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Surveying Equipment - one man GPS direct to AutoCAD


designerstuart

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Hi ALL

 

I see a few old threads on this topic, but expect things have moved on since then. I am looking to buy some surveying gear that takes our small office from two people holding a tape measure to one person with a point-and-click thingy.

 

Leica and Trimble seem to be the big guys - i think i will want their smallest setup though! something like this perhaps? they are calling me back to discuss but i'd like some user feedback please.

 

how easy is it? i understand the systems can essentially click points around a building and at certain site pints, which can then be converted to a .dwg. but what are the normal problems? is it difficult to tell the machine what point is what, or do you plug it in to a laptop on site and draw your survey there?

 

how powerful? a lot of the time we just need a building outline, and a site boundary, in 2D (levels not important). so a simple system is probably better for us. i am worried these devices may give us more than we need.

 

does it work inside? can i plot out all the walls and doors inside a house using these?

 

the main benefit, of course, is that it is quicker, and more accurate. is it?!

 

i would appreciate any recent user feedback, and would gladly take your recommendations for specific products. or tell me if it's the wrong thing for me if you think that. i don't want to spend more than £1000, ideally.

 

thanks

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Ok biggest problem the dealers will not tell a GPS seriously suffers if you stand next to a building or under trees, just think of this if you turn around and can not see sky GPS will at times not work.

 

You can do smart things like offset pts to a corner to get around shadow effect.

 

Lastly you need RTK if your serious and that does have a day to day cost. Our unit cost thousands.

 

Cost wise our surveyor has a hand held fishing GPS it jumps around but will drill down to about 1-2m comparing the RTK at +- 25mm, XY is good height can be +-.

 

Like everything computer related they just get better.

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ok thanks. so i guess the indoors application is not likely.

 

RTK is a clever thing that turns rough GPS data into more accurate points, right? regarding your fishing device, we definitely need higher accuracy than 1m. i was hoping under 50mm accuracy across a square site of 100m.

 

is there an alternative to GPS then that does not need to communicate with satellites, but can still plot a cloud of points? sounds more expensive to me!

 

regarding output, do you basically get a dwg with a load of points, which you then have to link up in autocad? i assume you can assign names to the points that show up in cad?

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indoors application
no way look at DISTO
50mm accuracy
RTK needed
communicate with satellites
3d laser scanner big $$
regarding output
no probs with CIV3D or other software, providing you can add field codes to points as recording a full strung dwg appears.
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All that BigAl said is very true, but what you need is a total station set-up. But your budget is not going to buy you the instrument that you need. With a total station you can also survey inside of buildings and get your building outlines and site boundaries together with 3D coordinates of all of your observed points. If you don't need 3D points you can simply use the XY coordinates.

When you talk to the reps ask if they have any demo instruments. They would be much cheaper than buying new. Also check ebay for used instruments, but be very careful that someone is not trying to sell a stolen instrument.

Depending on which instrument and what software it has installed, will depend on what format you can export the observed data in. Both Leica and Trimble have a field book format that can be read into Civil 3D, both can out put ascii data which can be read into AutoCAD using a LISP/VBA routine and some instruments can out put DXF files and allow to join points to create lines in the field. Alternatively there is custom software out there to import data into AutoCAD or its own CAD system and then export as DXF or DWG.

Surveying is a profession and should not be taken lightly, but from what you say I think you should be able to pick up enough to get you your data into AutoCAD.

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3d laser scanner big $$

 

We've got one of these and while it can generate a pretty picture when you zoom far out on the data, trying to do anything useful with the data (other than volume surveys of stockpiles) is next to useless and harder (a lot more office time) than it would have been to just pick up the desired points in the field.

 

how powerful? a lot of the time we just need a building outline, and a site boundary, in 2D (levels not important).

 

Be careful. Fences etc are often in the wrong location and may not necessarily be on the boundary. You will be better off in the long run paying a surveyor to go and do this (using their equipment) for you and give you the data in dwg format.

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Thanks chaps this is all good information. it looks like the device i want is not available..... i thought there would be some kind of station and wand system, where i can 'click' points that it logs in a 3D map. ..... for under a grand ;-)

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There are plenty of suitable instruments out there to do precisely what you want, but it's your budget that is the problem :(.

 

There are total stations to be had for under a grand and quite a few more for around 1200. Check this one out, it will do the job that you want http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leica-TCR805-Power-R100-5-Reflectorless-Total-Station-Survey-Spares-Repair-/390889934842?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item5b02db0ffa

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Total stations were 2 man now 1 man so ask around and you can probably get a smart good 2 man instrument 2nd hand cheap. But you will need 2 of you.

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Even with a one man instrument, two men are needed - one to guard the instrument :shock:

 

A well known truth, that nobody cares to mention. :beer:

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How long does it take for a guy to throw an instrument into the back of the car and drive off ?

 

Answer faster than you can run. This actually happened.

 

Our guys do on occasions have a "Spotter" ie person who stands around and does nothing.

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  • 8 months later...
There are plenty of suitable instruments out there to do precisely what you want, but it's your budget that is the problem :(.

 

There are total stations to be had for under a grand and quite a few more for around 1200. Check this one out, it will do the job that you want http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Leica-TCR805-Power-R100-5-Reflectorless-Total-Station-Survey-Spares-Repair-/390889934842?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item5b02db0ffa

 

Yes, you can buy lost of used surveying equipment on eBay, but you can also find lots of good tools at other online stores.

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