Here are just a few common survey workflows in TPC Desktop
We’ve tried to provide a little something for everyone.
We just scratch the surface here, but you can still get a feel for how TPC Desktop™ works and how it can work for you.
Expand the sections below to see how TPC Desktop does the workflows you do everyday.
Find lots more resources and workflows in our 
Learning Center
Get Step-By-Step instructions in our 
Learning Guides
Find lots more resources and workflows in our 
Live Demo
Short Videos
We use short videos, many just a few minutes long, to show you how TPC Desktop does a workflow.
Some videos include a short outline so you can see where we are going.
Interesting Topics
With so many workflows to choose from, we’ve tried to pick some that are at least interesting. Like how TPC Desktop does layout parking lot striping with a few simple commands.
We won’t cover everything of course, but we hope the topics we have selected will give you an idea how you might use TPC Desktop for your most common workflows.
Deeper Dives
Some of the workflows include a deeper dive, usually a recorded webinar, were we explore that workflow in more detail.
These are generally about an hour long. So go get a cup of coffee, sit back and follow along.
Deed Research
TPC Desktop has tools to streamline deed research with quick data entry from a keypad and Traverse Drawing Settings to differentiate issues.
- Enter all the deeds.
- Use the same POB and basis of bearing.
- We use colors and line types to differentiate adjacent boundaries.
- Get a good picture of what you are dealing with.
- Identify potential gaps and overlaps.
Deed Research (4:33)
Found Monuments and Projecting Locations
- Plot the few monuments we found.
- How do they fit with the research?
- Create projected positions for other property corners.
- We will need to search for these.
- Our goal is to do our due diligence.
Found Monuments and Project Locations (5:05)
Control Points and Side Shots
- Search for projected monuments.
- Tie found monuments and boundary features.
- And while we’re out there
- Pick up shots for the site survey.
- Pick up shots for the topographic survey.
- Use Traverse Drawing Settings to get a good picture of what we did in the field.
Control Points and Side Shots (4:48)
In Traverse PC, you enter data into traverses. That’s how it gets it’s name.
You can enter data manually, like you would for record data, or import data into a traverse from a data collector.
Entering Record Data
Lets take a deeper dive and look at entering record data into a traverse.
- Start a new traverse in the Traverse Manager
- Start with assumed coordinates because this is a Local Grid survey
- TPC Desktop draws the data as you enter it
- Learn how to enter bearings, using quadrants
- Enter a tangent curve – learn about CW vs CCW curve data
- Correct any mistakes you make
- Learn to use the COGO Horizontal Curve dialog when you need it
Entering Record Data (10:47)
Entering Field Data
Enter data from a total station to tie some building corners and run additional control – you can also import it from your data collector.
- Adding a traverse for the field data and format to show angles and distances
- Learn about the occupied point sequence – OP, BS, FS
- Instrument and target height
- Use F10 hot key for side shots
- Entering point descriptions
- TPC Desktop draws the shots in the drawing as you enter them in the Traverse View
Entering Field Data (9:07)
Taping a House Foundation
Learn how to enter data from taping around a house foundation.
- Adding a traverse for a foundation
- Add the field ties to the foundation traverse, establishing the position and orientation of the foundation
- Use labels like H102 to identify them as a house foundation shot
- Format the Traverse View for deflection angles (left / right)
- Use the Closure View to checking our taping numbers
- Labeling the foundation distances
Taping a House Foundation (7:28)
Importing Total Station Data
Importing data is a big topic at Traverse PC because we communicate with so many data formats. But we’ll take a quick look here, at importing the field data you just entered in the previous tab.
Importing Data (10:21)
Importing GPS / GNSS Data
TPC Desktop can import your GPS or GNSS data directly into your survey regardless of its Coordinate Reference System (CRS).
- For a CRS like State Plane or UTM, the geodetic positions plot directly onto your CRS.
- For local site coordinates, like 5,000 / 5,000, TPC lets you calibrate the imported geodetic positions to your local site – neat!
Importing GPS / GNSS Data (11:23)
What do you do when you get data that doesn’t match your survey’s coordinate reference system (grid)? You know, grid to ground, state plane to local, metric to imperial, inches to feet and the list goes on.
In TPC, you just calibrate it.
Calibrations use Least Squares to fit any coordinate system to another coordinate system. User can then forward/reverse calibrate between the two plus use any existing calibration as the Site Calibration for a survey.
TPC Desktop computes a least squares transformation that lets you use as many point pairs as you need to get the exact fit you need. Data is rotated, translated and scaled to best fit your survey. Then, when you need to send your survey back to the other coordinate system, just reverse calibrate it. Pretty simple.
When you calibrate a photo to your survey, pick as many point pairs as you can find on the photo, then let TPC Desktop’s Least Squares calibration routine create the best fit for you.
TPC Desktop even generates a world file for the photo, so that when you insert it into the next drawing, it comes in at its calibrated position – automatically.
Calibrating a Photo (4:49)
Calibrating an XRef
TPC Desktop makes it so easy to work with CAD files, regardless of whether or not its coordinate system matches your survey. Just calibrate the file to your survey, then bring calibrated CAD data into your survey and reverse calibrate to send data back out to the grid used by the CAD file.
- 0:00 We have a DWG file that is not on the same coordinate system as our survey
- 1:07 Create a calibration with point pairs
- 2:50 Enter information about the calibration for future reference
- 3:30 Save the calibration to a file
- 4:22 Reuse the calibration any time
Calibrating an XRef (4:48)
Site Calibration
TPC Desktop’s Site Calibration is pretty amazing.
Use any existing calibration as the Site Calibration or create a new one, and TPC Desktop will automatically calibrate GNSS data to your survey’s Coordinate Reference System, whether its based on local site coordinates like 5,000 / 5,000 or a projected grid like State Plane, UTM or your counties low distortion datum.
GNSS points always retain their original geodetic positions, but take on calibrated coordinates, so they plot right over the top of your survey and work for all COGO computations like offsets and inverses.
In the example here, we identified some lot corners in Google Earth, imported them into TPC Desktop, created a calibration to tie Google Earth to our survey then selected it as our Site Calibration.
- Calibrate geodetic points to your local site survey
- Plot your local site data directly in Google Earth
- Create points and figures in Google Earth and plot/use them in your local site survey
This example uses geodetic positions from Google Earth, but think about it, geodetic positions from any GPS, GNSS or GIS can be calibrated exactly the same way, making it a breeze for TPC Desktop to work seamlessly with that data.
Site Calibration with Google Earth (10:12)
Taking a Deeper Dive into Calibrations
Whether you can calibrating a background photo to your survey or ground shots from your total station to your survey’s State Plane grid, the steps are the same. Learn how to do one, and you can do all the rest.
- Photos (2:00)
- Selecting point pairs vs series
- Select any number of points – Least Squares best fit
- TPC automatically creates the world file for the photo
- XRefs (7:50)
- Calibrate using an existing calibration file
- Associations let us work between the survey coordinates and the drawing coordinates
- Total Station Data (14:50)
- Assumed location
- Get point pairs from traverse data
- Calibration properties
- Applying a calibration
- Survey Calibrations (22:00)
- Can be reused
- Stored in a .cal file
- Saved with the survey’s TRV file
- GNSS Options (23:27)
- Base station (assumed Here position) with ties to known control
- CORS /OPUS -post processed data that ties known control
- Calibrate to custom projection (low distortion) or local site
- Site Calibration Example (32:36)
- South Coast Water District
- Preliminary planning for water line easement
- Wrapup and Review (44:04)
Webinar: Calibrations (52:50)
[accordion_toggle title=”Checking Closure & Adjusting Your Data”]
The Closure View is dedicated entirely to reporting closures and adjusting coordinates. It’s your one-stop-shop for closure and adjustments.
Checking Lot Closure
Checking lot closure is easy with TPC Desktop. Just open the Closure View!
- Check the closure of a lot in the Closure View
- The Closure View is a snap shot of a traverse
- Checking and setting the closing points
- Including lot areas in the Traverse Manager
- Balance coordinates to remove linear error
- The Traverse View now shows adjusted bearings and distances
- But the raw data is still available
Checking Closure and Adjusting Coordinates (8:42)
Reporting Lot Closure
Reporting the closure of lots is easy with our Traverse Report.
- Send selected traverses to the Traverse Report
- Include just the traverse and error summaries
- Include the traverse data also
Reporting Lot Closure (2:54)
Balancing Coordinates
TPC Desktop includes all the traditional adjustments like Compass Rule, Transit Rule, curvature & refraction and more.
- Adjust coordinates to eliminate error
- Compare adjusted data vs raw data in the Traverse View
- Undo the adjustment
Adjusting Coordinates and Raw Data (3:35)
Learning Center: Transformations
Converting Between Grid and Ground
- 0:25 Import ground coordinates from an ASCII file
- 1:09 Project combined (grid + elevation) factor
- 3:09 Details of import and transformation
Converting Between Grid and Ground (5:01)
People choose TPC Desktop everyday because they want faster drawings. See how TPC Desktop does it.
Every survey has at least one drawing and some have a lot of them. Working with drawings in TPC Desktop is easy.
Working Drawing – Drawing as You Go
As you enter your survey data, TPC Desktop creates a working drawing for you. This will become the start of your finished drawing.
Working Drawing (1:02)
Learning Center: Smart Drawing Objects™
Starting a New Drawing
- Moving From a Working Drawing to a Finished Drawing.
- 0:40 Add a new drawing via the Drawing Manager.
- 1:00 Selecting the Mortgage drawing template
- 1:22 Drawing with tagged traverses
- 1:33 Drag-n-drop lot label
- 1:50 Drawing template sets initial drawing size
- 2:19 Explore Paper Space objects provided by the drawing template
- 2:35 Explore Survey Space objects
Starting a New Drawing (2:58)
Scaling Your New Drawing
- 0:08 Zoom extents and set the drawing scale.
- 0:30 Drag-n-drop the survey anywhere on the page without changing coordinates.
- 0:56 Resize the narrative to fit this survey.
Scaling Your New Drawing (1:46)
Exploring Drawing Variables
- Drawing variables supply fill out the title block with the date, scale, job name and more.
- The scale bar automatically shows the selected scale.
Exploring Drawing Variables (0:42)
Modifying Symbols, Lines and Labels
- Move line labels where you want them.
- Select the point symbol you want to use.
- Change a curve label from stacked to aligned.
Modifying Symbols, Lines and Labels (1:18)
Adding a Legend
Learning Center: Smart Drawing Objects
- Add a legend that automatically includes any symbols you have used.
- Edit the text of the legend item to show FOUND 5/8″ YPC 44138
Add a Legend (:48)
Automatic Leaders (4:38)
Adding a Leader Manually (3:16)
Parcel or Lot Survey: Showing the setbacks
Let’s take a look at lot setbacks as another way to use TPC’s Quick View™ technology.
Adding Automatic Lot Setbacks
You could create lot setbacks with TPC Desktop’s COGO routines, which would add the setback points and lines to the survey. Sometimes, this is exactly what you want.
But other times, you just want to add lot setbacks to a drawing. That’s what we will do here.
- Insert a dynamic offset.
- Select point symbols.
- Change curve label from stacked to aligned.
Adding Automatic Lot Setbacks (1:48)
Adding an Offset to a Lot Line
- Insert a dynamic offset.
- Edit the properties of the label.
Adding an Offset to a Lot Line (1:10)
Take a Deeper Dive into Offsets and Setbacks
We take a look at TPC Desktop’s tools for doing offsets and setbacks. We use some tools in unexpected ways; these are some of the screwdrivers in the TPC Desktop toolbox.
- Automatic Lot Setbacks
- Manual Lot Setbacks (ROW Offsets)
- Right-of-Way Offsets (Screwdriver)
- Distance Offset
- Station Offsets
- Offset to Line
- Offsets to Alignments (Screwdriver)
- Corner Offsets
- CAD Offsets
Webinar: Offsets and Setbacks (51:57)
Create one drawing just the way you like, then save it as a template and reuse it over and over again.
Introducing Drawing Templates
TPC Desktop’s drawing templates can be used for any size or orientation of drawing, greatly reducing the number of templates needed, compared to CAD.
Creating a New Drawing Template
- Once you get a drawing the way you want it, save it as a template.
- Use template names that identify exactly what’s in the template.
- Now re-use that template in any survey.
Creating a New Drawing Template (2:12)
Editing an Existing Drawing Template
- You can easily modify an existing drawing template.
- We add a new layer to a template.
- Save the drawing as a template, using the original template name.
Editing an Existing Drawing Template (3:10)
Taking a Deeper Dive into Drawing Templates
Learn how to create a drawing template from any existing drawing, then edit the template to provide just what you want moving forward.
- Drawing Templates in Learning Center (2:00)
- Help topics
- Learning Guide
- Videos
- Example Survey (5:26)
- Typical template uses
- What Gets Saved and What Doesn’t (12:36)
- Paper Space objects
- Scale and Offset (position on page)
- Drawing Settings
- Override Traverse Drawing Settings
- TPC’s Stock Templates (14:42)
- Default.drt, Traverse.drt, Empty.drt
- Traverse.drt
- Temporary drawings
- Starting a Drawing From a Template (22:12)
- Choose Template, Size & Orientation
- Untag traverses
- Changing Page Size, Orientation and Margins (28:25)
- Survey Space vs Paper Space
- Paper Space corners
- Windows printers
- Applying a Template to An Existing Drawing (33:00 )
- [ ] Delete objects on import
- Creating New Templates (36:00)
- Open, change, save as…
- Naming Templates (39:44)
- Be descriptive
- Editing Existing Templates
- Open, change, save…
- Easier to remove than it is to add drawing objects
- What gets saved with a template and what doesn’t
- Survey scale and page offset
- CAD Templates vs TPC Templates (43:00)
- One size fits all
- Use PDF to plot to expand/reduce to a different page size
- Importing Existing CAD Templates
- Managing Templates (52:00)
- Program Data folder
- Updating TPC Versions
Webinar: Drawing Templates (56:11)
It starts with your data and ends with your drawing.
That’s something we like to say here at Traverse PC because everything we do is about streamlining your workflows, getting you to a finished drawing as quickly as possible.
Moving From Control Surveys to Topo and Site Surveys
- We collected topo and site shots while we did our control survey.
- Separate the appropriate points into topo and site traverses.
Moving From a Control Survey to Topo and Site Surveys (4:10)
Site Survey: Letting Traverse do the Drawing
We show you how to manually create features in the drawing, but you can also automate this process with Point Codes – see Field-to-Finish tab.
Adding a Shore Line
Selecting Points to Add to Traverses
- Add all the points with the description Shore to the Shore Line traverse.
- Tell TPC Desktop how to draw this feature using Traverse Drawing Settings.
Adding the Shore Line Feature (5:22)
Adding a Parking Cover
Left Clicking Points into a Traverse
Adding Points to a Traverse Command
You can also create a traverse by left-clicking points in a drawing in any sequence you want.
- Create a new feature traverse.
- Add points to it by clicking point labels or point symbols in the drawing.
- Fill the cover with a solid yellow.
- Label the cover and it’s lines.
Adding the Trailer Cover Feature (5:30)
Adding Trees
Inserting Matching Points Into a Traverse
- We’ll use the Insert Matching Points command and capture the inches (“) symbol used in all the tree descriptions.
- We delete any monuments that used inches from the tree traverse.
- We can override individual trees and select a different symbol, size or color.
Adding the Trees (4:15)
Our Quick View™ technology draws your traverses, creating 90% of any drawing for you. Talk about Field-To-Finish, without even thinking about it. And what’s a really fast way to create those traverses? Point Codes!
Sneak Peek at Point Codes
- Point Codes automate the process of creating feature traverses.
- They can generate 80% to 90% of your site map for you.
- You can assign Traverse Drawing Settings to codes.
- These are then assigned to any traverses created by those codes.
Sneak Peek at Point Codes (3:18)
A Deeper Dive Into Point Codes
Using Point Codes in TPC Desktop can really be a time-saver in creating your drawings. See how easy it is to build a code list one job at a time to automate most of your drawing process.
- What are Point Codes
- Using the Points Manager to Evaluate Point Codes
- Creating Point Codes
- Managing Point Codes
- Assigning Traverse Drawing Settings to Point Codes
- Sorting Points Into Traverses
- Viewing Point Code Traverses
- Sorting Points Within a Traverse
Webinar: Point Codes (36:35)
Adding a surface in TPC is wickedly simple
Creating a Surface from a Traverse
See how easy it is to create a surface from a traverse of topo points.
Creating a Surface from a Traverse (3:02)
Editing a Surface Border
- Editing a Surface Border is Easy and Intuitive in TPC Desktop
- Add and remove border points to change it’s shape
Editing a Surface Border (6:39)
Editing Surface Breaklines (5:02)
Exporting the Surface to CAD
- We export the drawing as a DWG and open it in CAD.
- The surface is a 3D polyfacemesh.
- We spin the surface around in 3D so you can see how it models the surface.
Exporting the Surface to CAD (2:30)
Once you have a surface in TPC Desktop, you can easily generate information about slopes, volumes, profiles (transects) and cuts & fills.
We’ll show you a couple of workflows that are easy to do in TPC Desktop.
Slope Analysis
- Specify the grade ranges you want.
- Select shading colors and intensity.
- Generate the slope analysis report with both Plan and Slope areas.
- Shade the slopes in the drawing.
- Add a slope key to the legend.
Slope Analysis (4:19)
Compute the Volume Between Two Surfaces
TPC Desktop lets you compute the volume of any surface to
- its own border – great for stockpiles of chips, rock, dirt
- an elevation
- another surface
In this video, we’ll compute the amount of sand between original ground and a designed subgrade.
Computing the Volume Between Two Surfaces (5:54)
Every survey involves some kind of COGO (COordinate GeOmetry calculations).
A lot of COGO just happens in TPC Desktop, like inserting a mid-point on a line. Other COGO has special routines, like computing a best-fit curve.
Computing a Best Fit Curve
- Fit a horizontal curve using Average radius or Least Squares.
Best Fit Horizontal Curve (4:45)
Computing an Average Project Location
- Compute an average point from any number of points or traverses
- Use the computed average point for the project location
Average Point (3:29)
The Amazing What List
Sure, everyone has COGO routines, but you can spend a lot of time picking the points and lines those routines use, each time you use them. Especially in a CAD based survey program.
That’s why TPC Desktop invented the What List. For any COGO routine, just tell TPC Desktop what you want to do the COGO on or with. And because we use traverses, selecting what to work with can be as simple as selecting a traverse.
Using the What? List (4:41)
Taking a Deeper Dive Into COGO
We’ll show you how to access TPC Desktop’s COGO efficiently. It’s pretty fun!
- Learning Center
- How to access it
- Come here for information on What and How
- Using the What List for COGO
- Select what survey data you want to act on
- Expand COGO Dialogs for Options
- Accessing COGO From Desktop (Main Menu)
- Opens the last dialog for that routine
- Doesn’t reset the dialog
- Accessing COGO From a Traverse View
- Generally opens and resets the dialog for that traverse
- Sets the distance and direction type
- Adds selected traverse points to What list
- Select 2 non-consecutive traverse points and do a random inverse
- Accessing COGO From the Points Manager
- Adds selected points to What list
- Select 2 non-consecutive points and do a random inverse
- Accessing COGO From a Drawing
- Selected objects show up in What list
- COGO Translate vs Move traverse object
- Using COGO Summary
- Leave chicken tracks in a Report
- Using COGO Undo
- Undo the last compute
- Undo & Redo as often as you need to
- Using COGO View Button
- Temporary drawing using COGO.drt
- Add to current drawing
- Using Traverses for COGO
- Traverse of measured monuments
- Record positions as sideshots
- Beats doing a single inverse at a time
Webinar: Using COGO (33:32)
When the work is done, it’s time to deliver the goods and get paid!
Lot Closure Report
Here is a quick example of using the report view to output a lot closure.
Output Lot Closure From the Traverses Manager (1:42)
Report View
Besides all the specific reports for stakeout, legal descriptions and parcels, TPC Desktop provides a generic Report View you can put just about anything in.
If you like to leave chicken tracks as you work up your surveys, this is the place to do it.
Introduction: Report View (13:29)
Take a Deeper Dive into Deliverables
We walk through the steps of producing deliverables for a client – ASCII points, Drawing PDFs, CAD, LandXML, Traverse Reports and more.
- Deliverables Folder (2:33)
- Best practice is to create \Deliverables [date]\ folders for each job
- Snap shot of deliverables so they can be resent as needed
- Example – Architect Client (4:30)
- ASCII Points
- PDF of Drawing
- DWG of Drawing
- ASCII (9:27)
- Coordinates and/or Geodetic Positions
- Point Descriptions and/or Attributes
- Grid to Ground on Export
- User Options
- PDF (19:00)
- Print PDF of any drawing
- Traverse PC PDF Driver
- Print Sizes
- Custom PDF Size
- Plotting a PDF to scale
- CAD (29:47)
- Export to DWG
- Open in CAD View to review before sending
- Export DGN
- Exporting Traverses to Layers
- Exporting Surfaces
- Export CAD Options
- LandXML (39:07)
- Export to Civil3D clients
- Exporting traverses are Parcels or Alignments
- Exporting Surfaces
- Traverse Report (47:30)
Deliverables Webinar: (58:52)
We like to call TPC The No CAD Zone, because it’s not a conventional CAD program.
We use Quick View™ and traverses instead because they are so much better for surveying.
But when you need to, TPC Desktop communicates seamlessly with CAD, providing you the best of both worlds.
Exporting a Drawing to a CAD File
Export any TPC Desktop drawing to CAD, with layers, blocks polylines, MTEXT, polyfacemesh and all the CAD stuff you would have gotten if you had done your survey in CAD.
- This video introduces you to exporting CAD drawings
- 0:11 Choose Tools | Export Drawing As…
- 0:22 AutoCAD settings
- 0:40 Open the DWG file in a CAD program (Bentley Viewer)
- 1:01 Display the layers TPC wrote
- 1:17 Everything is here, as if it had been created in a CAD program
- 1:41 You get useful drawing objects anyone can use in the CAD program
Exporting a Drawing to CAD (1:52)
Exporting a Calibrated CAD File
We hear it all the time for surveyors – “the CAD files for the project are not on my survey grid”.
That can be a real nightmare, and we hear of some very convoluted solutions to get around it.
But with TPC Desktop, that’s not a problem. Just calibrate the CAD file to your survey. Once you have created a calibration between your survey and another coordinate system used for CAD, you can easily export a TPC Desktop drawing to that original CAD coordinate system.
Export Calibrated CAD File (2:55)
Using the CAD View
TPC Desktop has a native CAD viewer built-in. We call it the CAD View.
Use it to
- transfer survey data back-n-forth between a TPC drawing and a CAD drawing
- convert an existing CAD drawing from one type to another or one version to another
- open a CAD drawing and pull out a value you need
- lots more
Sneak Peek CAD View (4:13)
Take a Deeper Dive into CAD
- Workflow Overview
- Simplified Workflow
- Drawing View Xreference Workflow
- Reference to Survey
- Layers
- Drawing Data Manager Tools
- Convert to Survey
- Exporting Data
- Drawing View Import Workflow
- Send/Receive Between Drawings and CAD View Workflow
Webinar: TPC’s CAD Workflows (50:48)
TPC Desktop now supports 1) geographic, 2) projected and 3) local coordinates when importing and exporting shape files.
TPC Desktop can also import and export shape files without projection files. These are just coordinates that the user can use with or without a CRS.
Importing GIS Onto Current Drawing Layer
When you import GIS objects into a drawing, TPC Desktop now adds them to the drawing’s current layer. Just select the layer you want as the current layer for the drawing, then import your GIS file.
You can import any number of GIS files onto any number of drawing layers this way.
Importing GIS Onto Current Drawing Layer (1:35)
Importing Shapes With a Projection File
TPC Desktop looks for the corresponding projection (.prj) file when import shapes. Use that projection to match the GIS data right to your survey.
Importing Shapes With a Projection File (3:17)
Take a Deeper Dive into GIS
- TPC’s Online Resources
- Learning Center
- How to access it – Member Area, Learning Center
- GIS Learning Center
- Learning Center
- TPC Desktop’s GIS Interface
- Shape Files
- Coordinate System
- Shapes
- What They Are
- Which Ones Are Supported
- Shapes and Traverses
- Exporting Shapes
- Points
- Traverses
- Drawings
- Importing Shapes
- Into a Survey
- Into a Drawing
- Coordinate Systems
- Projection Files
Webinar: TPC’s GIS Interface (25:57)
TPC and Google Earth are a great team
KML: Quick Peek
When you import GIS objects into a drawing, TPC Desktop now adds them to the drawing’s current layer. Just select the layer you want as the current layer for the drawing, then import your GIS file.
You can import any number of GIS files onto any number of drawing layers this way.
A Really Quick Look at KML (1:07)
Exporting a Drawing to Google Earth
What if a client could see the survey you did, right inside Google Earth?
Well they can. And the best way to show them, is to export one of your TPC Desktop drawings directly to Google Earth.
KML: Exporting a Drawing (6:53)
Take a Deeper Dive into Google Earth
When we introduced background (raster) images in 2004 they caught on right away. Suddenly, clients could see our surveys superimposed right over an image of their property. With such a great visual reference, the survey made sense. They could see the encroachments and easements that were so hard for them to visualize before.
Well Google Earth is the next great visualization tool. Someone said, “It’s like playing with fire, but safer”.
- Using Google Earth
- Coordinate Reference Systems
- Exporting TPC to Google Earth
- Importing Google Earth to TPC
- Getting USGS Quads from Google Earth
Webinar: TPC and Google Earth (28:11)
Learning Center: PLSS follow along in a BLM Training Session.
PLSS Closure and Areas
TPC Desktop computes true geodetics. So for the PLSS, this means closures and areas are geodetic also – True Bearing and Ground Distance per the manual. So the whole issue of apparent misclosure just goes away with TPC Desktop.
- 1:00 Geodetic bearings and distances
- 2:22 Geodetic areas
- 4:00 Geodetic closures
Geodetic vs Grid Closures and Areas (6:59)
Construction: Breaking ground to finished project
TPC Desktop has all the tools you need like
- export to ASCII coordinates or geodetic positions
- Grid <=> Ground conversions on Export
- Stakeout report showing exactly where each point was staked
- Convert to Survey tools that make sense and survey points out of CAD entities
Plat Checking: Learn tips and tricks for plat checking
Taking a Deep Dive into Plat Checking
- This is a detailed, step-by-step walk through of one county’s workflow.
- Their plat check method involves recreating the layout through TPC Desktop.
- Then they check lot areas, offsets, curve parameters, etc. against the original submission.
Thompson View (59:40)
Learning Center: Legal Descriptions
Turn any traverse into a legal description using our Phrase Driven Legal Description Writer
Sneak Peek
- 0:46 Tools, Legal Description Report
- 1:02 Generate Default (style) legal description
- 1:24 Edit a phrase
Phrase Driven Legal Descriptions: Sneak Peek (2:27)
Once you get your head around phrases, you can pretty much write any legal description you want to.
Typical Workflows (6:43)
- We’ll take a quick look at 3 typical workflows
- Add a legal description to a drawing
- Write a legal description for a title company
- Generate a Traverse Report for multiple lots, each with a legal description
Styles (16:21)
- Styles are like drawing templates
- Edit once, reuse many times
- Styles are phrases and settings
Settings (19:51)
- Distance & Direction
- Individual Courses
- Area
- Miscellaneous
Phrases (25:04)
- Sequence phrases for POC and POB(25:59)
- Editing phrases (27:09)
- Including Point Of Commencement point chain in a traverse (36:01)
- Creating a Point Of Commencement chain graphically (39:30)
- Geometric phrases for tangent, radial, cusp, new direction, etc (44:03)
- Nested phrases for descriptions and side shots (51:59)
Webinar: Phrase Driven Legal Descriptions (58:00)
Planning: Quick & Easy with TPC Desktop
Every project begins with a plan. Sometimes, your job is just providing the plan.
TPC Desktop has some great tools to help you provide plans of all kinds, like the parking lot shown here.
Parking Lot Striping
Parking lot striping is a great example of how TPC Desktop can help you get the work done fast.
- TPC Desktop has the tools to do parking lot striping
- or any other repetitive line work
Parking Lot Striping (10:08)
Taking a Deeper Dive into Planning
TPC Desktop does a lot more than just boundary surveys. In this webinar, we take a look at all the drawings required for a parking lot project.
Webinar: (1:05)
- Job Folder (2:35)
- Subfolders for all contractors, city, client, etc
- Site Survey (4:12)
- background photos
- use point codes to create features
- City Requirements (6:36)
- parking, lighting, access, etc.
- Parking Layout (10:29)
- meet all city requirements
- use multi-point editing tools
- show dimensions
- create details
- Grading & Drainage (33:10)
- pervious / impervious areas
- transects & grading plan
- Pavement & Curbing (38:46)
- generate quantities for bid
- export CAD drawings for bid
- BioSwales & Landscaping (42:34)
- interior parking islands
- bio-swales and typicals
- landscaping
- non-CAD contractor drawings
- Overhead Lighting (49:35)
- export to lighting engineer
- incorporate lighting design
- (not recorded) Construction Phases
- Phase 1: subgrade
- Phase 2: pavement, curbs, striping
Traverse PC’s Planning Workflows Webinar: (1 hr 5 min)
Sales: 800-460-3002
Office Hours: 7 AM to Noon, 1 to 3 PM (US Pacific Time Zone) Monday through Friday (excluding holidays)
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