Plot
The function Plot lets you look at the points you have in your coordinate file.
These can be points you collected using the Collect function or the Accept
button in Navigate. They can also be points imported from another Carlson
Software product.
There are two choices of how to see the points. The first is List Points. Tell it
what range of points you want to see, and HydroStar will show you the Point
Number, Northing, Easting, Elevation and Description for each point. The other option is to Plot
Points. This will bring up a plan view similar to Navigate. At the bottom of the screen is a button
labeled “Plot”. Click this button and tell HydroStar what range of points you want and these points will
be plotted on screen.
Collect
This function is used to gather points as part of a survey. It reads the position
of the GPS antenna or depth sounder and stores it as a data point in the coordinate
file. You can enter a description for the point. The description is also stored in
the coordinate file. The points stored are also displayed as “X”s on top of the
plan view drawing.
If you are using a depth sounder, the elevation of the point stored will be
calculated by subtracting the depth reported by the sounder from the GPS elevation. The Rod Height
setting in General Options should show the height difference between the GPS1 antenna and the zero
point for the depth sounder. The rod height will also be subtracted from the elevation. If you are in
Stake to Pile mode, the program calculates the horizontal position of the point in the same way it does
for the pile in Navigate. Therefore you should set the two numbers that determine the pile driver
location (Angle and Distance under Navigation Options) so they refer to the location of the depth
sounder instead. If this is too much trouble and you want to store points while pile driving, you should
place the depth sounder as close as possible to the pile driver. The points will reflect the horizontal
position of the pile, but the bottom elevation at the depth sounder location.
There are three ways to collect data: manually, automatic by distance and automatic by time. If you
select manual mode, you will have a button to push each time you want to store your currently occupied
point.
Automatic by distance mode will prompt you for what distance to use. If you input 20, HydroStar will
store a point each time the GPS antenna has moved twenty feet. Automatic by time lets you input the
time interval (in seconds) you want between readings. Either of these modes can be used to plot the
route the barge travels.