5.90

Warranty date: 1 May, 2023

Following are the new features and enhancements included in this version of Trimble Business Center. Alternatively, you can download these release notes as a PDF file.

To view context-sensitive help in TBC while using any of the commands mentioned here, simply press F1.

Miscellaneous

• Apply a View Filter to a Reference File - You can now change the visibility of data in a referenced file in the same manner as filtering the view of objects in your active project.

Data Exchange

• Support for new Perpendicular Target Height method used in Trimble Access - Import and process Trimble Access survey data that includes the newly added Perpendicular Target Height method for measuring a total station target when performing an object-oriented station setup.

• Import secondary design data for stakeout line points - Secondary design data can now be imported into TBC for stakeout points that have a second line design.

• Import Geotagged Photos in an SPJ file - You can now bring in attributes via SPJ files to support photos taken with an SX12. A new attribute that tags photos to points (based on how they are currently handled with FXL files) has been added in SPJs; now no FXL is required in Siteworks to have a photo attached to a point.

Coordinate System

• Updated Coordinate System Database - The newest Coordinate System Database installed with TBC v5.90 includes the following enhancements:

  • Added accurate support of NAD27 and old realizations of NAD83 using NADCON 5 grid files

  • Added support for old realizations of California Spatial Reference System (CSRS Epoch 2004, 2007, 2009 & 2011)

  • Added support for SIRGAS-ROU98 datum and zones for Uruguay

  • Added coordinate system zones for Guam

  • Added coordinate systems for Austria: EPSG 31257, 31258, 31259

  • Added Kinematic Datum IGS20 & RTX20 considered same as ITRF2020

  • Added support for SIRGAS-Ecuador (2016.4) datum and zones for Ecuador

  It is recommended that you use Trimble Coordinate Database version 106 with TBC 5.90 and later. You can check your software and database versions in the Coordinate System Manager by selecting Help > About. You can upgrade to the latest software version 3.9.13 and database version 106 by selecting Help > Check for Updates.

• Improved management of EPSG IDs - When connecting to a third-party GIS database or WMS service, you can now verify you are using the correct zone, datum, and geoid model by viewing their EPSG IDs for the selected coordinate system in TBC Project Settings > Coordinate System, just as you can do when viewing coordinate systems in the Coordinate System Manager. The IDs are automatically updated when there is a change to the datum or geoid. And every ID is a clickable link to the EPSG website where you can find more information about it. In addition, the JXL importer has been enhanced to ensure EPSG IDs are not "lost" between the field software and TBC.

Survey and COGO

• Grant Boundary/Compass COGO adjustment - The Create COGO command has been enhanced to enable you to perform a Grant Boundary or Compass (Bowditch) adjustment automatically to re-establish lost boundary corners. To do this, you simply enter one of the new COGO line commands—End Coordinate or End Point— to specify a different end location for the selected boundary linestring based on an imported measured point or coordinate. The adjustment is performed automatically by rotating and scaling the linework that defines the entire boundary based on the new measured corner point, which is fixed during the adjustment. Using the new COGO Adjust tab, you can select the type of adjustment to perform and whether to display the legacy linework on a different layer than the new adjusted linework so it can easily be hidden or displayed in a different color. Information about the adjustment is displayed on the Adjust tab as well, including the legacy and adjusted boundary line lengths, misclosure between the legacy and adjusted end points, applied rotation, and applied scaling factor.

• Higher-performance kinematic baseline processor - TBC has updated its kinematic baseline processor to provide (1) much higher performance when dealing with difficult environments and (2) the ability to process all modern signals, including Beidou 3.

• South azimuth in Create COGO command - The Create COGO command now supports south azimuth coordinate systems. If your project is set up for a south azimuth orientation, the new “Azimuths point to the south” check box is checked by default on the "Options" tab when you create a new COGO collection, ensuring points and lines are created with a south azimuth orientation. Otherwise it is unchecked, indicating points and lines are created with a north azimuth orientation. You can check or uncheck this setting at any time if necessary.

  If you created a COGO collection in a project in an earlier version of TBC, this check box is disabled when you open the project in TBC 5.90.)

• Create points by station offset - The new Create Points by Station Offset command enables you to quickly and easily create multiple points along a user-defined baseline by first specifying the station and offset for each point you want to create and then running the command to create them all at once automatically. You specify the point ID and feature code for each of the points, which are organized into collections in the Project Explorer.

• Integrate points into geometry - Use the Integrate Points into Geometry command to automatically convert vertex coordinates for linestring-based polygonal objects and COGO parcels into points.

CAD

• Enhanced object/entity selection option - Options > General > Display now includes an option allowing you to specify to include the elevation for each CAD object/entity when your initial selection in a graphic view displays multiple objects in a selection list. This enables you to more easily discern and select the one you want (for example, for snapping or exporting). This option is turned on by default.

• Automatically divide an area - Use the new Divide Area command to easily divide the area of a 2D polygonal feature into subareas based on any of the following criteria:

  • A specified number of equal-sized subareas

  • One or more subareas of a specified size

  • One or more subareas at a specified distance from a division baseline (which defaults to the selected edge of the polygon, but can be customized)

• Use a bearing as a deflection angle for linestring segments - When creating a segment in a linestring using a deflection, you can now use the Specified angle option to enter a bearing.

• Enhanced IFC exporter - The IFC exporter has been updated to incorporate the newest Trimble Tekla libraries and includes the following enhancements when exporting Industry Foundation Classes files (.ifc):

  • Duplicate geometry definitions have been removed from the export to save file space.

  • A simplified interface supports any BIM input, not just existing data blocks.

Drafting

• Include feature attributes in point labels - The Properties pane has been enhanced to allow you to quickly and easily specify which attributes to display in point feature labels.

GIS

• Filter features from a GIS data source - The Read Features from GIS command now allows you to click two points to define a selection box in the Plan View just around the area from which you want to import features (instead of importing from the entire area covered by the data source). Then you can click the Preview button to see a list of features included in the box (and straddling its border) that can be imported. This helps you avoid unnecessarily long download times and the need for a large amount of disk storage space.

• Display geographical features using a Web Feature Service (WFS) - Use the new OGC Service Manager command (Open Geospatial Consortium) to connect to a Web Feature Service (WFS) server, which supports the querying and retrieval of geographical features to temporarily display in your project. After connecting to a WFS server, simply select the area you want to cover and the coordinate system to apply; then select the features to display. This is a powerful tool for overlaying temporary geographical feature data (which can be snapped to) and providing additional visual context in your Plan View. (Note: You can also connect to a Web Map Service (WMS) server to display background maps in your project using the new OCG Service Manager command.)

• Exchange attachments with a GIS data source - When you exchange feature data with a GIS data source that includes feature attributes with attached files (for example, a photo JPG file), the attached files are now included in the exchange. This ensures a more complete transfer of feature data to be shared with others.

  In previous versions of TBC, it was possible to export attachments to the data source, but not import them from the data source.

• Exchange data with PostGIS - - TBC now supports the exchange of geometry and GIS data with PostGIS, a spatial database extender for PostgreSQL object-relational databases. PostGIS provides support for geographic objects, allowing location queries to be run in SQL. Use the GIS Connection Manager to easily connect to a Postgres database. Then, optionally select an STC configuration file (generated by QGIS Desktop for STDM) to use for the exchange of features and/or attributes and to populate the project's Feature Definition Library as necessary. You also have the option of selecting to merge GIS coordinates into points in TBC to ensure points are referenced within the geometry along with coordinates.

• Exchange data with Trimble Penmap for Android - You can now import and export Penmap project data contained in a Penmap PDT compressed file that includes all required template files, geometry data, measured GNSS points, and GIS data records. Optionally, you can select to export only template data from TBC: either the template itself, or a compressed file containing all of the related template files and a geometry styles file, symbol definitions file, feature system file, and GIS schema file.

• Exchange data with an Esri feature service - - TBC now supports the exchange of feature data with an Esri feature service either internal to your organization or anywhere on the Web. Use the GIS Connection Manager to select and connect to the service.

  The import of true curves is not fully supported at this time, but they can be converted to straight lines on import.

Surfaces

• Create a Composite Surface - You can now create a single, combined surface from two or more other surfaces without having to completely rebuild (continually retriangulate) a merged surface model. There are few steps in creating a composite surface, saving you time and preventing errors. Composite surfaces are continuously updated to show the current state of the project as you change the contributing surfaces. A composite surface can be viewed, edited, and used like any other surface, e.g, it can be referenced, sliced, and used to calculate volumes for takeoffs and reports.

Corridors and Alignments

• Use reference alignment stationing - You can now apply alignment stationing based on the stationing of another alignment (usually where a design alignment is slightly different from the as-built alignment).

Point Clouds

• Point cloud classification enhancements - The Extract Classified Point Cloud Regions command Is now based on deep learning technology to provide overall more accurate extractions and classifications. It also includes more outdoor class types to choose from for terrestrial scans. And to help ensure the highest accuracy with difficult outdoor (terrestrial) extractions, a new Refinement option allows you to run an enhancement for Ground, Poles, Signs, and/or Buildings classes as necessary to obtain optimal classification results. Extract stockpiles from a point cloud - Use the new Extract Stockpile command to quickly and easily extract one or more stockpiles from a point cloud, save them in your project, and compute their base and slope areas and volumes. Simply click each stockpile you want to extract and specify a few parameters to automatically generate a boundary around it. The new (or a specified existing) boundary is then used to automatically extract the stockpile (including the automatic generation of initial/base and final/slope surfaces) and calculate its area and volume. You can then create a formatted report and/or CSV file showing the results of the extraction. Each extracted stockpile is represented by an individual node in the Feature Extraction >Stockpiles in the Project Explorer, allowing you to select it and view its properties, and generate surfaces associated with it.

• Point Clouds ribbon enhancement - The Point Clouds ribbon has been reorganized to better group and display related commands, making it easier to perform each of the various point cloud-related workflows provided in TBC.

• Selectively assign feature codes during automatic point extraction - When using the automatic mode for feature point extraction, during the QA/QC process you can now specify a different feature code or additional feature codes for each extracted feature as necessary, instead of assigning the same default feature code to all of them. This enhancement combines the speed of automatic point extraction with the flexibility to assign appropriate features codes to varying extracted features when necessary.

• Drape a CAD line on a point cloud - Use the new Drape Objects on Point Cloud command to elevate each of the vertices in a 2D or 3D CAD linear or closed object or alignment to a point or group of points in a point cloud using any of a variety of strategies, each of which is based on a specified search radius and the projection of the vertex through the point cloud along a Z axis.

• Enhanced Ambient Shading mode for point clouds - The new Enhanced Ambient Shading mode is similar to Ambient shading mode except that it applies anti-aliasing to give a more aesthetic visualization, typically darkening the points but revealing more detail in the scene. Since enhanced ambient shading applies to all datasets (it does not require normal information, intensity, or color), this is the recommended mode for most situations, combined with your favorite color and visibility options.

• Extract geometry automatically from multiple features at the same time - The Extract Geometry command, which allows you to use a template to locate and extract geometry for features of the same shape and size displayed in a point cloud (for example, painted arrows on a roadway), has been enhanced to support multiple extractions at the same time. So now you can either select each feature for which you want to extract geometry individually, or you can select an area with multiple matching features in which multiple automatic extractions can occur. In the multiple extraction mode, a handy slider bar allows you to adjust the confidence level for the automatic extraction to obtain optimal results by filtering out false positive shapes in the area of interest and increasing the detection rate of shapes that are difficult to identify due to, for example, worn or faded paint.

• Enhanced manhole extraction - The Extract Point Feature command has been enhanced to more accurately extract manhole features from a point cloud with less false positives and an overall better detection rate. In addition, it more precisely calculates each manhole's center and diameter (a newly supported attribute), whether you manually click anywhere on the manhole or perform an automatic extraction.

• Trimble X9 laser scanner support - TBC fully supports the import and processing of data collected with the new Trimble X9 laser scanner, which provides PPM corrections and uses a new TZF export format that provides better compression than previous TZF files.

Photogrammetry

• Import and process frame-based aerial image data from any UAS camera - The UAS Importer has been enhanced to allow you to import geotagged aerial image data from any UAS camera regardless of the maker and model. TBC includes an extensive list of predefined camera specifications that can be automatically applied when you perform the import (drag-and-drop or via Import UAS in the menu). In case UAS cameras are not stored in TBC, you can easily import data by manually entering required specifications (sensor focal length and sensor pixel size) directly into fields provided in the Import UAS Data pane. These custom specifications can be saved and re-applied when image data is again imported from the same UAS camera. data is again imported from the same UAS camera.

  Additionally, the Import UAS Data command pane now:

  • Displays the camera maker and model along with the sensor size in pixels (if provided in the image's EXIF metadata).

  • Includes an Advanced setting that allows you to specify that the GNSS used to capture the data is of high quality, which enables an absolute orientation adjustment to be performed without the need to process baselines or measure GCPs.

• Improved deliverables boundary creation - - In previous versions, if you did not select an existing boundary when creating photogrammetry deliverables, the flight block plan was automatically used for the boundary. For this version, a new boundary is now automatically generated that more accurately and efficiently defines the area to be included in the deliverables creation process.

• Digital Surface Model enhancements - The DSM elevation type deliverable has been enhanced as follows:

  • Moving objects are removed from the model

  • Buildings have sharper edges

  • Radiometric corrections are performed on overexposed or underexposed image areas by taking the scene illumination and sensor influence into consideration.

    Also, in this version of TBC, the generation of DSM is based only on the Semi-GlobalMatching algorithm (in the previous versions called Digital Surface Model Highest Quality), which is the basis for the generation of high-quality True-Orthophotos.

    In addition, the Create Deliverables command now includes an Advanced option to select a different file location (for example, on an external drive) for the possibly large volume of temporary files created during the DSM creation process.

• Height shift for low quality GNSS data - The new Set Height Shift command enables you to perform a GNSS height shift when GNSS quality is low and the EXIF height values from the imported drone images are incorrect (for example, due to the wrong coordinate system being used). If necessary, you can use the Inverse command in the 3D View to measure between the drones and ground control points to determine the correct height shift value to apply using the new command.

Tunnels

• Mesh-comparison delta values in the Tunnel Inspection View and report - To better meet user's needs, the deviation values formerly displayed on a tab in the Tunnel Inspection View and in the Tunnel Inspection Report have been replaced by delta values.

• Tunnel Inspection Report (with geological overprofile) - The Tunnel Inspection Report command now includes a new report template: Tunnel Inspection Report (with geological overprofile). This version of the report includes all of the information contained in the standard Tunnel Inspection Report template along with the following geological overprofile information for drill and blast headings and tunnel boring machine (TBM) headings:

  • Geological overprofile area for each station

  • Geological overprofile volume for each station

  Total geological overprofile volume for all stations Computations are based on offset values you specify when running the report *In accordance with Swiss underground construction and tunnel Norm SIA198.*

• Delta histogram and statistics added to the Tunnel Inspection Report - - The Tunnel Inspection Report now includes on the first page of the report a histogram plot showing the distribution of delta values (overbreak/underbreak) based on the width interval used to aggregate delta values on the x axis of the histogram and the lessthan/more-than delta range to include, both of which you specify before running the report. In addition, the Summary table now includes a new "Statistics of Inspection" section that includes key delta statistical values (number of delta values, average delta value, standard deviation, and delta value variance) along with the percentage of delta values within a range you specify before running the report. This enhancement enables surveyors and contractors to meet key project requirements when providing quality control of tunnel construction for shotcrete and excavation analysis. (For example, "80% of the shotcrete layer must be within thickness values of 10 to 15 cm".)

• Enhanced tunnel inspection maps - The tunnel inspection map has been enhanced to include all comparison delta values (within specified tolerances), regardless of whether the comparison mesh is closed along its bottom.

Mobile Mapping

• Batch processing - The Batch feature allows you to run a routine that automates typical pre-processing tasks on MX9 and MX50 datasets such as scans generation, coordinate system definition, classifying scans, and colorizing scans. The routine can be:

  • Created by defining the parameters, and exported for later use

    Or

  • Imported if it exists

  Once executed and finished, a report shows the different status of the operations.

  The datasets may be:

  • One mission, one SBET and one coordinate system definition

  • Multiple missions with multiple SBET (one per mission), but all sharing the same coordinate system

  • Multiple missions with multiple SBET (one per mission), and multiple coordinate system definitions (one per mission)

Takeoff

• Create and apply an Overexcavation Template - You can now use the Overexcavation Template Manager command to create one or more complex crosssectional shapes for overexcavation areas (holes and trenches). You can add an unlimited number of instructions to a template to specify the overexcavation surface’s shape. An overexcavation template consists of a bottom, vertical wall, and/or sloping wall that attaches to a surface (defining how the bottom of the overexcavation area ties to the surface above at the the daylight line).

  Once created, you can select an overexcavation template in the Overexcavation command to create a surface to represent the result of excavation within areas that need to be cut below an intended finished or subgrade surface (overexcavated).

Third-party tools

• New ANZ Toolbox commands - These commands have been added to the toolbox:

  • Insert Legend Table - The Insert Legend Table command enables the creation of legend tables for hatches, line styles, and symbols using the definitions setup in an associated Feature Library. Select data from the project view and create a table containing one of each type displayed in the Plan View.

  • Set Point Description – The Set Point Description command allows you to set the description fields of points using their own extended feature property values.

  • Convert to Linestring – The Convert to Linestring command allows you to convert alignments, polylines, and CAD line objects into Linestring objects. You can also remove UCS (User Defined Coordinate Systems) from imported CAD objects or from objects created using the Cutting Plane View in TBC.

  • 3D Objects from Polygon – The 3D Object from Polygon command enables you to select one or more closed linestrings to apply a depth and/or polygon offset against and create 3D solid objects. 3D Objects from Surface – The 3D Object from Surface command enables you to select a surface and apply a depth and/or surface offset against it. No boundary is required, however, one or more closed boundary strings can also be applied to create a 3D solid object.

  • Footing Adjust – The Footing Adjust command allows you to select lines that make up the edge of a footing or structure and extend them to intersect each other, while also being able to adopt a height from the nearest point to use in the corners of the footing as elevation.

  • Measure Geometry – The Measure Geometry command allows you the ability to select a line or point as a base, then select points/nodes to calculate various measurements such as, chainage, offset, delta elevation, grade, azimuth, vertical angle, slope from zenith and distance. Annotate results to a text layer and/or create an excel report.

  • Inspect Line Nodes – The Inspect Line Nodes command allows you to select a line and report the elevation, chainage, azimuth, and grades for all the nodes along the line. Annotate results to a text layer and/or create an excel report.

Important notes and known issues

See the TBC Help for a complete, up-to-date list of important notes and known issues related to TBC.

Support for Planning utility discontinued - The Planning utility used to plan GNSS projects previously available from the TBC File > Tools menu is no longer available. Users are encouraged to instead use the Trimble GNSS Planning Online web-based application (www.gnssplanningonline.com), which is accessible from the the File > Tools menu. This is an extremely useful tool in determining the best period of time to collect GNSS data. Simply select your location, date, time, and duration, along with the constellations used by your receiver. The application provides the maximum count of visible satellites, the best satellite geometry, and the best ionosphere conditions using easy-to-read charts and graphic displays.