Viewing Survex Files on a PDA?
- Thread starter Rob
- Start date
footleg
New member
If you have a palm PDA then try Auriga http://www.speleo.qc.ca/auriga/
A superb tool for surveying, but currently a bit awkward to get survex data in and out of. There is support for importing and exporting compass files, which are plain text. So I convert my data between survex and Compass format using a spreadsheet and a bit of search and replace in a text editor. Really useful on expedition to have the current survey data with you underground and to see your new survey data added to the map as you survey. Plus saves typing it all in again when you get out of the cave.
A superb tool for surveying, but currently a bit awkward to get survex data in and out of. There is support for importing and exporting compass files, which are plain text. So I convert my data between survex and Compass format using a spreadsheet and a bit of search and replace in a text editor. Really useful on expedition to have the current survey data with you underground and to see your new survey data added to the map as you survey. Plus saves typing it all in again when you get out of the cave.
graham
New member
Rob
The geeks will never be totally happy with their survey programs so us users will never get the simple interoperability and conversions that we crave.
And if we moan they'll only tell us to write our own! Which of course is right, but only leads to even more variations on a theme.
The geeks will never be totally happy with their survey programs so us users will never get the simple interoperability and conversions that we crave.
And if we moan they'll only tell us to write our own! Which of course is right, but only leads to even more variations on a theme.
footleg
New member
Since I got hold of a DistoX at Christmas, I have been working on a way to get my Survex data into PocketTopo on my Windows PDA. I am making steady progress on a Survex to Toporobot convertor, the only format that PocketTopo imports currently. I'll post details back here when it is operational (it currently only handles simple survex files with only one data block, all numeric station names and no equate statements). Just thought it was worth mentioning now in case anyone else is working on something similar, or was thinking of giving up on this problem.
P.S. I'll try to make it non-geeky for you Graham
P.S. I'll try to make it non-geeky for you Graham
footleg
New member
Rob said:
Yes, I'm sticking with text formats as I can see what I am working with. This means I can preserve information like compass calibration which is lost in the processed data. Also, the .3d file format changes from release to release, where as input text formats tend to stay the same over time.
However, I think you can export from the .3ds file viewer to Autocad DXF files, and I have been writing a DXF to survex converter to recover lost survey data which only exists in Autocad. So this might provide a way to do this. You would lose the names of all the survey stations in that case I suspect, as unless they are stored in the Autocad format data then I would have to just renumber the stations.
footleg
New member
OK, I have a first working version of my survey data converter working, just in time for the Easter trip to Matienzo with the DistoX. Currently it can read survex data (.svx) files, and PocketTopo export (.txt) files. It can write Survex files (.svx) and Toporobot (.text) files.
The main two conversions I have tested are for using PocketTopo on a PDA with a DistoX, using Survex to process the data on the computer.
So to get existing survey data (Survex format) into PocketTopo, you convert it from Survex to Toporobot, and then import the Toporobot data into PocketTopo on the PDA.
You then survey some more, extending the cave using the DistoX and capturing the new data in PocketTopo.
Finally, you export the data for the new trip as text export from PocketTopo, and then convert this .txt file to Survex format using my program again.
You can then quickly paste the new data into your master Survex file on the computer and work with this as usual (which for me means drawing it up using Tunnel).
If anyone wants to try this out then PM me for a copy. I will be in Matienzo from 8th to 18th April, but may have access to the internet from there. If not, then don't be surprised if I do not reply during that time.
The main two conversions I have tested are for using PocketTopo on a PDA with a DistoX, using Survex to process the data on the computer.
So to get existing survey data (Survex format) into PocketTopo, you convert it from Survex to Toporobot, and then import the Toporobot data into PocketTopo on the PDA.
You then survey some more, extending the cave using the DistoX and capturing the new data in PocketTopo.
Finally, you export the data for the new trip as text export from PocketTopo, and then convert this .txt file to Survex format using my program again.
You can then quickly paste the new data into your master Survex file on the computer and work with this as usual (which for me means drawing it up using Tunnel).
If anyone wants to try this out then PM me for a copy. I will be in Matienzo from 8th to 18th April, but may have access to the internet from there. If not, then don't be surprised if I do not reply during that time.
footleg
New member
Right, my cave converter tool now reads DXF files. So it is possible to Export a Survex .3d file from Aven as DXF data. Then use my converter to generate a Toporobot file which you can import into PocketTopo on your PDA.
The command line would be something like:
java -jar CaveSurveyConverter.jar inputfile.dxf output.text d t
The tool can be found here:
http://www.darkgem.com/wscc/caving-talk/index.php?title=CaveSurveyDataConverter
Please PM me if you find any bugs and I will try to fix them.
The command line would be something like:
java -jar CaveSurveyConverter.jar inputfile.dxf output.text d t
The tool can be found here:
http://www.darkgem.com/wscc/caving-talk/index.php?title=CaveSurveyDataConverter
Please PM me if you find any bugs and I will try to fix them.
footleg
New member
graham said:
Unfortunately PocketTopo is a closed source application, so I have no way to modify it. I can only work with the files it reads and writes.
I think you can tap on a station to find out the number in PocketTopo, but not show all the numbers for stations at once. You can select a station on the data screen and if you click and hold to get the pop-up menu you should be able to select to show that station on the map. This will then switch to the map view, centred on that station.
What doesn't help is that all the station numbers in an original survex file get lost when you import it into PocketTopo via my converter. This is a side effect of the TopoRobot file format I have to convert the data to, as it requires that all stations in a series are renumbered sequentially from zero, and that series are linear. So I have to create a new series for every branch in the survey in order to create the file.
Maybe the real answer is to use Auriga on a Palm PDA once Luc gets sketching on the PDA added (he is working on it). Then I can add Compass file format support to my converter and we can keep a lot more of the original data from a Survex file when going via Compass to Auriga. Then everyone will need to get a Palm PDA with bluetooth instead of the Windows Mobile ones we have all bought off ebay :
Rob said:
What goes wrong? Offhand I don't see why Survex couldn't be made to run on a windows-mobile device (is that what your XDA is running?). We'd need to know what the differences from windows-standard are.
I solved this problem many years ago (2004) by installing Linux onto the PDA and then installing standard Survex and xCaverot (Aven's design rather assumes a relatively large screen).
Linux PDAs are rather thin on the ground these days, although phones are getting quite common, so fixing survex-for-windows to run on the pocketPC/mobile variants would be useful. Somone needs to provide info on what needs changing though as the survex authors don't own many Windows devices.
