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The Geospatial Newsletter from KOREC

Autumn 2016

Stop Press:

Announcing the Trimble SX10

KOREC’s November technology days will feature dedicated survey, mapping and technical streams.

KOREC’s on the road again and this year we have three conference streams to ensure you get the maximum out of your day with us.

Our technology days have been developed to provide you with a way to get the most out of your visit whether that be learning how Trimble and KOREC technology can enhance

your efficiency and productivity, spending one on one time with KOREC and Trimble technical staff and consultants or taking part in one of our training taster sessions.

Five reasons to visit:

• Choice of streams with packed agendas – survey, mapping, technical KNOW HOW - for getting the most out of your day. (view online at www.korecknowhow.com)

• What’s new? Learn about new technologies such as Trimble’s groundbreaking SX10 Scanning Total Station, TIMMS (Trimble’s mobile indoor mapping solution),

Booking Now!

Coming soon....new KOREC website at www.korecgroup.com

Silverstone Technology day now fully booked!

Mensura

“A disruptive technology is one that displaces an established technology and shakes up the industry.” Welcome to the Trimble SX10!

This year’s Intergeo event in Germany has once again proved to be a key date in Trimble’s diary with the company’s release of its ground breaking SX10 Scanning Total Station.

Developed from the ground up, the SX10 combines surveying, imaging and high speed 3D scanning in one revolutionary solution. Trimble describes its latest release as providing the world’s most innovative solution for surveying, engineering, and scanning professionals, and rightly so. Here’s why:

• It’s innovative - true merging of high speed scanning, enhanced imaging and high accuracy surveying

• It’s familiar - completely integrated into traditional surveying workflows in the field AND office

• It’s versatile – enables the expansion of business opportunities with a single investment

In short, it’s a single investment with unlimited opportunities. And whilst it’s undoubtedly truly innovative it also brings together Trimble tried and tested technologies including MagDrive, SurePoint, Integrated Surveying, Trimble VISION and Lightning (the most advanced EDM technology in the world).

KOREC Opinion

“The VX was a game changer, the SX10 is an industry shaker! It has been almost 10 years since Trimble launched the VX scanning and imaging total station. This was the first of its kind and truly unique. But time moves on and the last ten years have seen several innovations to match or even better the VX. Now we can see what Trimble has been beavering away at for so

...continued overleaf... continued overleaf...

■ Welcome to the SX10!

■ New releases from Intergeo

■ The search for reliability -

switching to Trimble VRS Now

■ Technical news

this issue:

The Geospatial Newsletter from KOREC

K-Mobile Android data capture systems plus developments in laser scanning, positioning services and imaging

• KOREC/Trimble experts and KOREC customers look at some of the daily challenges geospatial professionals face and how technology can help meet them

• Case studies – solving real life problems

• Practicalities – financing your technology and keeping it safe in the field

Our locations

17th November - Lancashire CCC, Old Trafford

22nd November – Silverstone Racecourse

24th November – Stormont Hotel, Belfast (single combined conference stream only)

Free registration at http://www.korecknowhow.com/ ■■■

K-Portal is designed to accommodate a wide range of data collection workflows, including mobile mapping projects

New releases...SX10 Opinion continued

long. The Trimble SX10 is the one we’ve been waiting for - a ground-breaking total station and a high precision scanner, united at last! The Trimble SX10 comprises a top end 1” total station good for any on site task, it’s lightning fast as you would expect from a Trimble robotic but that’s not all. It also features a laser scanner good for 600m range and a point of spacing of just 6mm at 50m! With a spec like that suddenly a lot of tasks that previously required at least 2 sets of equipment can now be done more efficiently and more fluidly with just one. It is so much more than a scanning total station though:

• Scan 26,000 points per second - that’s 26x faster than any other scan station on the market

• 600m scan range

• Smallest spot size in the industry - 8mm@50m

• 3 calibrated cameras powered by Trimble VISION allowing for 84x total zoom (no interpolation) - pick out a single pixel at 200m range

The SX10 will be at all our KOREC Technology days and I strongly recommend a viewing.” Chris Harris, KOREC

Trimble’s TX8 laser scanner has been one of KOREC’s top performing instruments since its launch in 2014 and it’s now even better thanks to the addition of a fully integrated High Dynamic Range (HDR) camera and Wi-Fi remote control.

We are also delighted to announce the launch of Trimble’s new TX6 3D laser scanner – it’s all about productivity at a lower cost! Offering the same built in camera and Wi-Fi remote control, the TX6 is a medium-range, cost-effective 3D scanning solution that also offers Trimble’s patented technology, combining time-of-flight distance measurement with advanced on-board signal and 3D data processing and full integration with Trimble RealWorks processing and analysis software. ■■■

Trimble TX6 Trimble TX8Integrated HDR camera Integrated HDR camera

Wi-Fi remote control Wi-Fi remote control

500,000 pts/sec 1million pts/sec

80m range / extended120m range 120m range / extended 340m range

K-MATIC UpdateK-MATIC, KOREC’s in-house software division, has been particularly busy lately! Here’s what they’ve been up to:

K-Mobile Android has a new feature – on demand map data

Future releases of K-Mobile Android data capture software will include a new feature as standard – on demand map data. Created to keep workers productive in the field, this feature requires a single button tap to pull down the OS MasterMap (for licensed users) or OS OpenData map data that’s required for working in that particular area. Irish Grid and ITM map data can also be pulled down.

New Launch - K-Portal

K-Portal is a completely secure K-MATIC hosted web based geospatial asset registry.

Designed to take the headache out of managing and storing data collected by multiple field workers, K-Portal renders all collected data, and the software functionality required to manage it, accessible from anywhere with an internet connection.

This means that permitted users, such as site/asset managers, no longer need to return to the office to check received data or allocate jobs – they can do it simply from a laptop with an internet connection.

K-Portal functionality includes:

• Allocation of work orders to mobile devices running K-Mobile field software

• Retrieval and viewing of completed work orders and other geospatial data

• Export of data and custom reports

• Creation of dashboard charts to show day-to-day progress / key project status metrics

K-MATIC specialises in, amongst other things, customising K-Mobile software to be application specific. No job is too small or too large for consideration.

For further information, please contact your KOREC mapping consultant. ■■■

Intergeo ReportKOREC’s Director of Business Development, Andy Beckerson, found that UAVs and handling and processing aerial imagery were again major themes at this year’s show.

“Once again UAV’s appeared on virtually every exhibition stand but this year there was a tendency for larger platforms with a heavier payload. These units will be for the more specialist applications where there is a potential to generate revenue. For those companies specialising in hardware only, the increasing competition in both fixed wing and rotary means that new markets are being targeted and interestingly, ‘indoor mapping’ with rotary UAVs seems to be one specific area of interest for the hardware manufacturers. The software companies continue to look towards better accuracy and more importantly, automatic, reliable data processing in the cloud and improved data extraction. As the collection of data becomes faster, avoiding the ‘bottleneck’ in processing and analysis becomes more and more important.

Intergeo is definitely worth a visit, not only to look for products and ideas but also to revisit old friends, ex colleagues and to make new introductions and contacts and next year its back to Berlin - I’m booking my flights now!” ■■■

Introducing two new eBeesWe are pleased to announce the latest additions to our senseFly eBee portfolio, the eBee Plus and the eBee SQ.

eBee Plus

Offering aerial efficiency and photogrammetric accuracy, the eBee Plus can map more square kilometres per flight than any drone in its weight class. It also comes with some useful new features and is even easier to fly:

• Complete jobs faster – the eBee Plus has a flight time of 59 minutes, whichever camera you fly, at virtually any altitude, in varying wind conditions and even with a well-used battery on-board.

• Achieve even higher quality aerial images – the eBee Plus offers a camera to suit every application, including the senseFly S.O.D.A. (supplied), the first camera designed for photogrammetric drone mapping.

• Be prepared for every job spec – the eBee Plus features High Precision on Demand (HPoD) thanks to its built-in RTK/PPK functionality. You can activate this whenever it suits your business—right out of the box, or later.

eBee SQ

Perfect for crop consultants, growers and researchers, the arrival of the eBee SQ provides Parrot’s Sequoia camera with its very own drone. This fully-integrated and highly precise multispectral sensor captures data across four non-visible bands, plus visible RGB imagery (for a quick visible overview)—in just one flight!

With this precise data you can generate accurate index maps and use these to create high quality prescriptions—carefully optimising crop treatments to improve production quality, boost yields & reduce costs. (Compatible with Farm Management Information Systems (FMIS) and ag machinery)

The eBee SQ can fly for up to 55 minutes on a single battery charge. This performance enables it to cover up to 500 acres in a single flight at 400 feet above ground level. ■■■

New Trimble TX6 3D laser scanner and TX8 additions

This year’s Trimble stand at Intergeo

A single button tap for on demand map data

Mensura | Autumn 2016

Customer story

For Greenhatch Group Ltd, this entailed the introduction of a completely new positioning correction service for use with their 14 GNSS/GPS systems when their old set up failed to deliver the quality of data, reliability and peace of mind that they required.

Greenhatch Group can trace its origins back to an early offering of surveying services over 35 years ago and today operates through a national network of three regional offices. Employing over 70 staff, the company has expanded in the last few years to offer a wide range of surveying services from topo and measured building surveys to specialist undertakings such as 3D laser scanning, BIM/REVIT Models, bathymetric surveys and aerial drone surveys.

With the core of its business being topographical and measured building surveys, the company depends upon the reliable performance of its optical and GPS/GNSS instrumentation and was therefore quick to react when the performance of its existing RTK broadcast correction service aroused concerns.

Analysing the problem

In 2015 Greenhatch Group’s 14 GNSS/GPS systems were linked to the Leica Geosystems SmartNet RTK Network via supplier approved ‘roaming’ SIMs cards licensed under a 3 year subscription deal. Whilst Greenhatch Group Director Neil Jefferies felt that this solution delivered on many of the sites his surveyors visited, he was concerned that, overall, the combination of the service provided, equipment and SI card was unreliable. Coordinate quality wasn’t sufficiently achieved on a number of sites up and down the country and the amount of lost time due to broken connections was immeasurable. In short, Neil felt that there was considerable room for improvement and that the Group’s correction service should be providing them with more reliable returns.

Trialling solutions…

Greenhatch Group tried various solutions to improve its operational times with the RTK Network. These included

upgrading to private APN (Access Point Name) SIM cards and trying SIM cards from different service providers, even to the extent of having a wallet containing separate O2, Vodafone, EE and 3 pay as you go SIM cards for each GPS system. Different combinations of GNSS models and receivers were also tried to see if the loss of connection was a hardware problem and this was supplemented by Greenhatch surveyors keeping a log of each lost/broken connection, recording both time and location.

Only the multi SIM card approach brought any improvement but with that improvement came a set of new problems. Constantly switching SIM cards and settings became tiresome with less experienced users becoming mired in a world of menus and settings and the GNSS rovers were suffering from repeated openings and closings to insert the cards.

…and finding the answer

Greenhatch came upon its solution by chance when a KOREC sales consultant was visiting during one of the surveyor’s - by now daily - reports of a failed RTK connection. The KOREC consultant was able to talk Neil through the benefits of VRS Now, Trimble’s RTK subscription service, and within 48 hours had arranged the loan of a SIM card providing Greenhatch with immediate access.

A GNSS rover was selected and a Greenhatch surveyor sent out as a ‘guinea pig’ to trial VRS Now whilst Greenhatch’s management prepared to field his calls and relay any problems back to KOREC.

“We didn’t receive a single call,” reports Greenhatch director Neil Jefferies. “We later saw our test surveyor in the office and he said that he’d had no issues at all and connection had been good throughout the trial. In fact, his only complaint was that his legs hurt from walking all day!”

To further assess the situation, KOREC additionally loaned Greenhatch a Trimble R10 rover with VRS Now to compare with their existing Leica GNSS also with VRS Now. Following this trial two R10s were purchased along

with 15 VRS Now licenses to cover the company’s entire GPS/GNSS fleet.

Neil concludes, “Previously our surveyors were getting frustrated on site. They simply wanted to complete jobs and get home but with the old system they were never sure whether it was going to be a good day or a bad one. Since switching to VRS Now, the number of calls from site surveyors saying they are not going to finish projects, or that they need to return due to GPS issues, has reduced to a level where it is very rare to get one at all. This has also

minimised the time technical staff and management have to spend responding to their calls allowing them to concentrate on other parts of the business instead. There is no doubt that for Greenhatch, the benefits of Trimble VRS now can be summed up in a single word - reliability.”

Case study

Greenhatch Group director, Neil Jefferies, reports that a multi-acre greenfield site was recently surveyed by Greenhatch.

Traditionally the survey team would use a total station to survey hard detail and boundaries and use GNSS units to infill levels within the fields.

Neil has a general idea of how many acres per day are achievable by a surveyor using a GNSS unit and this includes some down time to cover connection issues. Upon surveying the site with units connected to VRS Now, the systems completed the work 10-20% faster than anticipated compared to similar sites undertaken in the past with the original equipment set up.

This project was valued at around £15,000 and Neil affirms that thanks to the reliability and efficiency of the Trimble VRS Now service, cost savings can be calculated at £2,500.

Andrew Beckerson, KOREC’s Director of Business Development comments “Greenhatch’s experience with Trimble VRS Now echoes what many users have found, reliable real-time GNSS correction data will increase your profitability, proving once again that ‘not all correction services are the same.” ■■■

The search for reliability Why Greenhatch Group switched to Trimble VRS Now

Surveyors want reliable data. They also want to maximise their time on site. When these basic requirements are compromised, businesses will take fast and efficient measures to rectify any issues that could affect hard won and carefully nurtured customer relationships.

VRS Now fact box:

• Availability: Unites States, Europe and Australia

• High Accuracy: Provides < 2 cm (1”) accuracy*

• Ideal for industries needing high precision including survey and construction, mapping and GIS, cadastral, utilities, transportation and areas having good cellular coverage

• Instant Initialization: Start working immediately under optimal conditions**

• Multi-constellation support: GPS and GLONASS enabled

• More uptime: Built-in redundancy to ensure connectivity, consistency and quality

• No base station required: No need to worry about losing radio signal reception since a base station is not needed for Trimble VRS Now based correction services

• Ease of Use: Online self-service portal to activate subscriptions.

* All horizontal accuracy specifications are based on in-field performance 95% of the time.

** Receiver initialization time varies based on GNSS constellation health, level of multipath, and proximity to obstructions such as large trees.

“Trimble VRS Now can be

summed up in a

single word - reliability.”

Neil Jefferies,Group Director

Greenhatch’s Scott Smith with a Trimble R10

Contact us:Stay in Touch

T: 0345 603 1214E: info@korecgroup.com www.korecgroup.com

For further information on any of the products or services mentioned in Mensura,

please contact your nearest KOREC Sales Consultant or visit our website

IRE: 01 456 4702

• Technical newsKOREC News

Trimble Business Center (TBC) v3.80

The newest version of Trimble Business Center has been optimised to include data workflows to and from the new Trimble SX10 Scanning Total Station. Also included are enhancements for customisable reporting, lot closure work flows, and support for even more 3rd party file formats. This version will be available in November.

Trimble Access v2016.10

Offering many updates to support the Trimble SX10 Scanning Total Station, along with other feature enhancements including stakeout elevations and TIFF support, this new version is out now.

OSTN15 & OSGM15

The new Shift Grid and Geoid model files, plus information about how to install them, are available on the KOREC web site at:

http://www.korecgroup.com/resources/software/utilities/ostn15-projection-and-geoid-files/

These files are now the current system by which GNSS data are positioned onto OS National Grid coordinates. The release of these new models corresponds with an update to the coordinates of the OS Net GNSS network of active stations in the UK. The VRS Now data streams, based on these new coordinates, all have a 15 suffix to their name in the VRS Now Mountpoint list. The old 02 shift grid and geoid models, should not be used with the new 15 suffix data streams. Unless there is a specific reason to continue using the 02 models on a project, then all VRS Now users should now transition to the new OSTN15 based models.

GeoSite & OSTN15

There is no support in GeoSite to import GNSS data observed using the OSTN15 model, other than via a CSV file export from Trimble Access or Survey Controller. As GeoSite has end-of-life status as a software product, customers should be aware that whilst we can still support it to a degree, there will be no further releases or fixes for it. Trimble Business Center now replaces the functionality contained within GeoSite.

Trimble Access

If you are using a total station with Trimble Access you can use the angle offsets to record points to inaccessible features such as the centre of a tree trunk. Measure a point at the correct distance using the Angle offset method, this will hold the horizontal distance from the first observation, then record the second observation by moving the instrument cross hairs to the centre of your object. Access will combine the horizontal angle and vertical angle from the second observation with the first. Explore the other offset methods available and let Trimble Access compute the position of those inaccessible features.

Training

Training on GNSS Site Calibration and Working to Scale Factor 1 at KOREC Huntingdon, 9th December.

Don’t forget, our experienced training and technical support team carry out daily training courses, be it on site or in a classroom environment.

Courses range from basic surveying and setting out courses through to advanced road design data preparation and network GPS processing. Our training team are Trimble certified trainers and regularly attend Trimble’s Raunheim training centre in Germany to ensure that they are able to update customers with the latest solutions from Trimble. ■■■

Photo CompetitionClosing date 22nd December

Dust off your camera lenses, fire up your smartphones and ready your shutter fingers - our photo competition is now underway! Get snapping for your chance to win £500 in KOREC vouchers & £150 in Amazon Vouchers. We have four categories ‘nature’, ‘urban’, ‘on-site’ and ‘weather’. It couldn’t be easier to enter, simply email your photograph of KOREC supplied hardware or software, with a caption, to marketing@korecgroup.com or upload your image on our KOREC Facebook page. ■■■

In the pressBoth the KOREC team and KOREC customers have been busy sharing thoughts and projects in recent weeks.

Catch up with our latest articles in the following publications or read them on our blog at www.korecgroup.com/blog.

GIS Professional (October) – Cian Gallagher of Aerial Agri Tech describes how he used his senseFly eBee Ag drone to survey invasive weed on Ireland’s premier salmon river.

Geospatial Showcase (Autumn) – KOREC’s Lee Hannan takes a look at the altering relationship between mapping professionals and their clients.

GeoConnexion UK (Sept/Oct) - Regular columnist, KOREC Director of Business Development Andy Beckerson, ponders whether the combination of survey and mapping adds up to ‘geospatial’ in today’s real world of data collection, processing and analysis.

Engineering Showcase (Autumn) – KOREC’s Chris Harris explains why TIMMS (Trimble indoor mobile mapping system) is the next step in as built (and as building) 3D site documentation. ■■■

Safety and speedPeterborough City Council chooses KOREC mobile mapping services

KOREC is delighted to announce that it is working with Peterborough City Council on a highway asset data collection project which will see Trimble Mobile Mapping systems used to collect all the council’s highway asset information for high speed roads, classified roads, rural link roads and main distributor roads within the City.

The project is a part of Peterborough Highway Services’ process for meeting the Department for Transport’s Incentive Fund criteria. Much of this asset management approach to maintaining highway assets relies upon accurate asset data.

About the project

Peterborough is a cathedral city and the road network is varied, ranging from strategic high speed landscaped throughfares known as parkways, to busy inner city routes and quieter rural routes.

Under the guidance of Kevin Ekins, Asset and Contract Performance Manager, Peterborough Highway Services was already in the process of

manually collecting highway asset data by walking down residential streets. However, Kevin sought a safer method for the high speed roads. A driven survey was deemed the safest way to accurately collect this data and the council therefore approached mobile mapping experts, KOREC. Following trials that established the accuracy of the Trimble MX8 and MX2 mobile mapping systems and the suitability of the K-Asset web based office software, KOREC’s services division were contracted to carry out the asset collection. This included:

• 494km of road (in both directions so 988km in total) across 22 wards

• 10 asset types

• 26 different attribute types

The data capture work was completed by KOREC in September and the full dataset will be delivered to Peterborough in the Autumn. Once captured, the KOREC checked data will be viewed in the K-Asset web based software by Peterborough and then imported into their existing Confirm enterprise asset management system to be used in conjunction with other asset data.

The K-Asset software also has the ability to link with Trimble or window based handhelds for inspectors out in the field to carry out routine inspections, update the database and add any new assets. Additional K-Asset functionality allows Peterborough CC to monitor the project ‘live’ if it wishes. Whenever a change is made to the system, or a record amended, or checked data becomes live, K-Asset ensures that all logged in users can see the most up to date information available.

Kevin Ekins stresses that the Peterborough’s relationship with KOREC has been key to the project with a partnership evolving between the two. This partnership allowed for a thorough testing of potential solutions before progressing through an iterative process to finalise the capture spec. The KOREC element of the project is scheduled for completion in November. ■■■

KOREC capturing the data with a Trimble MX2 in Peterborough

Reviewing Peterborough’s data in K-Asset