URGENT: A bug in Carlson Software regarding daylight savings

There is  a bug which can lead to the settings loss (menu and toolbar customization) on Carlson 2010 or 2011 and AutoCAD 2010 or 2011.

If you are running one of these combinations and have not yet opened your Carlson 2010/2011 since the daylight saving time change, please follow these instructions:

1) On Windows XP: Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Carlson Software\Carlson2010 (or/and Carlson 2011) folder.
On Windows Vista or 7.0: Navigate to C:\ProgramData\Carlson Software\Carlson2010 (or/and Carlson 2011) folder.
Some of the folders in this path are hidden so you may just need to copy/paste this path into the Explorer window or enable display of hidden folders.
2) This folder will contain one or more sub-folders. For each of the sub-folders starting with R18.0 or R18.1, please repeat the following steps:
3) Download and save, overwriting the existing files, the following tow files:
http://update.carlsonsw.com/upload/file.php?id=6584&ps=ix1zo3j17g
http://update.carlsonsw.com/upload/file.php?id=6583&ps=gd4w4vsx2a
as a check, you should be seeing the existing files with the same name there and overwrite them
4) It is now safe to launch the program as usual

If you did not receive this email in time to prevent the loss or the menu was still replaced, please follow these steps:
1) On Windows XP: Navigate to C:\Documents and Settings\Your user name\Application Data\Carlson Software\Carlson2010 (or/and Carlson 2011) folder.
On Windows Vista or 7.0: Navigate to C:\Users\Your user name\AppData\Roaming\Carlson Software\Carlson2010 (or/and Carlson 2011) folder.
Some of the folders in this path are hidden so you may just need to copy/paste this path into the Explorer window (adding your user name in the process) or enable display of hidden folders.
2) This folder will contain one or more sub-folders. For each of the sub-folders starting with R18.0 or R18.1, please repeat the following steps:
3) Change into R18.0* or R18.1* sub-folder, then SUP sub-folder and finally BACKUP sub-folder.
4) Locate cs10base.cuix or cs11base.cuix in BACKUP folder and copy it into the SUP (one folder above) folder.

Made by who?

I get a lot of questions and often times I get the same ones over and over. One of my favorite things is to hear a myth or a misconception on a topic about which I know the truth, or at least more of the story. In this small industry it is so easy to have a piece of information disseminated to the public only to have it interpreted incorrectly. Often times this is done unintentionally and is simply a breakdown in communication or a simple misunderstanding.

One of the latest bits of confusion is on data collectors. While the questions and the answers have little impact on what I do, they are questions that I am getting more of lately so I wanted to push this out there to try to help answer the questions, dispel the myths, or simply shed new light on the topic.

Many of us are familiar with the Allegro line from Juniper Systems.  The Allegro has been around for a long time and has been a recommendation for Field Genius and SurvCE over the years.  Leica also had a radio built in to the Allegro so users could power their Robotic Total Stations with SurvCE.

We were next introduced to the JettCE from Two Technologies.  This unit was branded and labeled for various companies so you saw it around in bright colors such as orange and blue and yellow and black.  Over the years we saw variations on that box with new names and new layouts, but essentially they were all JettCE devices from Two Technologies.

Now, here is where the confusion seems to come in.  We have been introduced to the FC2500 from TopCON and the Surveyor + from Carlson Software.   The Surveyor + line is produced by Juniper Systems and the FC 2500 by Two Technologies.  Both companies went to the manufacturers and designed these units from the ground up with their own specs for ruggedness, durability, function, and performance.

You will still see forms of the Allegro and the JettCE around and available, but it is hard to compare those models to their newer relatives the FC2500 and the Surveyor+.  As I said before, this really does not affect or impact what I do on a daily basis but it is something that has come up more than a few times recently and worth getting out there.

For more information on any of these products including specifications or where to buy visit the websites listed below.

Two Technologies
Juniper Systems
TopCON
Carlson Software

I lost what??

I have had a few calls about this in the last 2 weeks and while for many of us who have been using AutoCAD for a decade or longer it is easy, for new folks this is an important topic. “FATAL ERROR. THE PROGRAM HAS CAUSED A FATAL EXCEPTION AND MUST CLOSE.” Whether I get an error like this, or the battery on my laptop dies the end result is that the program is terminated abruptly and abnormally (in some cases catastrophically).

It is not always the end of the world. The first thing to do is grab your horseshoe, 4 leaf clover, rabbit foot, and jar of salt….

In the video below I am documenting steps for recovery when we are talking about Carlson Field with the IntelliCAD option. Much of the same information works when using AutoCAD or other Carlson programs such as TakeOff or Survey with the Embedded AutoCAD engine. Because my most recent and most urgent call involved Field and IntellICAD that is where I am focusing.

First let me explain a little about the data. Carlson stores the graphics in a DWG file and this applies to AutoCAD, AutoCAD OEM, and IntellICAD. For each drawing file created you should have a BAK file which is stored in the same location as your drawing file and should be current up to your last save. Beyond that there is an AutoSAVE file being stored based on the AutoSAVE settings specified in the program. This is not always good news for us old guys because one of the first things we often change is the interval of those AutoSAVE files. First check the time interval and make sure it is set to something reasonable (5-10 minutes perhaps, if you are a belt & suspenders kind of person go with every 1-2 minutes).

Now after the graphics we have the data. In Field we have both a CRD file AND a RW5 file. The CRD file contains all of our coordinates and the RW5 has all of our angles and distances and setup information. The video below shows how to verify where this is stored and what you can do with it.

The reality is that upon a fatal crash it is not always bad news. Often times much of what we were doing can be recovered. Take a deep breath, rub your lucky rabbit foot, toss some of the salt over your shoulder, and begin looking at the recovery options shown below.

GIS and Surveying

Are G.I.S. and Surveying and Engineering moving closer together?  Should they move closer together?  If you follow the old joke about what G.I.S. stands for you may not think so.  If you look at what G.I.S. actually stands for and what it is capable of you might ask yourself why we have not been taking advantage of this more than we have.

Geographic Information System.  Surveying is Geographic so that is good right?  Information is good right?.  A system is good right? So why then such the push back from combining GIS and Surveying?  For so long GIS has been used as a general representational location as opposed to an exact location and I think that has been the big hold up.  Surveyors are trained that close enough is not good enough (except in the old adage of close enough for government work, but that is a topic on my other blog).

One of the things I think has kept  this natural merging is the lack of ability to easily combine the data source and the data.  Meaning there have been few methods over the last few years to move data from our survey platforms to GIS platforms.  Or perhaps they have been there and we just didn’t know about them or how to take advantage of them.

We were given dxf as a means for moving CAD drawings from one program to another, and xml to move data from one package to another, but what about GIS data?  Enter the SHP file.  The problem is, many of us know so little about the SHP file.

Shapefiles store primitive geometrical data of points, lines, and polygons in coordinate formats of x and y (or most often latitude and longitude). These primitives are of limited use without any attributes to specify what they represent. Therefore, a table of records will store properties/attributes for each primitive shape in the shapefile. Shapes (points/lines/polygons) together with data attributes can create infinitely many representations about geographical data.

While the term “shapefile” is quite common, a “shapefile” is actually a set of several files. Three individual files are mandatory to store the core data that comprises a shapefile: “.shp”, “.shx”, “.dbf”, and other extensions on a common prefix name (e.g., “lakes.*”). The actual shapefile relates specifically to files with the “.shp” extension, but alone is incomplete for distribution, as the other supporting files are required.

The mandatory files include the .shp, the .shx, and the .dbf.  The optional files are the .prj, .sbn and .sbx, .fbn and .fbx , .ain and .aih, .ixs, .mxs, .atx, .shp.xml, and .cpg.

Now that we know the details of the files how do we get them in and out of our Surveying programs and in to G.I.S. applications?  Watch the short video below on how to export a SHP file out of Carlson Survey.

Registration open for 2010 Leica Geosystems HDS Worldwide User Conference

(Heerbrugg/ Switzerland, 3 August 2010) – Leica Geosystems announces the formal opening of registration for the 8th  annual HDS Worldwide User Conference, Oct. 25-27, in San Ramon, California. The international conference will feature presentations by more than 30 leading users of its High-Definition Surveying™ (HDS™) 3D laser scanners and software and by key Leica Geosystems staff.

Registration is open for the main conference of presentations and exhibits, plus all nine (9) training workshops. Workshop space is limited. Many workshops have sold out in the past, so prospective attendees are encouraged to register early for these popular workshops.

Although primarily intended for HDS users, the conference is also open to those looking for HDS service providers and to prospective users who want to conduct additional homework on how others are using these tools, such as the popular, new Leica ScanStation C10 scanner. Many members of the trade press are also planning to attend the conference. In total, more than 300 attendees from over 20 countries are expected for the 2010 conference.

New Forensic Track
Based on the very rapid adoption of laser scanning for capturing forensic scenes, the conference will feature for the first time a special Forensics Track and a special, all-day Forensics workshop on shooting trajectory reconstruction. This workshop will be taught by Mike Haag of the Albuquerque Police Department, an international leader in trajectory reconstruction analysis, in cooperation with the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department.

Additional detailed information is available at:
http://hds.leica-geosystems.com/en/Events_6441.htm?id=6896

Leica Geosystems – when it has to be right
With close to 200 years of pioneering solutions to measure the world, Leica Geosystems products and services are trusted by professionals worldwide to help them capture, analyze, and present spatial information. Leica Geosystems is best known for its broad array of products that capture accurately, model quickly, analyze easily, and visualize and present spatial information.

Those who use Leica Geosystems products every day trust them for their dependability, the value they deliver, and the superior customer support. Based in Heerbrugg, Switzerland, Leica Geosystems is a global company with tens of thousands of customers supported by more than 2,400 employees in 22 countries and hundreds of partners located in more than 120 countries around the world. Leica Geosystems is part of the Hexagon Group, Sweden.

For further information please contact:

Leica Geosystems
Geoff Jacobs
Phone: +1 925 790 2317 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              +1 925 790 2317      end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Fax: +1 925 790 2309
geoffrey.jacobs@lgshds.com
www.leica-geosystems.com/hds