Product Review
Contents
1. n the tradition of the Locus and the ProMark2 from Thales Navigation formerly Ashtech the MobileMapper is primarily intended to be used for GIS data capture and it has great navigation features as well The addition al capability of recerving the Wide Area Augmentation System WAAS correc tors make the MobileMapper more than capable for doing GIS work Io some practitioners the mention of GIS evokes disparaging comments If yours are among them please read a lit tle further Land surveyors have been doing GIS data capture and cartography since the inception of land surveying Don t for get that in the early days of this country surveyors also acted as title people real tors and more They collected the land fea tures and made maps for governments and individuals Ioday technology allows us to collect more information than ever before which is used by a greater num ber of people than ever before As the expert measurers our role is crucial to the integrity of the data and the ease with which it is used We need to get more involved n all areas of GIS Think about it MobileMapper is a relatively inexpen sive GPS tool that allows us to expand our areas of service to data collection k Mobil eMmappe qnAatES By Al Pepling LS Al Pepling works for Trans Associates in Pittsburgh He is licensed as a professional land surveyor in Pennsylvania as a2. a scrolling button to move the cursor a PDOP as low as 7 Going outside and red highlighted square to the desired facing about 50 of the southwestern letter and press ENTER to accept it sky gave me eight SVs and a PDOP of 3 Spell out the job name and then scroll It s the quadrifilar antenna that does it I down to the OK area and press never have seen a windowsill feature in ENTER to accept it It sounds labori any GIS data I have looked at so I did ous but goes rather quickly as you not save it Figure 5 shows a sky plot become more adept at it with nine satellites bemg tracked ts As I typed this review I placed the The feature collection screen displays Ici OUR a EN MobileMapper on my northeast facing the amount of time you are on the point n meinn nic Make your move to the Magnetic Locator that will single handedly change the way you work in the field control the operation of the unit The soft rubber keys are reminiscent of the HP48 keyboard and easy to get used to Press the red PWR power key wait for some informational screens and press the ENTER key to accept the warning screen this is the equivalent of accepting End User Licensing Agreements or SCHONSTEDT GA 92 EULAs Pressing the ENTER key also turns off the unit a five second power down message will appear that can be e One hand operation Operates in both retracted and extended modes Fingertip control of volume and sensit
3. anual and is made of a plastic material a matte finish in blue and black that cuts down on the glare on a bright sunny day While this may seem like a minor detail a few seconds of glare here and there is one thing but eight to ten hours of repeated glare is quite intolerable Figure 1 Features and Accessories Page 113 of the manual states the hous ing is IEC 529 IPX7 Standard and explains that it will withstand water immersion for more than 30 minutes at a depth of one meter I did not try to veri fy this nor did I take the unit apart to explore its water resistant components The black band around the periphery of the unit is called wraparound rubber armor and is softer or more pliable than the blue colored portions of the housing This band has perpendicular ribs wide Displayed with permission The American Surveyor March April Copyright 2004 Cheves Media www TheAmericanSurveyor com ly spaced around it making it comfort able to hold and operate and secure in Figure 3 Rear of unit showing data transfer port battery compartment and memory card your hands A small rubber flap on the right side of the unit serves as the cover for the external antenna connec tion Figure 2 Using an exter nal antenna properly will increase the accuracy of the Mobile Mapper Most of the features you collect will be in urban areas that have more obstructions to the satellites Two contribu tors t
4. ard there are also a serial to USB adapter cable accessory 32MB and 64MB secure digital memory cards and a canvas carrying case Accessory mounting brackets include a swivel mounting bracket a vehicle mounting bracket and a bicycle mounting bracket Removing the batteries allows you to access the memory card Figure 3 The battery compartment cover has two slid ing buttons that open and or lock the cover in place which helps to protect the card from dust dirt and precipitation They work very well The reaction of some is that a separate external slot On a tight deadline Large or small simple or intricate one to 1 000 Berntsen can supply you with the markers you need for every job that comes your way From the daily projects that require your name and LS number to the special projects that tee one custom monument with intricate artwork Berntsen has over 30 years experience assisting you in reaching your deadlines Berntsen quality a marked difference Berntsen Survey Markers 877 265 2304 www berntsen com Berntsen International Inc e PO Box 8670 Madison WI 53708 8670 e Toll free 877 265 2304 Fax 800 249 9794 Email surveymark berntsen com Displayed with permission The American Surveyor March April Copyright 2004 Cheves Media www TheAmericanSurveyor com would be a better arrangement I would not agree The external secure digital slot on my iPAQ is always facing up when I carr
5. e Date Units Map Datum Coordinates Language Library Welcome Job Name Attribute Value Description Point Offset and Grid Setup to name some of them In the navi gation mode there are more screens such as Alarms Speedometer Sat Status Data Map Road Compass Position and Large Data Yes there is a lot of software onboard this GIS data collector Data can be downloaded to a PC or uploaded from a PC using MobileMapper Office via MobileMapper Transfer Downloading is a two step process First you must convert the raw file to a GIS readable format SHP MIF or even DXF Next click on File then click on Export Uploading is similar in that your SHP DXF or MIF files are converted into the mmj file format used by the MobileMapper just like the raw and crd files we have been uploading and downloading between our guns and office software for years but with differ ent file formats and extensions The handy 24 page Getting Started Guide gives users a rudimentary explana tion of what GIS data collection is and how to go about it while the 120 page User Manual goes into greater detail MobileMapper Office is the office com plement to the MobileMapper data col lector unit It is deserving of its own review Some of the newer software for surveyors can also handle GIS data and mapping All GIS databases need to be main tained and many need to be updated Many would benefit from the data collection kn
6. he less informed GIS data collector technician As an exam ple while in the employ of another firm our GPS survey group was called in to advise a mapping group of a branch office on how to improve their GPS col lected data for a county GIS client The county had checked some of the mapping data with its own mapping grade GPS and reported several dif ferences Much of the data on a proj ect already over budget had to be recollected to meet the client s con tract specifications Just above the battery compartment are four contacts and a threaded brass insert with which to connect a data Figure 4 Data transfer cable transfer cable for uploading or down loading data Figure 4 The cable can also be connected the unit when it is in a cradle The exposed pads on the back of the unit and the exposed spring tabs on the cable are easy to clean Cleanliness is crucial for low voltage dig ital data transfer Eight push buttons and one scrolling button 76 0 amp N BLUE MARBLE GEOGRAPHICS Th Geographic Software Tool Company www bluemarblegeo com Displayed with permission The American Surveyor March April Copyright 2004 Cheves Media www TheAmericanSurveyor com selected for your area and jobs windowsill just to see if I could even When you open a job an alphanu track one SV I was seeing perhaps 20 7 meric screen is displayed You use the of the sky It tracked five SVs and gave
7. ivity interrupted by pressing the ESC ape key to continue operation Holding the PWR button down for two seconds also turns on the backlight Tapping the red PWR button twice in quick succession also turns the unit off The IN and OUT keys are used to zoom in and out on the maps displayed on the screen ESC returns you to the previous screen without making any changes NAV takes you to the various navigation and waypoint screens LOG does a few more things this is where you create new jobs or open existing ones If you are in a job it will take you to the feature attribute screen When you are already in a job but have no open fea ture LOG will take you to the feature selection screen MENU does just what it is named to do ENTER 1s how you accept your highlighted input or initiate various unit functions There is some setup to go through when you first power up and use the MobileMapper Language coordinate system map datum and units need to be Quick change battery compartment Battery indicator on both models I Extends for greater sensitivity SCHONSTEDT gt Retracts for easier carrying CALL TODAY 800 999 8280 304 725 1050 www schonstedt com T N Displayed with permission The American Surveyor March April Copyright 2004 Cheves Media www TheAmericanSurveyor com if you stand still over it The following is a list of the screens menus Menu Setup Menu Region Area Tim
8. o accuracy degrada tion are lack of open sky to the south and the physical blocking of satellite signals with your body when using the unit without an external antenna A third is multipath which is a reflected signal that arrives at your processor milliseconds after the original signal These extraneous signals have no corresponding signal for the same epoch from the other satellites being tracked and they contribute to degra THALES MODEL ing PIN 809 482 Sim l CH 0 03 370 dation of your collect ed position For con venience you could mount an external antenna on a hat using Velcro and stand directly over the fea ture to be col lected leaving both hands free for unit operation Another would be to mount the external antenna on a two meter prism pole use some sort of unit to pole mounting brack et and operate the unit similarly to those of RTK operations today Either method coupled with care in selecting your data MCS Mae JN Deadlines collection positions will help to reduce your positional error Thales also provides an external antenna with a 12 foot cord as an acces sory for the MobileMapper Other acces sories include a PC data cable an exter nal power cable with cigarette lighter adapter a power data cable and a PC cable with cigarette lighter adapter Since most newer laptop computers and other portables no longer include serial ports as stand
9. owledge of practicing land surveyors The Thales MobileMapper makes it possible for surveyors to expand their services and client bases at a minimal cost with this comparatively inexpensive handheld GPS tool With MobileMapper you ll be hard pressed to use the PI just wait until I can afford GPS excuse Iry one out for yourself and form your own opinion A wA IN aa A TA hike Cs i 9 be ALLEN PRECISION EQUIPMENT INC 1550 Boggs Road Set Your Sights on a Carbon RHDEN El riool Put your total station on a tripod you can trust BH The GT2000CF is the ultimate tripod Carbon fiber reinforced tubing gives you a combination of the two most important features the highest strength with the lowest weight You won t feel it getting heavier with every step when you re packing in to a setup And it has the same craftsmanship and design features that make all our tripods leaders in the industry Lightweight at 10 75 pounds stable and durable you will take it far afield and back with no complaints MN DUTCH HILL SOLID SUPPORT Made in the USA since 1985 1 800 227 9127 Tel 425 334 0169 Fax 425 335 1854 www dutchhill com We fill many orders for custom tripods ALLEN PRECISION EQUIPMENT Displayed with permission The American Surveyor March April Copyright 2004 Cheves Media www TheAmericanSurveyor com
10. professional planner in New Jersey and is a past president of the New Jersey Society of Professional Land Surveyors NJSPLS and mapping consumers Mobile Mapper comes with MobileMapper Office and MobileMapper Transfer soft ware to give the purchaser a complete solution The trial box that I recerved included data transfer cables as well as batteries MobileMapper will track up to 12 satellites with its 12 parallel channel tech nology It has a quadrifilar antenna which I will leave up to the electronic engineers to explain but like a total sta tion or GPS I do not need to know how to design one to learn to use it effective ly It does do the job In daily use it will begin tracking satellites in approximately 15 seconds and updates the screen every sec ond Off the shelf it takes about a minute or so to get acclimated to its position and begin tracking SVs From the time I powered this unit up after installing the batteries it took less than minute out in the open with a good clear view of the south ern sky The view to the southern sky is necessary for the WAAS signals but more on that later MobileMapper is 6 5 inches long 2 9 inches at its widest point about 1 2 inch es thick and fits easily in your hand It weighs about 8 ounces with two AA batteries aboard The 2 2 inch x 1 75 inch high contrast color LCD display is backlit and can be seen under bright sunlight The case houses the m
11. y it outside of the environ mental case in my shirt pocket Dust dirt and rain have unimpeded access Cleaning the card and blowing dust out of the slot has become almost a routine The Thales solution affords better pro tection for the card and the data Positional Accuracy The MobileMapper will operate from 14 to 140 F In warmer months with average temperatures the two AA Lithium Ion batteries give approximately eight hours of battery life with backlight and some 16 hours of battery life when the backlight is not used Battery life is less when operated in the colder climates and seasons External power sources from 9 to 35 volts DC can be used to extend battery life When the unit is not WAAS enabled positional accuracy at 95 2D RMS is specified at 7 meters WAAS enabled it is less than 3 meters These accuracies are subject to the amount of time on the point My opinion is that less than 2 5 meter accuracy can be achieved with Geographic Calculator longer feature occupation times in 2D positions I have approached that kind of accuracy with a non WAAS unit right after Selective Availability SA was turned off in May of 2000 This is where the surveyor s expertise comes into play Transmitted along with the collected fea tures can be a statement that this group of features was collected to a positional accuracy of x xx meters It is this expert ise that separates the experienced land surveyor from t
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