Learn Workflows

• 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.

• 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.

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

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

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.

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!

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

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.

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)

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

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

• 0:25 Import ground coordinates from an ASCII file
• 1:09 Project combined (grid + elevation) factor
• 3:09 Details of import and transformation

• 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.

• Drawing variables supply fill out the title block with the date, scale, job name and more.
• The scale bar automatically shows the selected scale.

• Move line labels where you want them.
• Select the point symbol you want to use.
• Change a curve label from stacked to aligned.

• 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 leaders to line, curve and dimension labels.

• Add manual leader to show a found monument out of position.

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.

• Insert a dynamic offset.
• Edit the properties of the label.

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

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.

• 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.

• 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.

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

• 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.

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.

• 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.

• 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.

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

• Editing a Surface Border is Easy and Intuitive in TPC Desktop
• Add and remove border points to change it’s shape

• Edit breaklines manually
• Importing breakline traverses

• 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.

• 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.

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.

• Compute an average point from any number of points or traverses
• Use the computed average point for the project location

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.

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

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.

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)
    1. Print PDF of any drawing
    2. Traverse PC PDF Driver
    3. Print Sizes
    4. Custom PDF Size
    5. Plotting a PDF to scale
  • CAD (29:47)
    1. Export to DWG
    2. Open in CAD View to review before sending
    3. Export DGN
    4. Exporting Traverses to Layers
    5. Exporting Surfaces
    6. Export CAD Options
  • LandXML (39:07)
    • Export to Civil3D clients
    • Exporting traverses are Parcels or Alignments
    • Exporting Surfaces
  • Traverse Report (47:30)

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 Dekstop, 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.

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

• 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

TPC Desktop looks for the corresponding projection (.prj) file when import shapes.  Use that projection to match the GIS data right to your survey.

• TPC’s Online Resources
  1. Learning Center
     1. How to access it – Member Area, Learning Center
     2. GIS Learning Center
• TPC Desktop’s GIS Interface
  1. Shape Files
  2. Coordinate System
• Shapes
  1. What They Are
  2. Which Ones Are Supported
  3. Shapes and Traverses
• Exporting Shapes
  1. Points
  2. Traverses
  3. Drawings
• Importing Shapes
  1. Into a Survey
  2. Into a Drawing
• Coordinate Systems
• Projection Files
•  

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.

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