Hi Ben,

I'm just passing through this thread but I have found myself in the same position as you with regards to land surveying and sketchup. I have a workable solution to get accurate points into SU and then construct around them.

In my humble opinion the 3d modeller program might not give you the desired accuracy, especially for land surveys. They are a bit like jigsaw puzzels, if you're out in one area then it affects the whole model (and your confidence in it).

I found that google maps data was weirdly inaccurate to model with. I don't know whether this was something to do with the angle of the camera relative to my land. I did verify using three sources (google, laser measure, total station) and the findings proved my point.

In my opinion the only way to get good readings is to obtain the use of a total station, the best you can afford. Then import the data by hand into sketchup using plugins like surveytools.
I use the bearing/distance method of surveying (like spokes off a wheel) but if you have a reflector less TS then you may want to go with point cloud data

Hope this helps

@unknownuser said:

@eddix99 said:

I think that the problem fundamentally lies in the fact that the whole surveying/engineering industry players are used to paying thousands for their software and equipment. So why shouldn't Trimble charge what they expect to pay?

maybe they will charge high $$ for separate modules but those are going to be entirely different apps (generally speaking)

as far a sketchup itself goes though, i have to believe they'll keep the price in the same range it's in now.. (free & a souped up pro version for under a thousand dollars)

i'm by no means a business consulter/projector/analyst (or whatever that type of person is called) but i do know if trimble decides to charge even 50 bucks for the free version, half the user base disappears.. pretty much immediately.. we're talking millions of people suddenly no longer use the app.. and at this stage, i feel the ginormous user base has to be more valuable than getting a few extra bucks out of some people..

I agree with you that Trimble has to be very careful about its pricing strategy. I'm just a bit worried that as an amateur surveyor/SU user that I will be rounded up with the pro's (pricing wise) who need/are prepared to spend thousands on a product that will do the job they need it to do.

If there were some very basic native survey tools with the pro version and then a good dev. community to fill any gaps then I would have no grounds for complaint. After all Trimble is a Surveying/Engineering company and this should be a good thing for a guy like me, right?

I'm just worried that dev's who want to develop products that trimble are already marketing will be squeezed out. Leaving me facing a large bill if I want to do some basic stuff.

I just wanted to make one point as I have read almost every page of this thread.

My own thoughts on this are very mixed and seemingly change day-to-day. On one hand I knew the trimble brand before the announcement. They make good products.
I use SU to plot survey data and create models and things so a buyout by these guys should be a great thing. If SU natively allowed me to input data then this would be simply fantastic.

What worries me however is that Trimble will release a free and pro version of sketchup with an optional component for surveyors and engineers. This 'option' could cost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. [With a pricetag similar to pointools..$5k anyone?]
The real fear I have is that Trimble will strangle out any 3rd party devs. who want to do something similar for a lot less.
After all why allow the little guy to come in and clean up to the detriment of your 'pro' offerings. It simply doesn't make business sense.

I think that the problem fundamentally lies in the fact that the whole surveying/engineering industry players are used to paying thousands for their software and equipment. So why shouldn't Trimble charge what they expect to pay?

Trimble has to address the huge pricing differences between the part timers and the pros and offer a product that is suited to both.

Greg,

A big thank you for your reply above. It's great that the community here put alot into helping out us noobs!

I'm pretty sure that I understand your concept. The great thing about doing things within sketchup is that you can simply just grab the rotate tool and realign your data so that it fits. This means that you can get away with getting your backsight sorted AFTER you do your survey. As long as the data is in the right position from the station I would imagine it to be pretty easy to align it with existing points.

One thing I really like about the survey tool.rb is that it puts the point in its own separate group. This means that I can group my groups together and add them to another layer. I did have a go with the plain ol' compass and line tool but I found that even lines on a hidden layer caused the current line to intersect with existing lines. This made selecting the line as a whole quite time consuming, especially if the lines were close together. Ideally I'd like a slightly beefed up survey tool to do all my work as It's extremely satisfying joining all the points together.

I've attached my work so far using the survey tool only. From now on I have to use another station and therefore the survey tool is not feasible so its probably going to be finished using coordinates and the point cloud ruby.

Please bear in mind that I have not done anything like this before and my file is definitely a work in progress.

I'm still trying to get the concept of XYZ coordinates straight in my head

My work so far

@jean lemire said:

Hi Edward, hi folks.

Maybe you can use the axes repositionning feature built natively in SlektchUp to reposition the red axis, for example, along a line.

For example, lets suppose that you posotion the measuring device at 0,0,0 and the first point you get is at 50,100,0. Then, you draw a line from 0,0,0 to 50,100,0. After that, you reposition the axes origin at 50,100,0 and the red axis on the direction of this line. Then the process can be repeated.

See attached SU file for ideas.

Hey Jean,

Thanks for the file, which explained perfectly your method. I have made the decision to give coordinates a try out and will do some reading on the subject this evening.

I have installed Didiers point cloud ruby and will try to get some test data plotted in the next couple of days. I want to use my total station and get some very basic coordinates recorded and then I will see the results of both methods.

Now its just a question of finding out what works best for me.

On a side note I'm wondering whether Trimbles SU will have all these features natively. It would be cool for me if they did!

Hi Greg,

What you are saying is absolutely right. My total station has a coordinates function, which I haven't got round to figuring out yet.
Combining surveying principles with sketchup is a bit of a learning process. As you may have guessed I don't have a lot of experience with either Sketchup or Surveying but I seem to be muddling my way through.
Early on in my learning process I decided to go with Bearing/Distance data as this seemed to fit in with the survey tools ruby. Perhaps in hindsight I should have learned about coordinates and started using pointcloud.
What would be really great is if there were some additions made to the survey tools ruby that would allow the axis to be moved around and rotated . I may write Mr Wehby an email asking nicely if there are any plans for some changes in the future.
Failing that I guess I’ll have to change my methods and move over to coordinates.

Many thanks for your replies.

Edward

@bep said:

Hallo Edward,

Look at driving dimensions maybe it will be of any help.
http://drivingdimensions.com/SketchUp/overview/

Bep

Thanks Bep,

I will look into this later today!!

Just a quick update on the use of the survey tools plugin:

Although this ruby is really simple it does it's job very well. Its a bit of a pain converting my angles from an azumeth to a bearing but once the data is put into the tool it handles everything well.

Although this tool is designed to carry out boundary surveys it works well with other types of survey too. I only use it to do bearing distance calculations then then join the ends of the lines to make up the outline of the object being surveyed.

One thing that the survey tool ruby doesn't do is allow me to move the axis to another location and begin plotting distance/bearing from that new location. This is a real pain as it means that I cant move to another station and continue my survey from there.

If there are others out there that are into the surveying ruby, how do they get round these limitations?

Hey Gai,

Thanks for checking in! I've had a quick play with the tool and I think that it's going to suit my requirements just fine.

Thanks for all your help.

Got it! Thanks Gai