Common Questions

Yes. Survey Analyst is an extension to ArcGIS 9 and is available for use on ArcView, ArcEditor, and ArcInfo. The system requirements are the same as for ArcGIS 9.

Survey Analyst imports and exports measurements and other field data from Total Positioning System (TPS) equipment using the following survey data converter formats: ASCII converter, Geodimeter converter, GSI converter, SDR converter, TDS coordinate converter, and TDS raw converter. The data import utility can be extended programmatically to import additional data formats.

Data collected from a traditional survey using an optical instrument and tape or electronic distance measurement (EDM) can be entered into Survey Analyst using the COGO functionality. Functionality methods, such as COGO traverse, station and offset, and COGO curves and intersections, are supported with Survey Analyst.

Coordinate data from GPS can be imported using the ASCII importer. Additional support of GPS baselines will become available in a future release.

The advanced editing tools in ArcGIS Desktop directly act on or create feature geometry. In addition to direct feature edits, feature geometry is subject to indirect change; this might be a result of topology validation, for example, in which new geometry vertices are created or existing ones are shifted during the validation process. Since there is no internal persistence of the procedures that created this feature geometry or persistence of the datum points (points of beginning), there is no recourse to rebuild this geometry from scratch in the spatially correct location. Even if the data has been known to be accurate, no formalized expression of spatial accuracy exists.

COGO in Survey Analyst complements the flexibility of the advanced editing tools with the control of a structured coordinate management system. Survey Analyst COGO computations create survey points, and the geometry of these survey points is not affected by GIS edits. In addition, the procedures for defining direct edits for survey point locations are highly controlled in a surveyor-friendly environment. These procedures are stored in sequences of dependent computations. Survey points form a framework of control for feature geometry. You can link points to feature geometry while still allowing the necessary flexibility in the feature edits. This is achieved by giving to the feature geometry an intelligence known as survey awareness. Over time, feature geometry accuracy can be maintained and formally expressed using the Survey Analyst system of coordinate management.