SOFTWARE UPDATES

Changes to GCS:Dirt:

- A setting has been added for decimal precision of the "Cut/Fill Offset" shown on the Working Screen. The default is still to show 2 decimal places, but this can be altered to show 3 decimal places by changing the number for "CFOffsetDecimalPrecision" in the USRSETTINGS.INI file.  Note that this change also affects GCS:Level.

 - The "Dual GPS w/Multiport Bridge" driver hydraulic control has been fixed so it is now possible to use the 35100 controller and the DAC7000 controller with a second hydraulic output on channel B.  Previously, it would only issue instructions to channel A.  Note Dirt 2 "slope" permission is required in order to use dual output. 

- The "Side by Side Antennae" mode of the "Dual GPS w/Multiport Bridge" driver has been modified so that it A) plots the position of the second antenna b) displays the independent elevation of the left and right antennas and C) shows the cut and fill values for both the right and left antenna on each respective light bar.  Note that in "Front and Rear Antennae" mode, the cut and fill value is shown, but it is for the primary antenna only.   

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Changes to GCS:Topo:
The label field on the Working Screen is now highlighted when any point label other than "3GRD" is selected, mirroring the behavior in GCS:Dirt.

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Changes to GCS:Pipe:
 - The Odometer now starts with a value of 0 in Top View.  It increases only when auto-capture is turned on. 
 - C:\ARWUTIL\PIPE.LBL has been updated with sample values.

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Changes to all programs:

The "GPS 1 Local Point Setup" method created a control point with coordinates 0,0,100.  This default has been changed to 5000,5000,100 to make it less likely to record coordinates with negative numbers.

Changes to GCS:Road:
 - Access to the "3D view" has been restored by default, and is once again accessible by pressing the [Z] key. This view can be disabled in the Plot Menu with the "Disable Alternate Views" toggle.

RELEASE NOTES: 25.1029 10/29/21

Changes to GCS:Pipe:
In PTL mode, when working downhill towards a main, the program will display a prompt to ask the user how far above the bottom of the main trench to offset the pass.  The program now tells you the label of the main that you are intersecting.  

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Changes to GCS:Level:
It is now possible to save a slope definition in GCS:Level for use in GCS:Dirt.  Users will design the slope in the usual fashion by clicking the waterfall icon in the upper right, then choosing the appropriate method to define a slope in the "Set Mainfall (A-B/Longslope) Vector" menu.  Once a slope has been defined, users can then click the "Export" button to save the slope definition to an FBG file for use in GCS:Dirt.  

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Changes to GCS:Dirt:
It is now possible to toggle the antenna graphic from the "standard" size to the "Large" size with the Plot Menu parameter "Set Antenna graphic size".  This was previously only possible in Pipe and Ditch. 

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Changes to all programs:

It is now possible to set the "Max Release" value in the Licensing Menu to later dates.  Previously, the limit was 26.0331 (March 2022), and now the limit is 27.0930 (September 2024).

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A problem with converting DXF files created by the Topcon Magnet software to .DRW format has been fixed.  Previously, some lines were imported as black instead of their intended color.  All lines now appear as the proper color (provided the color is supported by GeoSite).

Changes to MultiPort Bridge (MPB):
The "Dual Scraper w/Multiport Bridge" driver was previously unable to control a second output to either a DAC or 35100 controller.  This has been implemented so that you can now toggle between controlling the front or rear scraper.  It does not yet work for a single scraper in "left/right" configuration.

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The "Multiport Bridge" driver was previously not displaying errors if the device was not in RTK fixed mode.  This has been fixed.  All 3 Multiport Bridge-based driver control menus now show additional diagnostic information, and allow the user to set the required data type and base timeout.  The satellite icon/button on the working screen now properly shows GPS information like the number of satellites, the message count and the HDOP.

RELEASE NOTES: 25.0825 08/25/21

NEW "MultiPort Bridge" aka the "MPB". MPB is an optional service which runs in the background to collect readings from 1 or more GPS receivers.  The legacy dual GPS instrument drivers had several problems, which have been resolved with the MPB:
    - Improved reliability reading the COM port when messages are received.
    - Users now only have to localize the primary instrument and the localization will be applied to the secondary automatically.  
    - Improved performance at any speed over 5Hz.  The MPB works at 20Hz reliably.
    - Eliminates erratic behavior such as reversing direction unexpectedly. 
    - The geoid of the primary receiver is now applied to the secondary receiver, allowing for a corrected height to be used on the second device.
    - Properly calculate the position of the front antenna in Pipe, making surveying with the front antenna possible.

    - It is now possible to read a single TCP/IP based GPS receiver using the MPB.  Users must configure the single GPS receiver in the new MPB Configurator configuration tool.  The user must also select the "MultiPort Bridge" instrument inside the software.  The MPB currently only supports parsing $GPGGA messages from the TCP/IP-based receiver.

    - Note: MPB requires Windows 7 or newer, and will NOT be compatible with WinXP

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The DAC7000 instrument is now sending the command to enable the newer model DAC-2X-2 slope sensors.

NovAtel ALIGN & OEM7: There is a new port combination for NTRIP= "COM1 for commands, NCOM2 for corrections". "galecutoff" command is now sent.

When the user selects the "Bron Can-Bus(TM)" device, they now see a new menu that asks them to choose between a USB, Ethernet and "Other Channel" channel.  The first two choices set the appropriate channel and baud rate, and the third choice allows the user to specify a channel and baud rate.

The pipe.lbl file in c:\Arity has been updated.  Users of Pipe may choose to replace their default global.lbl file by manually copying the contents of pipe.lbl file.

There is a new, more touch-friendly way to make a new job from the Dashboard's Job Management menu.  Users now click a "New Job" button in the lower left corner of the Job Management popup window.  The old method of choosing "Make a New Job" from the drop down list still exits also.

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Improvements to French & Spanish menu translations.

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Changes to GCS:Dirt:

 - The "Dual Scrapers w. 2 GPS" driver was only partially implemented and did not work for the DAC7000 device or 35100 device.  A new instrument selection been created called "Dual Scraper w/Multiport Bridge".  Selecting this instrument prompts the user to choose a compatible device controller and then the user is guided through the usual device-specific prompts.  Note that the height of the two pans is set in the device control menu, and the rod height toggles automatically when the controlled pan is switched.  The [J] key is the shortcut to toggle between the two pans.

 - The cut/fill offset menu, as well as the "C/F" field on the working screen have been modified to show only 2 digits of precision instead of 3.

 - It is now possible to determine side slope using 2 GPS receivers on a single implement in left/right configuration.  In order to display the indicated slope, the user must be using the "Dual GPS w/Multiport Bridge" instrument and have the "IndicateOnly" parameter in usrsettings.ini set to "TRUE".  Setting this parameter to "True" does not disable machine control as the name suggests. 
 - Selecting the "Boundary/Perimeter" button from the point capture dropdown menu now turns the background color of the Label field to orange, to better alert the user that they are using a special label and should switch it back to "3GRD" when done.

RELEASE NOTES: 25.0331 03/31/21

Pipe & Ditch: The "Use Old SVY" menu now includes the "Nearest" line at the top of the list.

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NovAtel ALIGN: An improvement was made to speed up processing of position and heading messages that aren't received in pairs. This was only a noticeable problem when 2 Flex6 receivers were linked with Ethernet (rather than a dual receiver).

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The background drawing color definition file has been updated to include more colors when importing a DXF.

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The size of the antenna graphic (a black square) in top view can now be toggled between a standard and large sized square. This settings can be adjusted in the "Plot Menu", by changing "Set Antenna Graphic Size".

RELEASE NOTES: 24.1231 12/31/20

The process of transitioning ditch designs between the Ditch and Road software has been made easier. Users of the Terrace/Waterway bundle may design terraces/ditches CenterLine grade in Ditch, which automatically saves a PLN file of the profile. A new "Quit Menu option" called "Export to Road" has been added which calls an external utility PLN2CRO.EXE. This utility prompts the user to select a ditch by label name and construct the cross-section of the ditch. Upon entering the GCS:Road software, the modified ditches can then be built in 3D. Alternatively, the PLN2CRO utility can be called from GCS:Road, using the "Import from GCS:Ditch" option. (Users should use either the Ditch export or the Road import option, but not both, since they do the same function.) This is a significant ease of use improvement over the previous terracing operation which required multiple steps and manual file editing.

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A bug where the program would fail to load entirely, with errors like "Could Not Create An Instance of ..." has been fixed. This problem affects all GeoSite releases back to the 2018 version and a separate patch to deploy this fix is available. 

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In Topo and Point programs it is now possible to use the "Rotate Top View" function (that was added to other programs in previous releases).

An error that caused GradePlane to fail to load (part of the 24.0813 release) has been fixed. GradePlane now loads normally.

NovAtel: Another dialog was found and corrected that was calling the incorrect (obsolote) com port setting command in the "Novatel Align Comm Port to Secondary GPS" menu. 

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A problem where the DAC Config utility would be called from the Menu but would load without the correct COM port settings and missing dialog menu items, has been fixed. 

RELEASE NOTES: 24.0813  08/13/20

Dashboard: On status screen that programs the GPS receiver, the Exit button wasn't working, that has been fixed.

Plot Menu, "Background Drawing File Control(...DRW).": A new way to create a contour map background has been created, called "Contour Map built from a .NEZ file ...". Clicking this will prompt the user to select an NEZ file (in PNEZD space delimited format).
Plot Menu, "Background Drawing File Control(...DRW).": There is now a way to import lines from a KML or KMZ file, called "Build from KML/KMZ Files ...".  Clicking this will prompt a user to select a KML or KMZ file, after which the program will then generate a background drawing from the lines/points in the file. Note at this time all features will be shown as black.
Plot Menu (Pipe,Ditch,Dirt,Level):
*The screen is now able to rotate to match the heading of the machine. There is a new option in the Plot menu, in a sub-menu called "Rotate Top View Menu...".  Screen rotation can be enabled by selecting "Toggle Auto Rotate" and switching it to ON.  There are 2 options that control this behavior.  "Angle Degrees Change for Redraw" defines the minimum degrees the vehicle has to turn before it will be redrawn.  The default is 20 degrees.  "Time Maximum until Redraw" defines the maximum amount of time before the screen will be automatically redrawn regardless of how many degrees it has turned.  The default value is 20 seconds.

NovAtel OEM7 and ALIGN: more improvements to menus and commands

Changes to GCS:Topo:
*The job name was not always displayed in the bar at the top of the screen adjacent to the module name.  This has been fixed.
*Error messages were appearing only once on screen.  The red error message bar now flashes consistently during the error state.

Changes to GCS:Pipe:
*Addition to the "Closest Data Point" screen, accessible by pressing the "D" key, so that it now shows the NEZ coordinates and name of the nearest main point, as well as the distance to the main.  Also added, in the left click menu, another way to open this screen with the line "Show information about nearest main and lateral points".
*Changed the conditions under which the "Maximum-Slope-Change of Pipe (smooth)" parameter is being modified.  At startup, the program was reading this value and, if it was less than 1, changing it to a 2.  Now, the program will still change that value at startup, but if the user manually changes it to a value less than 1.0, the program display a confirmation prompt and will remember the user's choice.  The program also now changes the value of this parameter when a user loads a group of old settings (provided the user hasn't previously manually set the value to be less than 1). 
*When exiting a menu, the zoom level would change in side view . This has been fixed so that the normal view will stay.
*Changed "Minimum Auto-Capture Distance" default for metric units from 10 to 3 meters.
*Changed "CRP Offset at start of CRP pass" default from 2.00 to 0.05
*Changed "Minimum Offset for CRP Pass" from 0.10 to 0.02
*DAC Steering: Wolfe Self-Propelled Plow logic will send an "override" command on the CAN when the operator manually steers. The DAC detects this message, and notifies the software. New in this version the STEER ON icon will turn to OFF when the message is received, the operator must touch the icon to turn it back ON. There is also a new command in the Device menu to ignore the DP:1005 command, that will turn this behavior off (if the user really wants to for some reason).  Acknowledging this emergency shut-off message is ON by default.

Changes to GCS:Dirt and Level:
*Changed the default value of "Toggle adjusting Cut Fill Color by the CutFill offset" from "YES" to "NO".

Changes to GCS:Ditch:
*Same "Max Slope Change" modification as Pipe

Changes to GCS:Road:
*A problem where cross sections were not being displayed consistently was fixed.  The solution was to force the loading of cross sections on each run of the job. 
*Several changes made to support the geoid logic, which was reintroduced to the software.  The program can now read and support Trimble Geoid files, provided they are renamed to match one of the pre-set geoid names.  A rounding error with the geoid logic was fixed.  The Geographic Lib and Australian geoid providers have been removed.  Geoid2018 is now supported as a US geoid. 

French language support has been significantly improved for the modules Topo, Dirt, and Pipe.  Better than 90% of the "back end" written dialogs are now translated.  This is accessible by pressing CTRL-T, setting the language to French and reloading the translation file.  The buttons and "front end" UI also now have French translations.  This is accessible by setting the "Language=" parameter to French in the usrsettings.ini file and restarting the program (please note the "front end" translation is toggled in this different way).  In all modules, the "cut" text in the cut/fill display has been replaced by a "-" sign in front of the numeric value, the fill icon has been replaced by a "+" sign and "good" has been replaced by an "=" sign.  The color coding remains the same.  To revert to English, use CTRL-T to bring up the translation menu and revert back to English, then shut down, change the usrsettings.ini Language parameter to English and finally, restart the program.

RELEASE NOTES: 24.0302

Users can now disable the "stale slope" and "bad value" warnings by going to the rod tip correction menu and setting the Stale Slope values to a -1. This allows users to switch to a survey vehicle without receiving error messages about disconnected sensors.

Change to :Dirt: Fixed a bug with the grid menu where the changes made by the user weren't taking effect.

Changes to :Level:
*Level 1 now allows use of the Light Bar menu.
*Inputting an NRCS design was challenging. A new button has been added to the slope menu that is specific to NRCS designs and uses NRCS terminology and the NRCS definition of azimuth (which is flipped 180 degrees from normal use). We also modified the Slope Statistics screen to add slope information using NRCS terminology, so that users may verify the inputted slope matches the NRCS paperwork.

Change to :Ditch: "Ditch Balancing" is now available to all users and does not require the "shape" permission to work.

Added support for NovatelX and "AUTO" correction format to the OEM6, OEM7 and ALIGN drivers; added PwrPak7D. Fixed bug with baud rate command for OEM7 driver.

RELEASE NOTES: 24.0120

Many of the programs import/export utilities have been updated to a fresher build. This solves issues some users experienced when running on latest version of Windows 10.

Instrument menu:
*Added new instrument type for NovAtel OEM7.
*NovAtel ALIGN: new setting for OEM receiver type in the Novatel Align Control Menu.
*Topcon settings menu now supports specifying "m" for modem in the radio port selection menu.  Selecting it sends additional commands needed for Hiper VR.
*A bug when using the DAC7000 with a DAC 2x angle sensor for rod tip corrections produced the warning "side_slope_measure bad value".  This has been fixed.  Also, rod tip corrections with a DAC2x now work normally even if fore slope and side slope control are turned off in the devices menu, as long as the DAC is configured for output.

Minimize button is back on the working screen.

The dashboard Data Backup feature stopped working in ver. 23.1025.  It has been fixed.

Grid lines did not cover the entire work area for some large jobs.  This problem was fixed so that the grid lines now properly extend infinitely.

Fixes to :Pipe:
*A bug that produced false "minimum slope is violated" has been fixed.
*Points were being erroneously recorded during a PTL pass in CRP mode.  This has been fixed.  Also, autocapture is now turned off when exiting CRP mode.
*A recent update caused slow profile calculation related to large PLN files. A new method of sorting PLN files was written, to replace a slower method.

Fixes to :Dirt:
*Points from Optisurface AGD files are no longer written to the DRW file or to screen.
*A minor button wording change was made to Dirt to make it consistent with the wording in the other modules.  The button labelled "Reference" was changed to "Control Point".

RELEASE NOTES: 23.1025

Export Data enhancement: Filtering added to line offset, which reduces zigzags from multiple points that are close.

Pipe, bug fixes: 

*A bug where the design slope was stuck at minimum slope, after a committ error was initiated manually or automatically, has now been fixed.
*Max depth is now being enforced properly

Level improvements:
*When using the A-B line, the entire coordinate system was rotated, and a benchmark was set in an arbitrary location.  The result was that it was practically impossible to re-setup using the same coordinate system, and north no longer represented up on screen, causing confusion.  This has been improved so that when a user sets an A-B line, it is only used to determine heading.  It does not alter the user coordinate system, thus preserving the usefulness of the user control points.
*Also the waterfall indicator has been replaced with a dynamic, working version, instead of one that showed the waterfall direction in increments of 5 degrees.
*The two slope percentages displayed on screen have been replaced by a single compound slope percentage.
The slope menu has been augmented with another slope statistic button.  This button shows all of the information one needs to verify that the slope they specified has been properly configured.  The previousl methods were incomplete and unclear.  The statistics displayed include the origin (NEZ) of the slope, the heading of the compound slope as well as the compound slope percentage, the direction of waterfall, and the percentage of the long and cross slope (as applicable).

All programs:
*Instrument menu and Device menu have both been shortened dramatically to eliminate unused instruments from the list. This is a cosmetic change that can be easily reversed if anything was accidentally purged.
*Other Non-functional or incomplete dialogs have been eliminated.

GCS:Point improvements:
Added "manual point capture" function, simplified the behavior so that the user is prompted for a point label, and then 1 read is taken, capturing the point.
Fixed a bug that allowed the user to type in some display fields.
Expanded the text box for the desired point to span across a 1024px wide screen, making it possible to read long point labels.  Removed several useless or non-working options from the GCS:Point miscellaneous menu.

License menu improvements, such as Display/Delete.

Bottom labels in Dirt, Topo, Level, Ditch and Pipe were all resized to fit properly.

Changes were made to improve database stability by cleaning up unecessary information in the database at shutdown.

Known issues: Pipe program intermittently reports "minimum slope is violated".  This warning should only be prompted after an invalid intercept point is created. Ignore this error for now.

RELEASE NOTES: 23.0513

*New, larger icons have been created for the capture and machine control buttons
*A bug with the heading logic in dual-antenna and dual GPS systems that caused intermittent heading failures has been fixed.  This was primarily seen in between surveying backing up and switching to a lay pass moving forwards.
*Improvements to the NovAtel Align instrument:
   -A bug in the error messaging was fixed. A heading check was being done before a more basic check of the primary antenna, causing the program to report a secondary heading error instead of the primary cause of failure. 
   -The driver was modified to check more often for user input, allowing the user to cancel in the middle of programming the receiver.
   -Changes were made to the driver to make it move on twice as fast after a failed reading from the instrument. 

*Improvement to Contouring module: This was previously hard coded to make only about 14 contours, so each line had a unique color, which made steeper fields only have a contour every 1.5 - 2 feet or more. Now, there will be  line for every foot (or more if very little elevation range).

GCS:Pipe, all versions:
*A new pass type has been created, known as “Controlled Rip Pass” or simply “CRP”.  This mode allows the user to follow a profile created in LAY mode, PTL mode or Plan Use (PLU) Mode and rip the ground at an adjustable offset above the profile line.
  -CRP can be used  both uphill and downhill, provided that the lay pass type already supports this behavior.
  -Cut/Fill offset label in lower left that changes to "CRP" and indicates the current rip offset above the profile line.
  -While in CRP mode, the light bar chevrons move the offset up and down
  -2 new settings have been added to the parameters menu:
       *“CRP Offset at start of CRP pass” – which is the starting rip offset when CRP mode is entered.  Afterwards, it can be adjusted with the chevron controls.
       *“Minimum Offset for CRP Pass” – this is a safety to prevent ripping too close to the design profile          
  -The background color of the top portion of the window changes to purple, and the status bar along the top of the window indicates that the user is in CRP mode, instead of LAY mode.   
  -Pressing the CRP button again exits CRP mode and returns the user to LAY mode.  The user may also enter and exit CRP mode from GCS:Pipe’s text-based Pass Menu.
  -The user must turn on point capture in order to see and use cut/fill values.  Points plotted on screen in CRP mode are not recorded to file.
  -CRP mode is disabled when the user is not in an applicable mode of operation.  The user may only select it while in LAY, PTL and PLU mode.

*Changes have been made to the working screen pass menu which appears after a long press on the pass mode button.
  -The layout of the menu has been changed to a 5x2 horizontal grid.
  -Buttons in the menu now show that they are on, off or disabled.  Buttons that are on have a bright color scheme.  Buttons that are off have a dark color scheme.  Buttons that are disabled are “greyed out”.
  -The buttons have been resized to fit different screen sizes, from 800x600 pixels all the way up to 1920x1080.

*A bug in has been fixed where using the Modify to edit a survey pass caused all other survey passes in the .CAP file to be deleted. 

*GCS:PipeII - The PLU pass is now available for all users.
*GCS:Pipe I - A restriction on travel speed during a LAY and LNR pass has been disabled. There is no longer an internally fixed maximum speed, however, there is still a user configurable maximum speed.

*GCS:Dirt and GCS:Level (all versions):
  -The color grid logic has been updated so that changes to the cut/fill offset are applied to the cut/fill  color grid ranges.  This means when the user applies a cut/fill offset of X, X is added to each individual cut/fill range value.  The result is that the color grid shifts to match the current cut fill offset.
  -This behavior can be toggled on an off with a setting the "color grid control" menu.  The setting is called “Toggle adjusting Cut Fill Color by the CutFill offset” and is on by default, meaning this new behavior is on by default.

*Changes were made to the installer to prevent the deletion of user-created files/folders in the c:\amw directory, as well as the usrsettings.ini file, and all backup copies of the database.

*A bug has been fixed where machine control was permanently disabled after a license had expired.  The machine control toggle in the device menu (“Set the Enablement”) is now re-enabled after a user’s software is re-licensed.

RELEASE NOTES: PAST VERSIONS

Please contact support.