Trimble Positions Desktop add-in v10.8.1.3

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, and TerraSync field workflows. Please see additional information below regarding new features, improvements, and bug fixes.

For users of TerraFlex on Connect workflows, this is a required upgrade in order to continue publishing projects and downloading data after August 31, 2021.

New Features & Improvements

1. Support for Trimble Identity v4 and new sign-in pattern. This version adds support for the Trimble Identity v4 service. This is a required upgrade for all add-in users of TerraFlex on Connect workflows. All previous versions will no longer be able to sign-in after August 31st.
   
   For more information, please refer to the informative posts on trimble.com and geospatial.trimble.com.
   
   For a short set of instructions on how to login with the new pattern, please see this article on Trimble Community.
2. New TerraFlex Feature Geometry Integrity Checker tool. In order to help users check for incorrect feature geometries, a new tool has been included and can be added to the add-in toolbar. This tool allows a user to check all previously downloaded forms within each project and layer.
   
   For more information on this tool, please see this article on Trimble Community.
3. Improvements to user experience for downloading TerraFlex forms. In order to facilitate more efficient form download workflows, the default behavior has been changed to always mark downloaded forms as downloaded. In this way, a form need only be downloaded once. In a default workflow then, there is no need to take the extra step of marking forms as downloaded. However, the default behavior can be changed to allow for an operation similar to previous versions where this was a two step process.
4. Improvements to user experience for updating TerraFlex features after post-processing. For users of post-processing workflows where sessions are downloaded, the user experience has been improved to make the cloud-side update of forms an optional step. When clicking Update Features after processing a session, the user is now prompted for whether or not they want to update the cloud-side forms as well. If the user is only ever using Connect as a pass-thru and the geodatabase is authoritative, then it can save time to not update those forms with the processed results as only what’s in the geodatabase matters at that point.
5. Improvements to ability to store photo URLs in an attribute. In lieu of storing photos as attachments, it is possible to store photo URLs in an attribute. In the system.config file for the add-in, there is an entry called <StringFieldNameForPhotoAttribute> and the value here represents an attribute name that the add-in will look for when publishing a layer as a template. If it finds a string field (>200 characters in length) with this name, it will configure the project to store photo URLs there when a form is downloaded. If the field length is between 200 and 600 characters in length, the template will allow a single photo. If the field is longer than 600 characters in length, the template will allow multiple photos and URLs will be stored in a pipe (|) separated list. Plan for up 200 characters per photo URL that you intend to store.
6. Configurable handling for non-simple geometries in form uploads. Previously, non-simple geometries could not be uploaded in tasks at all. In this version, the user can turn on geometry simplification for feature uploads if so desired. This should be used carefully as if a feature geometry is simplified and taken to the field for attribute-only editing, then the simplified geometry will end up replacing the original geometry in the geodatabase when the edited form is downloaded. You will be able to see in the log file if non-simple features fail to upload. To enable geometry simplification here, open the add-in database (Jet/Access, SQLite, or ODBC), locate the KEA_SYSTEMPROPERTIES table, and add a record with PropertyName = SimplifyOfficeToFieldGeometries and PropertyValue = true. To turn it back off, remove this record from the table.
7. Improved task workflow nomenclature for consistency with Trimble Connect Map Viewer. In order to provide a consistent user experience with the Map Viewer, nomenclature for task progression has changed. Tasks can be Closed and then Deleted. Tasks are only Completed in the context of the TerraFlex field app.
8. Improved accuracy configuration authoring experience. In an effort to simplify the project and template authoring user experience, we have removed references to Basic or Advanced feature download workflows and instead only present the choice of accuracy source shown below. The last page of the Project Wizard also now contains a summary of workflow choices made on earlier pages.
   

   Source of accuracy	How data is downloaded
   Real-time Corrections Only [DEFAULT]	Standalone forms
   Real-time Corrections + Post-Processing (USES BEST ACCURACY)	Forms in sessions

9. Notification when a selected field configuration uses a datum with a null transformation. For users of the Classic/WGS84 geodetic workflow, choice of datum in a field configuration is very important. In some cases, the selected datum may have a null transformation to WGS84. The user is now notified of this to make sure they are aware of it.
10. Support for “minimize transformations” geodetic workflow in TerraSync projects. Similar to what was enabled for TerraFlex workflows in a previous release, users of TerraSync workflows can now specify a workflow that will eliminate most datum transformations. For example, in a NAD 1983 (2011) case, users can configure a workflow that will not perform any datum transformation when importing or checking-in SSF files nor when using base stations for post-processing (when the coordinate in the base station files is in the same datum). More information on this will be provided on Trimble Community.
11. Deprecation of TerraFlex on InSphere workflows. As Trimble InSphere has now been shut down, support for these workflows has been removed from this version of the add-in.
12. Deprecation of ArcPad workflows. Support for the two ArcPad workflows has been removed from this version of the add-in. Users who require this functionality should continue to use the previous version, 10.8.1.2 (Updated July, 2021).

Bug Fixes

1. Forms with null geometries not handled well in either form-based or session-based downloads. In some cases, forms with null geometries can get collected or otherwise stored in the cloud. Such forms presented a problem in recent versions of the add-in and they would functionally get stuck. This happened in both the form-based and session-based download patterns. This has now been resolved and forms with null geometries will flow through correctly.
2. Exception if add-in fails to insert sessions or features after download. In some cases where the spatial index grid did not work for the data, sessions would fail to import with an error. This has been improved to be more robust although users will still be responsible for changing spatial index grid size if necessary.
3. Form download list did not clear when changing projects. Previously, the list of downloaded forms would remain even if the project was changed. This could present problems if the user then tried to work with the forms in the list. This has been resolved and now the list is cleared when the project changes.
4. Form download list is not wide enough to see status. The list previously had a static width and if the name of the layer was sufficiently long, it was not possible to see the full form download information (inserted or updated) in the list. This has been resolved and the width is now dynamic.
5. Configured geoid name does not display on the Project Geodetics page for existing projects. In some cases, when viewing existing projects (either in View… or Edit… mode) in the Project Wizard, existing geoid settings were not visible. This has been resolved. Note: The Project Geodetics page in the wizard will always be read-only for stored projects.
6. Inconsistent management of coordinate systems with the same datum and zone but different units. If customers work with different units in the same coordinate system datum and zone, then in some cases projects would have incorrect settings. This has been resolved.
7. ArcMap crashes trying to post-process sessions from a TDC150. Previously, the post-processing engine used for TDC150 data (.atm) did not sufficiently protect against bad positions and would throw an error. This has been resolved.
8. Data collected on a TDC150 not post-processable when the first position is bad. In some cases, a session recorded on a TDC150 has a bad first position. This prevented the session from being post-processed at all as that first position is used as the representative position for the session. This has been resolved and the engine will no longer use the first position as the representative position for the session.
9. Various errors checking-in a .tfout file in the TerraFlex Offline workflow. There were a variety of errors experienced importing or checking-in a .tfout file. This could be because of a problem with the GNSS file, a cast error with photos, or a few other things. The check-in process has been made to be more robust and provide better messaging for failures that it can’t work around.
10. Offline tasks created in previously opened projects don’t get filtered out. In previous versions, tasks created for TerraFlex Offline projects were still visible in the list when working with different projects. The list was not cleared when a new offline project was opened. This has been resolved.
11. Delay when add-in or ArcMap is ready after opening a new project; performance degrades over time. For customers with a large number of projects, there was a noticeable delay when the ArcMap UI would become responsive after switching projects or map documents. This delay would increase over the time ArcMap was open. This has been resolved.
12. Inconsistent handling and persistence of vertical units. The solution for interpreting desired vertical units (depends on VCS if present, PCS if not) did not always yield the expected result and so projects could get created with an incorrect vertical unit. This has been resolved.
13. Project initialization fails in some cases when manually enabling the extension. It is possible for users to manually enable the extension with a map document already open. Sometimes, this would cause a failure in initialization of the expected project loading. This has been resolved.
14. Bad error message if the database connection is invalid. If the connection to the desktop database cannot be made, a bad error message would be displayed instead of a proper one as expected. This was due to a change in call sequence and has been resolved; a proper connection failure message will now be displayed.
15. Positions with invalid accuracy still included in the geometry. In the Edit Feature panel of the Dockable Window, a list of all positions in a feature are displayed. There was an inconsistency with what positions were displayed (and used, or checked) here compared to what is used in feature rebuild operations. As a result, positions with invalid geometries were included in the list despite not being included in the feature rebuild. This has been resolved to be consistent in both places.
16. User base stations cannot be created without a reference frame set for the RINEX base files (even if user only wants to use reference position from the database). There was an unnecessary limitation in creating user base stations. The new requirement is only that the base station have one reference position (with frame) stored in the database OR a reference frame for the RINEX base files - but not both.
17. User not alerted if base station has no reference position in the RINEX base files. In some cases (can be due to CORS processing issues), base station RINEX files can be missing proper reference positions. This will cause a problem for post-processing. The behavior in this area has been improved to alert the user to this condition.
18. Session graphics drawn incorrectly with projected coordinate systems. When working with map documents using a projected coordinate system, display of session graphics (outline and center X) was incorrect. This has been resolved.
19. Antenna configuration folder not found. In some cases, the path where antenna configuration is stored (typically shared with other Trimble software) was not read properly from the registry and the add-in would not function properly. This has been resolved by improving resilience in this area.
20. Many duplicate messages in log files. Logging was generally improved to avoid unnecessary duplication and to filter out incorrectly formatted messages that don’t provide helpful information to the user. The log file continues to be the most important place to look when problems are encountered.
21. Saving “all-users” configuration in the Desktop Configuration app fails with an exception. In some cases, users would experience an error trying to create a configuration valid for all users. This has been resolved.
22. Error in post-processing if a position does not have a vertical accuracy estimate. In rare cases, a post-processed position coming out of the engine can be missing a vertical accuracy estimate. This would cause problems in later stages of processing and feature geometry rebuilding. This has been resolved.
23. Legacy projects used a different source of geoid files than new projects. In older versions of the add-in, geoid files were referenced from the Trimble shared “GeoData” folder, or using a path known to the add-in. With the switch to the CSCM-based distribution of coordinate system data, including geoids, the new location should be used for all projects. That location is C:\ProgramData\Trimble\Positions\CscmGeoData.
24. TerraSync SSF/DDF Import projects do not handle datum transformations correctly. In certain scenarios (often NAD 1983 (2011)), datum transformations were not handled correctly when creating projects from SSF/DDF files and post-processing data subsequently. Results would be shifted by the WGS84 datum offset. This has been resolved.
25. SSF files exported from TerraSync projects contain empty, or incorrect, geometries. In some cases, SSF files checked-out from projects using local coordinate systems (often NAD 1983 (2011)) would appear to have no feature geometries when viewed in TerraSync or Pathfinder Office. This was due to incorrect coordinate transformation at the time of check-out. This has been resolved.
26. Waypoint export shows “...the same spatial reference” error when not appropriate. The waypoint export functionality has been improved to allow for proper coordinate system behavior. All selected features must still use the same coordinate system.