Updating Topcon Tools to Newer Antennas & Adding Projections & Datums
I’ve just spent a few hours figuring this out and now want to post on-line for others to know (and so I can find it again – lol!).
I know that some users are still using Topcon Tools (version 8.2.3 as the latest release). Topcon dropped support for it, quit updating it, but it works fine so long as you update the antenna listing for newer antennas and such. (At my last employer we lucked out being able to choose “Topcon Hiper_II” to process Topcon Hiper_V data as they have identical parameters.)
I just ran into the need to install the Topcon Tools demo (I kept a copy of the original downloaded .exe file.) I just learned that the download file does not include the projections and datums. It will also fail during install to connect to the Topcon webserver to download Geoid files as well as some necessary Microsoft XML something_or_other files install files. I am writing this mostly from memory, so forgive me if something is a bit different or wrong. Here is how I proceeded:
1) Run Topcon Tools installer. Do NOT choose to install any GEOID files (the installer will fail to download them). If it fails at downloading Microsoft XML something_or_other files, quit the installer (it won’t complete), Google the needed MS files (for me it was “Microsoft XML 4.0 Service Pack 2”), find the Microsoft page, and download & complete that install.
2) Rerun the Topcon Tools installer (again, do NOT choose to install GEOID files) which this time should proceed and complete.
3) Launch Topcon Tools in DEMO mode and create a dummy project. This first run of Topcon Tools allows the program to create needed folders for support files. (If you go into the Job Configuration menu and “Coordinate System” you will notice you have no projections listed.) Close the program.
4) Download a demo copy of Topcon Magnet Software (free & easy to do as of this date from the Topcon Magnet webpage).
5) Install the Topcon Magnet demo being sure to choose the GEOID files you want (or alternatively, download the GEOID *.BIN files from the NGS website). I also chose to include all projections (but I think that step is unnecessary – I think that only adds extra/special non-US projections). I launched the Topcon Magnet demo (it’s confusing – “X” the activation page to continue with the demo), but I’m not sure that I actually needed to launch it.
6) Now you need to browse to the folders where Topcon Magnet has installed the datums, projections, GEOID files, and the antenna.xml file. You may need to turn on “Show Hidden Items”. (The following filepaths were on my own local install on a Windows 10 PC and may differ on your install.)
A) The datums and projections folders can be found here: C:\ProgramData\MAGNET\Geo\5.1 . Copy the Datums and Projections folders and paste them into the Topcon Tools location found at: C:\Program Files (x86)\Topcon\TopconTools\Geo .
B) The GEOID files from Magnet can be found at in the “Geoids” folder found at: C:\ProgramData\MAGNET . Copy it to the Topcon Tools program data directory at: C:\Program Files (x86)\Topcon\TopconTools\Geoids (You may not see an existing “Geoids” folder, that is fine.)
C) The “antenna.xml” file from Magnet can be found at: C:\Program Files\Topcon\MAGNET\Office\Tools\XMLBases . Copy that one and replace the antenna.xml file in Topcon Tools location at: C:\Program Files (x86)\Topcon\TopconTools . (You may want to rename the original “antenna.xml” file from Topcon Tools to something like “OLD-Antenna.XML” before pasting the one from Magnet.
7) Loading the GEOID files in Topcon Tools is awkward because Topcon Tools doesn’t list a *.BIN file as an option. The easiest way around this is to use Topcon Link to convert the NGS *.BIN files (either the ones from Magnet’s install or directly downloaded from the NGS website) to *. GFF format and then load those *.GFF files in Topcon Tools (be sure you converted those *.GFF files in the Topcon Tools Geoids folder or copied them there).
You’re done! Launch Topcon Tools and verify you have the projections, datums, antennas, and geoid files you need.
-Garry
