Perform a virtual survey in qSurvey! Instead of walking a site, you pick points and lines in the point cloud, tag each one with a field code from your code library, and export the result as a CSV to Autodesk Civil 3D, Trimble Business Center, or others.
qSurvey on the sample site, before a survey has been created or chosen.
Before You Start
• Align the capture first if the survey needs to sit in your control's coordinates — see Align to Control.
• Know which code profile to use. Code profiles hold your company's field codes. Admins manage the shared profiles in Organization admin → Code Profiles.
Align before you survey
If you align a capture to control after surveying it, the survey won't move with the capture and must be redone. Align first, then survey. See Align Captures to Control.
Opening Virtual Survey
To open virtual survey, click on the qSurvey tab in the Dashboard panel on the left hand side of the screen.
Creating a Virtual Survey
1. In the qSurvey panel, choose either the + button to create a new survey or select an existing survey from the dropdown. If you select an existing survey, you can skip the next three steps.
2. Enter a Survey Name. It's required, and must be unique — “The survey name is already in use” means pick another.
3. Choose a Code Profile. Its codes load into the code table. There are two built in codes (Trible Business Center or Looq Default); otherwise, you can import your own codes from a csv using the Import Codes button.
4. Add new codes if you need to, then press Start Virtual Survey.
The Code Table
Each code has four columns: Code, Description, Type (Point or Line) and Layer. Add Code adds a row and Remove code deletes one. Codes can't be empty, must be unique and need a layer, and a survey needs at least one code.
• Import Codes — load codes from a CSV with the columns Field Code, Description, Type, Layer.
• Export Codes — save the table as a CSV.
• Manage Code Library — edit the codes and save them under a code profile name, so the same list is ready next time.
Opening an Existing Survey
Select Existing lists the surveys already on the site. The survey picker also has Rename survey and Delete survey.
Deleting a survey is permanent. Delete survey removes it for good — it can't be undone.
Placing Points
1. Choose the Point tool.
2. Pick a Code — the list filters as you type — and add a Label if you want one. The point goes on the code's layer, or the Default Layer.
3. Click the feature in the point cloud. The point is placed with the current code, and you can keep clicking to place more with the same code.
Double-clicking with the photo viewer open can still open the nearest photos of that spot, as it does elsewhere in the viewer — handy for checking what you're looking at before you place a point.
Drawing Lines
1. Choose the Line tool and pick a line code.
2. Click each vertex along the feature — a curb, an edge of asphalt, a fence line.
3. Press Finish Line, which shows how many points the line has. A line needs at least 2 points; anything shorter is discarded.
Control Codes (B / E suffixes) is available for lines only. When it's on, the exported line's first vertex is labelled B and its last E — the begin/end convention many survey packages use to build linework automatically.
Layers
Everything you place lands on a layer, listed in the layers panel.
Item |
What you can do |
|---|---|
Layer |
Show or hide it, lock or unlock it (a locked layer can't be edited), change its colour, zoom to it, or delete it. A survey always keeps at least one layer. |
Point |
Zoom to it, edit its code label, or delete it. |
Line |
Zoom to it, or delete it. |
Two viewer toggles help while you work: Show / Hide Labels and Distance On / Off.
Importing and Exporting Survey Points
• Import CSV — bring existing points into the survey. The file needs the columns ID, X, Y, Z, Feature Code, Label, Layer. Every Feature Code must already exist in the survey's code library, otherwise the row is rejected with “Code does not exist”.
• Export CSV — write the survey out in the same shape.
Saving
qSurvey saves automatically as you work. The panel shows Saving… while it writes, and Save failed if it couldn't. Looq won't silently overwrite a newer save of the same survey.
Leaving qSurvey mode keeps your survey and selection for that capture, so you can switch to Captures or qPole and come back. Any tool that was active is cancelled.
Downloading Deliverables
Prepare Downloads at the bottom of the qSurvey panel lists the survey's deliverables:
• the survey points CSV, named after the survey;
• the code library CSV (ending _codes.csv), with the codes the survey used.
Tick what you need and press Download.
