Trimble Business Center background map

I get this question asked a lot, on how to get some background maps into business center design. This is a great feature for presentation and lots of times to see where and how the project placement will look like. There is few different ways on how to go about it, so here is my take.

Trimble Business Center background map ?

Background maps are the underlying images which help you place the 3D data into real life maps and\or plans. They can come from different sources like google earth [external], pdf plans [external] or Timble Mapview or DigitalGlobe Imagery [internal Trimble Business Center imagery]. With the introduction of Trimble Siteworks this can be exported into field software and be further utilized in the field.

What are requirements for background maps?

First and foremost it is the imagery itself. There a many sources and many different types. Most common ones are pdf plans, tiff images. That being said any image can be used as long as Trimble Business Center is able to import it.

How ever to properly align it in the project you will need to know project coordinate system. This means to either know which projection the project is so you can choose it from your Coordinate System Manager or to have an actual calibration which can be imported into your Trimble Business Project.

How many background maps can I have ?

At this time I have not came across a limit on how many images you can have in one project. The issue is on how many can your computer handle.The background images are getting more sophisticated and thus they take more space. This means the software is handling more data.

YouTube video on how to use Trimble background services:

Can I use Google Earth as my background map?

At this time there is no direct integration but there is a work around. Please view the video on the process. First choose few entities preferably outside of your are of interest and export them into Google Earth. Once there save the image somewhere on your computer. Make sure it is the highest resolution possible. Once you have it saved import it back into Trimble Business Center and geo-reference the image to previously exported entities. This would make Google Earth image as your background map.

YouTube: Please visit our YouTube channel for video on using Google Earth image as background map.

How to install Google Earth Pro ?

To install Google Earth Pro download the install package from Google Earth web site: https://www.google.com/earth/versions/. Once you have downloaded the package double click it and follow the prompts. Here is a video which will guide you through the process.

Join us at our linked in group for Trimble Business Center: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/4468209/