MicroSurvey STAR*NET 8.2

MicroSurvey Software Inc. is pleased to announce the release of MicroSurvey STAR*NET 8.2, the latest and highly anticipated version of the industry-leading STAR*NET least squares network adjustment suite. 

Brian Sloman, Development Manager at MicroSurvey and Product Manager for STAR*NET, explains that "STAR*NET 8.2 is all about saving time and money!  Network adjustments run much faster than previous versions, and the new Adjust Network with Cluster Detection command lets you combine measurement data for points with different names that fall within a specified 2D or 3D proximity of each other!  Users no longer have to spend hours tediously pouring through their data files and field books looking for point IDs that need to be manually changed, a common scenario which is both time intensive and prone to mistakes.  Having an effective distance displayed alongside the angular residuals in the Listing file makes it easier to analyze the adjustment results and identify problems like an incorrect prism pole height, and we've made many improvements to the various data conversion utilities and GPS vector imports that make it easier to use STAR*NET to process data from FieldGenius, Leica, Carlson, Trimble, TDS, and other data collectors."

STAR*NET 8.2 is a FREE upgrade for any STAR*NET users who have a current Annual Maintenance Subscription.

What's New in STAR*NET 8.2

New Features

Adjust Network with Cluster Detection

A new adjustment method "Adjust Network with Cluster Detection" is now available, which will automatically detect multiple points that are within a specified 2D or 3D proximity of each other and treat them as one point during the adjustment.

Specify a 2D or 3D distance tolerance, and choose whether or not to include or exclude points that are beyond tolderance of the key point in the cluster but within tolerance of any other point in the cluster.

A dual-pass adjustment will be performed, whereby a complete adjustment will first be run with all iterations, then its results analyzed to determine which points to combine, and a second adjustment will be run with those points aliased together.

After the first adjustment, you will have full control to approve or override any aliasing decisions prior to running the second adjustment, including the ability to control which point ID to use for each cluster.

After the final adjustment, the listing file will report which points were aliased together in each cluster and will display their deltas from the true point.

Input/Output Ellipsoid

A new option has been added to the Project and Company Options, allowing you to specify which ellipsoid you want to use for all input and output involving latitude/longitude values and ellipsoid heights such as P data records, the Geotetic Position (.pos) file, and the Listing (.lst) file.

STAR*NET V6 and V7 always used the reference ellipsoid for the project's selected coordinate system, and in STAR*NET V8.0/8.1 this behaviour changed to always use WGS84.

Enhanced Features

Adjusted Observations and Residuals

The Listing file will now report a effective distance value along with any angular residuals in the "Adjusted Observations and Residuals" section.

This makes it easier to interpret the angular residuals without having to cross-reference it against the slope distance of the measurement.

Conversion Utilities & GPS Vector Import

Many improvements to several of the data conversion utilities and GPS vector importers including MicroSurvey FieldGenius, Leica DBX, Carlson SurvCE, TDS Survey Pro, Trimble JobXML, and others as detailed below.

Defects Fixed

• [D6867] Adjustment Speed - A major slowdown when adjusting projects in STAR*NET 8 compared to previous versions has been addressed.
• [D7931] Coordinate Systems - On upgrading V6/V7 projects to V8, certain SPCS NAD83 coordinate systems in Nebraska, Montana, South Carolina,and Puerto Rico do not migrate correctly and will not automatically select a coordinate system.
• [D7079] Coordinate Systmes - On upgrading V6/V7 projects to V8, Custom coordinate systems do not migrate correctly and will continue to notify you to select the coordinate system every time the project is opened.
• [D7074] Coordinate Systems - Editing a custom coordinate system would not immediately take effect until the program was restarted.
• [F2971] Coordinate Systems - Indiana Geospatial Coordinate System (InGCS) is now supported with 92 predefined InGCS zones.
• [D7034,D7037] Data Editor - Data files located on a Linux file server can result in false notifations that the file has been changed.
• [D7916] Data Editor - Opening a project containing a very large number of data files may cause the program to terminate unexpectedly.
• [D7187] GPS Import - FieldGenius, TDS Survey Pro and Carlson .raw files containing BL records in feet did not scale them to meters as necessary.
• [D7192] GPS Import - FieldGenius, TDS Survey Pro and Carlson .raw files may produce unnecessary "Removing geodetic position (EP) record" warning messages.
• [D7807] GPS Import - When importing a FieldGenius .raw file that does not contain BL and CV records, antenna heights were not scaled from feet to meters when computing the ECEF positions for the base and rover positions which results in incorrect baseline values.
• [D7117] GPS Import - FieldGenius, TDS Survey Pro and Carlson .raw files in feet would produce rover antenna heights that were not scaled from feet to meters.
• [D7115] GPS Import - Trimble TSC .dc files containing vectors classified as Construction, Adjusted or Averaged were being skipped during conversion.
• [D7982] Input Data - Inline comments following a descriptor (like 'descriptor #comment) were not ignored.
• [D7010] Level Loop Tolerance Check - For metric projects, the vertical misclosure (given in meters, like 0.012) was compared directly against the maximum tolerance (given in mm, like ±16.000) to determine if the loop met or exceeded the specified standard of accuracy.
• [D7030] Listing File - The Project Options Settings does not list the Vertical Deflection Model.
• [D7010] Listing File - The Level Loop Closure Check will compare a closure value in m against a closure tolerance in mm for metric projects.
• [D7008] Listing File - The Adjusted Coordinate Observations section is missing some columns.
• [D7069] Network Plot - When Sideshots are disabled in the Plot Options window, they should not appear in the Inverse command.
• [D7101] Network Plot - Lost Stations were not removed from the network plot.
• [T2029] Network Plot - Predefined Hexagon Imagery Program (HxIP) layers have been added to the Image Manager.
• [D7104] Printing - The "Processing Summary" would print with only 1 letter per line along the left side of the page.
• [D7980] Printing - Exiting from the Print Preview caused the program to terminate unexpectedly.
• [D7024] Startup - STAR*NET may produce an &quotApplication Error" on startup if certain Microsoft redistributables are not present.
• [D7136] STAR*C&G - ANSI-encoded .cgr files were not read properly, resulting in a fail to convert them.
• [D7110] STAR*Carlson - Resection may result in a direction set that is ended prematurely with a DE record before all of the relevant DM records, and those trailing DM records did not contain the correct instrument height.
• [D7111] STAR*Carlson - Resection may result in an "Invalid field code" error message which prevents conversion.
• [D7915] STAR*Carlson - Comment records are not included in the converted data file.
• [D7409] STAR*DiNi - Added *.dat to the default file filter.
• [D6493,D7159,D7422] STAR*JobXML - Foresight observations were not converted when a round contains observations to only one point. Such rounds will now produce an M record.
• [D6503] STAR*JobXML - Files containing a negative Horizontal Circles value could not be converted. Negative plate readings are now normalized by adding 360 degrees to the negative value.
• [D7215] STAR*JobXML - Attributes in the Description1 and Description2 fields were ignored, these are now appended (space delimited) to the contents of the Code field.
• [D7467] STAR*Leica DBX - Some Sets of Angles data may be missing when "Include All Shots" option is used.
• [D7410] STAR*Leica DBX - Some Sets of Angles data may be missing when "Average Shots in Sets" option is used.
• [D7049] STAR*Leica DBX - Some Sets of Angles data may result in a crash if the set contains a missing setup.
• [D7317] STAR*Leica DBX - Attributes were inconsistently appended or not appended to the field codes, depending on the record type. This is now controlled by an option which affects all record types.
• [D7211] STAR*Leica DBX - A project without a coordinate system set was causing vectors to not be output, it will now output vector records but it is unable to output coordinate records.
• [D7026] STAR*Leica DBX - A "View Log" menu could be observed floating on the dialog when using the "Windows Classic" display theme.
• [D6951] STAR*Leica DBX - Specifying a precision value which exceeds the limit can result in a crash.
• [D7944] STAR*Leica DBX – Sets of Angles data can now output partial set data, in the event of a power failure before the set is completed.
• [D7945] STAR*Leica DBX – Resection data now only outputs the specified (2D or 3D) components of each observation.
• [D7947] STAR*Leica DBX – Browsing for the DBX folder has been changed from a folder browser to a file browser.
• [F2766] STAR*Leica DBX - "Reference Line" measurements can now be processed and converted.
• [F2755] STAR*Leica DBX - "Measure Foresight" measurements can now be processed and converted.
• [F2754] STAR*Leica DBX - "Survey" measurements can now be converted as either M or SS records.
• [F2752] STAR*Leica DBX - An option has been added to not export any coordinate records.
• [F2751] STAR*Leica DBX - An option has been added for "Special Code handling" as required for users in the United Kingdom.
• [F2719] STAR*Leica DBX - An option has been added to specify the coordinate order (NE or EN) of Coordinate records.
• [F2544] STAR*Leica DBX - Unused Setups are now processed and exported, but they are commented out in order to prevent inappropriate weightings.
• [D7403] STAR*SDR - Alphanumeric serial numbers in the Instrument Record (01 line) would prevent conversion.
• [D7691] STAR*TDS-Lev - Unexpected fields in an MO record will cause the import to abort, these are now ignored.
• [D7021] Multilanguage Translations - Launching a conversion utility through the Insert menu will only launch the English version.
• [D7678] Multilanguage Translations - Installing the Russian version of STAR*NET installs Spanish help files.
• [D7838] Multilanguage Translations - The Processing Summary panel now supports Unicode text.

Download Link

MicroSurvey STAR*NET 8.2 Install (includes all conversion utilities): click here

IMPORTANT UPDATE: MicroSurvey STAR*NET 8.2a Install (includes all conversion utilities): click here

Existing MicroSurvey STAR*NET users with a current maintenance plan may need to use the USB License Manager application to update their USB License Key(s) before this version can be run. If your maintenance plan has expired, please call MicroSurvey Software Inc. at 1-800-668-3312 or 1-250-707-0000 or contact your local MicroSurvey dealer to renew it.

For demonstration purposes, MicroSurvey STAR*NET 8 can be run for 10-days as the fully-featured STAR*NET-PRO edition, and beyond that as the limited 10-station STAR*NET-DEMO edition. All of the conversion utilities are also unlocked during this 10-day demo period.

Additional Online Resources

MicroSurvey STAR*NET Product Website: click here

MicroSurvey STAR*NET Online Training Movies: click here

MicroSurvey STAR*NET 8 Release Notes: click here

MicroSurvey STAR*NET 8 Upgrade Notes: click here

MicroSurvey STAR*NET 8 Known Issues: click here

Additional Supporting Applications

MicroSurvey USB License Manager (included in the STAR*NET install): click here

MicroSurvey USB Network License Server (must be purchased separately): click here