers are not in-line and are always displayed at the top of the editor. Figure 2D shows the editor with the record headers hidden and the Smart Header active. Row #21 contains the active cell, the automatic header at the top of the editor shows traverse (TR) record headers.

Figure 2D

 Add Menu

Traverse: Adds a traverse record (TR) to the spreadsheet editor. The new record will be insert above the row that contains the active cell unless this row is the last row in the file. If so, you will be prompted to insert above or below the current row.

SideShot: Adds a sideshot record (SS) to the spreadsheet editor. The new record will be insert above the row that contains the active cell unless this row is the last row in the file. If so, you will be prompted to insert above or below the current row.

Backsight: Adds a backsight (BK) to the spreadsheet editor. The new record will be insert above the row that contains the active cell unless this row is the last row in the file. If so, you will be prompted to insert above or below the current row.

Instrument Height: Adds an instrument height (HI) record to the editor. This record contains both the instrument and rod height setting.

Point: Adds a point (PT) record to the editor. Provides options to either add a Blank Point Record or Import From Coordinate File.

Inserting a blank record allows for manual input to define the coordinates for the point. Import From Coordinate File imports the coordinate values from an existing point or range of points contained in the coordinate file. Enter the point number or range of points and select OK. The points will be read into the rw5 file at the top of the file.
COGO Command: Adds COGO Command (CC) record with a field to specify the command (Translate, Rotate, Scale or Align) and a field for entering the parameters. The COGO commands are executed in sequence as the rw5 file is processed from top to bottom by any of the process methods in the Process menu. The COGO commands are all transformation commands that are applied to the points in the current coordinate file. The following list is the syntax of the COGO commands:
Translate: Range Dx Dy Dz Process_Zero_Z
Rotate: Range Angle Base_Y Base_X
Scale: Range Scale Base_Y Base_X Use_Z
Align: Range From1 To1 From2 To2

All the parameters are entered into one spreadsheet cell next to the COGO function. The parameters use space separators. The following list is the parameter definitions:
Range: point numbers
Dx: delta easting (X)
Dy: delta northing (Y)
Dz: delta elevation (Z)
Process_Zero_Z: toggle for whether to process points with elevation of zero (0=No, 1=Yes)
Angle: rotation angle in dd.mmss format
Base_Y: base point northing
Base_X: base point easting
Scale: scale factor
Use_Z: toggle for whether to scale the elevations (0=No, 1=Yes)
From1: point number of first source point
To1: point number of first destination point
From2: point number of second source point
To2: point number of second destination point

For example, to translate points 1-10 by a delta Z of 6.0 while filtering out zero elevation points, set the parameters for the COGO Translate record as "1-10 0 0 6.0 0".

Elevation: Adds an elevation (EL) record to the editor. The new record will be insert above the row that contains the active cell unless this row is the last row in the file. If so, you will be prompted to insert above or below the current row.

Note: Adds a note (DS) record to the editor. Note records are for information display and do not affect processing except for two special notes which are:
Elevation: 2D
Elevation: 3D
These special notes set the elevation mode for processing for the records that follow the note. The raw editor starts in 3D mode. The "Elevation: 2D" note will switch processing to 2D mode and the "Elevation: 3D" note will switch the mode back to 3D. In 2D mode, the processing will not set the elevations in the coordinate file.

Data On/Off: Adds a data on/off (DO) record to the editor. This record toggles the raw data between processing on and off modes. The raw data starts in processing on mode. Working from top to down, when a DO record is reached, the processing mode is turned off. Then next DO record will turn processing back on, and so on. Data records that are in processing off mode and skipped when running the routines in the Process menu.

Traverse Name: Adds a traverse name (Name) to the editor. The new record will be insert above the row that contains the active cell unless this row is the last row in the file. If so, you will be prompted to insert above or below the current row.

GPS: Adds a GPS record to the editor. The new record will be insert above the row that contains the active cell unless this row is the last row in the file. If so, you will be prompted to insert above or below the current row.

Reference Azimuth: Applies to SurvNET, the optional Network Least Squares analysis and adjustment routine.

Control Standard Error: Applies to SurvNET, the optional Network Least Squares analysis and adjustment routine.

Setup Standard Error: Applies to SurvNET, the optional Network Least Squares analysis and adjustment routine.

Measurement Standard Error: Applies to SurvNET, the optional Network Least Squares analysis and adjustment routine.

Process (Compute Pts) Menu
This menu contains tools to process raw data by various methods. The calculated coordinates, and notes if specified, are stored to the active specified coordinate file. The coordinate file can be specified using Set Coordinate File, under the Points pulldown within the drawing screen, or from the Tools menu of the editor, discussed later in this section. The options for processing are specified within either the Process Options dialog box or the Closure Options dialog box, depending upon . This dialog box is displayed before processing data, using any of the available methods, with the exception being the Least Squares method.

Multiple Measurements To Same Point: This option sets the method of how to handle multiple measurements to the same point. There are three available options, Use Last, Average or Use First. Use last uses the last measurement to calculate the position of the point. Average uses the average of all the measurements for the position calculation and Use Last takes the last measurement to the point as the data to use.

Use Backsight Reciprocals: The Backsight Reciprocal options treat reciprocal measurements "special". A foresight to point 15 from a setup on 14, followed by a backsight from 15 to 14, makes a pair of "reciprocal" measurements. The backsight "reciprocal" measurement can be ignored for its impact on recalculating the occupied point (None Option), or the elevation of component of the reciprocal measurements can be averaged (Average Elevation option), or both the elevation and distance can be averaged (Average Elev & Dist) to recalculate the setup (occupied point) coordinates.

Calculate Elevations: This option determines whether the elevations of the points will be calculated and written to the coordinate file. Options of whether to calculate All elevations or just the Sideshots Only are provided.

Direct-Reverse Vertical Angles: Specify whether to balance all or process the direct-reverse shots and use only the foresight direct shot.

Report Angle Format: Specifies the angle format for the report. The By File option makes the report use the angle format in the raw data (.RW5) file.

Calculate Elevations: This option controls which point elevations will be calculated. For example, if the traverse point elevations have already been adjusted and you need to recalculate the sideshot elevations, then use the SideShots Only option.

Report SideShots: Specify whether to include the sideshot data in the process results report.

Point Protect: This option will check the coordinate (.CRD) file for existing point data before processing. If the foresight point number for any traverse or sideshot record already is a stored coordinate in the coordinate (.CRD) file, then the program shows a list of conflicting point numbers. You can either continue processing and overwrite the coordinate (.CRD) file coordinates with the calculated raw file coordinates or cancel the processing to go back to the editor to change foresight numbers.

A report of the conflicting point numbers can be generated to the standard report viewer in Carlson by selecting the Report option on the Point Protect dialog box. From the report viewer, the report can then be printed, sent to the screen or saved to a file.

Create Point Notes: This option will generate a note (.NOT) file named after the coordinate file. The note file contains additional descriptions for points. With this option active, the text from all note records (DS records) will be stored to the note file for the foresight point number preceding the note records.

Calculate Grid Scale Factor at Each Setup: This option will calculate a scale factor for each TR and SS record. This scale factor is calculated as the average of the scale factors at the occupied and foresights points. At these points the scale factor is calculated as the projection grid factor multiplied by the elevation factor which is the earth radius divided by the elevation plus the earth radius [SF = Grid Factor * (Earth Radius / (Elevation + Earth Radius))]. In order to calculate these projection grid factors, the traverse coordinates must be in grid coordinates. When this option is selected, the program will prompt for the projection and zone to use. The elevation for the scale factor can be adjusted by the geoid height using the geoid specified in the Geoid To Apply list. The geoid height is added to the point elevation to adjust the elevation value used in the scale factor equation. The geoid surface files are not installed by default due to the large size of these files. To install the geoids to use with this option, go to the Carlson Software webpage and download the Geoid Grid Files from the Support->Downloads section.

Report Each State Plane Scale: This option becomes available if the Calculate State Plane Factor at Each Setup has been selected. With this option on, the scale factor at each point will be shown in the process results report.

Scale Factor: This value is multiplied by the horizontal distance for the traverse and sideshot records. This factor can be use to transform from ground to grid coordinates. This factor does not affect elevations.

Correct for Earth Curvature: This option adjusts the calculated points for the effect of the Earth's curvature. Typically this adjustment is small and adjusts the elevation more than the horizontal.

Report Angle Format: This option controls the angle format displayed on the process result report. The option of By Raw File will display the angles in the format that is contained in the raw file. The Bearing option will display the angle in a bearing format. The Azimuth option will display the azimuth of the measurement and the Angle Right option will display the angle right measurement of the observation.

Decimal Places for Report: This option controls the number of decimal places for the reported data.

Report Closure: This option determines whether the closure report will be displayed after processing. If processing a topo survey where the traverse has not been closed, then turn this toggle off for quick processing..

Report Sideshots: Controls whether the sideshot data is shown on the process report.

Reference Closing Point: This is an optional field for entering the coordinates to compare the ending traverse point with. This reference closing point is used to calculate the closure. Without using this option the program will by default use the starting coordinate as the reference closing point.

Report Output: There are three report output options contained in the raw editor, the Standard Report Viewer, the Custom Report Formatter and the Tabular Report Viewer. Each is documented below.

The Standard Report Viewer is the default report viewer throughout the program. Any routine that generates a report has this option and the data contained in the report depends upon the routine executed. The report viewer is also a text editor. It allows for addition and deletion of text in order to customize the report for printing or for saving to a particular format for a file. Options to print, send to the screen in the drawing window as text or save to a file are available.

The Custom Report Formatter allows for customization of the process results by selecting the fields and the layout of the fields to display. The settings can be saved to a format name and recalled when needed. Options to Delete, Export and Import saved Formats are also available.

To create a report, select data from the Available list and then select the Add button. This will populate the Used field with the selected data. Standard window selection methods can be used when selecting the data to report. Holding the ctrl key while selecting data allows for making random selections. Holding the shift key while selecting data will select the first item picked, last item picked and all items between.

The Tabular Report Viewer displays a report viewer consisting of tabs. Each tab organizes and displays different data depending upon the process option chosen. The process results using the No Adjust method results in three tabs the Report Header, Unadjusted Data and the Store Points tabs. Each of these tabs display different information which corresponds to the tab title. Using an adjustment method results in five tabs. In addition to the three listed above, an Angle Balance and Compass Closure tab is added. From the Tabular Report Viewer, the Standard Report Viewer can be switched to by pressing the Report option at the bottom of the dialog. This is useful when wanting to combine all tabs into one report for printing or saving to a file. An example of a Tabular Report for a compass rule adjustment is shown below.

Processing Methods

No Adjust: No Adjust means that no angle balance or traverse adjustment will be applied. Options are specified in the Process Options dialog. After picking OK for the process options dialog, a Traverse Points dialog appears for entering the starting and ending point numbers.

The program reads the raw file to set the defaults for these point numbers which are used to calculate the closure. The difference between the ending point and the reference closing point is the closure error and the sum of the traverse distances from the starting to the ending point is used as the total distance traversed. After picking OK for the second dialog, the program starts processing the raw file from the top record down. The result is displayed in the Standard Report Viewer which can save, print or draw the report.

Angle Balance: This process method applies an angle balance to the traverse lines when calculating the coordinates. The angle balance takes the angular error divided by the number of traverse lines and adjusts the angle of each traverse line by this amount. The angular error is the difference between the angle balance shot and a reference angle. The angle balance shot is specified as a type AB or CL+AB record in the raw file. If no AB record is found in the raw file, then the program will prompt for which traverse shot to use as the angle balance shot. The angle from the angle balance shot is calculated as the angle from the occupied point to the foresight point. The reference angle can be specified as a bearing, azimuth or by two point numbers in the dialog shown.

The angle balance report shows the unadjusted points, the unadjusted closure, the angular error, the adjusted points and then the adjusted closure. Typically but not always, applying the angle balance correction will improve the traverse closure.

Compass, Crandall, Transit: These process methods apply the selected rule to the traverse lines when calculating the coordinates. After adjusting the traverse, the sideshots are also recalculated. The closure error is calculated as the difference between the closing shot and a reference point. The closing shot is specified as a type CL or CL+AB record in the raw file. If no CL record is found in the raw file, then the program will prompt for which traverse shot to use as the closing shot. The foresight point is used as the closing coordinate. The reference point can be specified by point number or by entering the northing, easting and elevation. The process results report shows the unadjusted points, closure error, adjustments to each traverse point and adjusted point.

Prepare Least Squares Data: From the raw file data, this routine makes initial calculations for the coordinate points in the traverse.

This data, along with the control point coordinates and the angle and distance measurements, is stored to a data file with the same name as the current RW5 file except with a .LSQ extension (ie: survey.lsq goes with survey.rw5). The constraints of the routine are:

All angle readings must be in angle right mode.

The coordinates of the starting and the ending points must be known.

The routine begins with a dialog for specifying the reference closing coordinates and any scale factors to apply to the distance measurements. The Reference Closing Point is the last point in the traverse, whose coordinates must be known. If an angle balance shot is used in the traverse, the Reference Angle Balance Angle must also be specified, either as a value or as the angle between known points.

Since angles and distances have errors of different magnitudes, they are normalized using weights, based on the accuracy and confidence with which these quantities have been measured. There is a dialog for specifying the estimated measurement errors. The Reading Error is the horizontal angular error in the instrument. For example, for a "5-second" instrument this error would be 5. The Pointing Error accounts for several factors in the horizontal angle reading including accuracy lining up the crosshairs on the target, the target size and the optical quality of the instrument. The Target and Instrument Centering Errors are the distance off the point due to faulty centering. The EDM Constant Error is the accuracy of the instrument distance measurements. The EDM Scaler Error is entered in parts per million for the increased error in longer measurements. These settings can be saved and loaded as a way to store settings for different equipment.

The program will calculate the weights for each distance and angle measurement using these measurement errors. The control points, points to adjust, distance and angle measurements with weights are reported. You can edit these measurements and weights using the Edit Least-Squares Data routine or go directly to the Process Least-Squares Data routine.

Edit Least Squares Data: This routine edits the points, measurements and weights stored in the .LSQ file associated with the current RW5 file. The editor works through the dialog shown. You can edit, add or remove the control points, adjust points, angle measurements or distance measurements. The program does not check that the editing is valid. So you need to make sure that your changes keep a good set of least-squares data (i.e. don't delete a needed control point). The Distance Error button allows you to set the distance standard error weights for all the distance measurements to the same value. Likewise the Angle Error button sets the standard error weights for all the angle measurements.

Least-Squares Input Data:
Control Points

Point# Northing Easting

1      5000.000 5000.000

8      5000.000 5000.000


Distance Observations

Occupy FSight Distance StdErr

1      2      711.409  0.018

2      3      457.745  0.017

3      4      201.295  0.017

4      5      497.024  0.018

5      6      223.972  0.017

6      7      233.872  0.017

7      8      387.073  0.017


Angle Observations

BSight Occupy FSight Angle        StdErr

7      1      2      268d53'30"    7.617"

1      2      3      262d54'48"    6.869"

2      3      4      208d57'10"   15.194"

3      4      5      247d16'57"   14.222"

4      5      6      277d48'35"   12.262"

5      6      7       92d41'13"   15.818"

6      7      8      261d27'56"   12.991"

7      1            S 01d59'18" E  0.001"

Process Least Squares Data
This routine applies a least-squares adjustment to the data stored in the .LSQ associated with the current raw data (.RW5) file. The closing errors are distributed among the other points, using the "Method of Least Squares" (Ref : Wolf, P.R. and Ghilani, C.D., 1996, "Adjustment Computations", John Wiley and Sons, NY,Third Edition). After the adjustment, the rest of the raw file is processed to recalculate the sideshots. There is an option to draw standard error ellipses around the adjusted points. The ellipse axes are multiplied by Ellipse Scale Factor to make the ellipse larger for easier viewing.

The least-squares process report shows the input data and the results. For each point, the amount adjusted and the standard error in X and Y are reported. The Reference Standard Deviation is based on the sum of the residuals and the initial estimated standard errors. The Chi-Squares test is a goodness-of-fit test that checks the reference standard deviation with the least-squares model. If this test fails, there may be a blunder in the measurement data or the initial estimated standard errors were too low or too high.

Stadia Processing Method: Provides functionality to process Stadia surveying notes. Stadia sighting depends on two horizontal cross-hairs, known as stadia hairs, within the telescope. These hairs are parallel to the horizontal cross-hair and are equally spaced above and below it. The distance between the two stadia hairs is known as the intercept. The distance from the instrument to the rod is 100 times the intercept. For example, an intercept of 3.10 would represent a distance of 310 (3.10 X 100). For entering in stadia notes, you would enter the horizontal angle, the distance (entered as the intercept X 100) and the vertical angle.

GPS: The process GPS routine allows for reduction of GPS records that reside in a raw (*.RW5) file from latitude, longitude and WGS84 Ellipsoid Height to State Plane or local coordinates. When selected, the GPS Settings dialog will appear as shown below.

GPS>Projection Type:
Defines the datum coordinate system to be used for converting the latitude, Longitude and WGS84 Ellipsoid height collected from the GPS receiver into Cartesian coordinates. The supported projection types are State Plane 83, State Plane 27, UTM, Lat/Long, Great Britain-OSGB36, Australia, New Zealand-NZGD2000, New Zealand-NZGD49, and France NTF-GR3DF97A. A User-Defined option is also available for defining a user projection.

The supported geoids include: Geoid99 (USA), Geoid03 (USA), EGM96 (World), GDA94 (Australia), CGG2000, HT 2.0, HT HT 1.01 (Canada) and )SGM02 (Britain). GeoUser-Defined projections are supported. To define a new projection select the Define Projection option. This will bring up the following dialog.

Enter a name for your system (e.g. PRVI for Puerto Rico/Virgin Islands), then select a Projection type and enter the appropriate parameters. Note that all latitude and longitude values are in Degrees Minutes and Seconds (dd.mmss) and False Northing and False Eastings are always presented in meters. Define a Datum shift by selecting the Select Datum radial button. You may select a predefined Ellipsoid or set your own parameters by typing in a new ellipsoid name in the Ellipsoid field and entering values for a and 1/f. When you enter in a new Ellipsoid name, the Datum name field will be blank. The values for Dx, Dy, Dz, Rx, Ry, and Rz and scale are "to WGS84". If the values you have are "from WGS84", simply reverse the sign of each value (positive becomes negative and vice versa).

You may save your system to a "udp" file. To Load a user defined coordinate system from a file, select the Load radial button. A list of user defined systems will be displayed. Select the desired system and press OK.

GPS>Zone: for State Plane projections, you must select the correct state zone that you are working in. For UTM, the Automatic Zone option will have the program automatically user the program automatically use the correct UTM zone for your location. Otherwise for UTM, you can manually set a specific UTM zone. This manual option applies to working on the border between zones and you want to force the program to always use one of those zones.

GPS>Use Alignment File For Localization: With this option toggle on, a prompt for the Alignment File to Process will be displayed. This file is typically created by SurvCE (Carlson's Data Collection System) using the Localization routine or by Carlson Field Using the Align to Local Coordinates routine. This file (*.DAT) contains the parameters to transform the derived State Plane coordinates to the defined local coordinates.

At the end of the process, the coordinates will be written to the current coordinate (*.crd) file and a report will be presented in the Carlson editor for saving or printing purposes.

GPS>Transformation: The transformation in the align Local Coordinates command can either be by plane similarity or rigid body methods. The difference is that the rigid body method does a transformation with a translation and rotation and without a scale The plane similarity does a rotation, translation and scale. This option only applies when two or more points are used in Align Local Coordinates or the Localization routine in SurvCE.

GPS>One Point Alignment Azimuth: This option applies to the rotation when using one point in Align Local Coordinates or the Localization routine in SurvCE. For this alignment method, the state plane coordinate is translated to the local coordinate. Then the rotation can use either the state plane grid or the geodetic as north. No scale is applied in this transformation. The state plane and geodetic true north diverge slightly in the east and west edges of the state plane zone. This option allows you to choose which north to use.

GPS>Two Point Alignment Method: There are two option when using this method, Fit & Rotate and Rotate Only. Fit & Rotate will use the second point in the localization file for direction and scaling. The Rotate Only option allows you to use the second point in the localization file for direction but not for scaling. When using the Rotate Only option, any scale factor entered in the Project Scale Factor will be used.

GPS>Project Scale Factor: For most applications, the Scale Factor should be set to 1.0. The scale factor represents the “combined” grid/elevation factor that reduces ground distances to grid. After converting the LAT/LONG from the GPS records to state plane coordinates and applying the coordinate alignment (Localization) file, the Project Scale Factor is applied as the final adjustment to the coordinates. This adjustment is used on the X, Y, and not the Z. The Project Scale Factor is applied by dividing the distance between the coordinate and a base point by the Project Scale Factor. The coordinate is then set by starting from the base point and moving in the direction to the coordinate for the adjusted distance. The base point is the first point in the alignment (Localization) file. If there are no points specified in the alignment file, then 0,0 is used as the base point. If using an alignment file (Localization File) this value will be automatically calculated and displayed. Manual entry of a scale factor is also permitted and is often used with the Two Point Alignment Method when a scale factor is known.

GPS>Geoid to Apply: The supported geoids include: Geoid99 (USA), Geoid03 (USA), EGM96 (World), GDA94 (Australia), CGG2000, HT 2.0, HT HT 1.01 (Canada) and SGM02 (Britain).

This option will account for the geoid undulation in determining the orthometric elevation of the measurement. The definition of the geoid model as currently adopted by the national Geodetic survey is the equipotential surface of the Earth's gravity field which best fits, in a least squares sense, global mean sea level. Orthometric elevation measurements are used in survey calculations. In order to convert ellipsoid heights (He) as measured by GPS into orthometric elevations (E0), you must provide for a correction between the GPS-measured ellipsoid (reference ellipsoid) and a constant level gravitational surface, the geoid. This corrections is the geoid undulation (Ug). The formula is He=Eo + Ug.

Carlson applies the Geoid model by subtracting the Geoid undulation from the GPS elevation. The resulting elevation is then used and displayed. In practice, the Geoid model is most applicable to two types of alignment scenarios. One of these types is when setting up the base over a known point and having no alignment control points. The other is when there is one alignment control point. When using multiple alignment control points, the Geoid model is not as important because Carlson can model the elevation difference which can generally pick up the local Geoid undulation.

GPS>Units: Coordinates can be reduced into one of three available units, Metric, US Feet or International Feet.

Process>Process Settings: This option allows for the setting of user preferences and tolerances to be used during processing and generation of reports.

Multiple Measurement Settings: These options provide control for managing how multiple measurements to the same point are handled and reported.

Distance Tolerance Horizontal and Vertical: Allows for user input of desired tolerance values for multiple measurements. Exceeded tolerances will be displayed on the process results report. With the Report Residuals option ON, the residual values of the measurements will be shown on the process results report.
The data to be averaged can be either the Distance Measurements or the Coordinates.

Backsight Orientation Settings: The Override Backsight Azimuth When Have Backsight Coordinate File applies to BK records that have both a backsight point number and backsight azimuth. When this option is on and the backsight point is found in the coordinate file, then the backsight orientation is set to the angle from the occupy point to the backsight point. Otherwise the backsight azimuth is used. The Use Multiple References option will take multiple backsight measurements for an occupation and computes a least squares orientation for the instrument. There is also an option to compute and correct for the instrumental collimation error from the available measurements if both direct and reverse readings to one or more stations in the same set have been recorded. The program uses the BD (backsight direct) and BR (backsight reverse) records to identify the measurements to process. You can backsight different targets. The targets do need to have known coordinates either as points in the current coordinate file or as SP records in the raw file. The measurements can be complete with angles and distance, and they can be partial with only angles or only distance. When this option is active, the calculated backsight orientation will override the SetAzi field in the BK (backsight) record for the setup. The process report will include all the measurements used, the residuals and the resulting backsight orientation. The least-squares routine will also calculate the occupied station coordinate by resection if possible from the measurements and the report includes this calculated position along with the reference position and residuals. This calculation of the occupy point is used only for a check for the report and does not affect the occupy coordinate for processing. Note that if the occupied station position is unknown, there must be sufficient measurements to at least three known reference stations to support the resection and orientation solution. Here is an example of the raw data and the report.

Raw Data

   PntNo     Northing     Easting      Elevation  Desc

   71        4998.1900    5199.8200    125.0000   PK

   22        4770.1200    5192.5000    90.0000    PK

   2         4900.2700    5007.3100    75.0000    PK

   53        5345.8600    4799.0400    150.0000   PK

   1         5000.0000    5000.0000    100.0000   PK

   InstHt    RodHt                                       

   5.000     1.000    

   OcPt      BsPt         Azi         SetAzi     

   1                      0°00'00"    0°00'00"   

   OcPt      FsPt         HorzAngle   SlopeDist ZenithAng   Desc

BD 1         71        AR 0°31'09"    200.930   84°00'06"   PK

   InstHt    RodHt                                       

   5.000     2.000    

   OcPt      FsPt         HorzAngle   SlopeDist ZenithAng   Desc

BD 1         22        AR 50°03'22"   300.120   92°29'02"   PK

   InstHt    RodHt                                       

   5.000     3.000    

   OcPt      FsPt         HorzAngle   SlopeDist ZenithAng   Desc

BD 1         2         AR 85°48'25"   103.580   105°06'37"  PK

   InstHt    RodHt                                       

   5.000     4.000    

   OcPt      FsPt         HorzAngle   SlopeDist ZenithAng   Desc

BD 1         53        AR 239°50'24"  403.000   83°01'04"   PK

BR 1         53        AR 59°50'31"   403.001   276°58'56"  PK

   InstHt    RodHt                                       

   5.000     3.000    

   OcPt      FsPt         HorzAngle   SlopeDist ZenithAng   Desc

BR 1         2         AR 265°48'38"  103.581   254°53'23"  PK

   InstHt    RodHt                                       

   5.000     2.000    

   OcPt      FsPt         HorzAngle   SlopeDist ZenithAng   Desc

BR 1         22        AR 230°03'39"  300.121   267°30'58"  PK

   InstHt    RodHt                                       

   5.000     1.000    

   OcPt      FsPt         HorzAngle   SlopeDist ZenithAng   Desc

BR 1         71        AR 180°31'16"  200.931   275°59'54"  PK



Multiple Backsight Orientation



OcPt      BsPt      Azimuth     SetAzi

1                   00°00'00"   269°59'57"

Orientation Standard Deviation: 0.000

Instrument Height: 5.000



Occupy Point  Northing     Easting      Elevation

Reference     5000.000     5000.000     100.000

Calculated    5000.000     4999.999     100.000

Delta         0.000        0.001        -0.000

Standard Dev  0.003        0.003        0.000



Target Points Northing     Easting      Elevation  Rod Height

71            4998.190     5199.820     125.000    1.000

22            4770.120     5192.500     90.000     2.000

2             4900.270     5007.310     75.000     3.000

53            5345.860     4799.040     150.000    4.000



Measurement  Hz Angle    Residual  Zenith      Hz Dist   Residual

71           0°31'09"    -0°00'04" 84°00'06"   199.830   -0.001

22           50°03'22"   0°00'01"  92°29'02"   299.838   -0.003

2            85°48'25"   -0°00'02" 105°06'37"  99.999    -0.002

53           239°50'24"  0°00'03"  83°01'04"   400.011   -0.006

53           59°50'31"   -0°00'04" 276°58'56"  400.012   -0.007

2            265°48'38"  -0°00'15" 254°53'23"  100.000   -0.003

22           230°03'39"  -0°00'16" 267°30'58"  299.839   -0.004

71           180°31'16"  -0°00'11" 275°59'54"  199.831   -0.002

Check Point Settings: These options provide user controls for survey check points. With Report Check Points ON, any point coded as a check point in the raw data file, will be reported. When selected the Check Point Code and Distance Tolerance fields become active and allow for editing. The Check Point Code is a user specified code entered in during the survey that tells the program to check the coordinates of a particular point with the coordinates of another point. This code is configurable by the user. An example of a point description coded as a Check Point would be as such, "trav =8". This description tells the program that the description of the point is "trav" and to check the coordinates of the this point with that of point #8. The Distance Tolerance Horizontal and Vertical are user specified tolerances for the check point. If either of these tolerances is exceeded it will be reported on the process results report.

Instrument/Rod Height Ranges: These settings are used to check the instrument and rod heights when the raw file is processed. The program will report warnings if there are any heights that exceed the specified min/max ranges.

Angle Only Measurements: The Combine Elevations Method applies to points calculated from Angle Only measurements. Angle Only points are calculated as part of the processing for the No Adjust, Compass, Crandall, Transit and Angle Balance process methods. To calculate points from Angle Only measurements, there needs to be multiple SS records with horizontal and vertical angles and no distance with the same target foresight point number from setups at different occupy points. The elevations can be set as the average from the multiple measurements, using the highest measured elevation, or using the lowest measured elevation. For example, to survey the top of a tree, you could have a SS to foresight point 99 from occupy point 1 with a horizontal and vertical angle and another SS to foresight point 99 from occupy point 2 with a horizontal and vertical angle. Then point 99 can be calculated by angle-angle intersect which determines the horizontal distances from 99 back to occupy points 1 and 2. These distances are then used with the vertical angles and occupy point elevation to calculate the elevation at point 99.

Store Point Records: These options control how any store point (PT) record is handled during processing of the raw data file. There are three options for storing Store Point (PT) records, Never, Always, and When CRD Empty. Never prevents any Store Point (PT) Record Report in the raw file from being written to the crd file. With this option on no existing point in the crd file would be overwritten. Always will write to the coordinate file and will overwrite any existing point with the same number of the Store Point (PT) records. The When CRD Empty option will only write Store Point (PT) records to the coordinate file when it is empty. Report Store Points displays all store points in the process results report. The Hold Store Points option will hold the coordinate values for the store point record when measurements are taken to the store points. This will prevent the coordinates of the point from changing if measurements to the point dictate a change in coordinate position.

Direct-Reverse Settings:

Direct-Reverse Vertical Angles: This option determines how to handle direct-reverse vertical angle measurements when processing. Balance Direct-Reverse will take the mean of the direct-reverse measurements and use this value when processing the file. Direct Only will only use the direct measurement to the point for processing.

Foresight-Backsight Measurements: Balance Foresight-Backsight allows for averaging in the Foresight and backsight measurements when using direct-reverse sets. The Foresight Only option will average the foresight measurements only of a direct-reverse set.

Horizontal Angle Tolerance (Seconds): This is the tolerance that the angle measured by the direct measurements and the angle measured by the reverse measurements in a direct-reverse set must fall within.

Flip Angle Tolerance (Seconds): User specified value for the acceptable difference in measured horizontal angles determined from the direct (BD-FD) and reverse (BR-FR) observations.

Distance Tolerance: User specified tolerance for the difference in distance measurements to the same points. When this value is exceeded on a measurement, it will be displayed on the process results report.

Measurements To Control Points: The Store To Current Coordinate File option applies when a control coordinate file is used in addition to the active coordinate file. When processing the raw file, measurements to point numbers that are in the control coordinate file will not be stored into the active coordinate file when this option is on.

Drawing Points and Linework: This option controls the drawing of points and linework using Field to Finish. It differs from the draw traverse and sideshot lines under the Tools Menu of the Raw Editor by using a field to finish code table (*.fld) to define how the points and linework are to be drawn and layerized. There are three settings for this option, Manual, Auto and Prompt. Manual means that the file will not be processed using the field to finish codes and no points or linework with be drawn upon existing the raw editor. The Auto option will use the current or last used field to finish file (*.fld) to draw the points and lines on the drawing screen when the raw editor is existed. The option of Prompt will give the option to draw the points and lines to the screen. With this setting specified, the following prompt will be displayed when existing the editor.

Tools Menu

Direct-Reverse Report: This routine creates a report of direct and reverse shots along with the resulting averaged shots. Any tolerance specified in the Process Settings>Direct-Reverse Settings section, that is exceeded will be displayed in this report. The residuals are the difference between the measurement and the final average. If the current spreadsheet display mode for distances is set to horizontal, then the report will show horizontal distances. Otherwise, the report uses slope distances.

Reduce Direct-Reverse: This routine processes the direct and reverse shots and simplifies the raw file by replacing the sets of direct and reverse shots with the resulting average traverse record.

Update Raw from Points: This routine is used to update the raw data based upon the coordinates of the points contained in the coordinate (*.crd) file. For example if the raw data has been processed using the compass rule adjustment method, the points in the crd file are now adjusted. However the raw data remains unchanged. If a record of the rw5 file reflecting the angles and distances between the points after an adjustment has been ran is desired, this routine can be run thus updating the raw data to reflect the adjusted angles and distances. Another application for this routine is that of building a rw5 file for future processing and adjustment. For example if a point file or text file has been received from another engineering firm or fellow surveyor and you would like to build a rw5 file for future reference and processing this option can also be used to accomplish this. The rw5 file would be set up with the occupied points, foresight points and the desired angle type to use specified for the traverse. This would be all the manual entry of the data necessary. After creating the "shell" of the traverse then run the update raw from points routine and the raw data, as contained in the coordinate file, will be imported into the rw5 file thus filling out the horizontal angle, distance and vertical components specified.

Find Bad Angle: This routine applies the angular error to each traverse record one at a time. The adjusted traverse record that improves the closure the most is reported as the Bad Angle. The angular error is the difference between the angle balance shot and a reference angle.

Append Another Raw File: This routine prompts for another raw data (.RW5) file which is read and the data added to the end of the existing raw data (.RW5) file. For example, if you are editing the raw file from the first days work and have a separate raw file with a second days work, you can use this routine to add the second raw data to the first raw file.

Draw Traverse-Sideshot Lines: This routine draws lines for all the traverse and sideshot records. Sideshot Traverses are traverses that do not lead to the closing or ending point. There are different layers so that the lines can be drawn with different colors. This command does not process the raw file. Instead it reads the raw file and for each traverse and sideshot record, the program looks up the coordinates for the occupied and foresight points in the CRD file. So it may be necessary to run Process>No Adjust before running this routine. With the Erase Previous Traverse-Sideshot Lines toggled on, any previous linework drawn using this method will be erased from the drawing screen before drawing the lines again.

Renumber Points: This routine renumbers points in the raw file. This applies to all point numbers including: TR, SS, and PT records.

Range of Points to Renumber: Enter in the range of points to change, ie 1-4.

Line Number to Begin Renumbering: This corresponds to the line number located at the far left or the raw data editor. Enter the line number to begin the renumbering.

Line Number To End Renumbering: This also corresponds to the line number located at the far left on the raw data editor. Enter the line number to end the renumbering. If the range of numbers specified does not occur between the beginning line number and the ending line number, no changes will be made.

Numbers to Add to Point Numbers: Enter in the value to add. This number will be added to the existing point number to create the new point number. For example, if the number to add is 10 and the existing point numbers 1 and 6, the new renumber points will be 11 and 16.

Point Groups: This option can be used to organize the survey data into point groups. There are three options for the creation of point groups, Create All Point Group, Create Traverse Point Group and Create Sideshot Point Group. The Create All Point Group option, creates a user specified group containing all of the points defined in the rw5 file. Create Traverse Point Group creates a user specified group containing only the points defined in the traverse records (TR) of the rw5 file. The Create Sideshot Point Group creates a user specified group that contains only the points defined in the sideshot records (SS) of the rw5 file.

Format of the raw data (.RW5) file

The Carlson raw data format is a comma delimited ASCII file containing record types, headers, recorded data and comments. The format is based on the RW5 raw data specification, with the exception of angle sets. Angle sets are recorded as BD, BR, FD and FR records to allow reduction of all possible combinations. Essentially, these records are identical to a sideshot record.

Backsight Record
Record type: BK
Field headers:
OP Occupy Point
BP Back Point
BS Backsight
BC Back Circle
Sample(s):
BK,OP1,BP2,BS315.0000,BC0.0044

Line of Sight Record
Record type: LS
Field headers:
HI Height of Instrument
HR Height of Rod*
*GPS heights may be recorded to phase center or ARP depending on GPS make.
Sample(s):
LS,HI5.000000,HR6.000000
LS,HR4.000000

Occupy Record
Record type: OC
Field headers:
OP Point Name
N Northing (the header is N space)
E Easting (the header is E space)
EL Elevation
-- Note
Sample(s):
OC,OP1,N 5000.00000,E 5000.00000,EL100.000,--CP

Store Point Record
Record type: SP
Field headers:
PN Point Name
N Northing
E Easting
EL Elevation
-- Note
Sample(s):
SP,PN100,N 5002.0000,E 5000.0000,EL100.0000,--PP

Traverse / Sideshot Record / Backsight Direct / Backsight Reverse / Foresight Direct / Foresight Reverse
Record type: TR / SS / BD / BR / FD / FR
Field headers:
OP Occupy Point
FP Foresight Point
(one of the following)
AZ Azimuth
BR Bearing
AR Angle-Right
AL Angle-Left
DR Deflection-Right
DL Deflection-Left
(one of the following)
ZE Zenith
VA Vertical angle
CE Change Elevation
(one of the following)
SD Slope Distance
HD Horizontal Distance
-- Note
Sample(s):
TR,OP1,FP4,AR90.3333,ZE90.3333,SD25.550000,--CP
SS,OP1,FP2,AR0.0044,ZE86.0133,SD10.313750,--CP
BD,OP1,FP2,AR0.0055,ZE86.0126,SD10.320000,--CP
BR,OP1,FP2,AR180.0037,ZE273.5826,SD10.315000,--CP
FD,OP1,FP3,AR57.1630,ZE89.4305,SD7.393000,--CP
FR,OP1,FP3,AR237.1612,ZE270.1548,SD7.395000,--CP

GPS
Record type: GPS
Field headers:
PN Point Name
LA Latitude (WGS84)
LN Longitude (WGS84, negative for West)
EL Ellipsoid elevation in meters*
-- Note
*GPS heights may be recorded to phase center or ARP depending on GPS make.
Sample(s):
GPS,PN701,LA42.214630920,LN-71.081409184,EL-21.8459,--C
P /Brass Disk
Alphabetical listing of Record Types
BD Backsight Direct
BK Backsight
BR Backsight Reverse
FD Foresight Direct
FR Foresight Reverse
GPS GPS Position in Lat (dd.mmss) Lon (dd.mmss - Negative for West) and WGS84 Ellipsoid Elevation in meters

Alphabetical listing of Field Headers
AD Azimuth Direction ( 0 for North, 1 for South)
AL Angle-Left
AR Angle-Right
AZ Azimuth
BC Back Circle
BP Back Point
BR Bearing (this field will be recorded as N123.4500W)
BS Backsight (when back point is not defined)
CE Change Elevation
DL Deflection-Left
DR Deflection-Right
DT Local Date (MM-DD-YYYY)
E Easting (the header is E space)
EC Earth Curvature (0 for off, 1 for on)
EL Elevation (GPS value is ellipsoid elevation in meters)
EO EDM Offset
FE Foresight Elevation
FP Foresight Point
HD Horizontal Distance
HI Height of Instrument
HR Height of Rod
LA Latitude
LN Longitude
N Northing (the header is N space)
OC Occupy Point Coordinates
OP Occupy Point
PN Point Name
SD Slope Distance
SF Scale Factor
TM Local Time (HH:MM:SS)
UN Distance Unit (0 for feet, 1 for meter, 2 for
US feet)
VA Vertical Angle
ZE Zenith
-- Note

Traverse Examples

This first example is a closed traverse with an internal backsight of azimuth 178d0'42"

Use the functions under the Add menu to create and fill out the raw file as shown here.


Notice that the record from point 7 to 8 is set as a CL+AB record. This tells the program that point 8 is the closing point and that the angle from 7 to 8 is the closing angle. For traverse adjustment, the closing reference point is 1 and the closure error is the difference between point 1 and point 8. For angle balance, the reference closing angle is 358d0'42" (178d0'42" + 180). The angle balance error is the difference between this reference angle and the angle from points 7 to 8.

Now let's process using Compass adjustment with Angle Balance. Choose Compass under the Process menu and fill out the dialogs as shown.

First half of process report:
Process Results 05/23/2002 10:06

Raw file> c:/scadxml/data/example.rw5

CRD file> C:/scadxml/DATA/example.crd


Scale Factor: 1.00000000

Correct for Earth Curvature: OFF

Starting Point 1: N 5000.00 E 5000.00 Z 100.00

BackSight Azimuth: 178°00'42"


Point Horizontal  Zenith   Slope   Inst  Rod   Northing   Easting   Elev

No.   Angle       Angle    Dist    HT    HT

Description


2     AR268.5330  89.4050  711.32  5.32  6.00  5038.43    5710.27   103.29

P2

3     AR262.5448  89.3236  457.76  5.43  6.00  4587.89    5791.20   106.36

P3

4     AR208.5710  89.1803  201.31  5.40  6.00  4397.30    5726.43   108.22

P4

5     AR247.1657  88.5235  497.12  5.40  6.00  4363.08    5230.59   117.37

P5

19    AR289.3456  91.4405  112.45  5.40  6.00  4471.32    5260.88   113.36

SS1

6     AR277.4835  90.2926  223.98  5.40  6.00  4586.54    5245.67   114.85

P6

7      AR92.4143  90.2746  233.88  5.40  6.00  4613.25    5013.33   112.36

P7

8     AR261.2756  91.4405  387.25  5.42  6.00  5000.09    4999.97   100.06

CLOSE


Closure Results (Before Angle Balance)


Starting Point 1: N 5000.00 E 5000.00 Z 100.00


Closing Reference Point 1: N 5000.00 E 5000.00 Z 100.00

Ending Point 8: N 5000.09 E 4999.97 Z 100.06

Azimuth Error : 341°38'22"

North Error   : 0.09061

East Error    : -0.03007

Vertical Error: 0.05953

Hz Dist Error : 0.09547

Sl Dist Error : 0.11251

Traverse Lines> 7

SideShots> 1

Horiz Dist Traversed: 2712.29

Slope Dist Traversed: 2712.62

Closure Precision: 1 in 28409

Remainder of process report:

Compass Closure

Adjusted Point Comparison


       Original           Adjusted

Point# Northing  Easting  Northing  Easting   Dist  Bearing

2      5038.445  5710.269 5038.440  5710.294  0.025 S 79°46'08" E

3      4587.914  5791.222 4587.907  5791.263  0.042 S 79°46'08" E

4      4397.319  5726.469 4397.310  5726.517  0.049 S 79°46'08" E

5      4363.044  5230.628 4363.032  5230.693  0.067 S 79°46'08" E

6      4586.509  5245.681 4586.496  5245.755  0.075 S 79°46'08" E

7      4613.178  5013.335 4613.163  5013.416  0.083 S 79°46'08" E

8      5000.017  4999.905 5000.000  5000.000  0.097 S 79°46'08" E


Max adjustment: 0.097

Starting Point 1: N 5000.00 E 5000.00 Z 100.00

BackSight Azimuth: 178°00'42"


Point Horizontal Zenith  Slope  Inst Rod  Northing  Easting  Elev

No.   Angle      Angle   Dist   HT   HT

Description


2     AR268.5326 89.4050 711.34 5.32 6.00 5038.44   5710.29  103.29

P2

3     AR262.5434 89.3236 457.76 5.43 6.00 4587.91   5791.26  106.36

P3

4     AR208.5704 89.1803 201.30 5.40 6.00 4397.31   5726.52  108.22

P4

5     AR247.1657 88.5235 497.09 5.40 6.00 4363.03   5230.69  117.37

P5

19    AR289.3456 91.4405 112.47 5.40 6.00 4471.28   5260.97  113.36

SS1

6     AR277.4839 90.2926 223.99 5.40 6.00 4586.50   5245.75  114.85

P6

7      AR92.4130 90.2746 233.88 5.40 6.00 4613.16   5013.42  112.36

P7

8     AR261.2758 91.4405 387.27 5.42 6.00 5000.00   5000.00  100.06

CLOSE

Shown above is the resulting process report. The angle balance had an error of 39 seconds which was divided among the 7 traverse sides. The Compass Closure shows how each traverse point was adjusted and then the resulting adjusted angles and distances.

Here is another layout of the last example that shows an external backsight setup. In this case there are two known points. Point 1 is the starting point and point 21 is the initial backsight. The setup could also use a backsight azimuth (ie north azimuth for example) instead of a backsight point number.

The closing record setup has changed from the last example. In this example, the shot from 7 to 8 is the closing shot with point 8 as the closing point. The closing reference point is still point 1. The angle balance shot is from 8 to 9 and the reference angle is from 1 to 21.

Example of an open traverse

The traverse starts from the known point 1 and ends at the known point 14. In this case there is no angle balance shot. The closing shot is from 3 to 4 with point 4 being the closing point. Point 14 is the closing reference point.

The closing record setup has changed from the last example. In this example, the shot from 7 to 8 is the closing shot with point 8 as the closing point. The closing reference point is still point 1. The angle balance shot is from 8 to 9 and the reference angle is from 1 to 21.

Here is an example of an open traverse.

Compass Report from Open Traverse example:

Process Results

Raw file> d:/scdev/data/tsurvey.rw5

CRD file> d:/scdev/data/tsurvey.crd


Compass Closure

Adjusted Point Comparison


       Original         Adjusted

Point# Northing Easting Northing Easting Distance Bearing

2      5013.76  5711.18 5013.78  5711.13 0.047    N 63d21'19" W

3      4560.69  5776.42 4560.72  5776.35 0.078    N 63d21'19" W

4      4372.46  5705.08 4372.50  5705.00 0.091    N 63d21'19" W


Point Horizontal Vertical Slope  Inst Rod Northing Easting Elev

No.   Angle      Angle    Dist   HT   HT

Description



2     AR133.5324 89.4050  711.27 5.32 6.00 5013.78 5711.13 103.29

3     AR262.5506 89.3236  457.74 5.43 6.00 4560.72 5776.35 106.36

4     AR208.5712 89.1803  201.30 5.40 6.00 4372.50 5705.00 108.22

The traverse starts from the known point 1 and ends at the known point 14. In this case there is no angle balance shot. The closing shot is from 3 to 4 with point 4 being the closing point. Point 14 is the closing reference point.

Portion of typical Sokkia/SDR raw data file:
00NMSDR20 V03-05 Jan-22-98 19:14 122211
10NMW970709A
13CPSea level crn: N
02TP00015000.000005000.0000085.63500005.22000000PK-FD
08KI00035000.000005192.9200081.7450000MN-SET
07TP0001000390.00000000.00000000
09F100010003193.10000092.40416660.00000000MN-SET
09F100010100193.00000091.31388880.00000000SN-REC

Portion of typical Wild/Leica raw data file:
410001+000000SB 42....+00000000 43....+00000000 44....+00000000 45....+00000000 110002+00000002
21.124+35959590 22.104+08748240 31...1+00000000 51..0.+0012+000 110003+00000003
21.124+00000000 22.104+08748240 31...1+00267075 51..0.+0012+000 110004+00000004
21.124+00420390 22.104+08702570 31...1+00168234 51..0.+0012+000 110005+00000005
21.124+26029130 22.104+09311370 31...1+00206133 51..0.+0012+000 410006+000000IP 42....+00000000
43....+00000000 44....+00000000 45....+00000000 110007+00000006 21.124+25827090 22.104+09504550
31...1+00106228 51..0.+0012+000 110008+00000007 21.124+27151500 22.104+09312240 31...1+00106066
51..0.+0012+000

Portion of typical SMI raw data file:
CM Definitions: SS: Side Shot; TR: Traverse; OC: Occupied Coordinates;
PC: Point Coordinates; CM: Comment; OS: Occupied Station;
TS = time stamp; e = electronic; m = manual;
CM TS TUE 04/09/91 09:41:25P
PC 1 5000.00000 5000.00000 0.00000
SS e HI:4.000 HR:5.000 PIPE/F
0 1 2 BAZ:0.00000 AR:0.00040 ZA:91.24330 SD:92.020
SS e HI:0.000 HR:0.000 BC/BR FRAME 1ST
0 1 3 BAZ:0.00000 AR:28.47220 ZA:91.20250 SD:65.240

Portion of typical PC COGO raw data file:
* NEW SET UP INST. AT 1 359 59 59 ON 4
L ANG 1000 4 1 77 18 52 4.44 * 1000 WALL# 283.22
L ANG 1001 4 1 55 44 28 9.8 * 1001 WALL# 283.28
L ANG 1002 4 1 38 37 8 15.89 * 1002 WALL# 283.48
L ANG 1008 4 1 27 18 34 123.82 * 1008 WALL# 287.75

Portion of typical Nikon raw data file:
MP,NOR,,5000.0000,5000.0000,100.0000,1
CO,Temp:111F Press:29.9inHg Prism:666 23-May-2000 10:30:36
ST,NOR,,1,,5.0000,0.0000,0.0000
SS,1,5.0000,131.0605,91.3744,88.4935,10:36:15,CL1
SS,2,5.0000,137.6770,90.2923,88.5236,10:36:50,CL1

Portion of typical MDL/Laser raw data file:
D052097F04P52I494P01P02
H32473V-0639R016202P03
H06687V-0706R014936P91
H03840V-0483R017380

Portion of typical Geodimeter raw data file:
50=HAWTHORN
54=19398
23=3222
2=1
37=1000.00
38=5000.00
39=700.000

Portion of typical Survis raw data file:
_OCCUPY_PNT_
621 616 5.140
148.36076
10255015.7245 3790987.2398 87.6695 ir
10255535.8009 3790669.8100 100.3900 ir
_COMMENT_
Thu Apr 08 08:14:14 1999
_BACKSIGHT_
0.00000 90.33400 609.4200 11.900 ir
_SIDESHOT_
1 0 0
18.47550 90.55000 17.4200 5.300 TP:gps1

Portion of typical Fieldbook raw data file:
NE 32 10696.4141 10043.5613 "SN-SET"
AZ 32 27 0
STN 32
BS 27
AD 27 0.00000 NULL "SN-SET"
AD 33 183.23250 183.660 "SN-SET"

Portion of typical SurvCOGO raw data file:
19100 , 0 , 19101 , 5 , 5.25 , 4.7 , 35.15 , 550 , 91.23 ,START
19101 , 19100 , 19102 , 5 , 5.15 , 4.7 , 35.15 , 120.23 , 88.34 ,
19102 , 19101 , 19103 , 5 , 5.2 , 4.7 , 125.1444 , 180.41 , 90 ,
19103 , 19102 , 19104 , 5 , 5.2 , 4.7 , 125.15 , 240.03 , 90 ,
19104 , 19103 , 19105 , 5 , 5.3 , 4.7 , 315.15 , 305.5 , 90 ,IRON PIN
19105 , 19104 , 19106 , 5 , 5.4 , 4.7 , 215.15 , 140.35 , 90 ,IRON PIN
19106 , 19105 , 19107 , 5 , 5.05 , 4.7 , 215.15 , 200 , 90 ,TACK IN FENCE
19107 , 19106 , 19108 , 5 , 5.2 , 4.7 , 300.23 , 400 , 90 ,

Pulldown Menu Location: Survey
Keyboard Command: rawedit
Prerequisite: None