Trimble Business Center

The closest app I've seen to this is the Trimble Connect App.

On an iPad, want to be able to:

1. view the design in 2D superimposed over the pdf plans.

2. view the ttm surface in 3D combined with the dxf lines draped over the surface

3. Create a cross section slice of the surface with nodes labeled for named linestrings

Our controllers are sync'd to TCC, so it would make sense that the viewer references projects in our trimblesynchronizerdata filespace.  Annotations would have to be kept in a separate file per user.

Our foreman and engineers have no access to the models except when looking over the shoulder of the grade checker or standing in the cab of the dozer to view the display.

I  concur Matt. Trimble connect is the closet thing that I have found as well but it has it limitations and it does not support ttms, which is what SCS900 requires for a surface model. I am hopefully that with the talk of Siteworks supporting vcl that Trimble Connect will support this, seems to be the new Trimble go to file type, and solve some of our headaches. Trimble connect seemed like it was going to be the solution when it was first introduced but it lacked and still lacks the support for the common construction file types. It appears more geared towards vertical construction groups. 

I guess a browser based solution for this is most likely to come out of the Connected Site 2.0 work that was announced at Dimensions and that Brian Sweeney is heading up. Connected Site is using some of the Connect Services as a Backend, but is providing more dedicated Heavy Civil Workflows for Civil Contractors.

I am sure he (Brian Sweeney) would be happy to hear from you all on this. From a dedicated app perspective, I would expect anything that Trimble does to be available on the Android Platform not the Apple Platform - All things Trimble are heading that way. So Browser Based would work on an IPAD or any Browser Platform. The dedicated Apps will likely be Windows (Like Siteworks or Earthworks etc.) or Android (Like SIteVision Beta System) or whatever may come in the future.

While Apple makes great products and have a large following in the market, there are things we can do on Android (like RTK GPS) that you just cannot do on Apple Platform (at least not today).

Out of interest  with tools like the Microsoft Surface computers which are now Windows Tablets - that when put in an Otter Box housing are field toughened, why would you still want to use IPADs? You can run Siteworks on these devices for your Supervisors (under the BYOD program) and do most of what you are already asking for?

Alan

I agree Alan the Microsoft surface in an otter box case are a great alternative (although they need a water proof version of the case) and in some cases way better. There are a couple of reasons that we have used iPads in the past:

1. The software we use for are billable hours is more user friendly on iOS than their web based version.
2. We also bought most of our iPads right before the Microsoft surfaces started getting good and comparative in cost
3. They were cheap, we could get them with data plans, and even novice computer users were pretty comfortable with the UI

We tried out two competitors and they both seem to cater to iOS first for development and then program for android. They both have web based apps but are geared more for a computer work station setup; small buttons, windows 7 feel to the programs. I hope with the push for more mobile Windows based devices such as the Microsoft Surface they will revamp this and improved their UI for web based apps on tablets.

This is something that I hope Connect Site took into account that users may be looking at this on their phones, tablets or computers and it needs to be easily navigable on all platforms. This is part of my frustration with the current TCC web site. You can get to it on you phone but the layout is not mobile friendly and you have to be super carefully when navigating not to literally fat finger a different command. 

Technology has change pretty dramatically in the past 5 years too, which is a big factor of this. I looked into this issue 5 years ago and had the same issues that Matt is calling out. It seems like some of the hardware and software is catching up to each other. Some of the software we use are starting to become more cross platform friendly, like you mentioned Alan, and is reducing the need to have devices specific to programs (finally and thank you!). I am very hopefully that within the next year or two I can address these issues because all of the pieces will be available. 

We are in the process of upgrading some our our older iPad to Microsoft Surface Go. They seem to be a great tool with no hang ups outside of UI differences. I would recommend them @Matt Eklund if you are in the marketing of upgrading devices.

We just did a complete replacement of laptops with 12” iPad pros.  The decision to do this was primarily based on mobile apps available for timekeeping on iOS and nothing else.  In addition, the UI is very intuitive for the field crews.  The surface pros tested tended to overheat, have lower battery life and the have same desktop style UI that is not conducive to field work.  If browser based apps continue to developed along with locally cached data bases, there should be no issue on what hardware platform  a company decides to go with.  I like to compare my experiences with Evernote, Quickbase (where my team manages work orders), Nozbe (for tasks) and Dropbox for files.  It doesn’t matter what device I’m on, I have access to the data.  Focus on minimizing the number of clicks to the answer to the question.

Here in Western Australia, I have seen users on iPads for the tasks you describe Matt. They just work.