.

GeoInformatics-7-2008
product review the electronic fieldbook. when surveying with survce one cannot see which prism has been set on the fieldbook. one only sees if either reflectorless surveying or prism surveying is performed. when changing between reflectorless and prism, it sometimes happens that on the instrument display a different prism has been selected than the one that is currently being used. this may cause confusion. through the settings menu in survce the prism constant can be changed. the instrument itself distinguishes three reflector modes. prism, sheet and reflectorless mode. in every mode different prism constants can be applied. for example, when selecting reflector type: prism, you may choose a 0mm constant or a -30mm constant. but it still is a prism to be measured, which is shown in the screen of the controller. in a menu one level deeper in the software you can find all the target settings. during the test i experienced a flawless and stable communication between all components and associated software. software the survce looks similar to the earlier tested topsurv from topcon. the program is started through the windows start menu. once inside survce, you can choose what to do by using tab-pages and select options such as surveying or pegging out, and then continue further inside the program. before starting with surveying or stake out, a setup needs to be performed. at the settings you can choose to be returned to the latest setup: then the latest status and orientation will be shown. this can be very useful but the setup only works with one single orientation. the philosophy of the software is that you only start a detailed topography survey after having completed the proper station setup via the series measurement (polygon, or freestation routine). once the instrument station setup is measured and adjusted you go onto the second routine: topo measurement. this means you no longer need to have multiple back sights since this was already adjusted in the first routine. during surveying and stake out one can choose the options follow or tracking . the srx follow status saves significant power. the instrument will follow the position of the moving reflector but will not continuously measure a distance. only the angle values on the screen change. when the measurement button is pushed, only then will a distance reading will be initiated. in tracking , the angles and distances readings are updated three times a second. especially when doing a stake out this comes in handy. of course the power consumption is higher because the servo motors, the angle encoder and the edm are continuously in operation. during stake out you can toggle between a graphic screen or a data screen with measuring vales. the graphic screen shows a background map and explains how far you are positioned against your design point. when toggling to the data (text) screen you will be presented with left/right in/out formation. the choice is up to the user. both will navigate you to the point in an easy and straightforward way. when staking out a point, care must be taken when saving the staked out point to ensure it gets a preferred name. the user has to choose this by himself. also, for setting a walking order, a list of points can be put together from the file. you can also graphically select your range of points to be staked out. with survce it is possible to store all files separately, with options for control files or cutsheets . usually control files are used for design data or reference points and cutsheet files as a nice staked list containing all offsets and tolerances. input of much used file formats is possible, such as dxf, txt etc. output formats are exactly the same, however their presentation depends on the type of file used. there are multiple raw data formats presenting distances and angle readings. the raw surveying file contains much more data on the surveyed point, like angles, distances and offsets. the raw file is for calculation and storage use. if the user wants to generate a report, then other file formats should be used, since this raw surveying file is difficult to read. if one is interested in coding, direction and distance, this information has to be filtered from the rough data. the manufacturer likes to point out that if the standard sokkia file format was chosen in stead of the .rw5 format, then there shouldn t be any problems reading the observation data from the file. summary instrument follows the prism well prism is tracked rapidly when switching on the remote control bluetooth connections are established rapidly and automatically just one orientation required at setup for topo measurement tested remote control makes the prism pole somewhat heavy antenna and hatch on the instrument are sensitive in design raw data is very hard to read but other formats available for better understanding niek rengers is a professional surveyor at grontmij. this review represents his own opinion. for more information, have a look at www.sokkia.net. many thanks to sokkia bv for providing the reviewed instrument. reaction of the manufacturer with sokkia s srx the surveyor will feel the freedom to move. different hardware and software configurations are possible and are selectable by the surveyor. this puts the srx within reach for every surveyor, which is our aim. the srx is sokkia s most versatile product. the surveyor will experience no obstructions during its day-to-day use on the job, no target loss, no difficult search routines and he/she will benefit from intuitive software, which all ads to pure productive surveying. and that s latest news? visit www.geoinformatics.com rather important for every surveyor at the end of the day. with regards to the height of the pole configuration, the manufacturer states that with the new rc-pr4, the pole configuration reduces the overall weight by 1 kilogram and therefore will be very light. on the readability of the raw data, the manufacturer points out that raw data is for internal calculation purposes and should not be used for making reports. for these purposes another type of format should be chosen. october/november 2008 23
Powered by fluidbook tm