Resources
We’ve combined everything in one place. You’ll find videos, learning guides, help topics, web resources and more.
- Be in community
- Search for existing topics 24/7
- Choose a specific topic or general discussion
Quick-Start Guide
- This simple five-step program will help you get up and running very quickly
Learn Workflows
- We walk you through typical surveys, step-by-step
- Boundary, Topographic, Site, …
- Using TPC’s Sample Surveys (4:16)
- We provide surveys ‘right out of the box’
Frequent Questions
- Get answers to the questions we get asked the most
- Open in browser or download PDF files
- Cook Book approach to learning
- Find step-by-step instructions on how to do it
- Using the Learning Guides
- Using the Learning Guides (3:04)
- Learn how to use the learning guides and the referenced sample files.
Live Web Seminars
- Sign up to attend one of our free web seminars
- Earn CEU credits
- Recorded live demos
- Pick the ones to watch, when you want to watch them
- Watch all of it or just the parts you want
Walk Through a Survey
- A great place to start learning Traverse PC
- Walk through a simple survey – 16 steps
Help Topics
- Help topics are the equivalent of a manual
- Everything is here
- Using Help
- Using the Help Topics (3:34)
- Open the help topics and use the Table of Contents, Index or Search to find what you want.
- This is the information we used to include the the thick software manuals.
- If TPC does it, you’ll find it here.
- Help When You Need It (4.00)
- See how TPC’s Message Boxes and Message View provide direct access to the help you need, when you need it.
Technical Support
Install/Validate
Users manage their licenses on-line. You have 24/7 on-line access to your downloads and keys.
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
License Validation (2:38)
- 0:00 Purchase receipt – downloads and keys
- 0:50 On-line license manager
- 1:30 Validation Complete
- 2:00 License information in Tasks Manager and Program Settings
Using the TPC Desktop™
Once you know the views, you know the program
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Using the Desktop (7:40)
- 0:24 Pin Task Manager to Desktop
- 0:45 Tabbed Group of 4 Views
- 1:00 Open the Drawing View and a Traverse View
- 1:20 Obvious Navigation
- 1:41 Docked Managers
- 2:06 Maximize desktop
- 2:27 Traverse Manager / Traverse View
- 3:50 Closure View
- 5:40 Drawing View / Drawings Manager
- 6:36 Use Obvious Navigation to add a surface to the survey
COGO
COGO is integrated into everything TPC Desktop does
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
COGO: Accessing from Desktop and Views (7:09)
- 0:00 From a Traverse View
- 2:17 From a drawing
- 4:20 From the Desktop
- 5:15 From a data manager
Closure
Checking your closure should be easy, and with TPC Desktop, it is
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Checking Closure (5:06)
0:30 Include the area in a drawing
0:47 Check the closure of a lot
1:26 The Closure View is a snapshot of the traverse
1:41 Show the lot closure and area in the Closure View
2:16 TPC computes an area because its a Closed Loop
2:40 Closed Loop tolerance automatically sets Closed Loop
3:40 Show the lot closure and area in the Traverse Manager
Quick View™
Learn how to draw with TPC Desktop
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Our Quick View™ technology turns your data into drawings (7:30)
- 0:34 Drawing Learning Guide: 5 steps in The Quick View™ Concept, pg 6
- 1:30 Traverse groups help us produce drawings quickly
- 2:43 Tagging traverses and surfaces – similar to CAD’s layers
- 3:18 Access Traverse Drawing Settings from the Traverse Manager – change fills and line types
- 5:00 Access Traverse Drawing Settings from the drawing by double clicking – add curve labels
- 6:00 Copying Traverse Drawing Settings
- 6:19 Drawing Settings – global settings like Distance Units and Extra Space in Bearings
Smart Drawing Objects™
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Title Blocks are Smart Drawing Objects™ (3:12) Help
- In TPC, Title Blocks are Smart Drawing Objects™
- Convert the title block to a group and you can edit individual text objects
Drawings
A survey can have as many drawings as you need
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Drawings and Templates (11:58)
In this video, we’ll import data and and convert the points to features in a drawing
- 0:46 Starting a new drawing in the Drawing Manager
- 1:09 Selecting the Mortgage template
- 1:34 Paper Space objects – tied to the nearest corner of the page
- 2:06 Changing the page size – one template works for any drawing size
- 2:44 Survey Space objects – tied to the scale of the drawing
- 3:17 Selecting a new drawing scale
- 3:28 Drag-n-drop the survey anywhere on the page – coordinates don’t change
- 3:58 Drag-n-drop curve labels
- 4:15 Drag-n-drop multiple lot labels – adhoc group
- 4:48 Line labels that don’t fit on the line are automatically added to a line table
- 6:00 Inserting a Curve Table – include all the curves in the drawing
- 6:22 Smart Drawing Objects™ – update themselves automatically
- 6:45 Insert a Legend – point symbols are added automatically
- 7:48 Scale Bar and Title Block update automatically
- 8:18 Write a PDF file of the drawing using the Traverse PC PDF driver
- 9:17 Exporting a drawing as a DWG file
Drawing Data Manager
This is TPC Desktop’s unique way of accessing drawing data
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Delineating Objects (3:15)
- 0:26 Opening the Drawing Data Manager
- 0:57 Layers
- 1:30 Traverses
- 1:48 Fonts
- 2:56 Blocks
CAD
These CAD tools read / write CAD files and exchange data with CAD programs.
Resources
- Compare Editions
- CAD Workflows (50:48) January 2018 Webinar
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Exporting Surface to CAD (2:38)
- 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
Calibrations
A calibration is a classic 2D or 3D coordinate transformation which rotates, translates and scales positions in one coordinate system to match coordinates in another. Coming in TPC Desktop 2019
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Calibrating an XRef (4:48)
- 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
LandXML
Sharing data with Civil3D
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
LandXML Parcels (5:57) Help
- TPC shares parcels with LandXML
- 0:37 Import individual parcels or all parcels
- 1:24 Parcels come in as traverses in a Parcels group
- 2:38 Parcels are closed loop traverses and compute area automatically
- 3:12 Show parcel areas in the Traverses Manager
- 3:55 Parcels expose LandXML location information
- 5:22 TPC’s traverse tools all work on parcels
GIS
Traverses and Shapes are a perfect fit
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Importing Shapes with Projections (3:17)
- 0:20 State Plane coordinates on NAD 83 projections
- 1:00 Import shapes into a survey
- 1:43 The shapes are geodetic positions
- 3:00 Geodetic positions got converted to coordinate positions for plotting
Points
Every point in a survey is unique
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Relabel Points (3:58)
Traverses
Traverses are the heart and soul of TPC Desktop
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Deed Research (4:33)
- 0:00 Enter deeds as traverses
- 2:26 Delineate a traverse
- 3:20 Traverse Drawing Settings
Deep Dive
Entering a Lot Traverse (16:07)
This video introduces you to entering a lot traverse by bearings and distances along with curves.
- 0:54 Changing Traverse Settings for selected traverses
- 1:00 Add Lot 5 to the Traverse Manager – use the New Traverse dialog to select the format and settings.
- 2:43 Recalling existing points in the new traverse – shares a line with Lot 4
- 3:15 Unique points and lines in TPC – there can only be one line between points 10 and 9
- 4:20 Extending a line, using equations like 8..9 to recall a bearing
- 5:00 Synchronization – lines appear in Drawing View as you enter them in the Traverse View
- 5:51 Use COGO Intersect to extend a line to the intersection of a curve
- 9:00 Using the View button in a COGO dialog to preview the computation
- 9:39 Updating existing point with the computed coordinates from the intersection
- 10:00 Position of point 12 is automatically updated in the drawing
- 10:50 Entering a curve radius in the Traverse View – you see all your data, all the time
- 12:50 Checking the lot closure in the Closure View and the Traverse Manager
- 14:30 Creating a Legal Description for the lot we just entered
- 15:31 Learning Guide chapter: Creating Traverses – learn how to do what we just did in this video
Alignments
Alignments are just specialized traverses
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Best Fit Horizontal Curve (4:45)
Surfaces
Surfaces are easier than you think in TPC Desktop
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Surfaces: Sneak Peek (3:06)
- 0:00 Sample survey of 3″ stock pile
- 0:30 Create a surface from an existing surface
- 0:55 Report surface information including area
- 1:00 Compute volume of stock pile
- 1:26 Add volume to report
- 1:45 Surfaces manager
- 2:04 Export surface to CAD
Surveys
In TPC Desktop, you work with one survey (project) at a time
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Starting a New Survey (4:27)
Importing / Exporting
TPC Desktop speaks your language
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Import ASCII Coordinates (2:11)
Printing
Creating a Custom PDF Page Size in Windows
Creating a Custom PDF Page Size in Windows (2:28)- Create a custom PDF page size for your Windows PDF printer driver.
- Tell TPC to use that custom PDF size for a drawing
Google Earth
TPC Desktop and Google Earth are a great team
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
A Really Quick Look at KML (1:07)
- Let’s export a KML and look at it quick in Google Earth.
Legal Descriptions
Turn any traverse into a legal description using our Phrase Driven Legal Description Writer
Resources
- Legal Descriptions
- Compare Editions
- Phrase Driven Legal Descriptions – April 2018 Webinar
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Phrase Driven Legal Descriptions: Sneak Peek (2:27)
- 0:46 Tools, Legal Description Report
- 1:02 Generate Default (style) legal description
- 1:24 Edit a phrase
Reports
You’ll love the way you can document everything you do in TPC Desktop
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Output Lot Closure From Traverse Manager (1:42)
Point Codes
Point codes turn your data into drawings
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Point Codes in Attributes (4:18)
- 0:23 Point Codes in Descriptions
- 1:53 Sort Points into Traverses
- 2:00 Point Codes in Attributes
- 3:40 Sort Points into Traverses
Drawing Codes
Create line work in the field and render it in TPC Desktop
Resources
- Compare Editions
- Drawing Codes
- Use drawing codes like .BL for Begin Line and .EL for End Line
Customer Area
Drawing codes are sometimes referred to as Control Codes because they control the line work associated with points. They allow you to begin and end lines, close figures, fit a curve to points and more.
Adjustments
Adjust coordinates, angles, precision and lots more
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Accessing the Closure View (2:44)
- 0:24 From Traverse Manager
- 0:46 From Navigation Toolbar
- 1:23 From Closure View Button
- 1:40 From Traverse View
- 1:59 F6 Hot Key
Least Squares
TPC Desktop has complete 2D/3D Network Adjustments
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Intermediate Least Squares Check (6:32)
ALTA/NSPS
TPC Desktop does ALTA/NSPS (ACSM) Surveys
ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys Relative Positional Precision Positional ToleranceThese surveys are described as follows on the ALTA web site www.alta.org/standards/standards.cfm.
TPC does ALTA surveys in spades, with all the tools to help you make good decisions about what is where.
ALTA aren’t just about the map, they are about knowing exactly what is out there and where it is.
Coordinate Reference System
Coordinate Reference Systems (CRS) – relating coordinates to geodetic positions
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
CRS From PRJ File (1:47)
- 0:12 Access the CRS used for a survey
- 0:27 Review common projections like NAD83
- 0:47 Use an ESRI PRJ file as the CRS for a survey
Transformations
TPC Desktop has lots of tools to Transform Coordinates
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Converting Between Grid and Ground (5:01)
- 0:25 Import ground coordinates from an ASCII file
- 1:09 Project combined (grid + elevation) factor
- 3:09 Details of import and transformation
Geodetics
In TPC Desktop, Geodetics are easier than you think
Resources
Customer Area
Sneak Peek
Geodetic Intro (13:18)
- Learn how geodetics are used in project settings, traverses, COGO and drawings.
PLSS
Resources
Customer Area
Cadastral Learning CenterSneak Peek
Geodetic vs Grid Closures and Areas (6:59)
- 1:00 Geodetic bearings and distances
- 2:22 Geodetic areas
- 4:00 Geodetic closures
Other
We can’t begin to list everything TPC Desktop can do for you
Spell Checking- Check your spelling in reports and drawings
- TPC supports the Leitz Hour Angle method
- Learn how TPC updates areas automatically
- See how TPC handles survey units
- Scale factors can be applied many ways in TPC
- Use repeat or direction method angle sets
- Compute points which can’t be measured directly.
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