Most land surveyors keep some form of hand notes regardless of their data collection platform, which means that trusty. The Recon comes with a stylus for tapping the screen, and there is a convenient stylus holder on the back. The instrument was leveled and turned on. The Recon was connected to the gun via the cable, and the manuals were ready. After scoping out the area, we chose the traverse station points and set up the gun to let it acclimate itself to the ambient conditions. Warning signs and cones were set up and a site investigation was conducted. Speeders, radio blasters, bus drivers playing 'how close can we get to the surveyor without hitting him,' and inattentive drivers were plentiful.

The East Hills area of Pittsburgh was our destination for an existing conditions survey for intersection improvements of mostly traffic striping and traffic signals. I was to be the note keeper, as well as plug-in help on the rod and flagman for traffic. BJ had less than two days’ experience using the total station that was now in the shop. Since my 'senior' eyes with their blended trifocals have given up a couple of seconds of accuracy when turning traverse station angles, I made the decision to have BJ, our surveyor’s assistant, run the gun. As luck would have it, our regular party chief was on vacation. Because our regular total station had 'electronically burped,' giving us an error code and refusing to start again even after a battery change and cold booting, we started the project with a rented total station. The road project we were working on began in July, during what was perhaps the hottest week of the summer. With this background in mind, I’ll report on just how TDS Survey Pro 4.0 was put to the test. But for those who are new to the profession, the experience can be something else entirely. When you are a 'senior' member of the profession, some of your experience can reduce that stress in terms of general knowledge. Of course, this means there is some learning under pressure which also adds to the stress of the situation.

Prior to writing a product review, my job is to use the equipment and software on real jobs, under the pressure and conditions that most of us face day to day. And, when the chips are down, you can rely on old friends, as you will read about in this review. Old friends bring back fond memories of good times together. I have used TDS software at some of the companies I have worked for, and I’ve written articles on TDS software on both the HP 48 platform and the Pocket PC platforms when I reported on the TDS Recon.

Writing about TDS Survey Pro 4.0 is like talking about an old friend. A 562Kb PDF of this article as it appeared in the magazine-complete with images-is available by clicking HERE

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