Trimble Catalyst with ArcGIS Field Maps

[PaulHaakma_Eagle]

Hi all.

I have a client with a Trimble Catalyst which they have used in the past with Collector with mixed success.

We are trying to get it running with Field Maps and are running into issues, and are having difficulty establishing what the expected workflow to use is so that we can better troubleshoot. We have reached out to our local Trimble agent but at the same time are wondering if there are any users in the ESRI community who have already got the Catalyst going with Field Maps who could share their experience.

Our current understanding is to use Trimble Mobile Manager (TMM), log in to Trimble and connect to the Catalyst. The Catalyst is plugged in via usb cable to a Samsung tablet. We can connect successfully in TMM and with the premium subscription we get an RTK lock down to cm level which is great.

We enable developer mode on the Android tablet, and set Mock Locations to use TMM. Back in TMM, we set Location Sharing on.

We then open up Field Maps. The only location provider listed is "Integrated", which we believe (??) is correct given the workflow. However, when we open a map, the accuracy listed is always several meters, even though TMM is reporting cm level accuracy.

So either Field Maps is not using the "mock location" as we think it should be, or there is another workflow we should be using.

I know there have been posts in the past, but it seems to be unclear what the current workflow should be as it appears to have changed over the years between Collector Classic and Aurora.

Any comments or help appreciated.

[PaulHaakma_Eagle]

Hi all. As a follow up to this post, we had some feedback from Trimble after looking at the TMM logs from the device.

There were log records indicating potential USB cable or port hardware problems:
Check the cables and ports for obvious damage and even swap around with a different device.
Just focus on getting a good service in TMM at this stage. This is a quick means of checking if the device or hardware is at fault.

This includes checking the USB type C adaptor. We have the official Trimble adaptor that comes with the kit or recommend the Huawei AP52. Other adaptors may be unreliable.

There were a number of USB Permission failures in the last session which in addition to above could indicate:
The user is not selecting OK to the USB Permission dialog that pops up when connecting the DA1 - ignoring this effectively prevents a connection
There are some app permissions disabled
Go to SETTINGS > APPS > Trimble Catalyst Service/Trimble Mobile Manager/ESRI Collector/ESRI Field apps > PERMISSIONS
Everything needs to be enabled (Location and Storage)

Disable Battery optimisation! This can lead to undesirable behaviour for Catalyst, especially if the power is low as the Android OS starts shutting apps down in the background/ throttling CPU to save power.

My client is testing further. At time he has been able to get TMM down to ~2cm and Field Maps down to 4cm, but can't seem to get Field Maps to match the 2cm of TMM for some reason.

[DavidNovak]

Hello dear @PaulHaakma_Eagle ,
we now have a similar case with our client. Did you manage to uncover the cause of the problem? Do you really think it was a problem with the cable or a device?

David

[PaulHaakma_Eagle]

Hi David

No we never really got a good understanding of what the issue was. I haven't dealt with that client for a while now but I believe they are still using the Catalyst they have as is and it is sufficient for their purposes.

My original post was almost a year ago. I did speak to someone in AllTerra here in NZ (aka Trimble) late last year who was going to look into it but I haven't heard back yet.

I do note that there is a new updated version of the Catalyst, the DA2, released recently that is supposed to be an improvement in several ways. In particular you can use it with iOS. You might want to check which model your client is using, and if not the DA2 then perhaps an upgrade could be a good suggestion.

-Paul

[Anonymous User]

Hi David (and Paul),

My suspicion is that it will be either the main USB cable which is part number 110961-12, or the USB-C adapter cable part number 114199, which has a fault, if you would like further information regarding this please don't hesitate to get in touch with us.  My email is mark.peters@allterra.co.nz

Regards, Mark Peters