This command allows you to set configuration options for data collection. These options remain set from job to job. Some options may only apply to GPS or to Total Station use. If an option is not applicable, it is grayed out.

Predefined Coordinate Systems

You may create and select from a list of frequently used or previously selected coordinate systems.  Click Edit Projection List to add to the list and to create user-defined projections.

• Projection: If you click the arrow to the right of the current projection, you can select from a list of projections that you have used before.  But to select a projection that you haven’t previously used, choose Edit Projection List.
• Edit Projection List: Click this button to choose a new projection or define a new projection.

• Edit Projection List (Add Predefined): If you click Add Predefined, you can set the country/projection to use at the top of the dialog, then choose the “zone” within the projection.  For example, in the United States, State Plane 83 is a common projection, with various grids available covering all states.  If Austria is selected, options for that country appear.

• Some of the projections available for selection in the “Country” category are discussed below:

NAD 27: When selecting this coordinate system, you will also need to specify a state plane zone.  SurvCE will use data files to perform a NADCON datum shift from WGS84 to NAD27 coordinates.  By default, only data files for the continental U.S. are loaded to the data collector.  If you are working outside this region, please load the appropriate files from your CD to the SurvStar\NADConv directory.  NAD27 uses the Clarke 1866 ellipsoid.

NAD 83: When selecting this coordinate system, you will also need to specify a state plane zone.  NAD 83 uses the GRS80 ellipsoid.

UTM: The ellipsoid used in the Universal Transverse Mercator calculation is determined by the Datum selection.  If you choose the option, “WGS 84/Automatic Zone Selection”, the zone is determined by the lat/lon values read in from the receiver.  If you know your UTM zone, you can also select it.  Whenever SurvCE does a reverse calculation (from UTM to WGS84) you will be prompted to enter a zone number.

3TM (Canada): This system is also referred to as “MTM”.  It is a 3 degree zone width Transverse Mercator calculation.  You may select between the Clarke 1866 ellipsoid and the WGS84 ellipsoid.

New Zealand:  You may select between “NZGD2000” and “NZGD49”.  Both use the Transverse Mercator calculation.  NZGD2000 uses the GRS80 ellipsoid.  NZGD49 uses the International 1924 ellipsoid.  You may specify a Meridional Circuit with either datum.  To select the circuit, press the “Define” button.  You will see a pull-down list with all Meridional Circuits as well as the option to pick “None”.

RGF 93 (France): This system requires that you have the file named “Predef1.csl” in the SurvStar directory on the data collector.  If this file is not found, please re-install SurvCE.

NTF (France):  This system requires that you have the file named “Predef1.csl” in the SurvStar directory on the data collector.  If this file is not found, please re-install SurvCE. NTF is an approximation of the NTF-GR3DF97A grid transformation.

NTF-GR3DF97A:  This system is a grid transformation that requires the files “Predef1.csl” and “gr3df97a.bin” to be in the SurvStar directory on the data collector. The “Predef1.csl” file is part of the default installation.  You will need to use Data Transfer to copy the “gr3df97a.bin” file from your CD to your data collector.

OSTN02 (UK):  This system is a grid transformation that requires the files “Predef1.csl”, “ostn02_x.bin” and “ostn02_y.bin”.  The “Predef1.csl” file is part of the default installation.  You will need to use Data Transfer to copy the “ostn02_x.bin” and “ostn02_y.bin” files from your CD to your data collector.

RD2000: This is the RD NAP transformation for the Netherlands.  This system is a grid transformation that requires the file “Predef1.csl”, “X2C.grd” and “Y2C.grd”.  The “Predef1.csl” file is part of the default installation.  You will need to use Data Transfer to copy the “X2C.grd” and “Y2C.grd” files from your CD to your data collector.

Denmark 34: Used for all cadastral mapping and for most technical mapping carried out in Denmark. System 34 is a two dimensional - horizontal - coordinate system.  System 34 is based on the National Geodetic Reference Network and is divided into two different zones, one covering Jutland and Fuen, and the other covering Sealand. The island of Bornholm has its own coordinate system called System 45.

• Edit Projection List (Add User Defined): To define a new coordinate system, go to File/Job Settings/GPS and select “Edit Projection List.” 

Then click on the "Add User Defined" button. Enter a name for your system (e.g. PRVI for Puerto Rico/Virgin Islands), then select a projection (in the example below, Lambert_Conformal_Conic_2SP) and enter the appropriate parameters. Note that all latitude and longitude values are in decimal degrees and False Northing and False Easting are always presented in meters.  All entries involving degree must be in decimal degrees based on a 360 circle.

New Datum: You may select a predefined Ellipsoid or set your own parameters by typing in a new ellipsoid name and entering values for a and 1/f.  The values for dX, dY, dZ, rot X, rot Y, rot Z and scale are “to WGS84”. 

If the values you have are “from WGS84”, simply reverse the sign of each value (positive becomes negative and vice versa). You will need to save the system to a file.  You may save the system to a “sys” file or a “csl” file.  Sys files contain only one system definition.  Csl files contain multiple system definitions. Both files are ASCII text files using OpenGIS WKT (Well Known Text) format.

Load File: To load a user defined coordinate system from a file, go to File, Job Settings, GPS and click on the “Edit Projection List”. Select “Add User Defined” and select Load File. Then click on the “Define” button.  Select “Load File”.  Change the File Type to “sys” or “csl” depending on the type of file you are loading.  A “sys” file will be associated with each job.  You can load the projection last used on a survey job by loading its “sys” file.  Select your file and say OK.  If you have selected a csl file, you will be asked to choose from a list of system definitions found in the file.  For the “csl” type, you may verify that the details of your system have been loaded correctly by clicking the edit option.

• Geoid Separation File: Geoid Separation File: This option will incorporate the geoid undulation in determining the orthometric elevation of the measurement. The definition of the geoid model as currently adopted by the National Geodetic Survey is the equipotential surface of the Earth's gravity field which best fits, in a least squares sense, global mean sea level. Orthometric elevation measurements are used in survey calculations.  In order to convert ellipsoid heights (He) as measured by GPS into orthometric elevations (Eo), you must provide for a correction between the GPS-measured ellipsoid (reference ellipsoid) and a constant level gravitational surface, the geoid.  This correction is the geoid undulation (Ug). Use XPort or SurvCOMM to download the Geoid Separation File. This option only has significant impact with one-point alignments. The zip file containing the Geoid Files (GSF, Geoid99 or EGM) is found on the SurvCE installation CD and a portion of any such file can be specified (by size and center point) for downloading to the data collector using Carlson X-Port or Carlson SurvCom.

• Multi-Point Transformation: The transformation in the Align Local Coordinates command can either be by plane similarity or rigid body methods. Both methods use a best-fit least squares transformation. The difference is that the rigid body method does a transformation with a translation and rotation and without a scale. The plane similarity does a rotation, translation and scale. This option only applies when two or more points are used in Align Local Coordinates.
• One Point Localization Azimuth: This option applies to the rotation when using one point in Align Local Coordinates. For this alignment method, the state plane coordinate is translated to the local coordinate. Then the rotation can use either the state plane grid or the geodetic as north. No scale is applied in this transformation. The state plane and geodetic true north diverge slightly in the east and west edges of the state plane zone. This option allows you to choose which north to use.

How To Use Geoid Files with Carlson SurvCE

1. Download and/or install either Carlson X-Port or SurvCOM to the desktop computer.
2. Download and/or install “CarlsonGeoidGrids.exe” to a location on your desktop computer (Typically installed to the “…\Program Files\Carlson X-Port\” directory).
3. If you have Microsoft ActiveSync already installed on your computer, make sure that it is not currently occupying the COM port.

To do this:

Launch ActiveSync and select “Connection Settings” from the “File” menu.

Remove the checkbox that refers to the port you intend to use with Carlson X-Port (Typically uncheck COM1).

Select OK to exit “Connection Settings” and close ActiveSync.

4. Connect your handheld device to your desktop computer using a serial cable.
5. Run Carlson SurvCE on the handheld device and select “Data Transfer” from the “FILE” tab.
6. From within the “Data Transfer” dialog, select the “SurvCADD/Carlson Survey Transfer” option.
7. Leave the data collector waiting for communications as shown by the resulting “File Transfer” dialog.
8. Launch either Carlson X-Port or SurvCOM from your desktop computer. If you are using Carlson X-Port, select “Carlson SurvCE/SurvStar/G2” from the “Tools” menu to launch SurvCOM.
9. From within SurvCOM, and while connected to the handheld computer via a serial cable, you should be able to see the contents of the handheld device on the right and the contents of the desktop computer on the left simultaneously. If you do not see the handheld device on the right, you are not connected.
10. Select the “Geoid” icon located at the bottom of the SurvCOM dialog.
11. From within the “Set Geoid Area” dialog, verify the path to the geoid files is set to the installed location of these files as defined in step 2 of this document (Typically “…Program Files\Carlson X-Port\”).
12. Select the desired geoid model to extract an area from.
13. Key in the approximate latitude and longitude of the center of the area.
14. Define the grid size for the area you want the model to cover (Supported sizes are 50-250 miles, 80-400 kilometers and 1-5 degrees, however, keep the size 100 miles or smaller for better performance).
15. Name the geoid model with any name that you want (e.g. geoid). You may want to name this file with a logical name for the location of the area for future reference (e.g. geoid-LA).
16. Select the “OK” button to automatically transfer the file to the “…\Survstar\” directory of the handheld device. A copy of the file will also be created on your desktop computer in the currently selected folder.
17. On the handheld device, select “Job Settings” from the “FILE” tab and view the “GPS” tab.
18. Select the “Geoid Separation File” button and choose the geoid file you created and transferred with SurvCOM.
19. You have now completed the definition and selection of the geoid file. Select “OK” to exit the “Job Setting” dialog.