Trimble Business Center

I don't usually have much bad to say about a feature in TBC other than a few wish list items or bugs, but man was I really disappointed with the auto classification of points cloud data in TBC. To be totally upfront, I haven't done that much scanning, a lot less than I probably should be doing since we own an SX10. Half of the reason is always having to use Trimble Access when I am so used to Siteworks.

In any case, we had a project where there were some existing stockpiles on site that the owner had for the contractor to use. The contractor wanted to verify the quantities of the piles. I thought, "no problem at all, they're really clean piles, not much for vegetation on them except for some tumbleweeds here and there, I'll scan them with the SX10 and get you a really accurate number". Fast forward to bringing the data in and running the extract classified point cloud regions and I really wished I had just hoofed the piles with the GPS because it would have been way faster, kept my quantity in an acceptable realm, and not made me want to pull my hair out. I could have probably got rid of most of the bad classification through down-sampling the data, but I wanted to try different way of cleanup for when I actually have to do it for real in the future.

So far, we don't do anything real crazy with the scanner, but I would like to use the SX10 for more things. But when TBC can't even clean up these actually really clean stockpile scans fairly quickly,  without me doing a bunch of manual cleanup, it's hard to justify the computer cleanup time versus the manual survey time with minimal clean up. 

I have attached the files here for anyone from Trimble who wants to use it to maybe try and improve this command. Here's hoping, because I would really like it to work a little more seamlessly as stockpile quantities as we get asked to do them a lot, especially in the spring and fall.

I also attached some scan files of a retention pond on the same project that was drained before we scanned it. I ended up only taking the point cloud data below the old waterline and then combining it with regular GPS survey data due to all of the extra point cloud cleanup I would have had to have done to get reliable data.

Hope this can be used for some improvements of the program in the future!

------------------------------
Katie Byron
------------------------------

The outdoor classification has a region called High vegetation (i.e. Trees), so it is not really designed for picking up low vegetation like tumble weeds, etc. For these data sets, instead of Classifying regions, I would recommend trying the Sample by Intensity tool:
You could either use this tool initially then use polygon select to clean up anything that is left.
Sampling by Intensity should also work with the pond scan. Although in this case, you might want to use polygon select first to select just the pond.

------------------------------
James McWha
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 10-21-2021 11:27
From: Katie Byron
Subject: TBC Extract Classified Point Cloud Regions - Extremely Dissapointed

I don't usually have much bad to say about a feature in TBC other than a few wish list items or bugs, but man was I really disappointed with the auto classification of points cloud data in TBC. To be totally upfront, I haven't done that much scanning, a lot less than I probably should be doing since we own an SX10. Half of the reason is always having to use Trimble Access when I am so used to Siteworks.

In any case, we had a project where there were some existing stockpiles on site that the owner had for the contractor to use. The contractor wanted to verify the quantities of the piles. I thought, "no problem at all, they're really clean piles, not much for vegetation on them except for some tumbleweeds here and there, I'll scan them with the SX10 and get you a really accurate number". Fast forward to bringing the data in and running the extract classified point cloud regions and I really wished I had just hoofed the piles with the GPS because it would have been way faster, kept my quantity in an acceptable realm, and not made me want to pull my hair out. I could have probably got rid of most of the bad classification through down-sampling the data, but I wanted to try different way of cleanup for when I actually have to do it for real in the future.

So far, we don't do anything real crazy with the scanner, but I would like to use the SX10 for more things. But when TBC can't even clean up these actually really clean stockpile scans fairly quickly,  without me doing a bunch of manual cleanup, it's hard to justify the computer cleanup time versus the manual survey time with minimal clean up. 

I have attached the files here for anyone from Trimble who wants to use it to maybe try and improve this command. Here's hoping, because I would really like it to work a little more seamlessly as stockpile quantities as we get asked to do them a lot, especially in the spring and fall.

I also attached some scan files of a retention pond on the same project that was drained before we scanned it. I ended up only taking the point cloud data below the old waterline and then combining it with regular GPS survey data due to all of the extra point cloud cleanup I would have had to have done to get reliable data.

Hope this can be used for some improvements of the program in the future!

------------------------------
Katie Byron
------------------------------

Very interesting James. I hadn't known about this tool. Is there more information on how to use this? Recorded TBC power hour? Youtube video?

------------------------------
Robert Hoy
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 10-21-2021 16:22
From: James McWha
Subject: TBC Extract Classified Point Cloud Regions - Extremely Dissapointed

The outdoor classification has a region called High vegetation (i.e. Trees), so it is not really designed for picking up low vegetation like tumble weeds, etc. For these data sets, instead of Classifying regions, I would recommend trying the Sample by Intensity tool:
You could either use this tool initially then use polygon select to clean up anything that is left.
Sampling by Intensity should also work with the pond scan. Although in this case, you might want to use polygon select first to select just the pond.

------------------------------
James McWha

Original Message:
Sent: 10-21-2021 11:27
From: Katie Byron
Subject: TBC Extract Classified Point Cloud Regions - Extremely Dissapointed

I don't usually have much bad to say about a feature in TBC other than a few wish list items or bugs, but man was I really disappointed with the auto classification of points cloud data in TBC. To be totally upfront, I haven't done that much scanning, a lot less than I probably should be doing since we own an SX10. Half of the reason is always having to use Trimble Access when I am so used to Siteworks.

In any case, we had a project where there were some existing stockpiles on site that the owner had for the contractor to use. The contractor wanted to verify the quantities of the piles. I thought, "no problem at all, they're really clean piles, not much for vegetation on them except for some tumbleweeds here and there, I'll scan them with the SX10 and get you a really accurate number". Fast forward to bringing the data in and running the extract classified point cloud regions and I really wished I had just hoofed the piles with the GPS because it would have been way faster, kept my quantity in an acceptable realm, and not made me want to pull my hair out. I could have probably got rid of most of the bad classification through down-sampling the data, but I wanted to try different way of cleanup for when I actually have to do it for real in the future.

So far, we don't do anything real crazy with the scanner, but I would like to use the SX10 for more things. But when TBC can't even clean up these actually really clean stockpile scans fairly quickly,  without me doing a bunch of manual cleanup, it's hard to justify the computer cleanup time versus the manual survey time with minimal clean up. 

I have attached the files here for anyone from Trimble who wants to use it to maybe try and improve this command. Here's hoping, because I would really like it to work a little more seamlessly as stockpile quantities as we get asked to do them a lot, especially in the spring and fall.

I also attached some scan files of a retention pond on the same project that was drained before we scanned it. I ended up only taking the point cloud data below the old waterline and then combining it with regular GPS survey data due to all of the extra point cloud cleanup I would have had to have done to get reliable data.

Hope this can be used for some improvements of the program in the future!

------------------------------
Katie Byron
------------------------------

Hi Robert
I'm not aware of any webinars or videos in Sampling by Intensity. RealWorks also has this tool and that is where I learnt about it.

------------------------------
James McWha
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 10-26-2021 17:17
From: Robert Hoy
Subject: TBC Extract Classified Point Cloud Regions - Extremely Dissapointed

Very interesting James. I hadn't known about this tool. Is there more information on how to use this? Recorded TBC power hour? Youtube video?

------------------------------
Robert Hoy

Original Message:
Sent: 10-21-2021 16:22
From: James McWha
Subject: TBC Extract Classified Point Cloud Regions - Extremely Dissapointed

The outdoor classification has a region called High vegetation (i.e. Trees), so it is not really designed for picking up low vegetation like tumble weeds, etc. For these data sets, instead of Classifying regions, I would recommend trying the Sample by Intensity tool:
You could either use this tool initially then use polygon select to clean up anything that is left.
Sampling by Intensity should also work with the pond scan. Although in this case, you might want to use polygon select first to select just the pond.

------------------------------
James McWha

Original Message:
Sent: 10-21-2021 11:27
From: Katie Byron
Subject: TBC Extract Classified Point Cloud Regions - Extremely Dissapointed

I don't usually have much bad to say about a feature in TBC other than a few wish list items or bugs, but man was I really disappointed with the auto classification of points cloud data in TBC. To be totally upfront, I haven't done that much scanning, a lot less than I probably should be doing since we own an SX10. Half of the reason is always having to use Trimble Access when I am so used to Siteworks.

In any case, we had a project where there were some existing stockpiles on site that the owner had for the contractor to use. The contractor wanted to verify the quantities of the piles. I thought, "no problem at all, they're really clean piles, not much for vegetation on them except for some tumbleweeds here and there, I'll scan them with the SX10 and get you a really accurate number". Fast forward to bringing the data in and running the extract classified point cloud regions and I really wished I had just hoofed the piles with the GPS because it would have been way faster, kept my quantity in an acceptable realm, and not made me want to pull my hair out. I could have probably got rid of most of the bad classification through down-sampling the data, but I wanted to try different way of cleanup for when I actually have to do it for real in the future.

So far, we don't do anything real crazy with the scanner, but I would like to use the SX10 for more things. But when TBC can't even clean up these actually really clean stockpile scans fairly quickly,  without me doing a bunch of manual cleanup, it's hard to justify the computer cleanup time versus the manual survey time with minimal clean up. 

I have attached the files here for anyone from Trimble who wants to use it to maybe try and improve this command. Here's hoping, because I would really like it to work a little more seamlessly as stockpile quantities as we get asked to do them a lot, especially in the spring and fall.

I also attached some scan files of a retention pond on the same project that was drained before we scanned it. I ended up only taking the point cloud data below the old waterline and then combining it with regular GPS survey data due to all of the extra point cloud cleanup I would have had to have done to get reliable data.

Hope this can be used for some improvements of the program in the future!

------------------------------
Katie Byron
------------------------------

Thanks, James! I will have to play around with it. Appreciate the feedback!

Katie

------------------------------
Katie Byron
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 10-21-2021 16:22
From: James McWha
Subject: TBC Extract Classified Point Cloud Regions - Extremely Dissapointed

The outdoor classification has a region called High vegetation (i.e. Trees), so it is not really designed for picking up low vegetation like tumble weeds, etc. For these data sets, instead of Classifying regions, I would recommend trying the Sample by Intensity tool:
You could either use this tool initially then use polygon select to clean up anything that is left.
Sampling by Intensity should also work with the pond scan. Although in this case, you might want to use polygon select first to select just the pond.

------------------------------
James McWha

Original Message:
Sent: 10-21-2021 11:27
From: Katie Byron
Subject: TBC Extract Classified Point Cloud Regions - Extremely Dissapointed

I don't usually have much bad to say about a feature in TBC other than a few wish list items or bugs, but man was I really disappointed with the auto classification of points cloud data in TBC. To be totally upfront, I haven't done that much scanning, a lot less than I probably should be doing since we own an SX10. Half of the reason is always having to use Trimble Access when I am so used to Siteworks.

In any case, we had a project where there were some existing stockpiles on site that the owner had for the contractor to use. The contractor wanted to verify the quantities of the piles. I thought, "no problem at all, they're really clean piles, not much for vegetation on them except for some tumbleweeds here and there, I'll scan them with the SX10 and get you a really accurate number". Fast forward to bringing the data in and running the extract classified point cloud regions and I really wished I had just hoofed the piles with the GPS because it would have been way faster, kept my quantity in an acceptable realm, and not made me want to pull my hair out. I could have probably got rid of most of the bad classification through down-sampling the data, but I wanted to try different way of cleanup for when I actually have to do it for real in the future.

So far, we don't do anything real crazy with the scanner, but I would like to use the SX10 for more things. But when TBC can't even clean up these actually really clean stockpile scans fairly quickly,  without me doing a bunch of manual cleanup, it's hard to justify the computer cleanup time versus the manual survey time with minimal clean up. 

I have attached the files here for anyone from Trimble who wants to use it to maybe try and improve this command. Here's hoping, because I would really like it to work a little more seamlessly as stockpile quantities as we get asked to do them a lot, especially in the spring and fall.

I also attached some scan files of a retention pond on the same project that was drained before we scanned it. I ended up only taking the point cloud data below the old waterline and then combining it with regular GPS survey data due to all of the extra point cloud cleanup I would have had to have done to get reliable data.

Hope this can be used for some improvements of the program in the future!

------------------------------
Katie Byron
------------------------------