Trimble Positions Desktop add-in v10.8.1.1

A new version of the Trimble Positions Desktop add-in for ArcGIS Desktop (ArcMap) is available for download here. The add-in supports TerraFlex on Connect, TerraFlex Offline, TerraFlex on InSphere, TerraSync, and Esri ArcPad + Trimble Positions ArcPad extension field workflows. Please see additional information below regarding new features, improvements, and bug fixes.

Note: The initial release of Trimble Positions Desktop add-in v10.8.1.1 was posted for download on December 3rd and would have displayed as build "(140-f58876bc)" in ArcMap. In the intervening 2 weeks, a few bugs were identified (included in the section below) and fixed. The latest build, displayed as build "(17-02a82f5c)" in ArcMap, was made available for download on January 13th.

Another Note: Trimble Positions Desktop add-in Release Notes are moving to help.trimblegeospatial.com in the near future.

New Features & Improvements

• Support for local coordinate systems in TerraFlex workflows. Users can now publish projects in local coordinate systems as supported in TerraFlex v5. Available for both TerraFlex on Connect (cloud) and TerraFlex Offline workflows, specific functionality includes:
  • New Project Geodetics page in the Project Wizard where all relevant information is displayed and settings are chosen. Available coordinate systems for the TerraFlex project are based on compatibility with the coordinate system used by the feature class layers in the project.
  • Distinct workflow options for minimizing datum transformations, providing backward compatibility and flexibility, and using related coordinate systems.
  • Validation of real-time correction profiles selected for the project.
  • Updated, intelligent handling of base station reference positions for post-processing workflows. A new format for user lists (user_list.xml) is also provided.
  • Updated distribution of Trimble coordinate system files. Trimble coordinate system files (“GeoData”) required for operation are now bundled in the main Trimble Positions installer and installed to a Trimble Positions-specific folder (C:\ProgramData\Trimble\Positions\CscmGeoData). Trimble Positions no longer includes or requires the Trimble Coordinate System Manager and database (CSM/CSD).
• Improvements to TerraFlex post-processing workflows. Session retention in the cloud has been increased from 30 days to 2 years. In addition, downloaded sessions are backed-up to local storage to facilitate future (manual) recovery operations. If sessions are not marked as downloaded the first time, they can do that later via context menu. There is also now a message if no sessions are available for download.
• Better handling and protection for changes made to TerraFlex templates through Map Viewer. Templates published from Trimble Positions are currently editable through the Map Viewer and it has been easy to make changes that can break the workflow back into Trimble Positions. Additional handling now exists to differentiate supported changes (layout, rules) from unsupported changes (attributes, schema) when downloading forms and sessions. In a near-future update to Map Viewer, templates that are published from one of the add-ins will be locked down to prevent breaking changes. Logging and messaging has also been improved in this area.
• Improved TerraFlex project thumbnail generation. Thumbnails used for new TerraFlex projects in the mobile and web apps are now created based on the map extent in ArcMap at the time of publishing.
• Improved control over feature naming during waypoint export. Improvements have been made to how features are named during the export of waypoints for TerraSync workflows. If all selected features are from the same layer, waypoint names will not include the feature class alias name. If simple feature labels are set (and labels are visible), they will be used in the waypoint names. If feature labels are not set but simple feature display names are, they will be used in the waypoint names. If neither are available, then the objectID_xyz convention will be used.
• Improvements in logging and database backups. Log messages have been improved in areas such as project opening and SSF importing. When office database schema updates are required, backups are made to a more visible location: C:\ProgramData\Trimble\Positions\DatabaseBackups.
• Changes in support for older versions of Esri software. This version of Trimble Positions removes support for ArcGIS for Windows Mobile and ArcGIS Runtime for Windows Mobile (Positions Toolkit) workflows. Both products were retired by Esri as of July, 2017. In addition, Trimble Positions no longer supports ArcGIS Desktop 10.1 and only supports 10.2 and higher. ArcGIS Desktop 10.1 was retired by Esri as of January, 2018.

Bug Fixes

• Auto-update (check for updates) functionality did not work. New at version 10.8.0.1, this functionality did not work properly as a mechanism for deploying new versions. The add-in checks an outdated URL for updates and if the server was not available, the add-in would cause a crash in ArcMap. This has been resolved in the new version. For users who decide to stay at version 10.8.0.1, they will need to disable update checks from the add-in (a checkbox on the Desktop Configuration app’s “Check for updates” screen) prior to December 31st otherwise they may experience a crash. This will be discussed in a support note.
• Office database backup did not always work prior to a schema update. When new versions of the add-in would require a schema update to the office database, a backup of the database would be made first (in the same folder). In some cases this backup operation (a copy/paste) would fail. This has been resolved and further, the database backups are stored in a more visible location: C:\ProgramData\Trimble\Positions\DatabaseBackups
• Could not download sessions if any changes were made to a published workspace. The session-based (advanced) workflow for TerraFlex on Connect at version 10.8.0.1 was very sensitive to any changes made to the published workspace or templates. Any change made to the workspace (new layer, changed layout, etc.) through Map Viewer would cause a problem for the add-in when trying to download sessions. This has been resolved and the handling here is now much more robust (see item #4 in the section above). As a reminder, the add-in workflow is designed to treat the user’s geodatabase as the authoritative schema with Trimble Connect only being used as a pass-thru; schema changes should originate at the geodatabase. At present, it is not possible to propagate schema changes through a “re-publish” (that’s only for adding new layers and updating real-time configurations) and a new project/workspace should be published when schema changes are required.
• Can not create or publish local projects if they contain invalid characters. There are limitations around TerraFlex on Connect workspace names containing invalid characters or starting with a period [.]. The Project Wizard will now prevent this.
• Problems with coded value domain handling. There were a few problems with coded value domain handling that have been resolved. In one case, the add-in would crash during project saving when it encountered a coded value domain-backed field with a default value of an empty string [“”] that was not part of the domain. In another case, forms that were edited through Map Viewer prior to download could have subtle changes made to unselected choice fields (changing null values to empty strings) that caused a problem when it was validated against the coded value domain at download.
• Published templates did not set the “geometry collection required” property based on the null-ability of the feature class geometry field. This has been fixed for consistency.
• Can not include freehand polygon in a task. In some cases, these features would cause errors when the user would try to include them in a task (for upload into Connect). This was due to the first and last coordinates not matching exactly and this has been resolved.
• Inconsistent nomenclature for offline base maps and vector layers. This version attempts to make the terminology consistent, or at least compatible, with both the TerraFlex mobile app and the Map Viewer web app.
• Can not add more than one basemap to a .tfin file. Despite it looking like you were adding multiple basemaps to a .tfin file, only the first one was included. This has been resolved and multiple basemaps can now be included with a project in a .tfin file. Logging has also been improved in this area to better detect and understand problems or failures (an Esri geoprocessing tool is used for part of the process).
• Error when creating a vector layer package if a feature class is used >1 time in the map document. If a feature class is used more than one time in a map document, an error would be thrown when trying to create a vector layer package. This has been resolved.
• Can not store a second project to the .tfin when it uses the same geoid as the first project. The user would get an error when trying to check-out a second project to a .tfin file if the geoid already existed in the .tfin file from the first project. This has been resolved.
• Problems downloading and updating the CBS list. The base station list can be updated either from within the add-in or from the Desktop Configuration application. In some cases, that download and subsequent updating of the Trimble Positions database would be very slow and the dialog box workflow could be confusing. This has been improved for this release.
• Data dictionary created by Trimble Positions is too big for TerraSync. In the add-in, it was possible to export a data dictionary that was too big for TerraSync. This is now prevented.
• Incorrect receiver ID for GeoXH 2008. In SSF files collected on a GeoXH 2008, the receiver information would be displayed incorrectly when the session was imported. This has been resolved.
• Incorrect elevation handling [bug in initial v10.8.1.1 posting]. Form geometry Z values (feature heights) were incorrectly handled when the workspace had been published with vertical units of Feet or US Survey Feet. Downloaded results would have been inappropriately (re-)scaled by the meters-to-feet conversion factor. This would have also occurred when forms were downloaded after attribute-only edits in a data maintenance workflow. In addition, in downloads of attribute-only edits in a data maintenance workflow when using the classic, WGS84 geodetic workflow, feature heights were shifted by the difference between the WGS84 and the local ellipsoid (used in the coordinate system of the feature class). These issues have been resolved.
• Object reference error when downloaded forms referenced a layer that is no longer in the map document [bug in initial v10.8.1.1 posting]. Due to the somewhat de-coupled nature of the Esri geodatabase and the TerraFlex on Connect infrastructure, it is entirely possible for a layer in a map document to be removed, or even a feature class in a geodatabase to be deleted, after a project that references them has already been published. If forms are collected using those published templates, the add-in does not know what to do with them when they are part of the downloaded set. This condition is typically logged (as is the message about missing layers in the project) but changes in v5 resulted in an error when the log message was created. This prevented proper download of the rest of the forms for which a valid layer/feature class still exists. This issue has been resolved.
• Installation and database upgrade issues [bug in initial v10.8.1.1 posting]. There were several issues with the initial v10.8.1.1 version posted for download. If the user installed the new version over an older version, the newer CSCM coordinate system files would not be installed properly. In addition, there was an error during the automatic database schema upgrade in some scenarios. These issues were resolved.
• Correction datum setting for field (real-time) configurations in TerraFlex workflows changed during schema upgrade [bug in initial v10.8.1.1 postings; fixed in build posted January 13, 2021]. During the schema upgrade operation at this release, existing field configurations used in TerraFlex workflows may have had their Correction Datum setting changed from the desired (typically local) datum to the WGS 1984 datum. If the user proceeded with re-publishing the project or reusing this field configuration in another project, the change could be propagated up to the cloud and into the TerraFlex project on the device. This could introduce a datum shift in collected data. Users will need to verify this setting in each field configuration they are using in the add-in. Please see the Support Note for further information. This upgrade issue has been fixed in the latest version although that will only affect customers who have not yet upgraded.
• Geoids not displayed or available as expected [bug in initial v10.8.1.1 postings; fixed in build posted January 13, 2021]. There were two issues in this area. Although the orthometric height calculation for downloaded forms and sessions was correct in the new version of the add-in, the geoid setting would not be displayed in the project wizard when editing projects. This has been resolved. Additionally, only a subset of the expected geoids were available for use in new projects; the list was initially constrained to only those geoids that are fully supported throughout the TerraFlex system (matching what's available for use in the Connect Map Viewer). This has been resolved and the full set of geoids is now available for use - if a geoid is not one available through the Connect Map Viewer, then the calculation will only be applied in the office when forms or sessions are downloaded. This is consistent with the behavior of projects created in previous versions of the add-in.