Chapter 2 - File Management - Best
Contents
1. 0 1 1 1 o o o 1 Total 3 31 31 o o o o o o o 3 For Help press F1 3D Geodetic View N 37 15 53 2 W 108 08 55 4 Ellip Hgt WG5 84 Degrees Meters For example the figure above shows that the data associated with the WGS 84 datum in the project for our BIGBASIN TXT network consists of 17 geodetic stations 17 cartesian stations 17 State Plane stations 17 UTM stations 5 Local NEUE stations 17 height type stations 2 24 Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc a total of 126 observations of mixed type After a file is opened this command can be invoked to verify the contents in the project Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc 2 25 Create XML File The FILE CREATE XML FILE command allows you to write all COLUMBUS station and observation data into an XML file This file type can be parsed using any of the available tools used for parsing XML e g MSXML parser Xerces Parser etc Extracting data from XML files is generally performed by an individual familiar with one or more software programming languages 2 26 Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc Printing Files The FILE PRINT option allows you to send the contents of the active view to a standard printer device This command presents a Print dialog box where you may specify the range of pages to be printed the number of copies the destination printer and other printer setup options Print2. Zenith angle and Slope Distance type To begin processing click Start You will be prompted for the names of all ASC files to process You will then be prompted for the name of the resulting COLUMBUS ASCII Text file to generate Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc 2 23 Station Observation Summary The Station Observation Summary dialog box allows you to view a summary of the data currently in the project including each datum name the number and type of stations associated with the datum the number and type of different observations associated with the datum All data within COLUMBUS are logically linked with the datum that was active at the time of entry or when the project file was loaded Each station name can have up to six station coordinate types Geodetic Cartesian State Plane UTM Local NEUE and Height Depending on the available system memory COLUMBUS can work with thousands of unique station names The first datum presented is the active datum for the current project Click on the PREV or NEXT buttons to scroll through all datums and their attached data configured in COLUMBUS Each datum is presented in alphabetical order COLUMBUS BIGBASIN TXT E x je View Data Network Results Tools Options Win DO EHA MAAMA E M 54 RX lt gt 44 42 D R BIGBASIN TXT ns Window Help WGS 84 r Stations Geodetic Cartesian State Plane UTM TM Local NEUE Height o 0
3. For Help press F1 3D Geodetic View N 37 15 54 1 W 108 14 28 7 Ellip Hgt WGS 84 Degrees Meters To append a file select the type of file to append see above As an alternative to typing in the file name you may use conventional wild cards to view a list of possible files When COLUMBUS displays the pathway and default file name use the backspace key to enter a wildcard Using The INCLUDE_FILE directive Use this keyword in your project file to include other files into the loading process When you load file A txt which includes file B txt both file A txt and file B txt will be loaded automatically The old way of performing this operation was to Open file A txt then Append file B txt and append all subsequent files For large projects with dozens of input files this process can be cumbersome Now you can simplify the process using the INCLUDE FILE keyword Sample You project consists of five files file A txt B txt C txt D txt and E txt and you want to load them automatically by selecting only one file from the FILE OPEN command Solution There are a number of solutions but perhaps the easiest to consider is the following Create a file Z txt and include the five files within this file Top of file Z txt which is located in the path c stations Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc 2 9 INCLUDE_FILE A txt INCLUDE_FILE obs B txt INCLUDE_FILE obs C txt INCLUDE_FILE obs D txt INC
4. Plane C UTM C Local NE Plane N S WE Horiz Angle 10 C NS WE ro a pe Zenth Angle m North East Coord m North East Quad Sign Laser Obs Stand Dev s Slope Distance 0 005 Current Input File START UP Files Processed 0 Output File START UP For Help press F1 3D Geodetic View N 37 16 01 6 W 108 11 45 7 ElipHgt WG584 Degrees Meters Before processing the data you must tell COLUMBUS the Datum you want these data associated with when loaded into COLUMBUS If you don t see your datum in the list you can add your datum into the COLUMBUS environment from within the DATA DATUMS dialog COLUMBUS also needs to know the North and East coordinate type if applicable in each ASC file and the quadrant sign for these coordinates e g is North and East positive etc Internally COLUMBUS treats North and East as positive South and West as negative By telling COLUMBUS the type of coordinates you have in the file they can be converted to the appropriate sign for usage in COLUMBUS Finally you must provide COLUMBUS with the Laser observation standard deviations if Laser observations are present in the file Trimble Geomatics Office does not supply this information in their Geomatics files but COLUMBUS requires this data for any observation type Defaults are provided by COLUMBUS The units of entry for each should be in the same units as each matching Laser observation type in the file Horizontal angle
5. STATEPLANE_TRAY TXT E GPSONLY TXT E TERRONLY TXT File name BIGBASIN TXT Save as type ASCII Text Files tt For Help press F1 3D Geodetic View N 37 15 59 2 W 107 54 49 3 Ellip Hgt WG5 84 Degrees Meters Use the FILE SAVE AS option to enter a new file name or use an existing file to write your data into When the FILE SAVE AS option is invoked a dialog box will appear displaying the current pathway You can then enter a new file name or select an existing file from the list To override the default file path enter in a different file path To write the data in the project to the selected file click on the OK button If the file already exists COLUMBUS will alert you with a warning message You may then overwrite the existing file by responding YES or respond NO to cancel out of the operation COLUMBUS does not automatically supply an extension to saved files Therefore it is your responsibility to provide a complete file name This gives you the flexibility to establish your own file naming convention Establishing a file naming strategy makes it easier to remember the type of data in each file at some later date 2 12 Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc Import File Data Third Party Files can also be imported in one step Imported data is loaded into your existing open project If you do not have a project open first invoke the FILE NEW command to create an empty new project Op
6. if you believe the covariance matrices are overly pessimistic larger than they should be Enter a number greater than 1 0 if you believe the covariance matrices are overly optimistic smaller than they should be You may base the scaler on past experience or according to the receiver manufacturer recommendation You can also scale individual baselines groups of baselines or all baselines using the keyword S_XYZ_COV described in Appendix A Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc 2 17 4 Click on the Start button to select a list of files to process The file path COLUMBUS uses by default can be defined by you in the OPTIONS DIRECTORIES dialog You can override the file path at any time Since this is a multi selectable list you can select more than one file at a time to process COLUMBUS BIGBASIN TXT Options Window Help BIGBASIN TXT For Help press F1 DS Hell xQ He E a SABM0u lt gt 4 Z 242113 IN GPS Vector Extraction Covariance Scaler GPS File Type fi Ashtech Float Solution I Ashech O files Use Long Station Names If Present Select One Or More Receiver Files Look in 2 Week_02_11_2008 gt rest cer Filename TEST obn Files of type OBN Files obn 3D Geodetic View N 37 16 04 8 W 108 08 42 7 ElipHgt WGS 84 Degrees Meters 5 To select two or more individual files hold the CTRL key down while clicking on each file To select
7. if you edit the coordinates for a station control stations for example within this file you only need to modify the first instance of each GEO or GEO COMPACT station coordinate record 9 Each extracted baseline will have three records in the resulting ASCII Text file Two GEO or GEO_COMPACT records and one GPS or GPS_COMPACT record See Appendix A for a description of these record types Each GEO or GEO COMPACT record one for the AT station and one for the TO station contains the WGS 84 geodetic approximate coordinate definition All standard deviation fields are set to a small value The GPS or GPS COMPACT record contains the baseline delta X Y and Z components and the covariance matrix elements Each GPS or GPS COMPACT record is preceded by a comment indicating the baseline solution type and the receiver manufacturer file from which it was extracted After you select the output file COLUMBUS will begin extracting the baseline data from each selected GPS file As each file is processed the CURRENT INPUT FILE message will be updated to reflect the current file in process The BASELINES PROCESSED and FILES PROCESSED counters will also be updated to reflect the number of baselines and files successfully processed Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc 2 19 Convert 3rd Party Files Other Formats The FILE CONVERT 3RD PARTY FILES command provides access to built in data conversion tools for third party files These t
8. scaler and the option to use long station names when found in each O file Click OK and the GPS baseline vector data will be imported into the project Ashtech O files are binary files They cannot be read by text editors Thales OBN Files To import Thales OBN File data simply select one or more OBN Files You will then be presented with a dialog that includes choices for solution type covariance scaler and the option to use long station names when found in each OBN file Click OK and the GPS baseline vector data will be imported into the project Thales OBN files are binary files They cannot be read by text editors Leica SKI ASC Files Import GPS vectors from Leica post processing files created with the SKI post processing software Each Leica file contains one or more baseline solutions These files can usually be identified by their ASC file extension Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc 2 13 Trimble SSF and SSK Files GPS data from Trimble post processing files created with the Trimble post processing software including Trimble Geo Office ASC Files Sections supported in the ASC file include General Stations GPS Terrestrial Laser Level Run Trimble JXL Files This is an XML based file Currently only GPS observations can be imported RW5 and RAW Files Currently only supports importing of GPS observations Google Earth KML Files Import WGS 84 geodeti
9. trays for different paper sources Specify the tray here Options Displays a dialog box where you can make additional choices about printing specific to the type of printer you have selected Network Choose this button to connect to a network location assigning it a new drive letter Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc 2 29 1 2 3 4 5 6 Command The 1 2 3 4 option allows you to open the last six projects you closed by using the numbers and filenames listed at the bottom of the FILE menu Choose the number that corresponds with the project you want to open 2 30 Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc Exit This option allows you to exit COLUMBUS This is the only clean method for terminating a COLUMBUS session and insuring all memory has been restored for other applications You can also use the Close command on the application Control menu If any changes have been made to the data in the project a warning message will be given This will allow you to save your changes to a data file and then exit Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc 2 31 2 32 Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc
10. Chapter 2 File Managem ent updated September 5 2009 General DISCUSSION iii E da A aa a iai ka as 2 3 Creating New Project ocoo ooccccooocccor te ee tee eee 2 5 Open Existing Project d tei he ee ee ede an saaa eee od dla aa ia aaa a oe ee 2 6 Append Existing Project corona Di de a eel ee ad ee at a edd 2 8 Close Project oirrsa a tt 2 11 Save Project cri E r A A AA E E a aa a aa 2 12 Import File Data 2944 kui e AA a a a A sa a a d AA 2 13 Convert 3rd Party Files GPS Data o ooocccccccc nanan nananana aaa 2 15 Convert 3rd Party Files Other Formats o ooccocccccco eee eae 2 20 Station Observation Summary 0 2 24 Create XML Fil crrr a ee ee i a a a ee ee ee 2 26 Printing iii dd AA de d a tae S a A ee ee ee 2 27 125 3 4 5 O COMMING dd 2 30 Exiting COLUMBUS iai ks do S A I le BE A da 2 31 Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc 2 1 2 2 Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc General Discussion The FILE module facilitates data file management by offering the following commands New Open Append Close Save Save As Import Convert 3rd Party Files Station Observation Summary Create XML File Print Print Preview Print Setup Exit Creates a new project Opens an existing project or imports delimited coordinate files Appends data to the current project or imports delimited coordinate files Closes the opened project Saves the opened project using the same file nam
11. Computing Inc Append Existing Project The FILE APPEND command allows you to append an existing project file to the current project This is useful when combining data from several separate sources into one large project ASCII Text files can be created from within COLUMBUS or by using an external text editing program or other third party software This is the standard file format supported by COLUMBUS The format of several sample ASCII Text files are described in APPENDIX A NETWORK files are simply ASCII Text files with additional information embedded within them fixed stations option settings etc This file type is typically created after a network adjustment or pre analysis by invoking the NETWORK SAVE NETWORK command Delimited coordinates files are ASCII Text files that are usually created by an external source Each line in the file contains the same coordinate type separated by the delimiter for example station name Latitude Longitude height You must first set up the import file format within the OPTIONS IMPORT FILE SETUP USER DEFINED dialog before loading this file type COLUMBUS BIGBASIN TXT E Tex le View Data Netwo Results Tools Option wine telp PECERA BIGBASIN TXT Look in 23 Golden z be E E BEAR2D TXT E MIXED TXT E TRIGLEVEL TXT BIGBASIN TXT E NEE TXT E UTM TxT BIGBASIN_NET TXT E NEE_TRAW TXT E UTM_TRAV TXT ceo txt E STATEPLANE TST E VE
12. Dialog Box The Print dialog box provides the following options which allow you to specify how the project should be printed Printer This is the active printer and printer connection Choose the Setup option to change the printer and printer connection Setup Displays a Print Setup dialog box so you can select a printer and printer connection Print Range Specify the pages you want to print All Prints the entire project Pages Prints the range of pages you specify in the From and To boxes Copies Specify the number of copies you want to print for the above page range Collate Copies Prints copies in page number order instead of separated multiple copies of each page Print Quality Select the quality of the printing Generally lower quality printing takes less time to produce Printing Dialog Box The Printing dialog box is shown during the time that COLUMBUS is sending output to the printer The page number indicates the progress of the printing To abort printing choose Cancel Print Preview Command Use this command to display the current view as it would appear when printed When you choose this command the main window will be replaced with a print preview window in which one or two pages will be displayed in their printed format The print preview toolbar offers you options to view either one or two pages at a time move back and forth through the view zoom in and out of pages and initiate a print job Print Preview Tool
13. Geodetic option from the View menu Set the average elevation for the project by specifying the 2D Height found in the OPTIONS GLOBAL SETTINGS dialog If the bearings contained within the GMM files are average bearings average between each connected station pair turn on the Rotate Bearings option as well For more information on the Rotate Bearings option see the Options chapter of this manual You are now ready to perform 2D geodetic network adjustments with this data You can also export the coordinates whether the adjusted geodetic or the adjusted and transformed State Plane or Local Plane to a coordinate file for input into other software systems such as GIS 2 22 Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc Converting Trimble Data Exchange ASC Files The FILES CONVERT 3RD PARTY FILES CONVERT TRIMBLE GEO OFFICE ASC Files command allows you to extract coordinates and observations from the Trimble Data Exchange ASC file type These files may contain Geodetic coordinates rectangular coordinates GPS observations terrestrial observations and or laser observations see the Trimble Geomatics Office software for more detail on the format of these files Extracted coordinates and observations are written into a COLUMBUS compatible ASCII Text file which can be loaded directly by COLUMBUS COLUMBUS BIGBASIN TXT le View Data N esults Tools Option nde telp OSHERA S EAA Aa gt AEn R BIGBASIN TXT State
14. LUDE_FILE c gps obs E txt Bottom of file Z txt To load all these files invoke the FILE OPEN command and select file Z txt NOTES 2 10 If the included file name is a relative file name does not contain a full path COLUMBUS will append the relative path provided to the path of file Z txt to obtain the search path for this file In the example shown above the search path for file A txt will become c stations A txt For the next three files the search path will become c stations obs B txt etc The E txt file will be searched for in path c gps obs E txt Files that are included in the current file being loaded will not be loaded until the current file is completely loaded In the above example file Z txt will be processed in its entirety before file A txt B txt C txt D txt or E txt will be loaded Since stations should generally be loaded prior to the observations that reference these stations be sure to structure your file loading accordingly Whether you are using the FILE APPEND command or the INCLUDE_FILE keyword matching coordinate type data found in files 2 n will overwrite similar coordinate type data from files 1 n 1 Suppose the first file loaded contains State Plane coordinate data for station BBB and the third file loaded also contains State Plane coordinate data for station BBB When the third file is loaded its data for State Plane station BBB will replace the data loaded fr
15. RTICAL TXT E GEO_TRAW TXT E STATEPLANE_TRAY TXT E Zl TERRONLY TXT GPSONLY TXT ASCII Text Files txt For Help press F1 3D Geodetic View N 37 15 54 1 W 108 14 28 7 ElipHgt WG584 Degrees Meters COLUMBUS BINARY files were created in earlier versions of COLUMBUS This file type can no longer be created in COLUMBUS but it can still be opened FORMATTED GPS files are those which are created by some external source These are readable ASCII Text type files The format for the FORMATTED GPS file is shown in APPENDIX B They are seldom used anymore When the APPEND option is invoked the chosen file will be loaded and the data will be added to data already in the current project Once a file has been appended the data can be altered then saved to the same file or to a new file using the standard FILE SAVE or FILE SAVE AS command 2 8 Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc If the file you are opening is not detected as any of the above types COLUMBUS will prompt you to specify the file type Select the type and COLUMBUS will attempt to load the file as that type You will always see this dialog box when attempting to load a comma delimited coordinate file COLUMBUS BIGBASIN TXT le ew Data Ne Dr esults Tools Options Winde Help DO SHAI MESAKNA EB 1954 Ko DJI A L Anly dla BIGBASIN TXT s File Name c program files best fit computing columbus demo 3 7 sample
16. TXT Select the applicable coordinate ype near unis and datum which describe the data contained within the LSA files to be processed j USA Coordinate Type LSA Linear Unis LS Datum iate Plane north east le Meters NAD 83 C US Feet C NAD 27 Help C Intl Feet Start Set up the standard deviations for each ion type found within the LSA files to be processed For distances also provide the PPM Sees e to begin the conversion process Stan Dev Bearing sec 01 za Horiz Dist linear 0 01 3 Current Input File START UP Files Processed 0 Dutput File START UP ana i processing your files load ae resins ASCII pute file into COLUMBUS and transform the ates either State Plane ne to geodetic Keep the coordinates into memory and vals the FILE SAVE AS tae ie ae Set the view to View 2D Geodetic Set the Options Global Settings 2D Height to the average coe for the project and Rol oe e Baainge lo ON You are now ready to perform 2D geodetic k adjustments with this dat For Help press F1 3D Geodetic View N 37 16 04 6 W 108 11 00 4 Elip Hgt WGS 84 Degrees Meters AS with any 2D and 3D geodetic network adjustment COLUMBUS allows you to view your adjustment results online which helps when looking for blunders and estimates of precision Adjusted coordinates can easily be transformed back to State Plane or Local North East coordinates for reporting purposes Set the view to 2D Geodetic by selecting the 2D
17. UMBUS format using the latest lobToColumbus exe file conversion tool available from our web site www bestfit com Topcon GeoComp These are ASCII Text files Each file contains one baseline solution Topcon also allows you to create Ashtech O files which we directly support Trimble GPS data from several Trimble post processing files created with the Trimble post processing software including Single 640 ASCII files Binary SSF files and Binary SSK files The Single 640 solution files are text files including the FIX TRP and FLT files which can be viewed by you They contain one solution per file The SSF files are binary files which cannot be viewed by you They contain one or more solutions per file The SSK files are binary files which cannot be viewed by you They contain one or more solutions per file Post Processing files created using the WAVE Baseline Processor should be extracted using the WAVE option Trimble Geomatics Office files are processed using the Trimble Geo Office option within COLUMBUS at FILE CONVERT 3RD PARTY FILES TRIMBLE GEO OFFICE See Other Formats in the next section 3 Determine if the covariance matrix for each baseline should be scaled and enter a COVARIANCE SCALER if needed The COVARIANCE SCALER should be left as 1 0 unless you have some a priori knowledge that the derived covariance matrix for each baseline is either too small or too large Enter a number less than 1 0
18. a inclusive group of files hold the SHIFT key down while clicking on the topmost and bottommost file 2 18 names The following options allow you to specify from which GPS files to extract baselines As each selected file is processed the baseline data is written to a selectable ASCII text file You will be prompted for the ASCII text filename File Name List Files of Type Drives Type or select the filenames you want to process You can either type the filenames directly separated by single spaces or select multiple filenames from the list using conventional combinations of the left mouse button and the Shift Control or Alt keys This box lists files with the extension you select in the List Files of Type box Select the type of file from which you want to extract GPS baselines The type of files presented is dependent upon the GPS file type selected in the previous dialog box For example if you selected Leica Solution for the GPS file type the file types available for selection would be Leica Files ASC All Files Select the drive in which your GPS baseline files are stored Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc Directories Select the directory in which GPS baseline files are stored Network Choose this button to connect to a network location assigning it a new drive letter 7 Write to ASCII Text file dialog box This dialog box is where you select the ASCII Text file to wh
19. bar The print preview toolbar offers you the following options Print Bring up the print dialog box to start a print job Next Page Preview the next printed page Prev Page Preview the previous printed page Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc 2 27 One Page Two Page Preview one or two printed pages at a time Zoom In Take a closer look at the printed page Zoom Out Take a larger look at the printed page Close Return from print preview to the editing window COLUMBUS BIGBASIN TXT ajaja Print Newt Page _Prev Page Two Page il Page 1 BD Geodetic View N 37 15 28 9 W 108 02 11 4 Ellip Hgt WGS 84 Degrees Meters Print Setup Command Use this command to select a printer and a printer connection This command presents a Print Setup dialog box where you specify the printer and its connection Print Setup Dialog Box The Print Setup dialog box provides the following options which allow you to select the destination printer and its connection Printer Select the printer you want to use Choose the Default Printer or choose the Specific Printer option and select one of the current installed printers shown in the box You install printers and configure ports using the Windows Control Panel Orientation Choose Portrait or Landscape 2 28 Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc Paper Size Select the size of paper that the project is to be printed on Paper Source Some printers offer multiple
20. c coordinates found in the KML file Coordinate values found inside the LookAt and coordinates element are supported When reading the geodetic coordinates from the coordinates element each set of coordinates is assigned a unique id at the end of the common to all coordinates station name This is a great way to create networks for design Simply run Google Earth create your coordinate positions then save the data to a KML file Import the coordinates into COLUMBUS define your observations and expected errors and you are ready for computing the network design pre analysis statistics 2 14 Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc Convert 3rd Party Files GPS Data The FILE CONVERT 3RD PARTY FILES command provides access to built in data conversion tools for third party files These tools allow you to convert other vendor files into COLUMBUS compatible ASCII Text input files In the early days of COLUMBUS all file conversion tools were embedded directly into the COLUMBUS application Today all new file conversion tools are provided as stand alone applications outside COLUMBUS The latest stand alone file conversion tools can be downloaded from our web site www bestfit com Many of these formats can also be imported This section details the GPS baseline file conversion tools that are built into COLUMBUS They are used to extract GPS baseline data stations and observations from the following GPS receiver manufacturers po
21. d several files at once by using the INCLUDE_FILE keyword described in Appendix A It is important to remember that all data entered using the DATA input grids will be physically linked to the active datum Therefore if a project is to be constructed on the NAD 83 datum make that datum active in the OPTIONS DATUMS module before entering your data in the DATA module 2 4 Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc Creating New Project The FILE NEW option creates a new empty project This command is useful prior to entering new data using the DATA input grids COLUMBUS NoName1 EEE File View Data Network Results Tools Options Window Help DOS H RKAS oc KA KKAAG E a SA Roo gt A A Ls 80 NR NoName1 For Help press F1 3D Geodetic View JEllip Hot NAD 83 Degrees Meters When a new project is created an empty view is displayed Within COLUMBUS you can open and view one project at a time All processing within COLUMBUS is performed on the currently opened project Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc 2 5 Open Existing Project The FILE OPEN command allows you to open an existing compatible COLUMBUS project file ASCII Text files can be created from within COLUMBUS or by using an external text editing program or other third party software This is the standard file format supported by COLUMBUS The format of several sample ASCII Text files are described in APPENDIX A NETWORK files are simpl
22. e Saves an opened project to a specified file name Import OPUS Coordinate or G File data Converts 3rd party data to COLUMBUS compatible ASCII Text files Views station and observation types for each datum Creates an XML file containing all the current data in the project Prints the contents of the current view Displays the current view on the screen as it would appear printed Selects a printer and printer connection Exits COLUMBUS Files can be created opened and saved A separate text editor can be used to create ASCII Text input files which can be read directly by COLUMBUS Several example ASCII Text files are listed in APPENDIX A There are several others installed in the Sample Projects folder All data files created by COLUMBUS are in readable ASCII Text format To obtain a printout of the data within the project use the FILE SAVE AS ASCII Text option This file can then be printed from any text editor COLUMBUS can OPEN five types of input data files 1 2 Network files ASCII Text files This is the primary input file to COLUMBUS These files can be created within COLUMBUS or by using an external text editor such as Notepad Please see Appendix A for a complete description of the many keywords that can be use within this file type This file is the same as the ASCII Text file with additional keywords added for defining the station and observations that are in the network Files of thi
23. e created by some external source These are readable ASCII Text type files The format for the FORMATTED GPS file is shown in APPENDIX B They are seldom used anymore When the OPEN command is invoked the project file s are loaded into COLUMBUS Once a file has been opened the data can be altered and saved to the same file or to a new file using the standard FILE SAVE or FILE SAVE AS commands 2 6 Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc COLUMBUS To open a file select the type of file to open see above As an alternative to typing in the file name you may use conventional wild cards to view a list of possible files When COLUMBUS displays the pathway and default file name use the backspace key to enter a wildcard File View Data Network Results Tools Options Window Help OSHEE S EAMA AE e S px ES A Koa e lt gt I A A Aralo 0 Specifiy File Type To Load Save EA ere c program files best fit computing columbus 3 7 sample reports geo rpt File Type ic Dedicate Real Hebb For Help press F1 3D Geodetic View Elip Hot wa584 Degrees Meters If the file you are opening is not detected as any of the above types COLUMBUS will prompt you to specify the file type Select the type and COLUMBUS will attempt to load the file as that type You will always see this dialog box when attempting to load a comma delimited coordinate file Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit
24. erform ongoing adjustments within the NETWORK module Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc 2 15 GPS Receiver Support GPS baselines from supported receivers can be integrated into your ongoing geodetic projects Best Fit Computing will support any commercially available GPS system designed for surveying If the system you own or plan to purchase is not listed above contact us about developing a stand alone file conversion tool Step by step instruction for extracting GPS vectors For all manufacturer post processing software Ashtech Leica Motorola and Trimble follows these steps to extract GPS vectors 1 Selectthe FILE CONVERT 3RD PARTY FILES GPS RECIEVER FILES command The GPS Vector Extraction dialog box will appear COLUMBUS BIGBASIN TXT E Je x le View ata Networ e Too ys eli DO SHE x a BB K a ele S A Kuo lt gt A A A mla D a BIGBASIN TXT Covariance Scaler GPS File Type fi Trimble WAVE Solution I Ashech O files Use Long Station Names If Present Current Input File START UP Baselines Processed 0 Files Processed Output File START UP Start For Help press F1 3D Geodetic View N 37 16 04 8 W 108 08 42 7 Elip Hat WG584 Degrees Meters 2 Select the GPS File Type you wish to process Vendors use different file formats for their baseline data Some use one file format for all GPS survey types Others use several file formats Ashtech GPS basel
25. hin the LSA files to be processed For distances also provide the PPM Select Start to begin the conversion process Stan Dev i 01 NOTE If the azimuth observations within the LSA files nilas are Grid Azimuths they must be modified to geodetic R E azimuths true northing based in the resulting ASCII Hariz Angle sec PPM Text file before using them within COLUMBUS Distance linear 0 01 3 Current Input File START UP Files Processed 0 Output File START UP After processing your files load the resulting ASCII Text file into COLUMBUS and transform the coordinates either State Plane or Local Plane to geodetic Keep the coordinates into memory and invoke the FILE SAVE AS option to save Set the view to View 2D Geodetic and the Options Global Settings 2D Height to the average elevation for the project You are now ready to perform 2D geodetic network adjustments with this For Help press F1 3D Geodetic View N 37 16 03 1 W 108 11 47 5 Ellip Hgt WGS 84 Degrees Meters Converting CMM LSA Files The FILES CONVERT 3RD PARTY FILES CONVERT CMM LSA Files command allows you to extract coordinates and observations from the CMM LSA file type These files consist of State Plane or Local Plane rectangular coordinates along with these field observations Azimuths Horizontal Angles and 2 20 Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc Horizontal Distances Extracted coordinates and observati
26. ich to write the extracted station and observation data This file type can be directly loaded by COLUMBUS in the FILE module You can also edit this file with any third party text editor In this dialog box you can perform any of these actions Type in a full file name in the input box Type in a file name with wildcards which filters the files in the Files list box to match your specifications Choose a file specification from a history list of file specifications you entered earlier during the current COLUMBUS session View the contents of different directories by selecting a directory name in the Files list box You should develop a naming convention for all your ASCII Text data files One way to do this is to provide a common extension like TXT ASC etc which you can easily recognize That way you will not inadvertently overwrite an ASCII Text data file with some other file type 8 Station definitions may be repeated several times within the resulting ASCII Text file Each time a station is encountered in a new observation set the current approximate geodetic coordinates for the station are written to the ASCII Text file using the SGEO or GEO COMPACT record type When this file is loaded into COLUMBUS only the first instance of a new geodetic station type is loaded i e if station BEN occurs several times in the file as a GEO record only the first instance of geodetic station BEN will be loaded Therefore
27. ine data from Ashtech post processing O files These are binary files which cannot be directly viewed by you Some 3 rd party vendors also create this file type e g OBN files Each 0 file contains one Float and one Fixed baseline set The extracted vectors are written to an ASCII Text file which can be loaded directly by COLUMBUS Leica GPS baseline data from Leica post processing files created with the SKI post processing software Each Leica file contains one or more baseline solutions These files can usually be identified by their ASC file extension Furthermore the first two records within the file will look something like 2 16 Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc the following Unit m Coordinate type Cartesian For the above example m meters Cartesian could be Geodetic Note The files you create with the SKI software must be in Cartesian form COLUMBUS cannot accept the coordinate data within these files in Geodetic form Motorola GPS baseline data from Motorola post processing files created from Eagle GPS receivers These are ASCII files which can be directly viewed by you Each file contains one or more baseline sets which can be identified by their BSL extension This file type is rarely used anymore Sokkia GPS Receivers Sokkia supports the creation of many different file formats You can even create a GeoLab compatible file that we can convert to the COL
28. om the first file for State Plane station BBB With this in mind structure your loading process so that the last files loaded contain your known good coordinate data Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc Close Project The FILE CLOSE command allows you to close the current project and all windows related to the current project COLUMBUS will prompt you to save your project if you have made changes to your data If you close a project without saving you will lose all changes made since the last time you saved it Before closing an untitled project COLUMBUS will display the SAVE AS dialog box and prompt you to name and save the project Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc 2 11 Save Project The FILE SAVE and FILE SAVE AS commands allow you to save the data currently in the project to a COLUMBUS ASCII Text file This file type can be loaded back into COLUMBUS by using the FILE OPEN or FILE APPEND option The FILE SAVE or FILE SAVE AS option should be invoked often during data entry and or editing within COLUMBUS to prevent data loss in the event of a power failure or system crash COLUMBUS BIGBASIN TXT BEE LDeH6 AR x a Ba K K BA BIGBASIN TXT Save A Data File Save in CQ Golden E BEAR2D TXT E MIxED TXT El TRIGLEVEL TXT NEE TXT El utm txt 5 BIGBASIN_NET TxT E NEE_TRAV TXT El UTM_TRAV TXT E GEO TxT E STATEPLANE TXT E VERTICAL TXT E GEO_TRAW TXT E
29. ons are written into a COLUMBUS compatible ASCII Text file which can be loaded directly by COLUMBUS Data from these files can be used for 2D geodetic adjustments at an average project height Before processing the data you must tell COLUMBUS the coordinate type in each CMM LSA file the linear units for the data in the file and the Datum upon which the coordinates are based You must also tell COLUMBUS the Azimuth Horizontal Angle and Horizontal Distance standard deviations you want COLUMBUS to assign for each of these extracted observation types For Horizontal Distances you should also provide a PPM correction To begin processing click Start You will be prompted for the names of all CMM LSA files to process You will then be prompted for the name of the resulting COLUMBUS ASCII Text file to generate After processing your files load the resulting ASCII Text file into COLUMBUS and transform the coordinates either State Plane or Local Plane to geodetic by selecting the appropriate command from the TOOLS TRANSFORMATION menu Keep the coordinates into memory and select the Save As command from the File menu to save your file Note If you have never transformed Local Plane NEU coordinates to geodetic coordinates in COLUMBUS please review the Transformation section of the Tools Chapter of this manual for a detailed example The key element is selecting a point of tangency between the Earth s ellipsoidal surface and the fla
30. ools allow you to convert other vendor files into COLUMBUS compatible ASCII Text input files In the early days of COLUMBUS all file conversion tools were embedded directly into the COLUMBUS application Today all new file conversion tools are provided as stand alone applications outside COLUMBUS The latest stand alone file conversion tools can be downloaded from our web site www bestfit com This section details the other file conversion tools that are built into COLUMBUS They are used to extract station and observation data from the following third party files e CMM LSA e GMM LSA Trimble Data Exchange format ASC CMM file types are created using the Cadastral Measurement Management System Software GMM file types are created using the Geographic Measurement Management System Software Both of these software packages were developed jointly by the Bureau of Land Management and the University of Maine Trimble Data Exchange format files are created using the Trimble Geomatics Office Software COLUMBUS BIGBASIN TXT D SAEN Ee KE o E IDA ESA AN BIGBASIN TXT Select the applicable coordinate type linear units and datum which describe the data contained within the LSA files to be processed LSA Coordinate Type LSA Linear Units LSA Datum Sia si Meters NAD 83 C Local Plane north east C US Feet C NAD 27 C Intl Feet Set up the standard deviations for each observation type found wit
31. rage project height Before processing the data you must tell COLUMBUS the coordinate type in each GMM LSA file the linear units for the data in the file and the Datum upon which the coordinates are based You must also tell COLUMBUS the Bearing Horizontal and Distances standard deviations you want COLUMBUS to assign for each of these extracted observation types For Horizontal Distances you should also provide a PPM correction Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc 2 21 To begin processing click Start You will be prompted for the names of all GMM LSA files to process You will then be prompted for the name of the resulting COLUMBUS ASCII Text file to generate After processing your files load the resulting ASCII Text file into COLUMBUS and transform the coordinates either State Plane or Local Plane to geodetic by selecting the appropriate command from the TOOLS TRANSFORMATION menu Keep the coordinates into memory and select the Save As command from the File menu to save your file COLUMBUS please review the Transformation section of the Tools Chapter of this manual for a detailed example The key element is selecting a point of tangency between the Earth s ellipsoidal surface and the flat surface of the tangent plane From this point all Local North and East coordinates can be transformed to 2D geodetic coordinates latitude and longitude COLUMBUS BIGBASIN TXT E e fx ear RAR ES Ea D Ik BIGBASIN
32. s type can be created after an adjustment from within the Copyright 1998 2009 Best Fit Computing Inc 2 3 3 Delimited Coordinate files 4 Binary files 5 FORMATTED GPS files NETWORK SAVE NETWORK dialog box They can also be created using an external text editor e g Notepad See Appendix A for all applicable keywords that can be embedded into this file type These are ASCII Text files containing coordinates that COLUMBUS supports Lat Long State Plane North State Plane East etc Each line in the file contains the same type of coordinate data for example station name Latitude longitude Each coordinate component is separated by a delimiter Often a comma is used To open these files you must set up COLUMBUS to recognize the exact format of the file See the OPTIONS chapter on how to set up the import format This binary file type is no longer created within COLUMBUS They can still be loaded for backward compatibility This ASCII file type is no longer created within COLUMBUS They can still be loaded for backward compatibility After a file has been opened new data can be added to the current data set using the DATA input screen dialog boxes Additionally files can be appended to the data currently in the project using any the FILE APPEND option This makes it very easy for you to build a single data set from several previously created data files Rather than using the FILE APPEND command you can also loa
33. st processing software Ashtech Leica Motorola Topcon GeoComp Trimble Data extracted from these files are written to a COLUMBUS ASCII Text compatible input file that can be opened into COLUMBUS using the FILE OPEN or FILE APPEND command Other receiver manufacturers generally have the ability to create the above receiver file types or they can create NGS Bluebook files Bluebook files can be converted using the latest BBookToColumbus exe file conversion tool For each baseline COLUMBUS extracts the AT and TO station names their approximate coordinates the baseline vector and the covariance matrix The covariance matrix is used to weight each baseline during a network adjustment The approximate coordinates are usually in WGS 84 ECEF Earth Centered Earth Fixed cartesian form The conversion tool automatically transforms these to WGS 84 geodetic coordinates before writing them into the resulting ASCII Text file Western longitudes are negative Eastern longitudes are positive GPS baseline extraction for the entire project can be completed in one session or over the life of your project With the INCLUDE_FILE keyword see Appendix A you can create one master txt file and include hundreds of session files After weeks of collecting data you can then load the master txt file which will automatically load the included files You can then verify loop closures within the TOOLS COGO 3D GEODETIC TRAVERSE option or p
34. t surface of the tangent plane From this point all Local North and East coordinates can be transformed to 2D geodetic coordinates latitude and longitude As with any 2D and 3D geodetic network adjustment COLUMBUS allows you to view your adjustment results online which helps when looking for blunders and estimates of precision Adjusted coordinates can easily be transformed back to State Plane or Local North East coordinates for reporting purposes Set the view to 2D Geodetic by selecting the 2D Geodetic option from the View menu Set the average elevation for the project by specifying the 2D Height found in the OPTIONS GLOBAL SETTINGS dialog You are now ready to perform 2D geodetic network adjustments with this data You can also export the coordinates whether the adjusted geodetic or the adjusted and transformed State Plane or Local Plane to a coordinate file for input into other software systems such as GIS Converting GMM LSA Files The FILES CONVERT 3RD PARTY FILES CONVERT GMM LSA Files command allows you to extract coordinates and observations from the GMM LSA file type These files consist of State Plane or Local Plane rectangular coordinates along with these observations Bearings and Horizontal Distances Extracted coordinates and observations are written into a COLUMBUS compatible ASCII Text file which can be loaded directly by COLUMBUS Data from these files can be used for 2D geodetic adjustments at an ave
35. us Files For Extended OPUS solutions COLUMBUS will import the geodetic and coordinate observation data ENU covariance matrix from each selected OPUS file One geodetic station and one geodetic coordinate observation will be created in your project for each Extended OPUS solution For NON Extended OPUS solutions COLUMBUS will import the geodetic data from each selected OPUS file One geodetic station will be created in your project for each NON Extended OPUS solution You can also import Blue Book G File baseline data by first copying the G File data from the Opus file into a text editor Notepad saving that file and then using the import G File option described below Coordinate Delimited Files To import Coordinate Delimited files first set up the file format template in the OPTIONS IMPORT FILE SETUP USER DEFINED dialog See the Import File Setup topic in Chapter Eight of the User Manual Multiple files can be imported in one step BlueBook G Files To import BlueBook G File data simply select one or more G Files GPS baseline vector data will be imported into the project If there are no Coordinate records G records in the file the stations will be assigned latitude and longitude coordinates of ZERO Records supported include A B C D E F and G Ashtech O Files To import Ashtech O File data simply select one or more O Files You will then be presented with a dialog that includes choices for solution type covariance
36. y ASCII Text files with additional information embedded within them fixed stations option settings etc This file type is typically created after a network adjustment or pre analysis by invoking the NETWORK SAVE NETWORK command Delimited coordinates files are ASCII Text files that are usually created by an external source Each line in the file contains the same coordinate type separated by the delimiter for example station name Latitude Longitude height You must first set up the import file format within the OPTIONS IMPORT FILE SETUP USER DEFINED dialog before loading this file type COLUMBUS SEE File View Data Da ele ols Options Window Help SZAAR Elo E 9 54 Roo lt gt 1 A AE RITO IN Open A Data File Look in Sample Projects y e e Ed Zl BEAR2D TXT El MIXED TXT Zl TRIGLEVEL TXT a B1GBASIN TXT El Nee TxT El uTMaxT E BIGBASIN_NET TXT E NEE TRAV TXT E UTM_TRAY TXT E GEO TxT E STATEPLANE TXT E VERTICAL TXT E GEO_TRAV TXT El STATEPLANE_TRAW TXT E GPSONLY TXT E TERRONLY TXT J AGA E Filename BIGBASIN TXT Files of type ASCII Text Files txt Cancel A For Help press F1 BD Geodetic View Ellip Hgt was 84 Degrees Meters COLUMBUS BINARY files were created in earlier versions of COLUMBUS This file type can no longer be created in COLUMBUS but it can still be opened FORMATTED GPS files are those which ar
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