Keep connected with Leica Captivate cloud services

Author:Zühal Duran Goeminne

Zühal Duran Goeminne, our Product Engineer, joined us for an insightful chat on Leica Captivate cloud services. Read all about cloud-based services in Captivate.

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Many people have seen recent posts showing that Leica Geosystems and third-party collaborators have cloud-based data management solutions. Before we talk about supported cloud services, perhaps you can tell us why companies would need a data management solution at all?

根据基于云的操作系统Domo的数据，仅在美国，就在美国，人们每分钟就会产生惊人的400万GB数据。这只是个人在互联网上生成的数据。许多公司还常规地生成大量数据，对于测量师和工程师，这通常可以是专业数据集，例如点云，3D BIM模型或完整的调查。假设员工只是将数据保存在个人计算机上，或者在没有适当的数据管理过程的情况下将其保存在服务器上 - 事情可能会很快升级。如果没有适当的数据管理，有价值的数据就会丢失或无法访问，并且将浪费很多小时的公司时间试图检索和理解带注释的数据集。数据中的不一致也可能导致错误的解释。艾默生可靠性咨询公司最近报道说，在项目完成后，在项目设计和构建过程中创建的数据中平均有30％（在线课程中提供了更多信息”Connecting the Dots Between Office and Field Using BIM360 Docs” by Deepak Maini & Aaron Coats).

正确的数据管理解决方案可确保您的所有数据遵守所谓的公平原则（可访问，可访问，可互操作和可重复使用）。公平概念源自科学界，以鼓励开放科学。尽管如此，即使可以访问数据的人数受到限制，它的原则仍然是普遍有效的，就像公司内部的情况一样。即使您是唯一可以访问数据的人，如果您需要在几个月内重新访问数据，您也可以与“您的未来自我”共享。

因此,必须保持轻松地访问数据and operable while being stored securely and safely. Following that, two topics came into prominence: “easy access to data” and “making data available”. Accessibility and reachability of data have made data management a great deal more important. However, the more data is being generated, the more management is generally needed.

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Ok, I see your point-但是，为什么需要将数据存储在云中？如果公司只是将数据存储在自己的安全服务器上，是否足够，更安全？

Absolutely not. According to Emerson Reliability Consulting, in 2020, 62% of the field construction professionals still transfer their data via spreadsheets or storage media methods. This process is not only tedious and time-consuming but also carries risks. Data might become corrupted on the devices, and the device might get lost, data lingers around on the device and might fall into the wrong hands. A crash of or ransomware attack on the office computer(s) might lead to severe data loss if no proper back-ups were made.

Cloud-based data management is a central location where all your data is stored on an off-site server. The data you save, organise, edit, and make accessible is shared with authorised persons. Cloud services store your data securely and encrypted on a network of heavily guarded servers in different physical locations with high-level cybersecurity. These measures make the cloud much more robust against data corruption or malware attacks than a typical company network or private hard drive.

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Now tell us about the supported cloud services – what are these services and how do they contribute to your project workflow?

With Captivate's latest release, we support theLeica Exchange，，，，Leica ConX，，，，BIM360 Docs，，，，andBricsys 24/7云服务。

当我们考虑在线服务在测量和工程领域的好处时，对于在办公室和现场工作的工程师来说，轻松获得数据的访问都令人难以置信，这在节省时间方面都可以增强两个方向上的工作流程，并且跟踪和保持最新项目任务。

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So let us touch the different cloud services and connectivity options Leica Geosystems has in store for the users, starting with Leica Exchange.

Leica Exchangeis an online data organisation tool that allows selecting data from your computer, storage media, or network and sends them directly to any office or field crew. With the data transfer of Exchange, the user is informed about the transfer status instantly, whether the data has been sent or is still in process, showing what percentage of the data is included in the transfer. To use this file transfer service, you need an Exchange subscription. In the field, Leica Captivate sends completed field jobs back to the office over-the air, seamlessly connecting the office and the field. With it, you send jobs and files from your local computer to any office or field crew all over the world. Thus, every surveyor can periodically send their measured data to the office for further processing directly in Infinity or other office software. Leica Exchange offers the flexibility to include or exclude any field job data before sending, giving you complete flexibility to add images and map files folders in the job data, or not. It makes it so much easier to transfer data securely and eliminates the tedious process of saving the data on an external device, take it to the office, deliver it to the field and office crew, and then copy it again on a computer. With Leica Exchange, you can also transfer Leica Infinity data, regardless of the format.

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How about Leica ConX?

Leica ConXis a cloud-based web solution widely used to transfer data between Leica Geosystems machine control products and data exchange between the field and the Captivate office. In this cloud service, a surveyor can easily send field-related jobs to a pre-created ConX project and retrieve processed data from the office. This gives a competitive advantage by streamlining the flow of information between construction teams on-site and in the office.

ConX uses role-based access control, which means you can create user roles where a project member will have full or limited permissions, depending on the project. It is possible to create a structure that reflects your company's hierarchy, allowing results to be collected for different hierarchical levels.

to exchange surveying data with ConX in Captivate, a Leica ConX license is needed. The first time you connect to ConX, a pairing code appears on the screen. This code is entered in the relevant field in the web service, and after the pairing is successful, the user can upload and download data from a ConX project. The measured data can be synchronised periodically with the cloud, and the user can receive automatic notifications in case of a project update.

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Can you tell us more about BIM360 Docs?

BIM360 Docsis cloud-based-construction document management that allows all project documents to be stored, viewed, and shared among project members in one centralised database. Surveyors can directly send Captivate job data to an existing BIM360 project and retrieve the modified data from the office. Viewing data in BIM Docs allows you to instantly check construction drawings and models without the need for any other applications. Besides, one would wonder how to keep track of project files. If you have ever worked on a project, regardless of its scale, you realised how quickly files are changed and updated in parallel. This is where BIM Docs comes into play. BIM Docs creates a version-control system that keeps track of what is current but preserves previous versions. This allows the user to effortlessly access these earlier files and revert to them if unwanted changes were made along the road. Furthermore, users can easily compare different versions at any time, whereby Leica Captivate highlights all differences to present a comprehensive overview of all changes.

On the office side, Autodesk product users can quickly share design files and documentation with field teams by sending them to Captivate, which contributes to improving data flow and saving project time. From the field perspective, a surveyor can easily send as-built measurements back from Captivate to Docs.

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Leica now also supports Bricsys 24/7, can you explain what customers should know about this prominent collaboration tool?

Bricsys 24/7是用于文档管理和工作流程自动化的基于云的服务。它允许直接通过云从字段发送到办公室，反之亦然。在Bricsys 24/7中，它的许多功能中最有趣的是，Bricsys 24/7直接通过可码头面板直接连接到Bricscad，Bricscad，Bricsys是Bricsys自己的CAD软件。通过消除交换步骤之一来节省用户时间：用户可以在设计软件中更新图纸或模型，并将其发送到现场，而无需打开浏览器。换句话说，数据交换直接发生在Bricscad和Captivate之间，而Bricsys 24/7在后台运行。通过24/7面板，用户可以通过图标轻松地检查文档的状态。与文档一样，用户可以在无需本机软件的情况下查看Bricsys 24/7的查看器中的项目文件。Bricsys 24/7还包括版本控件，并确保用户在跟踪所有早期文件版本时可以访问每个文档的最新版本。默认情况下，Caintivate显示最新文件，但也可以轻松地配置为显示先前的文档版本。

Every third party cloud service manages subscription-based licensing on its side, independent of Leica Geosystems.

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In your opinion, what do these cloud services have in common?

对于我们所有人来说，将设备连接到Internet（定期或连续一整天）越来越普遍 - 正是这种Internet连接使我们能够利用云数据服务，提供实时数据传输和随时分享任何地方。

Leica Exchange and Leica ConX licences are handled directly with your local Leica Geosystems representative – for the additional services authentication and/or licences may be required to access the service. For example, a valid BIM360 Docs license is needed to start using this online service in Captivate. The BIM360 server must be authenticated with existing Autodesk credentials and necessary to authorise BIM 360 to access Leica Captivate.

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Are cloud services easy to use?

the process for all of these services is quite similar and very simple. Once you have the account set up and connected, you just enter the relevant Captivate service, select the data you want to send, and to whom or where you want it to go.the short video clip below shows us quickly how to send an entire job to a colleague by using Leica Exchange - and then sending that same data to a different colleague.

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Where can our users get more information about these services?

有关购买产品，订阅在线服务或定价的问题，请联系您当地的Leic亚搏彩票手机版下载a Geosystems分销商或服务合作伙伴。您可以找到有关我们的更多信息销售与支持网站。

thank you for your insights, Zühal.

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In case you should have any additional questions regarding oursoftware and/or hardware，，，，please feel free to contact us.