Integrated surveys

In an integrated survey, the controller is connected to both a conventional survey instrument and a GNSS receiver at the same time. The Trimble Access software can quickly switch between the two instruments as needed, within the same job. For example:

  • If you move out of line of sight from the instrument then you can choose to measure positions using the GNSS receiver.

  • If you move under heavy tree canopy or close to buildings then you can choose to measure positions using the conventional instrument.

If the controller has the Trimble Access Roads software installed, you can enable the Precise elevation option to always use the horizontal position from the GNSS receiver combined with the station elevation from the conventional survey instrument when staking a road using the Precise elevation stakeout method.

To use an integrated survey you must:

  • Configure the conventional and RTK survey styles you will use, and then configure an integrated survey style which references the conventional survey style and the RTK survey style. The default integrated survey style is called IS Rover.

  • Fit the GNSS receiver and the prism to the same pole.

  • Set up the conventional survey instrument at a known location or, if you do not have a control point for the location you can start the survey by performing a resection station setup using positions measured from the GNSS receiver on site.

Watch the Integrated surveying with Trimble Access video on the Trimble Access YouTube channel for an overview of integrated surveys.

When measuring during an integrated survey:

  • To switch between the GNSS receiver and the conventional instrument, tap the status line in the status bar.

  • When switching to the conventional instrument, if the instrument is no longer pointing at the prism, use GPS search to search for and locate the prism. In an integrated survey GPS search uses the current GNSS position as the starting point to speed up the search for the target.

If you are using IMU tilt compensation for the RTK part of the integrated survey, the tilt compensation is not applied to the conventional observations. Be sure to level the pole when using conventional total station measurements or when using the Precise elevation stakeout method when surveying a road.