Author Topic: Microsoft Surface Pro and Topofusion  (Read 7423 times)

Vegas Runner

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Microsoft Surface Pro and Topofusion
« on: February 15, 2013, 04:56:34 PM »
I am excited about the Microsoft Surface Pro Tablet. I am starting this thread to hear from Scott and from other users about their advice and experience with using topofusion with the new Microsoft Surface Pro Tablet.

ScottMorris

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Re: Microsoft Surface Pro and Topofusion
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2013, 11:17:40 AM »
I'm not yet familiar with it -- let us know how TF works/run if you get a chance!
Scott Morris - founder and co-author of TopoFusion
email: smorris@topofusion.com

Vegas Runner

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Re: Microsoft Surface Pro and Topofusion
« Reply #2 on: February 22, 2013, 02:30:09 PM »
I do not have a Microsoft Surface. I am hoping that someone who does will post up. I am very interested in buying one but since Topofusion is one of the primary apps I would run I would like to get some feedback before making the plunge. I am particularly interested in how the touch screen interface works with Topofusion. Does an app need to be written specifically to use a touchscreen? Also how does the GPS interface work? I am assuming a USB hub would be needed  because if you have lots of maps they would need to be stored on a USB hard drive (external) and the GPS would need a USB port also. Since the Surface only has one USB port a hub would be required.

Anyway if anyone has a Surface, load Topofusion and let us know what you find!

carithomas5141

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Re: Microsoft Surface Pro and Topofusion
« Reply #3 on: April 12, 2013, 02:45:13 AM »
I am excited about the Microsoft Surface Pro Tablet. I am starting this thread to hear from Scott and from other users about their advice and experience with using topofusion with the new Microsoft Surface Pro Tablet.
Hello Vegas Runner,
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Blender

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Re: Microsoft Surface Pro and Topofusion
« Reply #4 on: May 18, 2013, 03:27:56 PM »
I am a little late to the party, but I use a surface pro 64 to run my off road navigation. Topo fusion interfaces very well with the touchscreen. Scrolling with your finger is just as expected. Pinch to zoom also works, but does not change scale as quickly as most smartphone map applications. There are a lot of menus which can be hard to hit accurately. The default pen mapping is a little off in the corners of the screen, but I find a finger is mapped accurately all across the screen. There are some ways to improve pen accuracy, but I rarely use the pen.

The USB port is great for the required puck, but I will likely need to run a usb hub to allow for the gps receiver and an external harddrive to be connected together. I only have the 64gb ssd, so I added a 64gb SD card which only contains my map directory. It is currently half full and I only have topo maps (all levels) for the central corridor of Arizona. I have a small amount of b/w aerial photos, but they are more time consuming to acquire for a large area.

On to the quirks: TF will crash out unless power management is set to high performance. I wonder if this is related to the usb port getting its power reduced. The save track feature will also cause the software to crash, but I believe that is related to the newest update and is being worked on now.The software and system runs great in terms of scrolling/3d/etc.

I do not have a vehicle charger, so my trips are limited by the internal battery. I had the system running 4.5 hours with the screen dim (it was at night) which is a little better than I expected. No issues so far after flying down forest service roads at high speed, but I am worried about the large amount of dust the surface is subject to.

So far I am very pleased.
full res screen capture from last night

Vegas Runner

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Re: Microsoft Surface Pro and Topofusion
« Reply #5 on: August 30, 2013, 01:08:20 PM »
Blender, Thanks for the update. Has the "save tracks" glitch been resolved yet?

And yes I was thinking the same thing that a USB hub would be neccessary, I have about 250 GB of maps so the Surface PRO memory just wont cut it. How is the daylight readability of the Surface PRO?

Vegas Runner

Blender

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Re: Microsoft Surface Pro and Topofusion
« Reply #6 on: September 10, 2013, 07:11:40 PM »
I cannot really comment on the save tracks... I jumped ship to Delorme topo. I was too frustrated trying to acquire tens of gigs of map data for one state, when a vector map would allow several states in 10GB. I miss the intuitive touch experience topofusion offers, but the maps were a pain to download (through no fault of software). I plan to revisit topofusion in the future.

Sunlight readability is good. I occasionally use the tablet to web browse outdoors without a problem. In vehicle is just as clear.