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by robomartin 5167 days ago
Interesting. As a long time AutoCAD and SolidWorks user I have never thought of Trimble as a 3D CAD company. Not even a software company. One has to wonder if SketchUp could have found a better home than Trimble.

I can see an established 3D CAD company really enhancing it as a potential bridge onto their bigger tools and providing more interoperability with other platforms. I can't justify buying a license of SolidWorks for my kid's PC but if SketchUp were a SW product with a ramp up to SW I would definitely consider it and even pay for it.

Time will tell.
1 comments
excuse-me 5167 days ago
GPS is commodity now, Trimble are looking to add value

It's hard to sell a $500 ruggadised GPS unit when it's built into someones iPhone, and people are beginning to wonder why they are paying quite so much even for RTK systems when the actual HW is so cheap.

But if even small scale housing construction started could be persuaded to use the same 3D mapping/GPS technology that big civil engineering projects do then you could tie up a nice market.

From the prospective concept design of the street of houses, the planning permission filings with 3D height modelling, sight lines, light rights, the cad drawings, then the automated layout of roads and foundations with GPS equipped machines - all with an integrated Trimble system.

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jpastika 5167 days ago
Actually, Trimble's focus is not on consumer GPS, it is on machine control (heavy equipment GPS guidance), survey, and build construction. I'm familiar with the machine control hardware through my involvement with a Trimble distributor. The accuracy, especially vertical, achieved through Trimble's machine control is incredible. However, that accuracy is only achieved through the use of a static "base" and mobile (attached to machinery i.e. bulldozer) "rovers".

I do agree that the technology has become much cheaper over the last 10 years, while Trimble's pricing has not fallen at the same rate.

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sundae79 5167 days ago
Didn't know your iphone gps was accurate at millimeter level just like the $500 trimble GPS which is used for precision.
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excuse-me 5167 days ago
A $500 Trimble is still the same 12channel + WAAS unit you have in your phone or buy in a sports store.

A Real Time Kinematic system can do mm (on a good day with a following wind) but they cost 20x as much!

My post wasn't totally clear - I meant people ALSO wonder why an RTK is $10,000 when you can build your own for a lot less (http://blog.makezine.com/2009/11/12/diy-real-time-kinematic-...)

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