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Windows XP and Vista Only New Menus and Toolbars User Collaboration Traverse Groups Predictive Data Entry AutoCAD 2008 Support World File Support	Cool COGO Tool Tips Drawings Quick View Survey View Traverse View
Windows XP and Vista Only
We understand there are diverse opinions out there as to whether or not Windows Vista is an improvement or not over Windows XP so we’re giving you the best of both worlds – Vista and XP. We’ve dropped support of older versions of Windows in order to bring you the best of what Windows offers today in Vista and XP. You’ll notice the difference the first time you pull down a menu, resize a view or open a COGO dialog. We’ve standardized as much of the user interface as possible by using Microsoft’s Common Controls V6.0. Most of the new options are available on both XP and Vista or you can switch to Vista and take advantage of them all. TPC Desktop 2008 handles all of Vista’s Standard User controls so you don’t have to. We provide easy, one-step installation on your stand alone computer along with network installation for the corporate IT (Information Technology) folks.
New Menus and Toolbars
You’ll find the new menus easier to use because they display the toolbar buttons right in the menu along side the command. Whether you select the command from the menu or from the toolbar you’ll use the same icon. We’ve also arranged many of the commands in a more logical order plus added hot keys for some of your most requested commands. Here you see the Survey View’s COGO menu with access to a number of commands that used to be available only from the Traverse View.

User Collaboration

TPC Desktop 2008 understands that you work with other people on the same surveys. So we’ve built User Collaboration into TPC Desktop 2008 right from the start.  If you select the Network option during installation, you can specify the location of your survey files and all the program data during setup. You network administrator can assign these locations without even running TPC. Survey Files TPC Desktop 2008 stores your surveys in a Documents folder called Surveys. Now that’s simple. It evens looks for existing surveys on your computer and moves them into this new folder for you so you’re ready to go right from the start. If you want to share your surveys on a network file server, just browse to the appropriate folder on the server – that’s all there is to it. Program Data Folder TPC Desktop 2008 stores all of its program data in a shared program data folder so that everyone who uses a particular computer can access the same data. This is where you find the things you’ve created or customized like point code tables, symbols, line types, sample survey, drawing templates, additions to the spelling dictionary and more. And to keep it simple, there’s the new Use Window’s default folder button that resets to the correct folder for your version of Windows. How nice is that. If you are using Windows Vista, you’ll notice a new folder called \ProgramData right below the \Program Files folder. Look in there for the \Traverse PC\TPC Desktop folder where you’ll see just what we’re talking about.

Traverse Groups

Some of you will remember Traverse Groups from the TPC DOS days. Well, they’re back, but much better, thanks to Windows. Traverse Groups allow you to group similar traverses together in the Survey View. Each group has a unique group name and can have any number of traverses in it. We supply some initial groups for you like Alignments, Boundaries, Lots, Control, Imported and others plus you can add your own. Once your traverses are in groups, you can rearrange the groups, expand or collapse them (Boundaries and Import are collapsed in the example shown here) or select the group name and all the traverses in it are selected automatically. Organizing your traverses into groups is all about making it easier to manage your survey data. Here’s an example of how the Offset to Alignment dialog uses groups to help you select the alignment you want.

Predictive Data Entry

With so many more points, traverses, drawings, point codes and everything else in our surveys these days, we could all use a little help selecting the data we want. That’s just what predictive typing does. Here you see all the points that match what you typed so far for the From point in the Random Inverse dialog. The pop-up list displays each matching point along with its description. Use the pop-up list to help you remember which point you want or select it directly from the list – it’s that easy. Now how about displaying all the existing traverses when you want to create a new one, or all the drawings, or Quick View settings. You get the point. With so much data in the survey, it’s just nice to have a little help.

AutoCAD 2008

TPC Desktop 2008 can read and write AutoCAD 2008 DWG, DXF and DXB files. Enough said – you’re current.

World File Support

TPC Desktop 2008 can read and write world files that geo-reference any image file to your drawing. The world file takes care of the image's position, rotation and scale or you can override the world position when you need to. Export world files for the images you've geo-referenced manually then re-use that image in any future drawing.   Once again, TPC Desktop makes background images fun and easy to use.

Cool COGO

The COGO dialogs you use most often now stay open while you do other things. Working on an intersection and need to zoom into a portion of the drawing? Go ahead. The Intersect dialog stays open and ready for when you return. Plus, we’ve include pick buttons [>] so you pick points and lines right from the drawing. They’re everywhere. And boy are they handy. The Random Inverse dialog shows the Pick buttons for both the From and To points. If you want to improve your skills even more, learn how you can select multiple objects in a drawing and place them into any COGO dialog automatically. It’s really fun.

Tool Tips

TPC Desktop 2008 adds Tool Tips and we can’t say enough about them. Once you start using them, you’ll wonder how you ever lived without them. In the Drawing, the Tool Tips display information about each object as you place the cursor over it. Need the radius of a curve? The end points of a line? The elevation of a contour? It’s all there in the Tool Tips. In the Views, Tool Tips display the data you can’t always see. In the Point View shown here, just put the cursor over point 33 to get all the information you need.

Drawings

TPC Desktop 2008 makes drawings more powerful and easier to work with at the same time. Unlimited Drawings TPC Desktop 2008 removes the 32 drawing limit. You can now have any number of drawings. We also ensure that drawing names are unique so you don’t get them confused. Unique Traverse Settings in Each Drawing In TPC Desktop 2008 Traverse Settings can be unique to each drawing. This makes drawing traverses a lot more powerful. And we still keep it simple with the Advanced  tab. Just open the Traverse Settings dialog, click on Advanced and tell TPC to use unique settings for this traverse and this drawing. That’s it. Open the Advanced tab anytime to see if a traverse’s settings are unique or revert to the shared traverse settings. It’s easy to change the unique traverse settings, copy them back to the traverse and update the way this traverse looks in all other drawings. You can still copy traverses to include in different drawings if you want (sometimes this IS what you want to do), but we think you’ll use this option most of the time. Did you notice in this example that the Side Shot tab isn’t displayed? That’s because this traverse didn’t have any – side shots that is. Add some side shots to the traverse and you’ll get your tab back. Export the Current Drawing as a Survey Now you can export the current drawing along with any survey data it uses as its own survey. TPC creates a new survey file using the current survey and drawing names as in ‘Job 1 – Drawing 1.TRV’. This is a great way to Drawing Settings are Gone – Mostly With TPC Desktop 2008 you don’t choose between Drawing Settings and Traverse Settings anymore - Traverse Settings rule the day. The ability to have unique traverse settings in any drawing makes Traverse Settings more powerful than ever and removing the Drawing Settings makes them easier to use. Now, we say that Drawing Settings are mostly gone because you can still access them via the Drawing Settings dialog – it’s just that you won’t want to anymore..

Quick View

You’ll find dozens of fresh, new WOW! features in the Quick View and drawings. We already mentioned unlimited number of drawings and unique traverse settings, so we’ll highlight a few others here. We combined two really great new features to make working with your drawings a walk in the park. They’re Object Accent and Tool Tips.  In this example, we’ve placed the cursor over a contour line. The entire line changes to Quick View’s Accent color and the pop-up Tool Tip displays information about the contour – like how long it is and the extents of the surface it is part of. WOW! Is this ever a great way to work with your drawing data.       Can’t quite read the text on a legend item but don’t want to zoom in just to read it? No problem. Just move the cursor over it and read the Tool Tip.     Now would be a good time to talk about the new Quick View Format dialog. Just like every other view in TPC, the Quick View now has its own Format dialog. The Mouse tab shown here, lets you choose how TPC identifies objects as you pass the cursor over them. We like the options shown here to redraw the object in the Accent Color and show the Balloon Tool Tip with information about the object, but you can choose the ones you prefer. How about telling TPC you want to double click an object to display it’s Traverse Settings or object Properties. Or how about choosing which colors to use when delineating Topo shots, Paper Space or Survey Space objects. You’ll find that the Quick View Format dialog provides lots of options related to how you work with drawings. It’s a good thing you can choose because with almost 200 colors to choose from we think you’re going to find just the right one for whatever you want. TPC Desktop 2008 used a standard color palette used by lots of Windows program plus we give you color names and list them alphabetically so they are easy to find. AutoCAD only gives you RGB values like 255, 128, 128 – whatever that is. We added hot keys like T=Text, B=Text Box and V=Zoom Previous. We also grouped the commands in the menus, making them easier to find and use. We added the drawing variables SURVEYOR (surveyor’s name), COMPANY (surveyor’s company name), ADDRESS (surveyor’s address) and CLIENTADDRESS (client address). These can be entered in the Survey Information dialog.   We added a Distance Factor 0.9988776 toggle to the Control Points tab in the Traverse Settings dialog. If you specify a distance factor for a traverse, you can now use it to modify the distance labels on the lines. It overrides the drawing’s distance factor when checked. In TPC Desktop 2008, the COGO dialogs you use most have a pick button [>] that lets you select the COGO point from the current drawing. Just select the Pick button for the point you want then select that point's label or symbol in the drawing. TPC get’s the survey point information from the drawing and puts it in the dialog. It’s pretty simple and easy – but will revolutionize the way you do COGO inside TPC .

Survey View

The new Insert Traverse Below Selected Traverse command makes it easier to add new traverses right where you want them and the New Traverse dialog tracks right with you. TPC Desktop 2008 adds COGO commands that can work on the selected traverse. Choose Offset Interval, Station, Station Offsets, Offset to Alignment, ROW Offsets and Predetermined Area. The Survey Information dialog now gives you a lot more information. It’s easier to track which Grid and projection you are using for your State Plane projects. All the new information like Client Address and your Company name come with their own Quick View variables so you can insert them into your title blocks and drawing templates. Now maybe you didn’t know about drawing variables. They update automatically in your drawing using the survey information. So you can enter the variable for client name one time in a drawing template and never have to type the client name into a drawing again.

Traverse View

Traverse views automatically cascade as you open them. Open a group of traverses in one area of the desktop, then open a second group in another area. Use Single Row per Point to make as much data visible as possible and you can do some serious analysis.   TPC Desktop 2008 adds an Advanced tab to the Traverse View Format dialog. Now you can have TPC create a distance factor using the survey’s Grid factor and/or individual traverse units like Chains, Rod and Poles, etc. If you convert between Feet and Meters, you can even choose US or International Survey Foot.  And the Traverse View now displays the ‘Units=’ of the traverse if they differ from the survey units. And if that isn’t enough, check out the new Traverse Settings option to use these units in the drawing – for this traverse only. Opening Traverses and the New Traverse Dialog The New Traverse dialog now displays Custom… (instead of blank) for both the Format and Settings list if neither one matches a saved format or setting. The New Traverse dialog now displays Insert Before: traverse name button if you are adding a new traverse to the survey.  now says ‘Insert Above: current traverse’ and displays the name of the existing traverse above which the new traverse will be inserted. The current traverse is the traverse currently highlighted in the Survey View. Remember our new Predictive Typing –it will help you create unique traverse names here too. We know these are just little things, but you’ll find lots of little things just like this in TPC Desktop 2008 . Traverse PC: Real Estate/COGO/Mapping/Land Surveying Software, Founded in 1987, Traverse PC is now used by thousands of land surveyors, engineers, mappers, assessors, foresters, realtors, and title companies. Recognized as one of the leading suppliers of land surveying software, Traverse PC is dedicated to Practical Solutions for Today and Tomorrow. Traverse PC, land surveying software, land survey software, contour software, contouring software, contours, traversing software, traverse software, traverse survey software, traverse surveying software, COGO software, CAD software, land surveys software, engineering software, maps software, map software, mapping software, real estate software, title company software. TPC, stakeout, plat software, plats software, dxf, GIS, GPS, construction, site survey software, topographic survey software, topographic software, topo map software, topographic map software, topography map software, topography software, data collection software, desktop, business, computer, software, companies, assessor map software, assessor maps software, assessor mapping software, least squares. Traverse PC: Real Estate/COGO/Mapping/Land Surveying Software, Founded in 1987, Traverse PC is now used by thousands of land surveyors, engineers, mappers, assessors, foresters, realtors, and title companies. Recognized as one of the leading suppliers of land surveying software, Traverse PC is dedicated to Practical Solutions for Today and Tomorrow. Traverse PC, land surveying software, land survey software, contour software, contouring software, contours, traversing software, traverse software, traverse survey software, traverse surveying software, COGO software, CAD software, land surveys software, engineering software, maps software, map software, mapping software, real estate software, title company software. TPC, stakeout, survey map software, plat software, plats software, dxf, GIS, GPS, construction, site survey software, topographic survey software, topographic software, topo map software, topographic map software, topography map software, topography software, data collection software, desktop, business, computer, software, companies, assessor map software, assessor maps software, assessor mapping software, least squares.. . . . .