Trimble_JOB_Viewer_EN

Trimble JOB Viewer: A Faster Way to Understand Raw Survey Data

Trimble .JOB files contain far more information than a simple list of point coordinates. A JOB file may include raw GNSS observations, total station setups, backsight orientation, angles and distances, prism and instrument-height information, point history, coordinate-system settings, and many other technical records.

The problem is that this information is not always convenient to inspect quickly.

Trimble Business Center is, of course, a powerful professional package designed for full survey-data processing. But sometimes the task is much simpler: you receive a JOB file from a field crew and only need to understand how the survey was performed, find one particular point, check the raw measurements, or review the survey network.

For that kind of work, launching a large processing environment can be more than you actually need.

That is why I created Trimble JOB Viewer.

What Problem Does It Solve?

Imagine a typical office workflow.

The field crew sends you:

PROJECT-TOPO.job

The project may contain thousands of survey points, but now you need to answer questions such as:

• When was a particular point observed?

• How was the point established?

• Was it entered manually or measured with GNSS?

• From which total station setup was it observed?

• What backsight was used?

• What were the horizontal and vertical angles?

• What was the slope distance?

• Which prism or target was used?

• What were the instrument height and target height?

• Was the point observed more than once?

• Was it later modified or deleted?

• How did the survey network develop during the field work?

A simple CSV coordinate export cannot answer most of these questions.

It gives you the result, but it loses most of the history behind that result.

Trimble JOB Viewer was created to show not only what points are inside a JOB file, but also how the survey itself was performed.

Open a JOB File Directly

The program is distributed as a single HTML file and runs directly in a modern web browser.

No separate application installation is required.

The basic workflow is simple:

1. Open Trimble JOB Viewer.

2. Click Open JOB.

3. Select a Trimble .JOB file.

The original JOB file is opened read-only and is not modified by the viewer.

Point Map

The first task is often simply to see what is inside the survey.

The Map tab displays the survey points in project grid coordinates.

You can independently show or hide:

• Point Number;

• Code;

• Elevation.

Label size can be adjusted independently from the map zoom level.

A point can be selected directly on the map and opened in the detailed Point Inspector.

More Than Points: Survey Network Structure

One of the main features of Trimble JOB Viewer is the Network tab.

Instead of displaying thousands of unrelated points, the viewer attempts to reconstruct the structure of the survey.

It distinguishes between:

• keyed-in or direct control points;

• GNSS/GPS points;

• total station setups;

• ordinary survey shots;

• backsight/orientation relationships;

• reconstructed traverse connections.

For example, the survey may become visually understandable as:

GNSS control → total station setup → backsight orientation → detail shots → move to the next station

This makes it much easier to understand how the field crew actually worked.

A specific station can also be selected so that the view is limited to:

• the station itself;

• its backsight;

• its observations;

• related network geometry.

Survey History

In History mode, the survey network can be reconstructed step by step.

The display starts empty.

As you move forward, each logical survey event is added:

• a control or keyed-in point appears;

• a GNSS point is established;

• the total station is set up;

• orientation is performed;

• a group of detail shots is observed;

• the survey advances to the next station.

This allows you to literally watch how the survey developed over time.

It is especially useful when analyzing someone else's field work or an older project where nobody clearly remembers the sequence of operations.

Hierarchical Network Journal

A graphical network is useful for understanding the overall structure, but sometimes you need the actual numbers.

For that purpose, Trimble JOB Viewer includes the Network Journal.

The journal presents survey information hierarchically:

Station

• Orientation / Backsight

• Observation

• Observation

• Observation

• …

For each observation, the viewer displays the information that can be identified from the JOB file, including:

• Point Number;

• Code;

• Date / Time;

• HA;

• VA/Z;

• Slope Distance;

• HI;

• Target Height;

• Target / Prism;

• related Record IDs.

Sections can be expanded and collapsed.

This makes it easy to answer a simple question:

What exactly was observed from this station, and what raw measurements were used?

Complete Point Inspector

Double-clicking a point opens the Point Inspector.

The Inspector brings together all currently available information about the selected point.

Depending on the type of point, this may include:

• Point Number;

• Code;

• Northing;

• Easting;

• Elevation;

• Latitude / Longitude;

• Ellipsoid Height;

• coordinate source;

• Date / Time;

• Station;

• Backsight;

• HA;

• VA/Z;

• Slope Distance;

• Instrument Height;

• Target Height;

• Prism / Target;

• Comments;

• related JOB records.

From the Point Inspector, you can navigate directly to:

• Map;

• Network;

• Network Journal;

• History;

• related RAW records.

Point History

A JOB file may contain more than one record for the same point.

A point may have been:

• observed;

• re-observed;

• modified;

• deleted;

• later used as a station;

• associated with Notes or comments.

For this reason, the Point Inspector includes a dedicated Point History section.

Instead of seeing only the final coordinate, you can follow the point's lifecycle inside the JOB file.

Searchable Point Table

For everyday office work, the Points tab provides a full data table.

It includes:

• global search;

• filter for every column;

• numeric filters and ranges;

• hide/show columns;

• resizable columns;

• printing;

• CSV export;

• coordinate export.

For example, you can filter by:

Code = RW

or:

Point = 2600..2700

Multiple filters can be combined.

If you find and select a row while a filter is active, the selection remains after the filter is removed, making it easy to inspect the surrounding records.

NXYZC Export

For transferring coordinates to other applications, the viewer supports a simple TXT format:

N X Y Z C

where:

• N = Point Number;

• X = Northing;

• Y = Easting;

• Z = Elevation;

• C = Code.

The viewer intentionally uses the surveying convention:

X = Northing
Y = Easting

The export respects the current point filters.

Compare Two JOB Files

The Compare JOBs tab allows two versions of a project to be compared.

The viewer identifies:

• points that were added;

• points that disappeared;

• coordinate changes;

• Code changes;

• changes in coordinate source;

• changes in observation count.

The comparison uses the following statuses:

Same / Changed / Added / Removed

This is useful when a field crew sends an updated JOB and you need to quickly determine what actually changed.

GNSS and RTK Network Information

A JOB file may contain information not only about GNSS points, but also about the correction source.

Trimble JOB Viewer attempts to extract information such as:

• Network RTK mode;

• correction format;

• server;

• mountpoint;

• VRS ID;

• PRS ID;

• reference coordinates;

• reference ellipsoid height.

This can be especially useful in VRS workflows, where the user normally sees only the final RTK solution and may not know what reference-network information was actually recorded inside the JOB.

Local Reference Station Database

Trimble JOB Viewer includes a local Reference Stations database.

Known reference stations can be stored with information such as:

• Name;

• Station / PRS ID;

• Latitude;

• Longitude;

• Maryland State Plane Northing/Easting;

• Orthometric Height;

• Ellipsoid Height;

• Geoid Height;

• Notes.

For vertical information, the viewer uses the standard relationship:

h = H + N

where:

• h = Ellipsoid Height;

• H = Orthometric Height;

• N = Geoid Height.

Each height field can use its own units.

For example, it is completely acceptable to store:

• Orthometric H in feet;

• Ellipsoid h in meters;

• Geoid N in meters.

The viewer automatically converts the values to a common unit system before comparison.

GEOID18 Support

Trimble JOB Viewer supports GEOID18 for vertical-data analysis.

An official NGS GEOID18 grid file can be loaded and used locally.

This makes it possible to properly compare:

GNSS/JOB ellipsoid height

with

catalogued orthometric elevation

using the appropriate geoid separation.

This can be particularly useful when identifying a reference station, because a known published station elevation provides another independent validation criterion.

Reference Station Analysis

If the local station database has been populated, the viewer attempts to identify the most likely reference station.

It can compare:

• Station / PRS ID;

• height;

• Latitude / Longitude;

• State Plane coordinates;

• distance to the candidate station.

The viewer does not simply display a candidate name. It also shows why that station is considered a likely match.

For Network RTK / VRS workflows, the program intentionally does not claim that the nearest physical reference station necessarily contributed the greatest mathematical weight to the network solution. That information may simply not be present in the JOB file.

Service Info

For deeper inspection, the Service Info tab gathers technical information that the parser can identify with reasonable confidence.

Depending on the JOB file, this may include:

• software/version;

• coordinate system;

• datum;

• transformations;

• GNSS receiver;

• total station model;

• serial number;

• firmware;

• targets/prisms;

• Feature Library;

• feature codes;

• linked/imported/exported files;

• Notes;

• edit history;

• parser statistics;

• known physical record descriptors.

The principle is simple:

If a descriptor is confidently identified, display it.
If the meaning of a field is still uncertain, do not invent one.

RAW: Inspecting the Physical JOB Structure

Trimble JOB is a binary survey journal.

For that reason, the viewer also provides access to the lowest practical level through the RAW tab.

It can display:

• physical record number;

• byte offset;

• record length;

• numeric record type;

• Record ID;

• Parent ID;

• timestamp;

• recovered text;

• raw record content.

This is useful both for troubleshooting and for researching JOB variants from newer or different Trimble Access versions.

Stored Coordinates vs. Reconstructed Coordinates

One of the important design principles of Trimble JOB Viewer is to distinguish between coordinates that are stored directly and coordinates that are reconstructed from observations.

For example:

GRID
The coordinate is read directly from a recognized grid-coordinate record.

GNSS
The coordinate is derived from recognized GNSS information and the project's coordinate-system logic.

TS
The coordinate is reconstructed from:

Station + Backsight + HA + VA/Z + Slope Distance

This distinction matters because a calculated coordinate should not be presented as though it were physically stored in the JOB file.

Why I Created This Tool

The original idea was simple.

I wanted a utility where I could open a JOB file and quickly answer not only:

“What points are in this file?”

but also:

“How was this survey actually performed?”

Where was GNSS used?

Where was the total station set up?

What backsight was used?

Which points were observed from each setup?

What angles and distances were measured?

What happened to a particular point during the survey?

How did the network develop over time?

That is why Trimble JOB Viewer became more of a survey inspection and analysis tool than a simple coordinate converter.

Distribution

Trimble JOB Viewer is distributed free of charge.

The application is a single self-contained HTML file intended for quick inspection and analysis of Trimble JOB data.

Development is ongoing, and JOB files from different Trimble Access versions and equipment configurations are particularly useful for testing.

If the viewer does not correctly recognize your JOB file, or if you encounter an unusual type of survey record, you are welcome to contact the developer.

Developer: Anton Naumov

Developer Website

I also accept custom software-development projects, including specialized utilities for surveying, Civil 3D, engineering workflows, and related tasks.

For inquiries, please use the email address listed on the:

Contacts Page

Trimble is a trademark of Trimble Inc. Trimble JOB Viewer is an independent utility and is not an official Trimble product.

Download v2.2