Contour Tiling: lay tile along the lay of the land

Tap Tiling

On the Home screen, tap the Tiling card, first in the bottom row, with a picture of a tile plow.

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Tap Connect

In the Tiling — Connect window, tap the green Connect button at the top. To practise, tap Simulate, the second button. With Ditch Assist Lite the top button reads Emlid Reach.

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Tap Continue

Wait until the three System Check rows show green ticks, the last one RTK Fixed. Then tap the green Continue button.

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Tap Contour Tiling

Under Tiling Method, tap Contour Tiling, the second choice: Survey along an auto-highlighted contour for level fall.

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Tap Generate New Contours & Survey

The window now reads Contour Tiling. Tap Generate New Contours & Survey, the first choice, with a green border.

• Load Existing Survey: design a tile from a contour route you drove before.
• Load Existing Design: install a contour-tile design you saved before (Reopen a contour design or job).

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Tap Saved LiDAR DEM

Tap Saved LiDAR DEM, the blue button on the right in the second row. A list of your saved fields opens.

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Tap your field

The list shows each saved field with its size and detail, for example 460 ac · 3.3 m/px · CANADA. Tap the field you're in. The Contour Settings window opens: that's the next section.

List empty? You haven't prepared a field on this tablet yet, or the app can't read its files: LiDAR problems.

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Tap Survey New Field

In the field surface window, tap the green Survey New Field button at the top. The whole-field survey screen opens. The banner at the top reads Armed — tap Start in sidebar to record.

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Tap Start Fresh Survey, if the app asks

If you have field surveys saved already, a window asks first: Resume or export existing survey. Tap the green Start Fresh Survey button, bottom right, for a new field. To add points to an old survey instead, tap its row.

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Park on a spot you can find again

Every field survey needs a benchmark before it records. Park on something you can find again, such as a gate corner or a culvert headwall: the same spot as your field benchmark. Lower the cutting edge to the ground.

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Tap Start

Tap Start, near the top of the column on the right. With no benchmark yet, a window opens: Drop a benchmark first.

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Tap Drop Benchmark Here

The window says Every survey needs at least one benchmark before recording starts. Tap Drop Benchmark Here, the green button in the bottom right corner.

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Type a name for the benchmark

The name starts as BM-1. Tap the box and type something you'll recognise next time, for example Gate NE corner.

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Tap Next: Average

Tap Next: Average, in the bottom right corner of the window.

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Hold still for 5 seconds

Keep the machine still while the window counts down: Hold position — averaging. It closes by itself when it's done.

Tap Start again

Recording doesn't start by itself. Tap Start again. The banner turns green and reads Recording.

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Drive the field

Drive back and forth across the field. The count of points and benchmarks at the top left goes up as you go. Swath and Set A, in the column on the right, give you straight passes to follow (Survey a whole field).

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Tap Finish & Save

When the field is covered, tap Finish & Save, near the bottom of the column on the right. It shows the point count, for example Finish & Save (18). A window called Save Field Survey opens.

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Type a name for the survey

The window shows how many points you collected. Tap the name box and type the field's name, so you can find the survey later.

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Tap Save & Use Now

Tap Save & Use Now, the wide button bottom right. In app v1.5.4, it and Save & Return do the same thing: they save the survey and go back to the Home screen. The contours aren't drawn yet.

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Check the survey was saved

You should see the Home screen, with a message along the bottom: Survey saved: … and the file name.

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Tap Saved Survey

To draw contours from it, open Contour Tiling again (Start Contour Tiling, steps 1 to 5). In the field surface window, tap Saved Survey, the orange button on the left in the second row.

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Tap Use for Contours

A window called Load Saved Survey lists your field surveys. Tap Use for Contours on yours. The survey needs at least 10 points. The Contour Settings window opens next.

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Tap a Contour Interval

The Contour Settings window opens. Contour Interval is the height between two contour lines. Tap one of the square buttons: 1″, 2″, 3″ (chosen to start with), 6″ or 1 ft. Or type your own in Custom. In metric the buttons read 25, 50, 75, 150 and 300 mm.

A smaller interval gives more lines, closer together. The line under the slider estimates how many. Over 200, it warns Many contours — consider a larger interval. Over 500, Generate is greyed out until you pick a larger interval.

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Smoothing rounds off small wiggles in the lines. Leave it on Medium unless the lines look ragged.

Tap Generate

Tap the green Generate button in the bottom right corner. A moment of Generating contours..., then the contours are drawn on the map.

No lines at all? No contours were generated from this surface. Try a different interval or surface. The surface is too flat or too sparse for that interval: pick a smaller one, or use a denser surface.

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Drive onto the contour your tile should follow

The contours are drawn across the field in blue, and the dark Ready to Survey card appears. The contour nearest the machine lights up bright teal: that's the one you'll follow. You pick it by driving to it, not from a list. The coloured bar across the top, the lightbar, shows which side of it you are.

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Tap START SURVEY

Tap the green START SURVEY button on the card. Recording starts and the highlighted contour locks: the guidance won't jump to a neighbouring line if you wander.

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Drive the tile route

A red banner at the top reads Recording Survey. Steer to keep the lightbar centred. The number under it is how far off the contour you are, and the red chevrons on the map point the way back. There are no up/down depth arrows here: you're laying out where the line goes, the depth comes from the design.

The route you drive becomes the tile line, not the ideal contour. Hold the contour where you want the tile level, and ease downhill toward the outlet where you need fall. A wobbly survey gives a wobbly tile. The lightbar scale is fixed: 3″ cells next to the line, getting coarser (up to 5 ft) the farther off you are.

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Tap STOP at the far end

Tap the red STOP button in the dark pill near the bottom of the map. Stopping and starting again picks the nearest contour afresh, so drive back onto yours before you restart.

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Tap Save

A window called Save Survey? opens. The name ends in (Contour Tiling); tap the box to type your own (typing). A route held exactly on a contour shows Grade 0.000%. Tap the green Save button.

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Tap Yes, Correct or No, Reverse It

Water Flow Direction asks you to confirm water flows from where you started toward where you stopped. Started at the top end: tap Yes, Correct. Started at the outlet: tap No, Reverse It.

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Tap Create Design

Tile Parameters opens. Slide Target Depth and Min Grade % to your numbers, as in Standard Tiling. Then tap the blue Create Design button.

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Check the design

Tile Design opens on the route you drove. The ground line is flat, because you held one elevation. Min Grade gives the tile its fall, so it runs deeper toward the outlet. Change the depth window or grade on the cards if you need to (Tile Design).

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Tap Apply Design

Tap the blue Apply Design button in the bottom right corner.

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Name the design and tap Save

The name starts as Contour Tiling with the date and time. Change it if you like, then tap the green Save. The design keeps the contour you followed, so the install screen can draw it.

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Tap Load Existing Design

Open Contour Tiling as at the top of this page (Start Contour Tiling, steps 1 to 4). In the Contour Tiling window, tap Load Existing Design, the third choice.

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Tap Implement on your design

The Load window lists all your saved line designs, not only contour ones. Find the one named Contour Tiling… (or what you named it) and tap its Implement button.

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Tap Calibrate on another day

Calibrate GPS? appears. On another day, tap Calibrate and calibrate on the field benchmark (Coming back: calibrate on the benchmark). Same day, same base setup: tap Skip. The route and the contour come back together.

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