The 2006 upgrade contains an array of new features, improvements, and of course fixes.  One of the most detailed updates we have released yet, this version has refined the product into the most productive data collector on the market. Our last major update completed the product matrix by adding the LandXML compatible roading module. This update fine tunes the product in many different areas to improve daily productivity.

Jump to:  Figures | Measurement Methods | Instrument Control | Calculation

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- You can now assign command shortcuts to keys on your data collector. 

This has been added to support the keyboard layout on the newer Trackers but it also works with any device that has a keyboard. The defaults for the shortcut keys are based on our keyboard layout, but you can assign any key you want to the list of available commands. The shortcut definitions are stored in the msurvey.ini file so they're portable to your other data collectors if you've defined a custom layout.

Another great feature is that the EDM mode for the currently selected instrument can have shortcut keys assigned to it.  For example if you refer to the list above, pressing the '1' key would set your EDM mode on the instrument to IR Standard. The shortcut keys are available from the MAP/Graphics screen so you jump right to the program you want. No searching through menus.

Custom Tracker Keyboard

- An RPN calculator is now built-in to FieldGenius:

The calculator is available from the calculations menu. It is also available directly from input fields such as the Traverse Toolbar. The red vertical bar on the right side of the input field indicates that if you double tap in the field the calculator will automatically appear.  You can then make a calculation and press the USE button.  This will copy the value in the bottom of the stack back to your input field. Note: you can adjust the double tap timing on your data collector if the calculator is appearing too often.

- Allowable point ID ranges can now be defined in the settings.  If the user tries to store a point outside of this range, a message will appear notifying them that the point number they are using falls outside the allowable range:

Default Values:
Example of warning if outside range:

- You can now delete the last 10 points that were saved.  In the Survey Menu there is a new command called Delete Last Saved Point.  Using this allows you to remove (delete) points from your map and database.  Each point that is removed will be recorded in the raw file with a DP "Delete Point" record.

- A new option is available to stop the map location toolbar from appearing when you select an empty part of the map screen.

- A new option allows you to store user defined descriptions without any warning messages asking you if you want to do this.  This greatly speeds up data collection because it saves you from having to press "Yes" to the warning message.

- Any points that are imported or calculated now have a record in the raw file.  The record is stored as an SP record.  For example, points imported from an ASCII file will have an associated SP record in the raw file.  This allows for better reprocessing of the raw file by desktop software.

- All deleted points now have a DP record written to the raw file. DP records are processed by MSCAD when importing an existing raw file. 

- Horizontal grid settings are now saved to the project INI file. An 'auto size' button has been added to the 3D settings dialog to make grids easier to use.

- Program settings are now separated into groups for easier viewing:

The different groups are highlighted in green.

- DXF File Export: The user now has the option to include point descriptions in the exported DXF file.

- Improved 3D planar and vertical grid settings for vertical plane mapping.

- FieldGenius' normal data path is MicroSurvey FieldGenius\FG Projects.  If for some reason this directory does not exist, FieldGenius will automatically create it.

- Major Speed improvements to reduce the time to store new points in large projects.

- Fixed resizing of buttons on the instrument toolbar, especially applicable to portrait data collectors.

- Projects from MSCAD / inCAD often have an associated DXF file.  The default was to not automatically load the DXF, but this has changed such that the "load DXF" toggle will automatically be turned on when opening the project for the first time.

- Next point ID was being carried over from previous jobs when opening existing or creating new projects if FieldGenius was not closed first.  On new projects it will now default to 1 and on existing projects we will scan the raw file looking for the last point number that was stored.  If nothing is found in the raw file, the program will default to the lowest available point in the coordinate database.

- Previously it was possible for the user to continually press the three point arc toggle consecutively around a figure.  This caused problems with the figures so this has been updated so once a shot is taken on the mid point, the three point arc toggle will not be available until a shot is taken on the end of the arc.

- Adding new descriptions to the AutoMap library in FieldGenius would automatically set a draw line flag to turn on the line toggle when the description is selected.  This has been changed so the default is for lines to be off with new AutoMap entries.

- The full screen desktop version of the emulator now displays the topo toolbar.

- The Tape Measure program now creates SP records in the raw file.

- New points can now be selected with the mouse while the point toolbar is visible.

- Raw file viewer has been updated to be more user friendly and intuitive:

Two new options for inserting note (comments) are available.  Insert Note will insert a note above the current highlighted line.  You can highlight any line in the raw file. Append Note will append a note to the end of the raw file. When you edit a record, the Save and Undo buttons will appear. The auto note that is entered after editing a record will now say "Edited Next Line:" instead of "Edited." View button changed to Show Map. Other minor changes to make scrolling more reliable.

New: Old:

- msurvey.ini is now automatically created if it is missing and will be built using hard coded system defaults. The FGEN group has been renamed to SETTINGS. New groups of DISPLAY and DEFAULTS have been created.

- Direction input format is now synchronized with direction output format in the Units Settings screen.

- Licensing now creates and refers to the file 'Licence.txt'. If the license file 'FG2004.lic' still exists, it will be referenced instead.

- Raw File Viewer command moved to Data Management menu.

- Insert Comment command moved to the Raw File Viewer.

- The dashed line indicating the previous shot and the current instrument position symbol from a previous project would be displayed in new projects if the program wasn't closed first.

- MSCAD Projects:  FieldGenius will now use the default direction saved in the msurvey.ini file when projects created by MSCAD or inCAD are imported.

- If you had a project open, and created a new project through the project manager, an MO record for the new project was being written into the previous project containing the new project's settings.

- On the Emulator, Full screen version, the Cancel button on menus caused all menus to disappear.

- After storing an observation the map screen would redraw itself and "flicker" several times more than was needed.

- Editing a record with a lot of characters in the raw file would sometimes be saved and split between two records.

- FG could not always import a DXF file that was exported by FG.  In previous versions you needed to open and save the DXF in AutoCAD or MSCAD first before opening it with FieldGenius.

- LOD button on the visibility toolbar wasn't working correctly.

- Older versions of FieldGenius used to set a registry value that informed our Activesync plug-in that FieldGenius was running on the data collector.  This prevented the user from downloading a project that was currently in use.  This behavior has been improved.

Jump to:  Figures | Measurement Methods | Instrument Control | Calculation