Blogs

TBC Tip #255: Writing Features to GIS

By Tavish Comrie posted 4 days ago
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Hey TBCers! If you are working with mobile mapping data and need to push your processed pavement condition index (PCI) features directly to an Esri ArcGIS system-of-record, here is a critical tip for using the Write Features to GIS command in Trimble Business Center. This workflow allows you to upload or update feature data, making it visible to downstream GIS workflows for accurate asset lifecycle management. If you aren't already connected to a feature service, checkout Tip #253: Establishing a Connection and Reading Features from GIS to learn how. Ensure Schema Compatibility: Before writing data, verify that your TBC feature definitions ...
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TBC Tip #254: Creating a PCI Schema for an ESRI Feature Service

By Tavish Comrie posted 11 days ago
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Hey TBCers! If you are working with mobile mapping data and need to push your processed pavement condition index (PCI) features directly to an Esri ArcGIS system-of-record, here is a critical tip for creating a PCI Feature Service Schema . Because PCI data uses a fixed schema, you may need to use this tip, even if you have your own ESRI Schema and feature code library. Take your project with PCI and export it to a Geodatabase XML. Make sure to select Yes to “Export all feature definitions”, “Export feature library schema only”, and “Create Attachments”. The Geodatabase XML file is a complete representation of the PCI data ...
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TBC Tip #253: Establishing a Connection and Reading Features from GIS

By Tavish Comrie posted 03-09-2026
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Hello TBC’ers! If you are working with mobile mapping data and need to connect to an Esri ArcGIS system-of-record to overlay existing site context (like road shapefiles), here is a critical tip for establishing a GIS connection and reading features into Trimble Business Center. This workflow lets you visualize and contextualize your pavement inspection data in relation to your existing records, aiding in data validation and progress tracking. Establish Your GIS Connection Navigate to GIS > Connection > GIS Connection Manager and click New . Enter a recognizable connection name and select Esri Service from the Data ...
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TBC Tip #252: Monitoring - Tunnel Classification and Noise Removal

By Tavish Comrie posted 02-20-2026
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Hello TBC’ers! Did you know that TBC offers automated noise removal of tunnel point cloud data? Using TBC, you can automate the noise removal process to save significant office processing time, ensure that your point cloud data is clean and accurate, leading to higher quality deliverables, and provide precise and reliable data for construction projects, improving overall project outcomes. To begin this workflow, import your tunnel point cloud data into TBC and follow these steps: Click on the “Tunnels” tab on the top ribbon and click “Classify Regions” in the Tools group. Select the point cloud region for the tunnel by clicking ...
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TBC Tip #251: Using Outline Capture in TBC

By Tavish Comrie posted 02-06-2026
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Hey TBCers! If you are drafting interior plans and you need to accurately determine building geometries from point clouds or measured points, here is a critical tip for using the Capture Outline tool in Trimble Business Center. This feature helps you quickly derive corners by intersection, saving you from manually trimming or extending lines. 1. Open the Capture Outline Command : Navigate to the CAD tab and look within the Lines group. This tool is designed to work in Plan View, 3D View, and Station View, giving you flexibility depending on your data source. 2. Define Your Settings : In the command pane, optional settings ...
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TBC Tip #250: Underground Mining Inspection Map

By Tavish Comrie posted 11-07-2025
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Hey TBC’ers! In underground mining and tunneling projects, visualizing the difference between the designed tunnel shape and the excavated reality is crucial. Today, we are exploring the Create Inspection Map command, a powerful tool within Trimble Business Center (TBC) for generating a map that visualizes the comparison between the designed tunnel mesh and the actual as-built mesh. Before generating the Inspection Map, you must have completed the tunnel design workflow, including the creation of the Design Mesh, and the tunnel as-built workflow, including the generation of the As Built Mesh from scan data points. See tip #248 for more information ...
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TBC Tip #249: Configuring your NVIDIA Graphics Card for Optimal use in TBC

By Tavish Comrie posted 10-24-2025
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Hey TBCers! To configure your NVIDIA graphics card for optimal use with Trimble Business Center (TBC), especially when applying the MTA correction, follow these steps: 1. Open the NVIDIA Control Panel : From the pop-up menu in hidden icons, choose the NVIDIA Control Panel option. Or search “NVIDIA Control Panel” in your desktop search bar. 2. Manage 3D Settings : Once the NVIDIA Control Panel opens, select "Manage 3D Settings" from the "Select a Task" panel. 3. Adjust Global Settings Ensure you are on the "Global Settings" tab. From the "Preferred Graphics Processor" drop-down list, choose "High Performance ...
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TBC Tip #248: Creating Underground Mine As-Built Mesh's from Point Clouds

By Tavish Comrie posted 10-17-2025
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Hey TBCers! If you have an underground mining project and you need to accurately determine the deviation between the planned design and the actual excavated surface captured by scan data, here is a critical tip for creating a Tunnel As-Built Mesh in Trimble Business Center. 1. Prepare the Data Views: Before extracting points, navigate to the Layer Manager and Enable Scans while simultaneously ensuring the existing Tunnel Mesh is Disabled . 2. Assign As-Built Points from Scan Data: Navigate to the Tunnels Tab – Reports Menu – Assign Tunnel Points. Click the drop down arrow and select “Assign As-Built Points”. ...
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TBC Tip #247: Inspecting Pavement Condition: Automatic Analysis Mode

By Tavish Comrie posted 08-22-2025
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Hello TBC’ers! This week we’re exploring the "Inspect Pavement Condition" command, a powerful feature for automatically identifying visible conditions on asphalt roadway pavement such as alligator and linear cracks, depressions, corrugations, rutting, potholes, and bumps. This tool extracts these conditions as features with attributes, allows for severity labeling based on the ASTM Pavement Condition Index, and can generate heat maps indicating elevation differences. The analysis results can be easily shared via a Pavement Condition Inspection report. To begin this workflow, ensure your mobile mapping data is imported and processed, then follow these steps: ...
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TBC Tip #246: General Tips for Training Custom Classification Models

By Tavish Comrie posted 08-15-2025
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Hello TBC’ers! If you're ready to unlock the full potential of your point cloud data and go beyond standard classifications, these tips are for you! These insights will guide you in tailoring custom deep learning models to precisely identify objects unique to your projects. By focusing on data preparation, training optimization, and advanced settings, you'll learn how to build more accurate models faster, empowering you to tackle complex classification challenges with confidence. Understand Voxel Size Implications: While you need to select a voxel size, be aware that voxelization involves a balance between classification precision and sample size. ...
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TBC Tip #245: Mine Design Conformance Report

By Tavish Comrie posted 07-15-2025
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TBC Tip #245: Mine Design Conformance Report Hello TBC'ers! The latest release of Trimble Business Center (TBC) 2025.10 introduces a powerful new tool designed specifically for the mining industry: the Mine Design Conformance Report. This innovative feature empowers surveyors to evaluate mining extraction production in open-pit operations efficiently by comparing as-built surfaces with design surfaces. By identifying areas of overdig and underdig, surveyors can provide valuable insights to mine stakeholders, ultimately enhancing productivity and optimizing resource management. First of all, make sure you have a mining project open in TBC. ...
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TBC Tip #244: Map GIS Metadata

By Anna Zapel posted 05-05-2025
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Hello TBCers! If you haven’t explored the GIS Module in Trimble Business Center (TBC), now is the time! We've covered various aspects of how to work with GIS data sources , set up a GIS connection , download schemas as FXL files , create and edit feature definitions , upload features to a GIS source , and how to read (or download) features from a GIS data source . This week, let's delve into mapping metadata, a specialized area of the GIS workflow. First of all, it's good to know that there are some restrictions for the “Map Metadata” command: The GIS connection needs to be set up Mapping is only available ...
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TBC Tip #243: Download Features from a GIS Data Source

By Anna Zapel posted 04-10-2025
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Hello TBCers! If you’re not using the GIS Module in TBC, you’ve got to check it out! We’ve talked about how to work with GIS data sources , set up a GIS connection , download schemas as FXL files , create and edit feature definitions , upload features to a GIS source , but today we’re jumping into how to read (or download) features from a GIS data source. To begin this workflow, open your TBC project and set up a GIS connection : Select Read Features from GIS in the GIS ribbon under Connection In the Connection drop-down list, select the data source connection you want to use. Use the Select drop-down ...
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TBC Tip #242: Creating a Mask for Scan Colorization

By Anna Zapel posted 04-02-2025
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Hello TBCers! Do you know how to create a mask for scan colorization of mobile mapping datasets in TBC? Colorizing laser point clouds using RGB values from imagery taken by your mobile mapping system can enhance the visualization of your data. To do this, you need to create a Mask that covers any undesirable areas, objects, and obstructions visible on the images so that the color information found on them will not be used for the colorization. To begin this workflow, open your TBC project with your processed mission trajectories: Select the Generate Scans command under the Mobile Mapping tab in the Processing group. Under the ...
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TBC Tip #241: Slope Conformance Report

By Anna Zapel posted 03-24-2025
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Hello TBCers! Today, we’re jumping into TBC’s tool to monitor slope conformance in open-pit mines. This is crucial for safety and operational efficiency. TBC allows you to generate detailed Mining Slope Conformance Reports, including slope cross-section details and heat maps. Follow these steps to create a comprehensive report and visualization in TBC. To begin this workflow, open your TBC project with the processed point cloud of your mine: Extract breaklines from your processed point cloud. Check out last week’s tip to dive into TBC’s automatic breakline extraction command . Use your automatically extracted ...
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TBC Tip #240: Automatic Mining Breakline Extraction

By Anna Zapel posted 03-18-2025
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Hello TBCers! Did you know that TBC offers a powerful feature to automatically extract breaklines from point clouds captured in open-pit mines? This tool allows you to efficiently manage open-pit mine data is crucial for ensuring safety and conformance to design parameters. Follow these steps to streamline your workflow. To begin this workflow, open your TBC project with the processed point cloud of your mine: Specify which section of the mine you are analyzing by creating a polyline that defines the section of the mine you want to report on. Select “Polyline” from the Lines section under the CAD tab. Name the polyline, ...
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TBC Tip #239: What’s New in the TBC Mining Subscription

By Anna Zapel posted 03-10-2025
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The new TBC Mining subscription is a specialized software edition designed and tailored to enhance the functionality for above and underground mining surveys, construction, and geotechnical operations. TBC Mining gives mine surveying professionals one single office software to perform all data processing, management, and delivery. Here’s a look at the latest features and capabilities for open-pit workflows and underground workflows: Enhanced design conformance TBC Mining has built-in workflows to identify and report discrepancies between as-builts and design. It provides reports on overdig, underdig, and in-pit volumetrics Mine slope ...
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TBC Tip #238: Batch Processing Mobile Mapping Data

By Anna Zapel posted 03-03-2025
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Hello TBC’ers! Did you know that you can set up routines that automate typical operations on MX9, MX50, MX60 and MX90 datasets? Well you have got to check out the Batch Project tool in Trimble Business Center! Using this tool you can automatically generate scans, classify scans, colorize scans, and export to the available formats (TMX, TopoDot, Las, Solv3D). These routines can be created by defining the parameters, and exported for later use or imported if it exists. Batch processing can significantly streamline your workflow when dealing with large volumes of mobile mapping data. Each batch can include: Many projects each with one mission, ...
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TBC Tip #237: Baseline Processing Reports and the Session Editor

By Anna Zapel posted 02-24-2025
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Hello TBC’ers! TBC’s baseline processing report provides a comprehensive evaluation of the quality of your baseline processing. This report highlights the precision and reliability of your baseline processing, allowing you to make informed decisions about the quality of your data. You can even switch off specific GNSS satellites or clip off regions of bad content to ensure the highest accuracy in your GNSS data. To begin this workflow, import your drone UAS data imagery into TBC within a defined geo-referenced coordinate system (don’t forget to set your coordinate system!) and follow these steps: Import your base station data in the form of ...
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TBC Tip #236: Editing Surfaces to Adjust Flat Triangles

By Anna Zapel posted 02-18-2025
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Hello TBC’ers! Have you tried out the “Adjust ‘flat’ triangles” property when building surfaces in TBC? This property helps to refine surface models by eliminating 'flat' triangles that can occur in areas with tight curvature. This adjustment ensures that triangles are connected to different lines rather than to themselves, resulting in a more accurate and visually appealing surface representation. Here is an example of flat triangles that we’d like to even out into a slope: To begin this workflow, open your TBC project containing all of your surface layers and follow these steps: Select the surface you wish to adjust. Right click ...
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