14 TPC Desktop Introduction
Introducing Geodetics
Let’s face it. Those of you who have done Cartesian coordinate math forever think geodetics are
just a little bit scary. Straight grid lines are easy to understand, but geodesics are curved with a
unique direction at each end. No wonder they’re scary.
TPC takes the scary out of geodetics by boiling everything down to this - just tell TPC which
distance and direction types you want to use anywhere in the program. It’s that simple.
Traverse View
Just select the distance and direction types to use for any traverse. If you enter raw data like
slope distance and zenith angle, TPC converts them to the appropriate grid, ground or geodetic
types when it computes the foresight or sideshot. When displaying distances and directions, TPC
starts with the coordinates and factors the inversed distance and direction to display the types
you have selected for the traverse.
Drawings
Any drawing can display any combination of
grid, ground or geodetic distances and either
grid or true directions. TPC even includes
drawing variables that automatically annotate
your drawing with the distance and direction
types being displayed.
COGO
Many COGO dialogs let you select which
distance and direction types to use in the
computations or display in the dialog and
reports. These COGO dialogs display the
abbreviated types in the caption bar. You will
see something like 'Random Inverse (Geo
Dist, True Bearing)'. This will help you
identify which types the dialog is currently
using.
Some dialogs also include a
Show Options
button. Left-click this button to show the
Distance
and
Direction
pulldowns. Some dialogs also include a Units pulldown so you can change units on the
fly.
Full Geodetic
TPC has all the geodetic tools for Direct and Inverse computations, cardinal offsets, latitudinal
arcs, convergence, grid factors and everything else that goes with geodetics. But it simplifies it all
down to the
Distance and Direction types that you choose. Now that’s taking the scary out of
geodetics.
Geodetic tools are available only in the Professional Edition.