Data output

You can output measurement data to another device such as an echo sounder or a computer running third-party software.

Data output is supported by any conventional instrument supported with Trimble Access (see Supported equipment).

Your equipment setup depends on the equipment you are using. If the instrument is a Trimble VX spatial station or Trimble S Series total station it can output data through the foot connector, so you can output measurement data from the instrument or the controller. For other instruments you must connect the controller to the instrument and connect the device to the controller to output data from the controller to the device.

Data output via a controller COM port is not available when using Trimble Access on a Trimble controller running Android. However, you can output data using a Bluetooth port on a Trimble controller running Windows or Android.

To enable data output:

  1. Connect to the conventional instrument and perform a station setup. The Data output screen is only available once a station setup has been completed.

  2. Tap and select Instrument / Data output.
  3. Set the Streamed data to either After measurement or Continuous.

  4. Select the Streamed format.

    If you select GDM user defined:

    1. Select the GDM data labels to include. See GDM data output.
    2. Select the End of transmission character.
    3. Select the Time output.

  5. Select the Port to output data from.

    If you are outputting data using Bluetooth, choose whether to operate as a server. Operating as a server is the standard behavior for most connections to a third device.

    • When operating as a server, tap Start and then use the third-party device to scan and pair to the Trimble Access controller.

    • When not operating as a server, use the controller operating system Bluetooth settings to pair to the third-party device and then select the port of the third-party device to output data to.

    If you are struggling to pair the devices, delete any existing pairings and then restart the pairing process.

  6. Leaving the Data output screen open, tap to access other functions in the software.

    Data output remains enabled as long as the Data output screen is open.

To stop data output, tap Stop in the Data output screen, or close the Data output screen.

If you select GDM user defined as the Streamed format, you can select from the following labels:

Label Text Description
7 HA Horizontal angle
8 VA Vertical angle
9 SD Slope distance
10 VD Vertical distance
11 HD Horizontal distance
37 N Northing
38 E Easting
39 ELE Elevation
51 Date Date
52 Time Time

Before the system can output northing, easting, and elevation, you must complete a station setup. Otherwise, the system outputs 0, 0, 0.

The northing, easting, elevation, angle and distance units match the Trimble Access software setting.

To set the number of decimal places for the horizontal angle and vertical angle records, in the Jobs screen tap Properties. Tap the Units button and then select the appropriate option in the Angle display field.

If streamed output is on and no new distance is available, the HA and VA labels are sent rather than the user defined labels.

When using Autolock mode, the instrument must be locked onto a target for any GDM data to be sent.

Select NMEA GGA output from the Streamed format field to stream latitude, longitude, and altitude values from the controller to the connected instrument.

This output format is standard for interfacing to other devices, and complies with NMEA‑0183 Standard for Interfacing Marine Electronic Devices, Version 4.0, November 1, 2008 as well as the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 61162‑1, Edition 4 2010–11 industry-standard-compliant string that is commonly accepted by 3rd party devices.

The data string output by Trimble Access exceeds the standard NMEA output message length of 82 characters because it uses the extended GGA format to output high precision position data with a higher number of decimal places.

Use GNSS service profile

Select the Use GNSS service profile check box to set up the Bluetooth port to simulate an industry-standard GNSS receiver.

Selecting the Use GNSS service profile check box changes the Bluetooth service that Trimble Access provides from the standard serial port profile to the standard GNSS profile. Some devices may require this setting if they are configured to request their GNSS positions from the official GNSS service instead of the more common generic serial port service.

Use the Pseudo NMEA GGA data output option to stream northing, easting, and elevation values, rather than the standard latitude, longitude, and altitude values, from the controller to the connected instrument. This output format is based on the NMEA (National Marine Electronics Association) standard for interfacing marine electronic devices. A modified version of one of the NMEA 'sentences', the GGA sentence, is generated.

A typical example of an output record is: $GPGGA,023128.00,832518.67,N,452487.66,E,1,05,1.0,37.48,M,0.0,M,0.0,0001*49

The fields in this record are as follows:

Field Description
$GPGGA Data type identifier for the NMEA sentence
023128.00 Time field – UTC time of position fix (hhmmss.ss)
832518.67 North coordinate in the currently set units output to 2 decimal places
N Fixed text indicating preceding value was the north coordinate
452487.66 East coordinate in the currently set units output to 2 decimal places
E Fixed text indicating preceding value was the east coordinate
1 Fix quality (always output as 1 = GPS fix)
05 Number of satellites (not applicable in this case and always output as 05)
1.0 HDOP value (not applicable in this case and always output as 1.0)
37.48 Elevation value in the currently set units output to 2 decimal places
M Units identifier for elevation value (also indicates units for north and east values). M or F indicating meters or feet (US survey feet or international feet – both use the F output as there is no means of indicating which feet unit)
0.0 Geoidal separation (always output as 0.0 since an elevation value is being output)
M Units identifier for the geoidal separation (always output as M)
0.0 Time in seconds since last DGPS update (not applicable in this case and always output as 0.0)
0001 DGPS base station ID (not applicable in this case and always output as 0001)
*49 Record checksum value with * separator.

If there are no coordinate values available for output in the Pseudo NMEA GGA sentence, the north, east, and elevation comma‑separated fields in the record are empty.

For information on outputting NMEA from the GNSS receiver, see NMEA output options.

Use the SD, Hz, V1(mils) data output option to stream slope distance, horizontal angle, and vertical angle values.

A typical example of an output record is: SD 2.76 Hz 253.49 V1 83.47

The fields in this record are as follows:

Field Description
Column 37 and 38 are label SD Slope distance comes after SD label, output to 2 decimal places, right justified at column 50.
Column 52 and 53 are label Hz Horizontal angle comes after Hz label, output to 2 decimal places, right justified at column 66.
Column 68 and 69 are label V1 Vertical angle comes after V1 label, output to 2 decimal places, right justified at column 78.

Slope distance is always output in meters and horizontal angle and vertical angle in mils, independent of the units selected in the job properties.