Madison, WI 53705, U.S.A.
Phone: (608) 238-2171, Fax: (608) 238-9241
Email: info@powline.com
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610 N. Whitney Way, Suite 160
Madison, WI 53705, U.S.A. Phone: (608) 238-2171, Fax: (608) 238-9241 Email: info@powline.com |
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In this issue:
In 2007 we completed work on version 9 which we are proud to release with this newsletter. Version 9 greatly improves our clearance checking and vegetation management functions. Version 9 also has significant memory management improvements making it possible to work with bigger PLS-CADD models and imagery.
Major improvements have been made to the Survey Point Clearance Functions. The new routines are more graphical making it easier to visualize clearance problems. There are new options to display the wire positions considered, to highlight features with clearance violations and the offending wires, and an option to display the no wires allowed "clearance box" surrounding a feature.
The revised clearance reports are now customizable, easier to read, and exportable to other applications via XML. There is even an option to insert plan, profile and cross section graphics for problem spans to paint a clear picture of where the problems are.
The enhancements go beyond graphics and reports. The Survey Point Clearance functions can now check clearance to the TIN ground surface below your wires. They can also check clearances to the arc swept out by a wire as it moves from the left blowout position to the right blowout position. Finally, for those of you who have taken the time to enter horizontal clearance requirements, there are new options to filter out “questionable violations” having adequate horizontal clearance, but insufficient vertical.
PLS-CADD version 9 has a more efficient representation for terrain data, markers and sections. Memory savings of more than 25% vs. version 8.10, enable you to work with bigger projects than ever before. Further memory savings are achieved through automatic image memory management that cuts out the "empty" collar area surrounding some images as well as portions of images that are hidden beneath other images. Automatic imagery memory management also dynamically varies the resolution of different regions within an image. The resolution used is a function of the available memory, project size, image resolution and which images are visible on screen. PLS-CADD adjusts resolution automatically to optimize display and plot quality.
In testing we worked on a project with over 100GB of imagery and PLS-CADD remained responsive. This testing uncovered that earlier versions could not read or write BAK files in excess of 4GB so we addressed this in version 9.
For more information on version 9 improvements please see the Recent Program Improvements web page or download the PLS-CADD version 9 manual using the Help/Check for Updated Manual command (manual will be available on January 15th).
2007 was another good year for us at PLS with 190 new clients in 53 countries adopting our software. We’ve expanded our staff in response to this unprecedented growth. Marc Jacobson has joined our team and will be serving as the Madison office manager. Marc will help with daily operations and customer service.
We'd like to thank all our new clients in addition to all of you who have been with us for years for making 2007 another great year. We look forward to continuing to work with you in the New Year.
The 2008 User Group meeting will likely be held in late summer/early fall in the Midwest. Complete information will be sent in this newsletter later in the year. Please contact Otto Lynch if you are interested in giving a presentation at the meeting.
The current shipping versions of our software are listed below. These versions support Windows 2000, XP and Vista (both 32 and 64 bit).
| PLS-CADD | 9.00 |
| PLS-POLE | 9.00 |
| TOWER | 9.00 |
| SAGSEC | 9.00 |
| SAPS | 9.00 |
| CAISSON | 9.00 |
We strongly encourage you to upgrade to the current release of all the applications you own. To do so please use the Help/Download Upgrade command built into your PLS software. This would also be a good time to use the Help/Check for Updated Manual command to make sure you have the latest version of the manuals. As always, we welcome your suggestions and comments on our software.
We wish you all the best in the new year.
Staff of Power Line Systems, Inc.