Field Exchange

Field Exchange moves points between Groundtie and your data collector, then checks what got built against what was designed. It has three parts — Export to device, Import as-built, and Comparisons — all in the Field tab of a project. It's a Crew feature.

Supported apps & formats

Files are natively openable — no reformatting on the device. Carlson and MicroSurvey are served by the PNEZD CSV preset and LandXML (both import cleanly); native Carlson .crd is not needed.

Export to device

1. Open the Field tab and the Export to device card.
2. Pick your app / format. The coordinate space and unit default to the preset's recommendation — projected-ground in US survey feet, which is what a collector expects for stakeout.
3. Optionally limit to one category; otherwise all design points export.
4. Click Download and copy the file to your collector.

Per-app notes

• Trimble Access — use the JobXML (.jxl) preset for a native job import; the CSV preset (P,E,N,Z,Code) also works.
• Carlson / Topcon — PNEZD CSV (Point, Northing, Easting, Elevation, Code).
• Points export as design points; as-builts you import back are kept separate.

Getting the file onto the device

Copy the downloaded file to the collector however you normally transfer files (USB, cloud drive, email to the device), then import it in the field app. Groundtie is file-based — nothing is synced to a vendor cloud.

Import as-built & compare

1. In Import as-built, choose the field file. The format is auto-detected (CSV / LandXML / JobXML); for CSV, pick the matching CSV preset.
2. Set the space and unit the file is in (match how the collector wrote it), and the baseline to compare against — all design points or a single category.
3. Tolerances come from the project defaults (set them in the project, in survey units). Click Import & compare.

Each as-built is matched to a design point by point number. Anything that doesn't match a number lands in the results as unmatched — never snapped by proximity.

Reading the results

The results table shows, per point, the miss in the projected-ground frame (ΔN, ΔE, ΔH radial, ΔZ) plus the secondary building-grid deltas, and a status chip:

• Pass — within the warn tolerance.
• Warn — between warn and fail.
• Fail — beyond the fail tolerance.
• No Z — horizontal passed but the point had no elevation to check.
• Unmatched — no design point with that number. Use the Pair… dropdown on the row to assign the right design point; the deltas recompute against the snapshotted design coordinates.

Filter by status, and view the misses in 3D — each pair draws a status-coloured leader line from design to as-built in the scene (toggle As-built comparison in the scene's Display menu).

A comparison is a frozen record: it snapshots both sides, so a delivered report reproduces even if the design points are later edited.

Downloading the stakeout report

From a selected comparison, download the deliverable for the GC:

• CSV — point, design and as-built coordinates, deltas, radial, and status.
• PDF — a formatted stakeout report with the project header, the tolerance spec, summary stats (pass/warn/fail counts, max and RMS miss), and the per-point table.

Both are in the comparison's report unit.