Global Mapper v25.0

Importing laser rangefind3r data

883robert
883robert Global Mapper UserTrusted User
edited December 2012 in Technical Support
G'day Mike
I design and build refugee camps for UNHCR and find Global Mapper an invaluable tool. A lot of my work is in site assessment for which I usually need to work alone and work fast, meaning handheld an on foot. To that end I've just acquired a long range laser rangefinder which also gives me azimuth and slope to a target. I want to be able to import this data to GM and need advice.
The instrument is a TruPulse TP360B by Laser Tech Industries (www.lasertech.com). I use Global Mapper 12.02. The TPB360B uploads via serial cable or Bluetooth, I'm using the latter. Below is a sample download:
$PLTIT,HV,4.01,M,52.10,D,-0.00,D,4.01,M*7C
$PLTIT,HV,4.01,M,53.50,D,1.90,D,4.01,M*5C
$PLTIT,ML,6.01,M,335.10,D,22.10,D,7.01,M*4C
$PLTIT,HV,3.40,M,53.80,D,1.20,D,3.40,M*5A
The first and fourth lines give horizontal distance, the second and third are 'missing line' where I shoot to two targets and the TPB360B gives the distance, azimuth, height etc from the first target to the second. Sorry I can't give you the data format for all strings the TPB360B downloads.
When I shoot HD (horizontal distance) the format is:
$PLTIT,HV,HDvalue,AZvalue,INCvalue,SDvalue,*csum<CR><LR>
where
$PLTIT is message identifier
HV is horizontal vector message type
AZvalue is measured azimuth
INCvalue is measured inclination value
SDvalue is measured slope distance
*csum is an asterisk followed by a hexadecimal checksum calculated by XORing all the characters between the dollar sign and asterisk.
<CR> is carriage return
<LF> is line feed
HDvalue, INCvalue and SDvalue always include two decimal places where the second is either 1, indicating high quality signal return or 0, indicating low quality signal return.
After saving the data file, either csv text or Excel spreadsheet, I want to be able to bring it into GM and have the points plotted. Is this possible? As always, your valuable advice will be much appreciated.
kind regards
Robert Crigan
UNHCR Jordan

Comments

  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited December 2012
    Robert,

    I'm not quite sure how that would end up plotted in Global Mapper. It sounds very similar to the distance/bearing/COGO line entry tool, except there doesn't appear to be any raw position data in the stream, just offsets from some location. Would you maybe select the start location, then use the input from the range finder to add new points based on that?

    The latest release (actually v13.1 and later) includes a new edit mode where you can edit the lengths of existing segments, so you could rough sketch out a building or room outline, then edit the actual lengths after you get them from a laser rangefinder. I'm not sure if this would be applicable to your use though.


    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Guru
    gmsupport@bluemarblegeo.com
    http://www.globalmapper.com
  • 883robert
    883robert Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited December 2012
    Thanks for the quick response Mike. You're right tha data stream contains no position data, only distance and bearing. I omitted to say that I'd have to record independently the position I was shooting from. Does GM have any scripting capablity where I could feed it distances and bearings from a specified point and have it plot new points?regardsRobert
  • global_mapper
    global_mapper Administrator
    edited December 2012
    Robert,

    You could do that using the Global Mapper SDK using the GM_CalcProjectedLocation function to calculate the new point some distance and bearing from a start point. Basically the same functionality that the distance/bearing/COGO tool does in the Global Mapper application, but available from your own application. The SDK does require more programming than a script though, so you would need some developer experience.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Guru
    gmsupport@bluemarblegeo.com
    http://www.globalmapper.com
  • 883robert
    883robert Global Mapper User Trusted User
    edited December 2012
    Thanks Mike. I'm not as developer so for now I'll collect data into spreadsheet format and enter the points manually using the distance/bearing/COGO tool as you've suggested. For now there aren't many points. If it becomes unmanageable I'll have to pursue it further but you've given me a good solution. Thanks again!
    regards
    Robert

    Robert,

    You could do that using the Global Mapper SDK using the GM_CalcProjectedLocation function to calculate the new point some distance and bearing from a start point. Basically the same functionality that the does in the Global Mapper application, but available from your own application. The SDK does require more programming than a script though, so you would need some developer experience.

    Thanks,

    Mike
    Global Mapper Guru
    gmsupport@bluemarblegeo.com
    http://www.globalmapper.com