Trimble Business Center (TBC) v5.30 was released April 27, 2020. This release features for CAD and drafting, surfaces, tunnels and corridors, mobile mapping and working with field data.
Trimble Business Center (TBC) v5.31 was released August 3rd, 2020. This latest release (download it here using the form on this page) features baseline processing, drafting, point clouds, construction data, and mobile mapping. The highlights are detailed following the v5.30 information.
v5.30 Release
CAD Command Line
Use the new Command Line to run dozens of CAD commands by simply entering command aliases, keyboard shortcuts, and values (with occasional picking in graphic views). Most commands for creating and editing 2D and 3D CAD objects are supported on the Command Line, and you can run the commands in the Plan View, 3D View, Sheet View, and Cutting Plane View. Using the Command Line is more keyboard-focused and therefore more efficient than running commands from the Command Pane.
Prompts on the Command Line guide you through the sequence and most of the options that are available in Command Pane versions of commands. As you work through a command on Command Line, your entries and any results are shown and will scroll up in the log above the Command Line. Press [F2] to open the Command Line. To see a list of all of the supported commands, enter “?” at the prompt. (See “Run Commands from the Command Line” in the TBC Help.)
Surfaces
Two new commands for surface tools include:
- Flatten Surface
Allows you to automatically remove outlier vertices from a surface, resulting in a flatter surface. - Create Surface Intersection Line
Allows you to automatically create a linestring at the intersection of two surfaces.
Tunnel Workflows
TBC v5.3 provides enhancements for corridor workflows including:
- Display road corridors in the Tunnel View
You can view road corridors that use the same alignment as the selected tunnel design (for example, a road that runs through the tunnel) in the Tunnel View. This enables you to easily compare the offsets used in the road corridor with the offsets applied to the tunnel design along the entire length of the alignment. (See “View Tunnels” in the TBC Help.) - Create and edit tunnel offsets and rotation directly in the Tunnel View
You now have the option to create and edit tunnel horizontal and vertical offsets and tunnel rotation directly on a tab in the Tunnel View, where you can immediately visualize the impact of your changes at any station along the tunnel corridor. The Edit Tunnel Rotation, Edit Tunnel Horizontal Offset, and Edit Tunnel Vertical Offset commands are still available to provide an alternate workflow when creating new tunnel designs. (See “View Tunnels” in the TBC Help.) - Display multiple tunnel designs in the Tunnel View
You can view multiple tunnel designs that use the same alignment (for example, separate east-bound and westbound traffic tunnels) simultaneously in the Tunnel View. This enables you to easily compare the offsets and rotations of the tunnels along the entire length of the alignment. (See “View Tunnels” in the TBC Help.)
Road Workflows
- Export Trimble Access Road Strings in LandXML Format
The Trimble Access road string exporter has been enhanced to allow you to select to export road strings to a LandXML formatted file (.xml), in addition to the current option to export to a GENIO formatted file (.crd). The two options provide the flexibility you need to easily export road strings in the format that best matches your workflow. - Trimble Access Road Strings Exporter Flags Side Slope Catch Lines
When you use the Trimble Access road strings exporter to export road strings to a LandXML file, break lines that are identified as side slope catch lines are flagged for display in Trimble Access. - Create a Knoll Cul-de-Sac
Use the Knoll option in the Create Cul-de-Sac command to create parametric geometry for a unique cul-de-sac shape found in Finnish road design. (See “Create a Corridor Cul-de-Sac” in the TBC Help.)
Mobile Mapping
- Enhanced Target Picking for Registration
TBC 5.30 has improved the target picking procedure for MX9 scan registration workflow, so users can find the target faster, and confidently pick the center of a target. The target validation window allows users to pick different target types, define target dimensions, so TBC can interpolate the best point as the target candidate. - Manual Camera Calibration
This new feature allows you to calibrate a Trimble MX9 camera directly in TBC. A camera calibration consists of manually optimizing the offsets in the orientation of the camera(s) (boresight angles: Roll, Pitch, and Heading) in order to correct the mismatch between the image data and the laser scan data. - Automatic Laser Scanner Calibration
This new feature allows you to calibrate Trimble MX9 lasers directly in TBC. A laser calibration consists of automatically correcting the offsets in the orientation of the lasers (boresight angles: Roll, Pitch and Heading) in order to correct the mismatch between the laser scan data from different runs.
v5.31 Release Updates
Survey
Baseline processing mode included in report – The mode automatically selected by TBC to process baselines for static GNSS data is now displayed in the Baseline Processing Report. TBC dynamically selects the best mode to use based on baseline length, occupation time, available signals, and other criteria. Displayed modes:/p>
- Uncombined Mode – This processing mode, generally used for short baselines, uses uncombined multi-frequency processing either with or without ionospheric Modeling.
- Wide Lane Mode – This processing mode, generally used for long baselines, uses a combination of ionosphere-free processing and wide lane (IF/WL) processing, or a mix of IF/WL processing and Melbourne-Wubbena processing.
- Melbourne-Wubbena Mode – This processing mode, generally used for very long baselines, uses Melbourne-Wubbena processing exclusively. (Due to code biases, this mode is used only for baselines between devices from the same manufacturer.)
Drafting
- Show volumes on cross-section sheets – When you use the Sheet Set Editor to create/edit cross-section sheets in a sheet set, you can now opt to label the volumes of any materials shown on the sheets. You can also choose the material to report volumes for; the reported/displayed volumes are not adjusted for material densities (shrink/swell/bulkage) or alignment curvature.
- CAD block feature enhancements – You use the CAD block feature in TBC to import or create CAD block definitions from lines, text, and other objects (for example, a north arrow). You can then insert instances of the resulting blocks into your model.
Point Clouds
- Faster imports of TDX files – The TDX importer has been enhanced to apply parallel processing to the import of TBC / RealWorks Scan Data Exchange files, making the import process much faster.
- Faster point feature extraction – The Extract Point Feature command has been enhanced to more quickly extract point features for trees, poles, and signs. This can be very helpful when extracting large numbers of point features using the Automatic option./li>
Construction Data
- Support for Siteworks Android data structure – When you connect an Android data collector used for Siteworks to TBC, the device is recognized as a controller and does not require connectivity with TBC to work with the files after initial synchronization. This is the same way TBC handles Windows devices.
- Reduce the density of VisionLink data for machine data surfaces – In the Create Machine Data Surface command, you can now reduce the density (e.g., to a 10 m grid rather than the default 0.3m grid) of the data from VisionLink to make surfaces smaller for better performance.
Mobile Mapping
- Register Run to Run command enhancements – The Register Run to Run command has been enhanced to allow the processing of multiple pairs of runs using the new batch mode. Runs from a pair must be from the same mission and have enough overlapping scan data along the trajectory. Once processed, each pair can be inspected as residual RMS or visually using the Cutting Plane and has updated scan Data.
- Faster generation of Mobile Mapping scans in case of zero velocity – Mobile mapping is the process of collecting data from a mobile vehicle. When the vehicle does not move (for example, stopped at a red light), data is still collected. The time required to process data when there is no velocity is faster in TBC 5.31.
- RiMTA dll Upgrade – RiMTA dll has been upgraded to version 6.0, which reduces missing data acquired in tunnels.
Support
- License Manager enhancements – The License Manager now displays the version of TBC currently installed. In addition, when you change license types or configure your active license, you do not have to restart TBC for the changes to take effect. Your changes take place as soon as you click Apply or OK in the License Manager.
Thanks for checking out the the new 5.3 version of Trimble Business Center, happy surveying! For more information on Trimble Business Center or to download, visit Trimble.com/TBC.