GPS...record cordinates as an atribute in data dictionary?

[Andyrens]

Good afternoon everybody,

We are using a Trimble ProXR, with Pathfinder, and using it to collect data for GIS (ArcView 8.3).

Is there some way that the actual cordinates (state plane) the GPS records for the feature can be added to the atribute table automaticly? I dont need the cordinates for each position recorded, but the "average" used to place the feature in GIS.

Any ideas??
Thanks!
Andy Renshaw
renshawal@ci.gainesville.fl.us

 

[clems05]

Andyrens,

First thing's first....I am not a surveyor.

What form does your raw survey data take? Is it a spreadsheet? ESRI has allowed for table "joining" with about any spreadsheet, geodatabase, etc. imaginable.... note that your x pos. will be placed into one column, y pos. another, etc. initially before the joining can occur if you can at least get your raw data into Excel.

Are these positions of something that could be visible on a DOQQ or any somewhat accurate data source? This will aid in the visualisation process of what you're doing.

I recently took a GIS course where we compared derived positions from 3 sources; handheld unit (data hand written, then plugged into an spreadsheet), a single static observation with a Trimble 5700 (post-processed data from TGO copied and pasted into same spreadsheet), and a differential observation (data imported same as single static obs was). Our place of occupacy was to be a pile location (I believe, I am not an engineer yet either) for a 10 level parking garage that was recently built on the campus @ USC. Our data was "automatically" displayed as a shapefile on top of a DOQQ of my previous place of schooling's campus. Each dot rep'd an observation... We used field calculator to determine RMSE's, our sigmas, and something else of our data and also graphically represented those results in the form of a shapefile. I recall a small series of steps in the process.

- Open ArcCatalog
- Right click on table you have built with xy fields w/ SPC vals. (from experience here, make sure your units are consistent in ArcMap)
- Create Feature class.... From XY table.
- Tell ArcCat which column your x coords are in and which your y coords are in... and determine the name of your output file.
-Drag and drop it into a map document, and then do as you wish.



That may lead you down the right path... As far as computing avg's of SPC's, field calculator in ArcGIS will do about anything you could imagine ... it may take some thought and toying with.

Hope this helps.

Good luck, you only need to figure it out once.


- Bob

 

[Andyrens]

Bob,

Thanks for the info! I actuly recieved a small dll file that loads into ArcMap and is a tool to add an "x" and "y" field to any atribute table. With it, I can just import the shapefile and with the click of a button have what I need.
There is also a way to display the SPC while converting the raw data into shapefiles (using Pathfinder).

Thanks again!
Andy