About Carlson Software: Founded in 1983, Carlson Software, Inc., is a leading provider of office and field software for land development markets, including land surveying, civil engineering, mining, construction, accident reconstruction and machine control. Carlson Software is headquartered in Maysville, KY, with offices in Atlanta, Boston, Front Royal, Va., and Queensland, Australia. Meet Bruce, Jim and Dave Carlson. For a list of the top 10 benefits for users of Carlson Software, click here.

Carlson Software has a goal: to be the premier, independent software provider for the related markets of surveying, civil engineering, mining and construction. We continue to deliver the most complete suite of software solutions ever offered for these industries by a single company.

We believe this is what the industry wants: the best hardware, provided by hardware companies manufacturing GPS, total stations and scanners, and the best application software for all equipment, manufactured by independent, non-aligned software companies focused on ease-of-use, powerful feature sets, tech support and software integration and cross-product compatibility. That’s where we come in — Carlson Software offers the complete suite of solutions, across the disciplines of data collection, surveying, engineering design and drafting, mine planning and modeling, construction estimation and machine control. Here’s a quick review of our product offerings by market:

Survey Data Collection:

This is the base of all of our software, the gateway to integrated office processing and design. We offer Carlson SurvCE, the most popular choice for third-party data collection. We also produce special versions of SurvCE for manufacturers, such as Thales Fast Survey. The software drives virtually all GPS and total stations, and works on most Windows CE data collectors from Juniper Allegro® and Archer to the At-Work Ranger and even cell phones with Windows CE capability. And we also provide SurvCE integrated on the Carlson Explorer, our own data collector. The Carlson Explorer has been hugely successful, and we offer three models: the Explorer I, Explorer II and the new Explorer 600+. The 600+ comes with built-in USB, bluetooth, wireless and a super-fast 624 mh processor. We also offer the unique Carlson Field data collection product, which works on Windows-based computers and uses the AutoCAD® engine. It brings full CAD capability, even image file, aerial photo backdrop capability, to the field. By docking a data collection screen with an AutoCAD menu, Carlson Field has all the power of SurvCE combined with the graphics of AutoCAD, and full field-to-finish. It works great on the touchscreen-based Panasonic Toughbooks®. Data collection capability has led us strongly into other related markets. Carlson AgStar is similar to Carlson Field, but offers land leveling features for optimized regrading of nearly flat farmland, and includes live data collection using all major brands of GPS. Carlson GIS-CE is an extremely low-cost GIS solution for data gathering, which includes “TIF”-file image backdrops and full attributing of feature codes for utility and other GIS-related mapping. It outputs DXF and SHP files for import to ESRI. Finally, we continue to offer the venerable C&G Field data collection program, available on DOS data collectors such as the Psion®, but also bundled with SurvCE on the Carlson Explorer.

Survey Office Products:

Surveying is our core expertise, and we have 3 distinct products, each with its own style and following in the marketplace—(1) Carlson Survey is fast becoming the industry standard for office survey work. It can be purchased stand-alone or can work inside AutoCAD (2) CG Survey, also stand-alone and CG Survey for AutoCAD, and (3) the new Simplicity Site Survey, available in late-2006, which will work on many of the popular graphics programs including AutoCAD, in addition to using its own graphics drivers. You might consider this the “General Motors” approach to software—customers who are familiar and comfortable with Carlson, with C&G and with Simplicity, can find an upgrade path within our family of products. Yet, we continue to share concepts across all product lines, like the color-coded raw survey note editor (a C&G concept) or the simultaneous graphic display of the raw traverse in the editor (a Carlson Survey concept, now found in C&G). As features migrate across products, the learning curve to move from one product to another is reduced and duplicated code is minimized, just like various brands of GM cars might share a common engine part, but retain the different styling. Carlson Survey and CG Survey are built around the AutoCAD engine, a very stable graphics platform, with full compatibility to read and write AutoCAD drawings. Both allow user-definable, “native” coordinate formats, including standard Carlson CRD, C&G CRD and AutoCAD “MDB”, for easy file-reading and transfer to other companies. SurvNet for Network Least Squares calculations, essential for raw survey note reduction, now comes free with both Carlson Survey and CG 8.0. SurvNet handles any combination of total station, GPS and level loop measurements. All the office products integrate seamlessly with the Carlson data collection solutions, as well as with other data collector products on the market. Our “all-product” data collection interface is even used by Autodesk itself, in the “Carlson Connect” pulldown found in the current release of Autodesk Land Desktop. The new PointCloud module works inside AutoCad 2006 or 2007 and also runs stand-alone. It reads files produced by the Leica, Riegl, MDL and other brands of laser scanners. It registers, views, decimates and filters point cloud size, and ports break lines, profiles, sections and layerized linework to CAD-based programs, including our own. Finally, we offer a specialized survey product for accident reconstruction called CSI (Carlson Software Investigations), which not only includes classic “field-to-finish” drafting based on field coding, but has an entire menu dedicated to vehicle accident analysis (skid analysis, impact analysis, etc.). It is often sold in conjunction with Carlson Field for data collection.

Civil Engineering Products:

Carlson Software offers the Carlson Civil Suite for road, site and hydrology design. Carlson Civil requires AutoCAD or AutoCAD Map, and will work with Autodesk Land Desktop as well. The “basic 4” modules of Carlson Survey, Civil, Hydrology and GIS complete the civil suite. The Civil module includes faster contouring, better detection and review of TIN errors such as crossing 3D “break lines” and a new dynamic surface file that allows for pad design editing by moving or raising/lowering the entire pad or by gripping and moving pad vertices. There is a new centroid analysis for cut and fill earthwork design and costing, as well as a powerful surface flyover feature for analyzing existing and design terrains. You can drive the site with a variety of vehicles at vehicle speed, or walk the site at pedestrian speed, all with high-quality shading and graphics. The Civil module introduces “Road Networks”, a new command that allows for interactive, heads-up design of entire subidivision road systems, including intersections and cul-de-sacs, all in 3D. Edits can be instantly reprocessed, leading to final contours and finished section and profile sheets. The Hydrology module contains major enhancements covering DTM-based runoff calculations by layer, new inlet selection options, and a link to the popular HYDRA® calculation engine by Pizer Incorporated for complex municipal stormwater network analysis.

Construction Products:

Though you may physically drive a Caterpillar or Hitachi or John Deere dozer or excavator, it is software that is driving the construction world to greater efficiencies. Carlson offers the full suite of software for heavy construction. Many construction companies are “power users” of Carlson SurvCE and Carlson Field, both of which have strong slope staking and template staking for heavy/highway work. But the biggest event in this market space is the continued success of Carlson Takeoff for construction estimation. Carlson Takeoff is a stand-alone product with full digitizing capability for both plan view and cross section quantity takeoff. This product surpasses the feature sets of all existing offerings in estimation. You can pull out the quantities from CAD drawings in a matter of minutes. It even includes the centroidal calculations necessary to determine cut and fill haul distances. It will auto-balance sites based on flexible methods. Carlson Takeoff includes a unique set of “elevating” routines, to move everything from curb lines with leaders, contours with elevation text and pads and buildings with interior text to their correct 3D elevation. Carlson TakeOff will also make the files necessary for 3D grading by machine control, feeding products such as Leica Dozer GradeStar, Topcon 3DMC and our own Carlson Grade. Carlson Grade represents the “next generation” machine control product for dozers, motor graders, excavators and drills, as well as scrapers, shovels and front-end loaders. Carlson Grade presents the cut/fill amounts to operators in real-time, shows plan views and selectable section and profile views, and will hook into a variety of hydraulic, blade-controlling devices. Carlson Grade is unique in that it will work in Windows as well as Linux, works with all major GPS and robotic total station products and includes all our machine control interfaces (dozer/excavator/drill) in one package. We refer to it as “all-purpose”, “all-platforms” and “all GPS equipment”. The files for Carlson Grade can be made in Takeoff, but can also be made in Carlson Survey and a specialty product called Carlson Site Manager. For analysis of grading efficiency, we offer Productivity Tools. “Pro Tools”, as we call it, is the gold standard in machine control productivity analysis, utilizing the logging files from the heavy equipment, and analyzing such aspects as idle time, cubic yards or cubic meters of cut and fill work per hour, push slopes and push lengths, and all aspects of equipment operation. With 900 mhz or 80211b radio linkage, our Telescope and Stargazer products can send grading and logging files back and forth real-time from office to heavy equipment, and equipment operation can be monitored. From data gathering to office design and estimation to field staking and equipment operation and monitoring, Carlson Software offers the full circle solution to construction, with full file compatibility and a familiar, Carlson-style user interface.

Mining Products:

The Carlson mining solutions are comprehensive and diverse. Our flagship product is Carlson Mining, with its 3 component modules of Geology, Surface and Underground. A separate Blasting module is also available. Carlson Mining is used by 90% of the U.S. coal industry, and is a dominant solution in the clay, phosphate and trona markets as well. The Surface Module offers block modeling for the hard rock industry and includes the leading routine for carving pits with benches and haul roads into existing DTM surfaces. The Blasting Module lays out blast hole patterns, calculates explosive quantities and produces blast reports for field use. Even the Carlson GIS module has a strong emphasis on mining applications for royalty analysis, land management, and pit and underground panel data queries and reporting. Other office products include Hole Manager (open-ended geologic database) and E-Logger (processes E-Logs into drillholes). One of the most exciting, breakthrough products is the new Natural Regrade program. This module will regrade land to natural landforms and create a balance of cut and fill based on user-defined ridgelines, yet at the same time implement the required slopes, cross sections and sinuosity of drainage channels for minimum, long-term erodibility. The concepts in this module helped win the “Best of the Best” Reclamation Award for 2004. Mining, however, is all about heavy equipment and moving earth and minerals. That’s where Carlson Grade, along with Productivity Tools, take over. The office terrain models are fed to the heavy equipment by radio link, and then the cut and fill work begins. Carlson Grade contains the drill solution for drill navigation and logging of blast holes, the interface for dozer cut and fill operations, and the excavator interface for overburden and ore removal. Points can be logged by the drill, the excavator or the dozer to update the geologic model, real-time on the equipment or by office personnel through radio transfer of the data. The radio link is managed by two pieces of software: Telescope for 900 mhz, “spread-spectrum” type radio linkage and Stargazer for high-speed, 80211b “wi-fi” radio links. Productivity Tools analyzes the production rates for all heavy equipment and is the industry-standard analysis tool, used by discriminating mine contractors such as Roche and Thiess Construction. Carlson TruckPro is a newly developed program for truck loading and haul management, minimizing paperwork, logging loads and recording product quality at all load and dump locations and analyzing haul routes. TruckPro includes dispatch features and an office component for viewing truck locations and status. Peer-to-peer communication enables viewing of all trucks by all operators. Truck information is also analyzed in Productivity Tools. Carlson Truckpro can also link to weight and tire pressure sensors and back-up video cameras for improved operational performance and safety. Lastly Carlson Dragline 3D completes the full suite by offering dragline swing monitoring and productivity feedback. Both TruckPro and Dragline 3D use low-cost Garmin® or equivalent GPS receivers, and are extremely affordable solutions for mines interested in reducing paperwork and reviewing equipment performance.

Worldwide Efforts:

Carlson Software has experienced strong growth in overseas markets. Through the efforts of Thales Navigation and their distributors, FAST Survey has gained a strong following in Europe, in some areas obtaining the density of usage similar to SurvCE here in the States. We have opened an office in Australia based in the Brisbane region, fast becoming a hub for machine control development. Owing to the efforts of our worldwide dealers in Russia, Israel, Puerto Rico, Maylasia, India, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland, Scotland, Spain and elsewhere, sales from business outside the U.S. will continue to grow strongly in 2006. To address these markets, Carlson Survey, Carlson Grade and other products now place greater emphasis on “localization” to tailor both the language (“chainage” versus “stationing”) and the methods to local practices. Thales FAST Survey has been translated into at least 4 languages, for example, and Carlson SurvCE is now available in Portuguese, Hungarian, French and Chinese.

Independence fosters Innovation: We are now in our 23rd year of business and yet we have continued exponential growth (doubling in size from 2003 to 2005). Our vision is proving to be the correct one. Stay independent, and serve the industry by serving the end-user, from the hyper-efficient, one-man survey firm to large government agencies like the Office of Surface Mining. Growing to sell out or go public is the strategy of Wall Street, where the end-user is secondary to the internal goals of the business. We take the opposite view. Success can only be measured in the quality of the product and the satisfaction of the individuals who use the product, and we will never give up the freedom to take your input and deliver on better, improved software that “does more”. You have my pledge that Carlson Software will remain an independent company, free to provide service, free to innovate, supportive of our corporate partners and dealers and focused on our customers. There are very few companies like ours left in this age of consolidation and “vertical”, manufacturer-driven solutions. Very few especially with our #1 rated technical support and “on-the-ground” sales and support people. We believe that the lateral suite of all-purpose software, provided by an independent software company integrating all applications from office to field, is the best way to provide service to our industry. We want to continue to work with you, learn from you and deliver for you in 2006 and beyond.

--Bruce Carlson, PE, PLS
President, Carlson Software
May 16, 2006