It's not just the GCS version you need to lookout for, also the receiver.
GCS900 from around 12.6 should be fine.
12.4 definitely doesn't work with cal and MS990 also won't work with it. Even now we had machines with that kind of gear coming to our site. So, we actually had to upload a CFG to Worksmanager.
One benefit of the CFG is that it contains a partial area of the geoid, you don't need to upload the whole geoid file, although Worksmanager is putting it on the TCC server nonetheless.
The CFG is not just used to set the coordinate system, it's a general configuration file for the receivers. You can set input/output data streams etc. which are activated/executed on startup. (Trimble Access will overwrite those settings if you use the receiver with it again, was a bit of a bummer when I tried to upload a permanent file to a SPS785 that we also wanted to use with our line marking robot)
i.e., when you set a proper coordinate system and output serial ports in a CFG you can get final local coordinates out of the receiver as long as you feed a NTRIP stream into it, no additional software required.
You can look at the content of the CFG with the old Configuration Toolbox.
https://forms.trimble.com/support_trl.aspx?Nav=Collection-49573&pt=Configuration%20Toolbox
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Ronny Schneider
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-03-2023 09:04
From: Steve DiBenedetto
Subject: .CAL file from Controller
There is some cutoff of GCS900 versions, not sure of the exact version where CAL file compatibility was added, but it should work with most recent versions of GCS in the last 8 years or so. So for the most part a .CAL "should" work in GCS900.
The CAL file is a ASCII file that is human readable. The CFG is a binary file that is not readable or really editable easily. So you can not just change the suffix of CAL > CFG or vice versa to get things working.
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Steve DiBenedetto
Original Message:
Sent: 03-31-2023 11:04
From: Vitalii Vovk
Subject: .CAL file from Controller
Just anyone can shine some light for me on this subject. Can .cfg in GCS900 machines be replaced with a .cal file or would it be possible to create .cfg file by editing the extension oh the file or any other parts inside the file)
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Vitalii Vovk
Original Message:
Sent: 02-01-2023 05:46
From: Charlie Sorg
Subject: .CAL file from Controller
Just to add another option, importing the .DC into TBC and exporting the design for GCS900 using Export > Construction > Machine Job Site Design exporter, TBC will output a complete package of GCS900 files including .SVL, .SVD, .CAL, and .CFG.
Hope that helps, Julius.
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Charlie Sorg
Product Owner
Trimble Business Center, CIS
Original Message:
Sent: 12-02-2022 09:05
From: Steve DiBenedetto
Subject: .CAL file from Controller
Hi Julius,
Totally correct about GCS900 not taking a DC and only taking a CAL.
What Siteworks and SCS900 do when exporting a project to a GCS900 machine is simply take the existing project's DC file, copy it and rename the suffix to a .CAL. Just wanted to make that point. Hopefully as a work around, until WM allows a download of the actual CAL, just renaming the DC that you do download from WM to .CAL "should" work.
Good luck!
SDB
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Steve DiBenedetto
Original Message:
Sent: 12-01-2022 13:42
From: Julius Newman
Subject: .CAL file from Controller
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the detailed response.
We do have a slight issue in that we can't use the .DC for publishing Designs to Machines running GCS900 as information doesn't load in the GCS900. However, when we use the .CAL file all information is displayed.
I'll seek clarification regarding the term ".
I'll also try renaming .DC to .CAL to see if that rectifies the issue noted above.
Regards,
Julius
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Julius Newman
Original Message:
Sent: 12-01-2022 08:44
From: Steve DiBenedetto
Subject: .CAL file from Controller
Hello there.
Just for clarity the DC and CAL are 100% identical in terms of the important coordinate transformation information in the upper portion of the file. The CAL file is produced by Siteworks when a proper site calibration is performed and contains the point pairs used to tie the GNSS LLH values to the control point NEZ values. So the CAL serves as the record of which points were used on the data collector where the site cal was done. If no site calibration is performed, e.g. using a published coordinate system of UTM or State Plane, then no CAL is produced in Siteworks.
Unless you are doing some kind of post processing in TBC or want to see the point pair info, (which is a completely reasonable thing to want to do:) the .DC could be downloaded from WM and then simply copied and renamed with a .CAL suffix to have no impacts on any other system like Earthworks or GCS900.
As a sanity check, just pop open a DC and CAL from the same project in a text editor and you'll note that the upper portion of the files will be identical. While the CAL will be larger and have more information in the lower section, that is only really of use in TBC.
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Steve DiBenedetto
Original Message:
Sent: 11-30-2022 13:27
From: Julius Newman
Subject: .CAL file from Controller
Thanks, we'll use TCC, and or zip and email from the controller in the meantime.
Thanks for the reply Vijay.
Kind Regards,
Julius
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Julius Newman
Original Message:
Sent: 11-30-2022 04:43
From: Vijay Raghunathan
Subject: .CAL file from Controller
Hello Julius, there is no easy way to get the .cal file from the controllers in WorksManager today, regret inconvenience. You can get it from TCC for now, as an alternative. We have a feature in backlog to get that data as well in WorksManager, will keep posted.
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Vijay Raghunathan
Original Message:
Sent: 11-29-2022 01:47
From: Julius Newman
Subject: .CAL file from Controller
Hi, Can anyone shed light onto the following.
I note that we can get the jobsite *.dc file from the controllers via sync, but is it possible to get the *.CAL file?
Traditionally, we would zip the project file folder and send that back to the office, from which we use the *.CAL exclusively in our projects as it appears to provide the most seamless approach for all of the plant.
Regards,
Julius
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Julius Newman
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