5 improvements in Leica Captivate v3.0 that make switching between projects more efficient

As a busy surveyor or site engineer, you may have several survey or construction projects to work on in parallel and possibly be moving between them daily. This means not only moving your instrument to a new location, but also switching the measure job, setup data, design data, coordinate system, etc. within Leica Captivate.

When using Captivate (and we hope you are), switching the working job (the job to store the measured data to) is done by a simple swipe in the home panel. But switching control data (data used to set up the instrument) and design data (data to be staked out) is not done quite as swiftly.

Working on different project sites in the course of a day

The new Captivate v3.0 will be released 1 December. It will bring five major improvements that will make switching between your projects a lot more efficient. Let's have a look at the issues we have addressed in this new version and the changes we have done.

When I switch project, why does my design and control data not switch with my job?

In Captivate, the user selects the job to store measured data to in the home panels job carousel. In previous versions of Captivate, the job containing the data for the total station setup was selected in the Choose Design Data panel and the same was done for any alignment or DTM data that is to be used.

If switching projects, a different job needs to be selected in the home panel, as well as a different set of control data, design data, DTM and/or alignment jobs. This could become quite tedious when done often and it could lead to errors if switching one of the jobs is forgotten and wrong data is being used.

With the new version of Captivate, control data, design data, DTM and alignment jobs can all be linked to the job selected in the home panel. This means that every time the user goes to work on a different project, one swipe to select the job in the home panel will activate the linked design, control and alignment data automatically in the background. This saves time when switching projects and it prevents possible errors as the correct data is automatically used.

My control points are spread over several jobs, is there a way to use them without constantly switching control jobs?

While in previous Captivate versions only one job containing points and lines could be selected in the design data panel. The new version does not limit how many control data jobs are linked to the working job selected in the home panel. This means the user can select several jobs containing control data and several jobs containing design data and link them all to the same working job.

The data from all these linked jobs and the working job is combined in a so-called dataset which is available in the different apps as needed.

For example, in the Measure app 3D viewer, all data from the linked jobs are greyed so they can be seen but can also be differentiated from the measured data.

In the Setup app, only the data from the linked jobs is shown as they contain the control data used for the setup.

If all data is combined in a dataset, can I use COGO methods with points from different jobs?

Yes. As mentioned before, the content of your linked jobs is combined in the dataset. The COGO app accesses the dataset, so with the new Captivate version, COGO calculations can be done between control points from several jobs and points contained in the working job.

If all my control data is combined in one dataset, how do I find my points easily?

This is a very good question, because when linking lots of control and design data to the working job, the dataset can contain a lot of points and lines.

In Captivate v3.0, the job properties of each working job show an overview of all linked jobs and allow accessing a dataset page that shows a summary of all points and lines contained in these linked jobs.

The user now has the option to make linked jobs "visible" or "invisible", meaning points and lines from that linked job are shown or hidden in the dataset. This allows keeping all related jobs linked to the working job for later use but temporarily hiding the content for a better overview.

Furthermore, several filter options can be applied to the points in the dataset. A new filter option allows defining multiple point ranges, which gives the user every freedom possible for showing and hiding points.

The point filters are then taken over into the apps so that a point range filter could be used, for example, to define a stakeout list for the day. This allows the user to concentrate on the task at hand, only seeing the necessary information, while all relevant data is still connected to the current working job.

Is there a way to clean up my job carousel to find jobs easier?

Yes, there is. With the new concept of linked jobs, we have introduced a job management panel that can be accessed via the F6 button from the home panel. This job management shows all jobs available on the instrument and allows defining which of the jobs are visible in the job carousel in the home panel. So, if you want it really clean, you can hide all but your current working job from the home panel.

But I was happy with the way Captivate worked; why do I need to change my workflow now?

You don't. The old way of working with jobs is still available in Captivate v3.0 and you can continue working as before after an upgrade. If you never link any control or design jobs to your working job, you will hardly notice the new feature being there.

How can I get the new release?

The new Captivate v3.0 field software will be available on Leica myWorld for download after 1 December 2017. For the installation, a Customer Care Package (CCP) license valid until at least 1 December 2017 is needed. If you have any particular questions or wishes, please contact your local Leica Geosystems representative.