Table of contents
Auriga is a cave survey software that runs on Palm OS devices. Auriga stores survey shots as a collection of records in Palm OS databases and performs appropriate computations to convert survey shot data into Cartesian coordinates. Results can be displayed in graphical (line plot) or list form. Each cave is stored in a separate database and is automatically backed up on the PC/Mac by the HotSync Manager. A conduit allows the synchronization of Auriga databases with various cave survey software running under Windows or Mac OS.
Auriga was designed with flexibility and ease of use in mind. Several survey teams, each with various sets of instruments using various measurement units, can survey a given cave and merge their data into a single cave, both on Palm devices and PC/Mac.
Despite all my efforts to make Auriga as user-friendly and intuitive as possible, it is sometimes hard to make all the information immediately visible on such a small screen. Furthermore, if Auriga is not complicated, it remains nonetheless complex, due to the wealth of available options.
A single read of this manual should allow you to:
The basic Auriga delivery consists of 7 Palm OS files:
If you want to be able to toggle operating language on the fly, also load desired resources files:
Install these files on the Palm OS device via the Palm Desktop and the HotSync Manager. Only Auriga appears on the Palm desktop, although the other files can be seen in the Palm OS Info view on the desktop (PRCs only) or with other file managers like FileZ.
If the available memory of your device permits, also install the 3 files from the FontBucket.zip archive to enjoy a larger selection of small fonts for the cave map. You may later reclaim the memory used by unwanted fonts by deleting them with the FontBucket program.
Note: FontBucket does not work on high resolution Sony Clié devices.
If using a Palm Tungsten 3 device, also install the compatibility PRCs provided by Palm to support the Dynamic Input (Graffiti) Area (Tungsten3.zip archive.)
If you want to be able to print on IR-enabled Postscript or LaserJet printers, also load the 2 files contained in the XPprint.zip archive.
To export Auriga survey data into Compass or Visual Topo files, also install the Auriga conduit on your PC.
Online help is available in every Auriga form: in modal dialogs (signaled by a bold border), tap on the i icon in the title bar; in other forms, use the Help item from the Options menu.
The menu can be opened with the 
icon in the Graffiti area or in the Status bar (depending on device model)
or, under Palm OS 3.5 or better, by tapping on the title bar. In the case of multi-tabbed forms, tapping on the active tab opens the menu
(tapping on an inactive tab changes the active tab.)
Exiting Auriga is done by tapping the 
icon in the Graffiti area or in the Status bar (depending on device model.)
Configuration forms (Preferences, Details and Sessions) feature a Defaults menu allowing to save the current configuration as default values, and to recall them later.
Data input in forms is usually only validated upon saving the form contents. When invalid data is found, a beep is played and the insertion point is moved to the faulty field; if need be, the current tab is changed to the one containing the faulty field.
A few graphic buttons are used in various forms:
Save
New
Delete
Sketch
Map
List
Note (appears in black if a note already exists)
Form (exit)
Attributes
Starting Auriga for the first time brings up the Main form. After that, starting Auriga restores its previous state.
Preferences should be configured before going further (Options menu, Preferences item.) Minimally, set the screen width in the General tab and the paper grid size in the Map tab.
Countless other features are available and are fully described in this manual. This manual is easy to read and the text is accompanied by helpful screen shots. It contains:
To be informed about the frequent updates to Auriga, you should definitely subscribe to the Auriga e-mail list by sending an e-mail to: auriga-topo-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, or at least check back with the Auriga Web site regularly: www.speleo.qc.ca/Auriga.
Stations are survey locations (virtual or physical, that is, placed anywhere in a cave passage, or located on a cave wall or some other physical feature. Survey shots are taken from one station toward another station.
Auriga supports station names of up to 12 characters, with an optional separator. In the latter case, the station name is input as 2 parts of at most 6 characters each, with the separator in the middle. Example: 12.41
As with any cave survey software, one of the difficulties is to be able to manipulate as a whole a series of survey stations that correspond to a single cave leg or passages This requires to be able to group survey stations into Series. One way to let the cave survey software know which survey stations belong to the same series is to use survey station names that share a common identifiable root.
In addition to 12-character station names, Auriga also offers a station name format called "6.6" where both the series name and the station number in that series can each use between 1 and 6 characters.
Auriga can discriminate series in station names in the 6.6 format if either:
Note: With or without separator, with the "6.6" station name format, a 6-character limit applies to the length of both series name and station number. Station names like LAKEHERE, LAKE2.66B or LA.665544 are thus invalid.
Survey shots are links between a pair of stations. Auriga differentiates 3 types of survey shots:
Regular survey shots are physical measurements between a start station and an end station. They consist of:
Note: The Topofil is a length-measuring device originally used in agriculture and forestry and involving a disposable cotton thread rolling onto a wheel connected to a numeric odometer; the thread is cut after each measurement and can be picked up or left to rot on the ground. The Vulcain Caving Group in Lyon, France, makes a popular model especially designed for caving. Their compact sturdy box also provides azimuth data by aligning the thread with the embedded compass, and slope data, measured with a protractor glued on the side of the box and placed against the thread while the box is maintained horizontal with the help of an embedded bubble level.
Virtual survey shots are zero-length survey shots that link two stations together. Virtual survey shots can act as milestones (the start and end stations can be the same.) Virtual shots can be used to mark an entrance or hold a geographic position; they are also convenient for joining cave legs together when junctions are made. Virtual shots can also be used to record passage dimensions at the beginning (or end) of a passage when dimensions are recorded on end (or start) stations.
Series beginnings are virtual survey shots representing the beginning of a series. Series are logical groupings of contiguous stations. Their use in Auriga is optional. Stations composing a single passage, or "cave leg", would likely be part of the same series, while another cave branch would be part of another series.
Each series has a unique name; stations pertaining to the same series share this common series prefix. Ex. stations 3.1 and 3.2 are both part of series 3.
Survey shots do not have to be continuously numbered (without gaps) to be part of the same series; their start station only needs to share a common series name. Ex. survey shots 3.1-3.2, 3.2-3.6 and 3.6-4.2 constitute a possible series 3.
Although series can start at any shot number, a Series Beginning shot is necessary to hold settings that apply to a whole series (add to cave development, draw or color in map, etc.) Series beginnings are thus special virtual (zero-length) survey shots linking a cave passage to the rest of the cave.
Using series beginnings imposes 3 minor constraints:
Series beginnings are often given a station number of '0', '1', 'A' or 'a'. Although not required by Auriga, this may be convenient as it can allow automatic recognition of series beginning shots by the software. These options can be selected in the Stations tab of the Cave Details form.
Even if series beginnings are not used by the target cave survey desktop software, they improve Auriga navigation by making it easier to distinguish cave legs and browse survey shots faster. Series become transparent to cave survey desktop software that do not recognize them: the Auriga conduit simply converts them into virtual survey shots when syncing with these desktop software.
Geographic positions given to virtual survey shots or series beginnings are used to compute the geographical position of the current survey shot's stations as well as that of other stations that depend on them. An entrance is usually such a milestone, as well as any other station where a precise position can be determined (likely with a GPS or through radio-location techniques.)
If the Cartesian coordinates of the stations of a virtual survey shot or a series beginning cannot be computed (because no computed station links to this survey shot), the UTM position of this survey shot, if available, is used to compute the XY coordinates of its stations relative to the cave georeference (if a georeference is available.)
Warning: In order to minimize data storage, survey shots can only be either:
Survey shots can be saved as Incomplete. This allows "reserving" their name, while measuring some or all of the actual survey shot data at a more convenient time. These incomplete survey shots are considered neutral during computations. Survey shots computed from such incomplete survey shots are then part of an incomplete leg. These survey shots are reported in the report produced with the Shots Errors item in the Cave menu.
Survey shots are said to be Orphan when there is no "path" between their stations and other computed stations. In order to be able to compute these survey shots and display the related cave legs in the cave map (albeit at an arbitrary location), the computation algorithm arbitrarily sets their start station on the origin station (set by default at position 0,0,0). Survey shots computed from such orphan survey shots are then part of an orphan leg. Such orphan survey shots are reported in the report produced with the Shots Errors item in the Cave menu.
Splay measurements are measurements taken from either station of a survey shot towards the ceiling/floor, a wall or some physical detail (formation, rock, etc.) They help sketching by appearing in the map. The also serve to improve the section view of a passage and to show the volume of a passage (completing or replacing Left, Right, Up and Down passage dimensions) in all map views except projected profiles.
Survey sessions are actual time periods during which survey shots are taken. The time period is up to the user (a day, a caving trip, an expedition or a whole cave survey.) Each survey session has a given instruments calibration and units choice. Each shot belongs to a session. A survey session can cover several series. Not every shot in a given series needs to be associated with the same survey session. Even with same instruments, sessions can be used to differentiate survey teams or periods of different magnetic declination over time.
An Auriga caves must have at least one session. A session numbered 1 is automatically created with default settings and calibration when the first survey shot is input. Using different Auriga sessions for actual different survey sessions is convenient should instrument calibration or team precision differences later be discovered: modifying the instruments calibration for that given session could fix the interpretation of all survey shot data input during that session.
Warning: Changing session settings, such as survey units, after survey shots have been input does not convert the input data, it only changes its interpretation.
For instance: If 5.3 meters were input, the survey shot holds 5.3 and the session indicate these are meters.
If the session length unit is changed to feet, the data is now interpreted as 5.3 feet, not 17.39 feet.
To perform an actual data conversion, and thus get 17.39 in the survey shot, use the Operations form operations on survey shots.
Sessions are transparent to the cave survey desktop software used: if the target desktop software does not recognize sessions, or a subset of session settings, the Auriga conduit simply applies the instruments calibration or subset of it to every shot and passes corrected data to the desktop software. (Not fully implemented yet.)
The active session is the session to which new survey shots are to be added. It is set with the Session menu in the Session form.
The current session is the session to which belongs the current survey shot.
Auriga keeps cave survey data in Palm OS Databases ("PDB" in the Palm OS vocabulary.) Each cave has its own database, named with the name of the cave (up to 26 character) completed with the "_Cave" suffix. Each cave is complete in itself, containing its settings, survey shots and sessions. Survey shots are automatically kept sorted in caves in increasing alphanumeric order of start and end stations; this is the order one can observe using the navigation arrows in the Survey Shot and the Map forms.
Auriga offers a wealth of options, all of them useful at one time or another to adapt Auriga to your taste or work methods. Finding your way among them is easy when you understand how they are organized.
5 configuration levels affect Auriga:
Auriga offers sessions the same passage-related setting as with series. Sessions can thus be used to view a given set of survey shots as representing a cave passage and to act selectively upon these passages (map draw color, sum to/exclude from cave development or show/hide in the map.) So, why bother with series if sessions can do the same? Because, in my opinion, series were made just for that, while sessions rather correspond to a given time period when a given team of surveyors used a given set of instruments with a given calibration to survey a cave, or part of it, but not necessarily only a single passage. In other words, sessions relate to the survey process (team and instruments), while series relate to the physical arrangement of cave locations (survey stations.) Thus, hijacking the concept of sessions to make it correspond to cave passages requires to create or duplicate a session every time surveyors hit a new passage they could later wish to manipulate selectively. It is cumbersome, and also risky: if you later discover you had an instrument problem that day, you would have to find all relevant sessions to fix the instrument calibration for each of them. To sum up, sessions relate to the survey process (team and instruments) while series relate to the physical arrangement of the cave, the object of cave surveying. Hence my recommendation to use both series and sessions, each for its distinct purpose.
But the choice remains yours, Auriga clearly lets you do it your way.
Survey stations are computed into Cartesian coordinates, where:
Coordinates are relative to Magnetic North, or to Geographic (True) North if a magnetic deviation is supplied, either in sessions (see the Shots tab of the Session form) or at cave level (see the Computations tab of the Cave Details form.) If the survey extends itself beyond a one-year period, it is advisable to create at least one session per year in order to associate the survey shots with their contemporary magnetic deviation. Otherwise, a cave-global magnetic deviation may be sufficient. If the cave has no global magnetic deviation, mixing sessions with a magnetic deviation and sessions without leads to an incoherent map of Magnetic North-relative and Geographic-relative survey shots. The type of North used in the Map is indicated in the Statistics form.
In every form where data can be input, it is possible to pop up the Auriga custom keypad with the 1-2-3 or a-b-c buttons in the Graffiti area (depending on field type.)
If a field contains invalid data, upon tapping on the OK or Save button, the insertion point is moved to the invalid field, its contents, if any, is selected, and a beep sound is played.
The input Assistant is an operation mode designed to ease data input by automating repetitive tasks involved with inputting survey shots. The Assistant can automatically:
While the Assistant options can be set in the Assistant tab of the Preferences form, the Assistant mode is started/stopped in the Survey Shot form.
Under Assistant control, the behavior of the device hardware buttons is altered (see tables at the end of this manual), again to concentrate on the task of inputting survey shots. To prevent mishaps, leaving the Assistant mode must be explicitly confirmed.
When Auriga is launched, the 4 hardware buttons on the front of the device (or 2 on the Palm Zire) usually assigned to the built-in organizer applications are automatically reassigned to Auriga. This prevents accidentally exiting Auriga while letting Auriga use these buttons to ease survey shot navigation, map handling, data input, etc. After the device is turned off, either manually or automatically, hitting any hardware button wakes up Auriga, left in its previous state; the same result is obtained if the power button is depressed. Thus, the proper way to let Auriga is to hit the Home button in the Graffiti silkscreen area. Upon exiting Auriga, hardware buttons are restored to their previous assignment (Agenda, Addresses, etc.)
If Auriga is not exited properly (i.e. after a crash or device reset), hardware buttons remain assigned to Auriga. Simply re-launching and exiting Auriga restores the buttons to their previous assignment.
Conversely, when tapping the Calculator button in the Graffiti silkscreen area (a star button on some Palm devices), this button gets temporarily reassigned to Auriga so as to allow a quick return from the calculator back into Auriga by simply tapping this button again. This button gets reassigned to its previous state when returning to Auriga.
When Auriga is launched, it re-opens the cave and the form it was left in when last exited. If the Up button is held down while the Auriga icon is tapped, an alert offers to start Auriga without opening the previously open cave, or to reset of all Auriga preferences is also offered; note that this does not affect cave-specific settings.
Station coordinates are automatically computed when necessary. The following actions trigger this automatic computation process:
The computation process can also be triggered manually by selecting the Re-compute Coordinates item of the Map or List menus.
If coordinates are already computed, saving a survey shot causes its coordinates to be incrementally computed; this is faster than re-computing the whole cave. Deleting and, in some case, modifying an existing survey shot requires a full re-computation, this is done automatically if the Compute Shots on Save is selected in the Map tab of the Preferences form. If the new survey shot completes a loop, an alert reports the closure error. If saving a survey shot connects an orphan leg to the rest of the cave, an alert is displayed.
Survey loops are searched and reported when saving a new survey shot that completes a survey loop. The loop error is reported in both absolute (meters or feet) and relative (% of error over total loop length, including error) forms. When a loop is hit as the survey goes, it becomes the current loop.
Loops can be viewed in the Loops view of the List form; selecting a loop in this list makes it the current loop.
The current loop can be zoomed on and/or highlighted with color in the Map. It is also possible to navigate the survey shots that constitute it while in the Survey Shot form thanks to the popup list of the Loops view of the List form obtained by holding the stylus on a loop item.
Global loop closure is triggered with the Close Loops menu item in the List or Map forms. Loops are closed consecutively, starting from the best (least relative error) loop down to the worst one. A bad loop can be excluded from global closure by deselecting its Close checkbox in the Loops List. After closure, some loops may present a non null error (visible in the Loops List) if too many of their survey shots had already been corrected while closing previous loops.
A single loop can be closed with the popup list of the Loops view of the List form. Closing a single loop may lead to different results from those obtained when closing all loops globally.
A loop cannot be closed if:
Note: Original coordinates, with loops not closed, can be restored with the Re-compute Coordinates item of the Map or List menus.
Auriga interprets passage dimensions (left, right, up and down) as being taken perpendicular to survey shots. Passage dimensions are associated to survey stations, and each station can only have a single set of passage dimensions. When station coordinates are computed, even if several survey shots provide passage dimensions for the same station, only the first set of passage dimensions found while computing survey shots is kept for a given station in the cave graph for map display purposes (but the input data remains untouched.)
Survey shots taken while cave diving differ from other survey shots in their use of a depthmeter as the instrument for slopes. When taking cave diving data, the associated session must thus use a depthmeter. If a dive survey shot connects to a non-dive survey shot, it is assumed that the start station is at depth = 0 (meters or feet.) For clarity to humans reading the data, it is suggested (but not required) that a zero-length shot be used to mark the beginning of a dive leg at depth 0. This zero-length shot can be a normal shot with length = 0 or, even better, a virtual ("=") shot or a series beginning (when series are used.) With virtual shots or series beginning, it is also possible to input an arbitrary depth (other than 0) with a position of type Depth (diving).
Notes regarding cave diving survey data:
Designed as a field tool, Auriga is often more flexible than cave survey PC and Mac software; it is thus possible that certain data, input and used within Auriga, such as GPS positions, is ignored by the target software (selected in the Cave tab of the Cave Details form.)
Some precautions may also be required from the user to make sure the input data is usable by the target software. Unless otherwise mentionned, Auriga does not enforce these constraints.
The Main form is Auriga's default entry point.
The view drop-down list in the title bar allows switching between a view of caves or networks present on the device.
The list displays the name of caves/networks present on the device. Read-only caves or networks (see the Cave Details form) appear with a padlock icon next to their name. Tapping a list entry selects it. Tapping again on the selection leads to the Cave Details or Network Details form.
Note: Auriga memorizes its previous state and automatically skips the Main form to go directly to the active form and current shot when Auriga was last exited. Holding the Up hardware key while starting Auriga opens the Main form (forgetting the previously open cave/network and active form.)
Icons at the bottom of the form allow to:
Note: Holding down the Map or List buttons pops up a list of available views prior to opening the corresponding form.
The EN selector allows to toggle the language under which Auriga operates (Auriga is available in French, English and Spanish.) This option requires to load on the device the proper supplementary Auriga??_rsrc.prc resource files (where ?? is the language abbreviation.) Toggling the language restarts Auriga. This setting is retained for subsequent Auriga start-ups. Note: The version of the resource file must match that of Auriga to be usable; otherwise Auriga falls back to the native language of its PRC file.
Up/Down scroll buttons scroll the cave list by one page.
Entering text in the Lookup field moves the list selection the first cave/network with its name starting with this text (characters other than alphanumeric are skipped.) The field can be scrolled horizontally using the hardware buttons located on either side of the Up/Down scroll buttons.
Menus: Cave or Network, Edit and Options.
Preferences set in this form are global to Auriga and used throughout all caves.
This form has 4 tabs, selected with pushbuttons in the title bar.
Select the Sound level for Auriga warnings and errors (used when no other visual clue is given to the user.) This sound level overrides the system sound level set in the built-in Prefs application.
Select the desired type of data save behavior:
Select the calculator that gets launched when tapping the Calculator button (or Star on some Palm Zire devices) in the Graffiti area while Auriga is active. Tapping this button again while using the calculator returns to Auriga.
Select the Enable Global Find checkbox so that Auriga searches the cave notes, survey shot names and notes, session names and notes and network notes in all its caves and networks when the Palm OS Global Find is launched outside of Auriga. If the Palm OS Global Find is launched within Auriga while a cave is open, the search only takes place in the current cave or network.
Note: Global Find is always enabled when launched while Auriga is running.
If measuring lengths with a Topofil, select the Continuous Topofil checkbox to have Auriga automatically initialize the start Topofil reading of a survey shot with the end Topofil reading of the previous shot. This reading can be overridden for each individual survey shot
Select the desired display related to the input length in the Survey Shot form between None, Net Topofil Length or Projected Length checkbox to display the net shot length projected over horizontal ground (useful for sketching.)
Select the Auto Decimal Lengths checkbox to let Auriga complete length data (including passage dimensions) when the decimal sign is skipped during input (whether in Graffiti or through the Auriga custom keypad.) The data is then interpreted in hundredths of length unit:
7 becomes 0.07
70 becomes 0.70
700 becomes 7.00
Select the Skipped LRUD = 0.00 checkbox to let Auriga complete missing passage dimensions (Left, Right, Up, Down) upon saving the survey shot when the opposite dimension has been input (e.g. insert 0.00 in Left dimension if a Right dimension is provided, or vice versa, and conversely for Up/Down dimensions.) This can be convenient when survey stations tend to be located on cave walls.
Select the Accept Dubious Data checkbox to disable the alert that pops up when inputting survey data that seem to exceed the instruments resolution. Otherwise, for classic instruments, an alert pops up when:
No alert is ever issued when electronic instruments are selected in the current session
The Assistant provides an automated input mode while surveying a cave (see the Assistant section and the Survey Shot form.)
The Assistant tab is used to configure the behavior of the input Assistant. The Assistant itself is started by selecting the Assistant pushbutton in the Survey Shot form.
Select the Auto Popup Auriga Keypad checkbox to automatically display the Auriga custom keypad when inputting a new survey shot.
Select the Use Passage Size Fields checkbox to make the Auriga Keypad navigate into the passage size fields of the Survey Shot form. when writing an up/down Graffiti symbol, scrolling with the Up/Down scroll buttons or using Arrow buttons. Note: If the current session makes passage sizes mandatory (see the Shots tab of the Session form), passage size fields are always navigated into.
Select the automatic Assistant behavior After Saving a Survey Shot:
Note: A new survey shot is automatically created only if the saved survey shot was itself new. Saving a modified existing survey shot does not automatically create a new survey shot.
Select the appearance of the numeric layout of the top row of the Auriga custom keypad with the 123 or 789 pushbuttons.
Select the Notes Keyboard to use when editing notes. If the Palm OS keyboard is selected, it opens within the Auriga custom keypad. If None is selected, when field navigation reaches a note field, the Auriga custom keypad closes automatically.
Select the Toggle keyboards, i.e. the Auriga Keypad layouts that stay on for a single character (with a subsequent automatic return to the alphabetic layout.) See the Auriga custom keypad.
Select the Full Screen Cave Map checkbox to use the full screen height to draw the cave map. Controls at the bottom of the Map form can then be show/hidden by tapping in the Graffiti area as they overlap the cave map.
Survey shot coordinates are incrementally computed every time a survey shot is saved, if other survey shots are already computed. This is faster than re-computing the whole cave, but only works with new survey shots. Modifying or deleting an existing survey shot may require a total computation. Selecting the Compute Shot on Save checkbox allows Auriga to perform coordinates computations even if this requires a full re-computation of the cave.
Indicate the Averaging Limit of foresight-backsight Azimuth and Slope, if any, when performing computations; if the limit is not activated, averaging is performed regardless of the measurement span. The azimuth tolerance can be made to increase with the sine of the slope (maximum at extreme inclinations.) Survey shots that exceed one or both of these limits are marked as Wrong Azimuth, Wrong Slope or Wrong Backsights.
Input the angular tolerance around the perpendicular of the survey shot when selecting splay measurements to display a cross-section view. Splay measurements to the ceiling/floor or walls that fit within (±) this "slice" are automatically picked for the Section view.
Indicate the Paper Grid Size in the notebook where sketching is to take place (i.e. the actual physical size of printed squares; ex. 1 mm) as well as the number of Decimals used to display coordinates in the Sketch to Scale form.
Indicate the Screen Width in mm. This value corresponds to the net form width, including the its border, but excluding the inactive part of the screen; it varies between device models. By defautl, this value is initialized to 56 mm, except for some well-known models (listed in the Limits section.
Select the Info Mode Reports Vertical Drop so that the Info stylus mode in Map shows the vertical drop between the highest station of the cave or network and the current station in the Z coordinate or the altitude of geographic positions. Otherwise, the Info mode displays the true Z coordinate or the altitude if it is known.
When using Lambert coordinates in France, select the Extend NTF Lambert Zone 2 checkbox to force its use, or let Auriga chose the local zone (I, II, III or IV) according to current latitude and longitude. This zone is used throughout forms that display positions in the NTF datum.
The Link tab allows configuring the link with an electronic measuring device.
Select the Device connected to Auriga. If no device is selected, the rest of the form is blank. Auriga currently support any NMEA-capable GPS (i.e. most GPSes) as well as a Disto laser distancemeter, the Revolution and the Shetland Attack Pony (SAP) electronic compass/clinometer devices and three 3-in-1 survey devices: the Toposcan prototype, the TruPulse 360 and the DistoX. Depending on the selected device, some form options may be locked or hidden if irrelevant.
If the Link type is RS-232 (serial), select the Baud rate to match that of the connected device or let Auriga select the device-specific default speed.
In order to connect a serial device via the HotSync cable, a null-modem adapter is usually required between this cable and the one supplied with the device (2-3, 3-2, 5-5 on a 9-pin connector.)
Note: All Palm OS USB device connectors feature both USB and serial pins, except those with a mini-USB connector (Palm Zires and Tungsten E.) It is thus possible to buy or assemble a serial cable for most USB devices.
If a Bluetooth connection is used, selecting the Persistent checkbox leaves the data link open even after all expected data has arrived. This speeds up data reception at the price of a higher power consumption.
After a first connection is established with a Bluetooth device, a Bluetooth 
button allows to know its device id and to clear it to provoque a new device discovery
(necessary when using another device of the same type.)
Note: Each individual Bluetooth device has its own unique Bluetooth address. (ex. two DistoX device have different addresses.) Auriga stores the last connected device address to speed up subsequent connections with this same device. Prior to attempting to connect to a different device of the same type, the stored address must be cleared in order to trigger a "Device Discovery".
Select the Data Use Mode in Survey Shot or Measures forms:
is replaced by a Connect pushbutton 
used to connect/disconnect the device
is used to connect/disconnect the device (in Input mode only, for devices other than a GPS)
Tapping the Select button of the Palm 5-way Navigator also connects/disconnects the device.
The device is also disconnected when:
Note: The device beeps every time new data is received.
Note: A low tone beep is heard when disconnection is accidental.
En Input mode, with a device other than a GPS and a PDA with Palm OS 3.5 or better, select the Popup Measures in pushbuttons so as to automatically open the Measures form in the Survey Shot and/or Map forms after connecting the device.
Select the Format used to display or store the received location.
Note: When acquiring GPS data into a survey shot for which the type or datum has already been selected, these selections override the default format (selected above) and the cave datum (see the Cave tab of the Cave Details form.)
Note: When tracking GPS position in the Map, if the display cave position type set in the Cave tab of the Cave Details form or the Network tab of the Network Details form is a geographic format, it is used over the format selected here.
Make sure the data communication protocol is set to NMEA on the GPS side (many GPS units default to proprietary protocols.) The NMEA protocol standardizes the baud rate at 4800.
Note: The NMEA protocol requires that positions be sent using the WGS84 datum. However, certain GPS units use instead the user-selected display datum of the GPS, often without sending a datum indication over the data link. Auriga assumes the data is received in WGS84, and converts it to the current survey shot or cave datum (selected in the Cave tab of the Cave Details form or the Network tab of the Network Details form.) It is thus a good idea to test your GPS by putting Auriga in display mode: if the displayed position in Auriga does not correspond to the displayed position on the GPS, it means the GPS is sending positions using the GPS datum and Auriga is performing a redundant conversion. In this case, set the GPS to the current cave or network datum and deselect the Strict NMEA (WGS84) GPS checkbox to let Auriga accept the GPS data as is, without converting it.
Although a GPS sends data every second, the Cyclical mode limits the reception interval between 5 and 900 seconds (15 minutes.)
If Auriga is running on a Garmin iQue Palm OS PDA (featuring an internal GPS), select the Internal Link type.
The current time on a device running Palm OS 4.0 or better can be synchronized with the GPS time by selecting the Sync Device with GPS Time. This operation is performed only once after the connection is established. This option is not offered with the Garmin iQue, where the device already performs this operation automatically.
When using GPS data to fill survey shots, select the Use GPS Altitude checkbox to fill the altitude field with the altitude data reported by the GPS (if available.) The altitude unit is set by the current session; the GPS always transmits in meters, possibly causing an automatic conversion in Auriga.
In Input mode, the Survey Shot form displays the current position and, if available from the GPS, the current altitude, the number of satellites tracked, the HDOP (Horizontal Dilution Of Precision), the horizontal precision in meters and the local magnetic declination. The HDOP is a unitless number indicating the quality of the GPS fix; the smaller (1 or sometimes less) the better. In the Map, the current position is tracked with a crosshair (+) and can also be displayed at the bottom of the screen.
In Input mode, selecting the Wait for 4 Satellites waits until four satellites are used by the GPS to compute the current position before copying it into the position fields of the Survey Shot. Until then, the position is simply displayed.
Note: The device beeps every time new data is received, even it he GPS has not yet determined its position and only transmits its status.
The TNT Revolution module needs to be prompted for data. A 2-step process can be selected; this allows to pause between the link connection and the actual data measurement. The pause is interrupted when tapping again on the Connect pushbutton. It is also possible to select a Delay between the connection and the actual data measurement. In this case, the device beeps one second before the measurement takes place.
The azimuth and slope units in the current session may be selected among degrees, grads or %; the module must be set to report degrees (default selection), possibly causing an automatic conversion in Auriga.
When measuring the survey shot and passage dimensions with a length-measuring device, it is advisable to select the Automatic Sequence checkbox to let Auriga automatically move from field to field every time new data is received in the Survey Shot form. Otherwise, it is necessary to manually move the insertion point from field to field (with the PageDown button or the stylus.) If a measurement is repeated for a non-empty field, if the Accept Retries checkbox is selected, the previous data is silently overwritten, otherwise an alert pops up. Note that even in automatic sequence mode, it remains possible to move the insertion point backwards to repeat a measurement, or forward to skip a measurement (e.g. when the survey station is against a wall, this zero-length measurement can be skipped) - it is then advisable to have the Skipped LRUD = 0.00 (General tab) checkbox selected so as to let Auriga automatically fill the skipped field with 0.00.
Tip: To retain full control over acquired data, use the Measures form.
When the 2nd button is hit on the Disto A6, 8 buttons can transmit an arrow character to navigate from one field to another:
Select the Automatic Sequence and Auto Detect LRUD checkboxes to automatically distinguish between survey shot and passage dimension fields based on angular (azimuth and slope) changes. This option can only be available with 3-in-1 devices, that simultaneously report both distance and angles.
For this to work:
Tips
Note: If the current field is manually selected and Auriga estimates the received measurement does not correspond to the current field, an alert is displayed to confirm the insertion of the measurement into the user-selected field.
If Auriga determines that a measurement is being repeated, and the Accept Retries checkbox is not selected, an alert asks whether to replace the data in the Survey Shot form by the new measurement. In the Measures form, the newly-received data is appended at the end of the list.
Note: On the TruPulse, length values input by Auriga correspond to the SD (Slope Distance) display. The mode must be set to display either SD, HD or VD; otherwise, the laser does not fire, and the length is not measured.
While the DistoX can only be connected under Bluetooth, Auriga allows selecting RS-232 as a possible link in case a serial-Bluetooth adapter is installed on the Palm OS device.
When first connecting the DistoX, the Bluetooth Security Manager may prompt for a passkey; enter 0000 (4 zeroes) and select the Trusted Device checkbox.
The DistoX stores every measurement in its non-volatile memory and sends it over Bluetooth as soon as it gets connected. Thus, if random measurements (e.g. measuring a dome height) are taken between survey stations (i.e. while the DistoX is disconnected), these will get stored and later sent as soon as Auriga connects with the DistoX, possibly requiring to clear these measurements from the Survey Shot form before actually measuring the current survey shot. It is faster to remove these unwanted measurements from the DistoX by holding down the stylus on the Connect pushbutton in the Survey Shot form (or the Select button of the Palm 5-way Navigator) when connecting the DistoX. This operation can be automatically applied every time the DistoX is connected by selecting the Pre-empty checkbox; the device then beeps for each removed measurement.
Tips:
Menus: Preferences and Edit.
This form allows selecting the precision of various survey instruments. This information is used to determined the expected error in loops (displayed in the List form.)
Select the precision for each instrument type. Precision of "Device" types is used for electronic devices such as the DistoX, TruPulse or SAP.
The station position precision corresponds to the distance between the real station position and the point at which measurement are actually taken. With optical instruments, this distance can reach the size of the head with its helmet.
Select the Use non-0 Precision in Sessions checkbox to override general instruments precision with those selected in sessions when not 0.
Menu: Edit
This form is only available on devices with Palm OS 3.5 or better.
Select the Default Trace, Current Shot, Walls (passage dimensions, splay measurements to walls or ceiling/floor and the wall line between them), Splay Measurements (those that do not a wall or ceiling/floor) and Grid colors.
Select the Black Background checkbox to display the map against a black background.
Note: Map elements (survey shots, dimensions, walls, sketches, etc.) that bear the same color as the map background are drawn in the opposite color, either black or white. This prevents a cave displayed on one device to suddenly disappear when displayed on another device using a different map background color.
Select the High Resolution Map checkbox to draw Map in high-resolution on capable devices. Disabling high-resolution can help screen readability in bright light. This changes only takes effect after Auriga is restarted.
Select the Four Grayscales checkbox to limit 16-grayscales capable devices to 4 grayscales This prevents a contrast change when leaving Auriga on Palm IIIxe and similar devices. This changes only takes effect after Auriga is restarted.
Select the Self-Adjust Sketch checkbox so that curves drawn in this mode self-adjust with length, azimuth and/or slope changes of their associated survey shot (as long as they are not zero-length.)
Select the Auto Select checkbox to automatically select a new curve after it is drawn.
Select the level of Conformance between the stylus trace and the resulting curve when sketching. At maximum level, the trace is taken as is, with all its imperfections, and requires more memory.
Select the High Resolution Sketch checkbox to sketch in high-resolution on capable devices. On Sony devices, sketching and Map display share the same high resolution setting. This changes only takes effect after Auriga is restarted.
Menu: None.
This form displays information on remaining battery power and offers various power management options.
Tapping the Off button turns the device off.
The Auto-off setting allows selecting a smaller delay than the built-in auto-off timer (30 seconds-3 minutes in the Palm OS Prefs), possibly extending battery life. Selecting Never, while convenient at times, may drain the battery in a few hours.
The Backlight pushbutton is only available on devices with a toggable backlight. Tapping the pushbutton toggles the backlight. The corresponding On Startup and On Assistant checkboxes can be used to select at what times the backlight should be automatically turned on.
The Auto Dim Backlight section allows selecting times the screen brightness/backlight should be dimmed or turned off, such as:
On devices with an adjustable brightness control, this feature requires the BrightnessFix add-on (see the Download page in the Auriga website.) The Level button allows selecting the auto-dimming level.
Menu: None.
This form displays information on a cave, either existing or being created.
This form has 4 tabs, selected with the pushbuttons in the title bar.
The Name of the cave can be any string of 26 characters or less and may include spaces but not ":" or "/". This corresponds to the name of the Auriga cave PDB on the Palm OS device (with a 5-character suffix to distinguish it between PDB types.) Editing the name of an existing cave actually renames it (an alert is issued before proceeding.)
The Category selector allows selecting the cave category. Categories are edited in the usual Palm OS way by selecting the Edit categories... list item.
If you do not intend to modify the cave data and wish to prevent accidental modifications, select the Read-only checkbox (implicitly prevents adding survey shots.) A new cave cannot be set as read-only.
Note: In read-only mode, survey data (survey shots or sessions) or details that could affect computations cannot be modified. Nonetheless, details that determine the cave map presentation can still be modified.
Select the Public checkbox to store the synchronized cave in the public Palm Desktop directory on the desktop computer (as opposed to the user directory.)
Select the Disable External Search checkbox to exclude this cave from Searches launched from outside of this cave.
Select measurement units to be used for computing coordinates:
Note: Measurements units selected in this form are used throughout Auriga to report coordinates, lengths and angles between stations and statistics.
Select the Target desktop software this cave is going to be synchronized with and indicate the version number. This information is used to suggest usage in survey management or to enforce rules dictated by the target desktop software constraints. If no desktop software syncing is to take place (other than a backup with the HotSync Manager), select Other to ensure proper internal handling of deleted records.
Select the format to be used to display Positions in the cave map (XYZ (relative to the origin station), d°m's", d°m.m', degrees or UTM.)
If latitude/longitude or UTM geographical positions are to be input, select the proper topographical Datum to use for conversions; see Supported Geodesic Datum. Tap the Datum button to open the Datum form to view the geodesic parameters that define the selected datum or to input parameters that define a User datum.
Tap the Note button to edit the cave note. 255 characters are permitted.
Select the appropriate name format pushbutton: 6.6 or 12 characters. In 6.6 format, the separator (usually a dot) does not count as a character. In 12-character free format, all characters are counted.
Select the character set allowed for the left and right subparts of station names and the separator used between station name subparts (if 6.6 format is selected.)
Use the @ checkbox to select whether punctuation characters are allowed for the right subpart of station names.
Supported characters are:
.,;:-+/=!@$%?&*()<>[]{}|~'\
Use the é checkboxes to select whether accented letters are allowed for the left and right subparts of station names.
Note: Series support is possible in the 12-character by actually choosing the 6.6 format with a null separator. If overlapping character sets are selected for the root (series) and survey shot number subparts, Auriga discriminates series prefixes upon the first leftmost change of character type (digit->letter or vice-versa.) Ex. in "HM12B", "HM" is interpreted as the series, and "12B" as the survey shot number in series "HM". Each resulting subpart remains limited to 6 characters in length.
Select the Enforced Series Beginnings checkbox to indicate that series beginnings can only use the allowed start station number among "0", "1", "A" or "a". Otherwise, series beginnings can be any first survey shot of the series. This checkbox only appears if 6.6 format is selected.
Select Use Alpha Keypad checkbox so that the Auriga Keypad opens its alphabetic layout when field navigation reaches a station name.
Note: Alphabetic characters can also be input with Graffiti strokes.
Select the Shot Navigation Mode with navigation arrows in the Survey Shot and Map forms. Choices are:
Note: If series are not allowed, that is, the naming scheme is not 6.6, the only available behavior is to Move by n shots
Select the Auto-incrementation mode for station names when creating new survey shots. Options are:
Note : Auto-incrementation can be performed equally on digits or letters, but if the rightmost character is a digit, only digits get incremented, or vice-versa with letters (where case is sensitive.) Eventually, characters may be added by the auto-incrementation process. If series are enabled, only the station number within the series is incremented.
Examples:
ANA99y increments to ABA99z, which increments to ANA99aa
ANA999 increments to ANA1000, but ANABDD999999 fails (12-character limit)
ANA.999 increments to ANA.1000, but ANA.999999 fails (series limit reached)
Select the Sessions override Series checkbox so that the Hide in Map, Flip in Extended Profile and Exclude from Statistics session attributes override those of series.
Input the cave map Scale used to compute coordinates reported in the Sketch to Scale form; for example:
1 cm = 1 m corresponds to a scale of 1:100
1 inch = 20 feet corresponds to a scale of 1:240 (there are 12 inches in a foot)
Note: This scale does not affect coordinates reported in the Map form.
Select the Save XYZC Computations checkbox to retain computed coordinates when closing the cave, thus making map display faster when re-opening the cave (at the price of accrued storage requirements.)
Input the Magnetic Deviation that is going to be applied to survey shots that belong to session that does not hold a magnetic deviation. A westward magnetic deviation must be set as negative; an eastward deviation as positive.
Select the Geo-Reference station of the cave, that is the station whose geographic location is to be used to compute other locations. If this field is left blank, or if the selected station does not have a geographic location, the coordinates computation algorithm uses the start station of the first series beginning with a geographic location as the geographic reference station.
Select the Origin station of the cave as well as its XYZ coordinates (0,0,0 by default), expressed in map units. If this field is left blank, the coordinates computation algorithm uses the first station of the cave as the origin station, and assumes a 0,0,0 initial position.
Select the cave-specific map Grid value. See the Map tab of the Preferences form for general grid preferences (that apply to all caves.)
Select the Automatic Grid Resize checkbox so that the map grid gets resized when it cannot be displayed within the user-defined minimum and maximum number of lines. The grid value is then multiplied or divided by 2 and rounded to the lowest integer. Otherwise, the grid is hidden.
Select the Automatic Subgrid checkbox or indicate the value and length unit of the map subgrid for this cave. The Divisions unit allows a relative subgrid, dividing the grid by a fixed number of divisions. In automatic mode, the value and unit are locked and indicate the automatic configuration.
Note: an automatic subgrid shows points spaced by the field length
represented by the squares on the sketching paper
(indicated in the Map tab of the Preferences) form,
to scale with the map scale
(indicated in the Map tab of the Cave Details form.
Thus, with a 1:200 scale and 1 mm paper squares,
the interval between subgrid points represents a distance of 20 cm in the field.
Select the Wall Color same as Shot checkbox so walls and dimensions are drawn in the map using the color of their corresponding survey shot. Otherwise, they are drawn using the default color selected in the Map tab of the Preferences form.
Select the default direction to Develop survey shots in the extended profile view with the Left or Right pushbuttons.
Select the Vertical factor used in profile maps and coordinate computations to exaggerate the verticality of the cave for display purposes. A factor less than 1 (ex. 0.5) actually flattens out a vertical cave. This factor is applied to coordinates reported in the List form for drawing, but coordinates reported in the Map form are not affected.
This form is used to input and display survey shot data. It can be used in a manual mode or automated input with the help of an Assistant. The Assistant makes input easier and faster by automatically and optionally:
The Assistant can be toggled on/off with the Assistant pushbutton in the form title bar (upper right corner.)
3 types of survey shots can be input with this form, which self-adapts by hiding or showing different user interface controls (checkboxes, pushbuttons or drop-down lists) depending on that type:
Form features common to all survey shot types
The Station IDs are displayed as "series.number". The topmost station ID is the start station while the bottommost station ID is the end station. The direction that determines the start and end of survey shots is the direction of the surveying process, regardless of whether survey shots use direct or reverse azimuths.
Depending on settings configured in the Station tab of the Cave Details form, any first survey shot of a series or only those survey shots with a start station numbered "0", "1", "a" or "A" (ex. 6.0) may be automatically set as series beginnings.
Passage sizes (above, below, left and right of the survey station) can be associated with either the Start or the End station of the survey shot using the corresponding pushbutton in front of them.
Note : Auriga supports the input of letter 'X' to signal an unknown or undetermined passage dimension, for example when crossing another passage. This is similar to inputting a 'P' (Passage) in Compass.
Select the Gray halftone or Color this survey shot or survey shots in this series (depending on case) will take in the map (offered only if the device permits.)
Tapping the Attributes icon displays the Attributes form that allows to configure the attributes of the survey shot or the series. The icon is highlighted when at least one attribute is set.
Tapping the Alarm clock icon displays the date the survey shot was saved. This date should only be modified with caution.
The type of survey shot is determined by the following pushbuttons; 
these determine which form controls must be hidden or shown:
creates a regular survey shot
pushbutton creates a virtual shot (station equal to another one)
Note: If series are disabled (i.e. the station names format selected in the Stations tab of the Cave Details form is 12-character), the Series pushbutton does not appear in the form.
Arrow pushbuttons 
allow to navigate between survey shots
within the cave. From left to right, they load:
Note: When navigating the survey shots of a loop (see the Loops view
of the List form), the first and last survey shot pushbuttons
are hidden, and a Loop pushbutton 
is displayed.
Tapping this pushbutton turns off the loop navigation mode,
thus reverting to regular (sequential) survey shot navigation.
The Session Number selector leads to the Session form, which allows selecting and configuring the current session.
The 4 hardware application buttons mimic navigation arrows (previous series/cave leg, previous shot, next shot and next series/cave leg.) On the Palm Zire, which has only 2 such hardware application buttons, these only mimic the previous shot and next shot arrows.
While in Assistant mode:
The Up/Down scroll buttons scroll the insertion point between fields in the form and scroll the note field when the insertion point is in the note field. The field navigation order is set in the Input Order form for the current session.
Icons 
at the bottom of the form allow (from left to right) to:
If the input data is erroneous, the field in error is highlighted and the save operation is hampered. It is however possible to save an incomplete survey shot by inputting at least the start and end station and leaving one or more field empty. The survey shot is then marked as incomplete and ignored during coordinates computation. This survey shot can be modified later with the complete survey data. This can prove useful when a survey shot is planned but currently impossible to take (required climb, water too high, etc.)
By default, stations of the new survey shot are generated by applying to the last displayed survey shot the auto-incrementation mode selected in the Stations tab of the Cave Details form. However, holding the stylus on the New button displays a list of auto-incrementation options:
The selected auto-incrementation option remains in effect until it is changed or the form is closed (then returns to default user-selected mode.)
Note: The survey shot auto-incrementation can be changed until it is saved.
Note: Holding down the Map or List buttons pops up a list of available views prior to opening the corresponding form.
Note: If the Assistant is active, any operation that would close the current cave or load another survey shot is disabled.
Note: When handling a network, the Assistant pushbutton is replaced by an arrow that pops up a list of caves in the network for quick navigation.
Enter the survey shot Length, Azimuth and Slope. Select the Direct checkboxes if direct azimuth and/or slope are taken (from start station toward end station, as opposed to reverse.)
Note: While inputting a survey shot, Auriga may allow to temporarily accept invalid data, but when saving the survey shot, all data must be valid.
Note: When taking Topofil data, holding down the stylus on the Length icon displays the net survey shot length, taking into account Topofil calibration.
If the option is selected in the General tab of the Preferences form, the projected length is displayed in bold on the right of the length field. This field is updated when the length or slope changes.
Note: An alert is popped up if the azimuth or slope angles are not multiples of 0.25° (except for a theodolite or electronic devices.)
Depending on session settings, Backsight Azimuth and Slope are ignored, displayed in bold for purpose of self-validation and/or stored. If option Show and Input was selected in the Shots tab of the Session form, the backsight azimuth and slope displayed for self-validation purposes can be overwritten with actual survey data. The backsight measurement is stored for averaging if it was edited, otherwise it is ignored.
Note: If the option of a backsight field is Show and Input, holding the stylus in this field confirms the proposed backsight azimuth or slope, and the font is changed accordingly; otherwise, if no data is input, the field is left empty in the saved survey shot.
When, due to physical constraints, the slope cannot be measured as an angle but as a height above the horizontal baseline that joins start and end stations, you may enter this height (in dimension units, i.e. the measurement unit set for passage dimensions in the Instruments tab (set #2) of the Session form) into the slope field and then hit the Calculator silkscreen button to call the Slope Calculator to compute the resulting angular slope. Hitting the OK button or the Calculator silkscreen button again pastes the computed slope into the slope input field.
If a geographic position is available for this virtual shot, it can be given to that station. First select
a position type with the position popup list. UTM positions require an easting, a northing,
a gore (1-60) and a zone (A-Z),
while MTM do not have a zone, and Lambert positions do not have a gore.
DMS (degrees, minutes, seconds: ddd°mm'ss.ss")
or DM (degrees minutes: ddd°mm.mmm') positions require a latitude and a longitude. These
must be entered with a blank or appropriate symbol as separator between degrees, minutes and seconds values. Every position type other than XYZ may
be accompanied by an Altitude reading (
).
Select the shot-specific Datum or use the cave-wide datum; see Supported Geodesic Datum
Series beginnings act as milestones and are thus not related to a real survey shot. Rather, these are kept in the Auriga cave to store settings that apply to all shots belonging to that series.
If a geographic position is already input, it is displayed; in this case, the series beginning attributes can be seen by tapping the Attributes icon.
Select whether shots pertaining to this series will be displayed, or not, in the cave map with the [H]ide Series in Map checkbox.
Indicate with the [F]lip Extended Profile checkbox whether survey shots in this series must be extended in a direction opposite to the cave default in the extended profile view.
Select the e[X]xclude Series from Statistics checkbox to exclude the length of survey shots in this series from the total cave development (convenient to exclude surface survey data from cave development.)
Abbreviations in [] are those used in the list of attributes in the Survey Shots view of the List form.
If a geographic position is available for the series beginning, it can be given to that station; see Virtual survey shots.
Menus: Cave, Edit and Options.
This form allows selecting the attributes of an individual survey shot (regular or virtual), or to all survey shots belonging to a series (series beginnings) or to a session. Checkboxes are:
If the Dead Survey Shot [D] pushbutton is selected, this survey shot is ignored by computations and map display (similar to 'X' shots in Compass.)
Abbreviations in [] are those used in the list of attributes in the Survey Shots view of the List form.
Parallel or duplicate survey shots that would otherwise exaggerate total cave length can be ignored when computing this length. This can be done at the survey shot level by selecting the Exclude from Statistics attribute.
Note: If the Exclude from Statistics checkbox is selected in the series or session parameters, the Exclude from Statistics attribute is ignored for all shots within this series/session.
Menu: None.
This form is used to find survey shots by Stations, by Note or by Attribute,
Sessions by Name or Note or
Loops by Stations;
it can be reached by tapping the 
icon in the Graffiti area or
the Status bar (depending on device model) from the
Survey Shot, Map, List or Session forms.
Edit the station name and tap the OK button to find related survey shots or loops.
Tapping on the 
button pastes the other station (start or end) of the
current survey shot into the search field.
Found stations are those whose name correspond exactly to the name to search for,
unless wildcards are used.
Selecting the Current Shot checkbox (available when launched from the Survey Shot form) searches the current shot in all other caves that allow an external search (see the Cave tab of the Cave Details form.) Found caves get selected in the Caves view of the Selection form. This is convenient when working with subcaves to fix loops.
Enter the text to be searched in sessions names. Found sessions are those whose name contains the text to search for.
Enter the text to be searched in survey shot or sessions notes. Found survey shots or sessions are those whose note contains the text to search for.
Enter the session number to be searched.
The Wildcards checkbox allows performing a search using wildcards:
Even when wildcards are used, it is possible to search for these characters:
The Ignore Case checkbox allows performing a search while ignoring lowercase/uppercase or accented letters.
Select the attribute to search for in survey shots among Entrances, Permanent, Leads, With Position, With Note, With Splay Measures, Virtuals or Series Beginnings.
Tapping on one of the found shots or sessions in the results list of related survey shots or sessions loads that survey shot or session.
Note: When the Search form is launched from the Session form, the Shots option is not offered.
Note: When the Search form is launched from the Survey Shot, Map and List (with a list other than that of sessions) forms, the search ignores sessions without survey shots.
Menu: Edit
When, due to physical constraints, the slope cannot be measured as an angle but as the height of the triangle which hypotenuse joins start and end stations, you may enter this height (in dimension units, i.e. the measurement unit set for passage dimensions in the Instruments tab (set #2) of the Session form) into the slope field of the Survey shot form or the Auriga custom keypad and then hit the Calculator silkscreen button to call this Slope Calculator to compute the resulting angular slope. The Up and Down pushbuttons can be used to indicate whether the slope heads upwards or downwards. Hitting the OK button or the Calculator silkscreen button again pastes the computed slope into the slope input field of the calling form. The same works for the secondary slope.
The Sketch to Scale form displays the coordinates necessary to report, on paper, the current survey shot and its passage dimensions. The selector at the bottom of the form allow to toggle between Relative and Absolute coordinates.
In relative mode, the form displays:
Note: An arrow appears next to the reference station for passage dimensions.
In absolute mode, the form displays:
Note: Left/right passage sizes may be swapped in order to always correspond to a direct survey shot.
Note: In absolute mode, if the Ignore Origin option is selected with the selector, the origin X, Y, Z and C coordinates are substracted from the station coordinates, thus displaying origin-relative absolute coordinates.
Note: All numeric data shown takes into account the map scale indicated in the Computations tab of the Cave Details form, as well as the size of the notebook grid indicated in the Map tab of the Preferences form. An overly large map scale or paper grid may lead to very large offsets, overflowing the available display width.
The Shot button allows to quickly show raw data of the current survey shot without having to return to the Survey Shot form.
Usage
Sketching to scale in the notebook first requires to position the start and end stations on paper before sketching walls and other features. Prior to Auriga, this was done with a ruler and a protractor:
With the Sketch to Scale form in Auriga, the X and Y offsets represent the number of paper grid squares to count horizontally and vertically, respectively, from the start station to position the end station. Positive offsets grow up and right, negative offsets grow down and left. For sketching a profile, use the Z offset for the vertical axis. For sketching a West-East profile, use the X offset for the horizontal axis. For sketching a South-North profile, use the Y offset for the horizontal axis. For sketching an extended profile, use the C offset for the horizontal axis.
Relative coordinates correspond to the type of work performed with a ruler and protractor. Absolute positionning is best suited when using very large gridded paper or to avoid cumulative sketching mistakes when one station gets misplaced. Note that the Sketch to Scale form opens in the last used mode (Relative or Absolute.)
This form is used to view and select data (usually) acquired through a connected device. Its use requires Palm OS 3.5 or better.
The form opens in regular (survey shot) or splay measurement mode, and displays the current data available for this mode. If permitted, the Splay pushbutton toggles between regular and splay measurement modes.
Note: When called form the Survey Shot form, this form can only be opened if the survey shot already has its start and end station fields filled.
Data is presented in a tabular fashion, with 4 columns:
In regular mode:
Ignored: used to reject the whole line of data; the corresponding line will not be saved
Undetermined: used by the LRUD detection algorithm to indicate it could not determine the type of data it received;
the corresponding line will not be saved
Foresight: survey shot taken from the start station
Backsight: survey shot taken from the end station
Left,
Right,
Up and
Down passage dimensions
In splay measurement mode:
Fore splay measurement: splay measurement to a wall taken from the start station
Fore splay measurement: splay measurement to the ceiling/floor taken from the start station
Fore splay measurement: splay measurement taken from the start station
Back splay measurement: splay measurement to a wall taken from the end station
Back splay measurement: splay measurement to the ceiling/floor taken from the end station
Back splay measurement: splay measurement taken from the end station
Note: Due to space constraints, lenghts and angles must be input in decimal form only: feet-inches, d°m's" or d°m.m' are not supported.
Individual data can be deselected by holding the stylus on them; entire lines can be deselected selecting the Ignored or Undetermined type. Deselected data appears in a small font. When the survey shot data is saved, data of the same type is averaged, ignoring deselected data, and stored in relevant fields of the Survey Shot form. This applies to length, azimuth and slope fields, as well as to passage dimension fields; splay measurements are never averaged.
The Connect pushbutton allows to connect the connected device, if any,
and to receive data.
This form is used to manage survey sessions and to select the current session. When called from the Map, it operates in read-only mode.
This form has 3 tabs, selected with pushbuttons in the title bar.
Existing survey session numbers can be cycled through with the Up/Down arrow pushbuttons.
A session numbered 1, initialized with default instrument calibration and units, is automatically added when creating a new cave. If the displayed session is the active session, an Asterisk is displayed on the left of the session number.
A 31-character name can be given to each session.
The Date shown is that of the creation of the session. It is optionally updated when the first survey shot is taken during this session. Tapping on the date selector allows to change it.
The Done button exits the Session form. If the Session form was launched with the Session number selector in the Survey Shot form, changing the session associated to the current survey shot must be confirmed. Calling the Session form with the Sessions item in the Cave menu does not affect the session number to which the current survey shot (if any) is associated.
The Save button saves the current session.
The New button creates a new session, initialized with default data and numbered with the next available session number. It is possible to create a session from an existing session by merely editing the session number and saving this new session (provided the new session does not already exist.)
The Note button allows linking a note to the session (name of surveyors, details of instruments used, etc..) 255 characters are permitted.
Note: All tabs are then refreshed or saved as defaults.
Several session calibrations may be edited sequentially by saving modifications before selecting another session number.
These tabs allow to select instruments and set their calibration values.
Select instruments used for surveying (Tape vs Topofil, Compass vs Theodolite, Clinometer vs Theodolite, Altimeter or Depthmeter.) The handling of theodolite angles is not implemented yet.
When selecting a Topofil, also select the number of digits on its counter. Repeatedly tapping on the selector next to the Topofil instrument cycles though possible choices (3 to 6, default is 5.)
Note: When using a connectable electronic measuring device, even in non connected mode (e.g. a DistoX on a PDA without Bluetooth), this device should still be selected in the Link tab of the Preferences form and selected in the session as Device in order to avoid dubious data alarms due to the extra precision these devices provide (ex. a 134.23 degree-azimuth.)
Select Lengths, Azimuths and Slopes units.
Note: Auriga supports the following angular units and universal notations:
Note: The d°m's" is only offered for the theodolite, where the measurements are stored with a precision sufficient to hold a second of angle.
For convenience, with unit d°m's" and d°m.m', Auriga allows to input a space instead of the °, ' or " symbols. Furthermore, it is possible to input a decimal value even if the selected unit format is sexagesimal (ex. 20.5, equivalent to 20°30'). However, when showing the input value, Auriga uses the selected unit format, and the appropriate symbols, if any.
Select the proper orientation for Slope 0: Up (zenithal), Down (nadiral) or Level. Slopes measured in % impose a Level 0.
Select the Calibration or Precision pushbuttons to toggle between calibration and precision input. Length, Azimuth and Slope calibrations will be added to surveyed values to obtain the correct value.
Note: A % length calibration is added to the measurement to obtain exact data (including the Topofil.) A % slope calibration is accepted only if the slope is measured in %.
Note: For a Topofil, the calibration is taken as a multiplying factor applied to the measurement to obtain exact data. When using a centimetric Topofil, inputting a 0.01 calibration allows to select Meters as length unit, thus simplifying displays such as the List form.
[not implemented] Length, Azimuth and Slope precisions are used to redistribute errors when performing loop closure.
Azimuths taken with a Compass are relative to the North (magnetic or geographic, depending on whether a magnetic deviation was input.)
[not implemented] Azimuths taken with a Theodolite are absolute angles relative to the previous survey shot.
Auriga simultaneously supports 2 instrument set calibrations, numbered 1 and 2. Instrument set 1 is used for primary shots (regardless of their direction), while set 2 is used for backsights. Respective calibrations can be reached by selecting either the Set 1 or the Set 2 tab pushbutton.
If only one instrument set is actually used for both direct and backsight azimuths or slopes, as is often the case, select the appropriate Instrument Set #1 = #2 checkbox in the secondary instrument set calibration. By default, only one instrument set is assumed.
Length measurements are associated with instruments set 1, while passage dimensions are associated with instruments set 2.
Note: A Topofil cannot be selected in instruments set 2 used for measuring passage dimensions.
The Number of Shots associated with this session is displayed between parentheses at the top of the form.
Select the Gray halftone or Color this session will take in the map (offered only if the device permits.)
Tapping the Attributes icon displays the Attributes form that allows to configure the attributes of the session. The icon is highlighted when at least one attribute is set.
Tapping the Input Order button displays the Input Order form that allows selecting the order in which survey shot fields are navigated; this order is specific to each session.
Select the Passage sizes checkbox to indicate passage sizes are mandatory. Select either the Start or the End pushbutton to indicate which side of the survey shot is to be associated, by default, with size measurements. This association can be overridden in each individual survey shot. Select the Direct checkbox if passage sizes are "seen" from the start station.
Input the Magnetic Deviation to be added to compass (magnetic) azimuths to obtain geographic (true) azimuths. This setting can be different for each individual survey session as it can vary over time and space. A westward magnetic deviation must be set as negative; an eastward deviation as positive.
Select the behavior for Reverse Azimuths and Reverse Slopes:
Note: With options Show and Show and Input, Auriga shows what the expected backsight (azimuth or slope) should be, taking into account the calibration of both instruments sets. For instance, if the foresight azimuth is 35°, assuming neutral calibration, the expected backsight azimuth should be 215° (35° + 180°).
Note: Some compasses offer two reading scales, one direct and one corrected (i.e. reverse.) The Auriga user may find more natural to compare the foresight azimuth with a corrected backsight (ex. 35° vs 36° rather than 35° vs 216°); in this case, option Show becomes irrelevant. Auriga accepts either a true backsight azimuth or a corrected backsight azimuth. When computing the survey shot (and averaging azimuths, if both exist), if its foresight and backsight azimuths do not fall within 90°, Auriga assumes the backsight azimuth is not corrected. The backsight is always considered normal (not corrected) if the foresight azimuth is missing or if the survey shot has the Ignore Azimuth attribute.
Select the Direct checkboxes in the Azimuths and Slopes groups to indicate direct azimuths and slope measurements by default. These options can be overridden for each individual survey shot in the Survey Shot form.
Select Altitude units.
Warning: Modifying existing sessions modifies the interpretation of input data for the shots associated with the modified sessions.
Menus: Session, Edit and Defaults The latter can be used to store or retrieve default values.
This form is used to determine the order of input fields in the Survey Shot form, i.e. the order in which these fields are navigated with the Up/Down scroll buttons or in the Auriga custom keypad with the Up/Down arrow buttons. All fields can be reordered, except the station names, which must be input at the beginning.
To change the order of a field, select it in the list and use the Up or Down arrow buttons to move it. Note that all survey shot fields appear in the list, but only those checked currently appear in the Survey Shot form, depending on current session (e.g. Topofil fields do not appear if a Tape is used.)
Note: The selected field order applies to the current session. To make the selected order the default order for all future sessions, use the Defaults menu in the The Session form.
Menu: None.
The Auriga Keypad overrides the built-in Palm OS alphabetic and numeric keypads in every Auriga form where text data can be input. It pops up when the 1-2-3 or a-b-c keyboard button is tapped in the silkscreen area. This custom keypad self-adjusts to the type of field being edited; thus some buttons (like "-", ".", "North", "Direct" or "Series") may not always be present. Buttons are big enough to make a stylus unnecessary when surveying. The name of the currently edited field along with its measurement unit, if any, is displayed in the Keypad form title.
Depending on the type of data input, alphabetic, symbolic or international keyboard layouts may be offered.
When editing sexagesimal coordinates (d°m's"), tap the West, East, North or South selector to invert the coordinate. The symbol key at the bottom self-adjusts into °, ' and " to allow separation of degrees, minutes and seconds.
Use the OK button to leave the keypad; saving the input field is automatic. Tap the left arrow (backspace) button to erase one character, or hold it to erase the input field.
Press the Up/Down arrow buttons to save the input field and move to the previous/next field.
When editing a survey shot, holding the stylus on the i button (upper right corner) displays the name of the stations of the survey shot. Holding the stylus on the Up or Down buttons displays a list of the Survey Shot form input fields to speed up navigation.
If the edited field is the azimuth or slope field, a Direct pushbutton is displayed left of the input field. Conversely, if the edited field is the start station and the automatic detection of series beginnings is not selected (see the Stations tab of the Cave Details form), a Regular/Virtual/Series pushbutton is displayed to allow selecting the type of survey shot.
If the edited field is the backsight azimuth or slope field, and the corresponding setting in the Shots tab of the Session form is Show and Input, a Confirm button is displayed left of the input field to explicitely accept the proposed backsight azimuth or slope.
When editing a series beginning or a virtual survey shot, the type of position, if any, can be selected with the Position menu while editing the start station.
Menus: Edit and Position when relevant.
The List form displays surveyed and computed cave data in list views.
The number of list elements may be displayed tapping on the # button in the title bar.
Displayed data is in read-only mode except for survey shot text fields, the attributes list, checkboxes and color selectors that can be modified by maintaining the stylus on them for a short delay; modifications take effect immediately. If the cave is open in read-only mode or if not a single list column is editable (i.e Stations or Graph views), a padlock icon is displayed in the title bar.
The selected row is shown in reverse (light text on dark background.) It is possible to bookmark a row by tapping the desired row with the stylus. The bookmarked row is surrounded by solid lines. In views that allow it (see below), tapping the marked row selects it, thus changing the current survey shot.
List columns can be resized by tapping the stylus leftward of the end of the column head to resize and dragging it to the desired width. Tapping on the + button at the bottom, right of the list widens the rightmost visible column. Columns are limited to a minimal and maximal width.
List columns can be selectively shown or hidden with the Columns item of the List menu, leading to the Columns form.
List columns in Survey Shots, Virtuals, Sessions and Loops views can be sorted by tapping the stylus in the head of the column to sort. Sorting the same column a second time inverts its sort order. The head of the sorted column is shown in reverse.
Note: Modifying a checkbox or color selector may break the sort if the modified column is the sort column. In this case, tapping the head of the column re-sorts the view without inverting the sort order.
The 2 center hardware application buttons scroll the view horizontally.
Note: On devices with Palm OS version prior to 3.5, horizontal scroll bars being unusable, Auriga does not show them. Use the hardware application buttons instead.
Lists can be printed with the Print item from the List menu. In the Graph view, consecutive survey shots (with connecting end-start stations) are printed as blocks separated by a dotted line.
Seven views are selectable with the rightmost drop-down list in the title bar:
This view can be filtered with the center drop-down list in the title bar to only show:
Holding down the stylus on a given row makes it the current loop. If the stylus is held on an uneditable column, a list of loop options is popped up:
If the analysis process does not find any particular error to explain the current loop error, an alert pops up (often the case when the loop error is within the expected error.) Otherwise, analysis results are presented as a list of error hypotheses:
with loop name, current relative error in % and horizontal and vertical absolute error values (m or ft), followed by a list of survey shots (ex. 2.2-2.3) where a single change (ex. inverting the survey shot, changing its start or end station, or, like here, changing the slope from 0.84% to -66.31%) would improve the loop error (here to 0.56%).
It is then up to the user to determine which hypothesis, or none, is the cause of the loop error. The analysis process tends to find blunders (ex. omitted or inverted digits) rather than measurement errors. Tapping on a survey shot name opens it in the Survey Shot form. The analysis can be quickly recalled from other forms using the Current Loop Analysis item of the Cave menu.
Note: The Stations and Graph views require the cave coordinates to be computed. If computations cannot be performed (likely due to a lack of memory), the display of these views is denied. Other views can benefit from computed coordinates by displaying faster or showing computed lengths (Virtuals and Sessions views.)
Note: The Stations and Graph views can display 3 different types of coordinates, selectable in the title bar:
If the Ignore Origin option is selected with the selector, the origin X, Y, Z and C coordinates are substracted from the station coordinates, thus displaying origin-relative absolute coordinates.
Note: Modifying the status of series-related checkboxes in the Virtuals view has no effect if the Sessions override Series checkbox is selected in the Computations tab of the Cave Details form. Conversely, modifying the status of checkboxes in the Sessions view has no effect if the Sessions override Series checkbox is unselected.
Note: Numeric columns are normally right-justified to maintain number alignment. However, for columns other than station names and session number, if a number does not fit in the column width, it gets automatically left-justified so as to show its most significant digits (and truncate its decimals.)
Select the Forms icon 
(bottom right corner) to return to the previous form or select
the Close item in the Cave menu to return to Main form.
This is disabled by the Assistant (if active.)
Maintaining this icon depressed displays a list of exit choices (Survey Shot, Map or Close Cave.)
Note: When handling a network, the data displayed in the Shots, Virtuals and Sessions views can be grouped by cave by selecting this option in the views list. The Stations and Graph views are always grouped by cave, while this setting is irrelevant for the Caves view.
Menus: Cave, List and Options.
Select in the list columns to be shown holding down the stylus on their checkbox. Columns whose name is preceeded by a padlock icon are not toggable.
To change the order of a column, select it in the list and use the Up or Down arrow buttons to move it.
The Map form displays the topographical path (cave skeleton) in top view or various profile views.
Tapping in the screen while the map is being drawn aborts the operation, as indicated by a message at the bottom of the map. In this case, the Info mode (see below) no longer works. The Map can be redrawn using the Display Options list (see below.)
Note: The top of the map corresponds to the North, either geographic (true) or magnetic, depending on whether a magnetic deviation was input or not in individual sessions and/or the Cave Details form.
The map is restored with the previously used zoom ratio and pan factor for this cave.
Troubleshooting: An empty map display may be caused by:
Survey shot errors detected while computing the cave map coordinates can be viewed by tapping the Shot Errors item in the Cave menu. Possible errors are:
Survey shots that lead to computing the same station but with differing coordinates (beyond the station error tolerance input in the Computations tab of the Cave Details form) are grouped together.
Tapping on a survey shot name brings it up in the Survey Shot form.
Survey shot errors and loop error reports can be exported as memos to the built-in Memo Pad application for future viewing with the Export to Memos item of the Report menu; it may be advisable to create a memo category to store them.
These errors can be visually detected in the map: for every station that is part of a loop, the difference between its theoretical location and its actual location (determined by the survey shot used to compute the station location) is drawn with a dotted line.
Tip: With station markers displayed, any survey shot segment that does not reach a station marker at both ends reveals a loop error.
If the Full Screen Cave Map option is selected in the Preferences form, controls at the bottom of the screen are only briefly displayed when the form is open to show the current view and stylus mode. These controls can then be shown or hidden by simply tapping a '.' in the numeric sector of the Graffiti area. This allows viewing the entire cave, that then uses the full screen height.
Note: On devices with a dynamic Graffiti area, in full screen map mode, when the Graffiti area is closed, tapping the Menu icon first displays the Map form controls
A scale is displayed at the bottom of the screen. If option Show Scale is not selected in the Map tab of the Preferences form, the scale is only displayed for a second. It briefly reappears every time the map is redrawn. In permanent scale display mode, it can be hidden by tapping on it with the stylus.
Tapping on the leftmost Attributes icon pops up a list of display options. Options in this list are specific to the current cave:
In Section view, display options are:
Note: The map grid (and subgrid) is not centered in the screen but aligned on the origin station of the cave. In profile views, if a vertical factor other than 1.0 is set (see the Computations tab of the Cave Details form), the grid may appear rectangular to match the displayed numeric grid value both horizontally and vertically.
Note: Passage dimensions are computed with the Up, Down, Left and Right survey data. As each survey shot can hold a single set of passage dimensions, the user has to indicate to which of the two stations (of the survey shot) the set of dimensions belongs, i.e. start or end station. Thus, it is possible to end up with more than one set of dimensions for a given station if more than one shot leaves/arrives from/to a given station. For simplicity, Auriga only retains the first set of dimensions for a given station while computing cave coordinates. In some cases, depending on passage morphology, this may lead to an incorrect graphical rendition of actual cave walls.
Note: Auriga takes passage dimension data as perpendicular to the axis of the survey shot./
Note: Splay measurements that run between a station and a wall (in Top view) or ceiling/floor (in profile views) can also be displayed as wall lines and/or get color-filled.
The leftmost popup list allows selecting the type of cave view displayed:
Note: Dragging the stylus from the Graffiti area up to the middle of the screen toggles between the Top and Extended profile views; on devices with a Dynamic Input Area, in closed mode, dragging the stlylus from an empty spot in the bottom Status bar up to the middle of the screen does the same.
Note: Each cave has its default direction for developing survey shots in the extended profile view (set in the Map tab of the Cave Details form.) This direction can be toggled by the passage flip attribute (either series or session, depending on the state of the Sessions over Series checkbox in the Computations pane of the Cave Details form.) For series, this flip attribute can be set in the Survey Shot form, while for sessions, the flip attribute can be set via the Sessions view of the List form. In addition, this direction can again be toggled by the individual survey shot flip attribute set in the Survey Shots view of the List form. Thus, the survey shot can inverse the development direction set by the passage, that can itself inverse the general cave development direction. This allows the user full control on the display of extended profiles of complex cave systems.
The center popup list allows selecting the stylus mode (Zoom, Pan, Info, Span, Line, Spot, Projection, Mask, Select or Path.) This mode determines the results of stylus taps or drags in the cave map.
Note: In Section view, only the Zoom and Info are permitted.
In Zoom mode, tracing the diagonal of a rectangle in the cave map zooms the part of the cave map enclosed in that rectangle. The zoom rectangle may be adjusted when re-displaying the cave to maintain a uniform zoom ratio, both vertically and horizontally. If the stylus only taps the screen, a 50% zoom is performed, centered on the stylus position.
In Pan mode, dragging the stylus in the cave map shifts the map in the drag direction.
In Info mode, the name of the stations of the current shot and its note (if any) are displayed at the top of the screen. The current station is marked with a bullet in the map and displayed in bold at the top of the screen. On color or halftone-capable devices, both the current station bullet and the current shot segment use the color set in the Map tab of the Preferences form. The current station can be selected with arrow pushbuttons (see below) or by tapping directly into the cave map. Tapping on the survey shot name displays the current station position (in the format selected in the Cave Details form.) Tapping on this location reverts to the survey shot name or the current position of the connected GPS, if any. Tapping on the GPS location reverts to the survey shot name if enabled in display options.
The Span mode behaves like the Info mode, but displays the absolute (geometric), horizontal and vertical distance between the current station and the previous one.
In Line mode, dragging the pen in the cave map displays the length and angle or slope of the drawn line along with the vertical and horizontal distance (map-wise.) Length and angle units used are those set in the Cave Details form. Tapping the screen again dismisses the line display; in this mode, the device does not respond to any button, but will power itself off automatically after the auto off delay.
When viewing a Top cave view, the angle of the drawn line is automatically copied into the clipboard to later ease selecting the projected profile angle. In profile cave views, a slope angle is displayed instead.
The Spot mode displays the position of the stylus in the cave map. In top cave view, the position format is that selected for the cave in the Cave Details form; geographic locations can only be provided if the cave is georeferenced. In profile views, the position is displayed in XZ format, with altitude if the cave has an altitude reference. Tapping the screen again dismisses the spot display; in this mode, the device does not respond to any button, but will power itself off automatically after the auto off delay.
The Projection mode is used to select the angles used by the two projected profile views. In the plan view, angles can be selected graphically, as in the Line mode. The corresponding projected profile is displayed after an angle is selected. The angle unit is that selected in the Cave tab of the Cave Details form Network tab of the Network Details form.
In Mask mode, tracing the diagonal of a rectangle in the cave map determines the sides of the clipping mask (see the Clipping Mask form.) At all times, this mode displays the current clipping mask, if any.
In Select mode, tracing the diagonal of a rectangle in the cave map determines a selection area that can then be used in the Select form to select survey shots or stations.
The Path mode is used to select the From, Middle and To stations for which the shortest path is to be searched. At least two stations must be selected, either by direct input with Graffiti or the Auriga custom keypad or by selection in the Map. The numeric pushbuttons determine which station is currently input. The Back button allows to return to the Map and zoom and/or pan it to locate another path station. The OK button launches the path search. If a path is found, its number of survey shots, its length and its vertical drop are displayed. The vertical drop of the path is computed by adding the absolute value of the vertical drop of all its survey shots; a negative value indicates a descent towards the end station (possibly with some climbs), and vice-versa. The path can then be highlighted in the Map, or its survey shots can be enumerated in a report.
If the current station has survey shots toward other stations, the current shot is the first survey shot (in cave list order) leaving from the current station.
If the current station has no survey shots toward other stations, the current shot is the first survey shot (in cave list order) arriving from the current station.
The current station name is displayed in bold in the information line displayed at the top of the cave map.
The Up/Down scroll buttons allow to cycle through the various survey shots associated with the current station. Currently, only survey shots that start from the current station can thus be reached.
Arrow pushbuttons 
allow navigation between survey shots. From left to right, they:
The + and - buttons zoom in or out the cave map by 50% from the center. The first zoom out action restores the previous zoom ratio, regardless of whether it was manually determined (stylus dragged across the map) or automatic with the + button.
If the - or + buttons are held down, a list of zoom options is displayed:
Select the Forms icon to return to the previous form or select
the Close item in the Cave menu to return to Main form.
This is disabled by the Assistant (if active.)
Maintaining this icon depressed displays a list of exit choices (Survey Shot, List or Close Cave.)
The 4 hardware application buttons have the following effect:
Graffiti shortcuts:
Note: For these shortcuts, tapping the Graffiti 1 punctuation mark (a single tap in the Graffiti area) is not required. Thus, ' ' (space) acts as '-' (zoom out), 'k' as '+' (zoom in) and 'f' as a tab (exit.)
Menus: Cave or Network, Map and Options.
Cave passages and details can be sketched on the PDA screen, superimposing the line plot in the Map form. When the Sketching stylus mode is selected, the following controls are displayed at the base of the Map form:
From left to right, controls are:
The Element Details form displays the type of the selected element (and the number of segments for polylines or polygons) and its parent station.
Note: A '+' appearing next to the number of segments indicate the polyline or the polygon has reached the limit while more segments would be required to represent it properly.
The form can be used to:
* = unchanged from other stylus modes
The Selection, Map and Sketch tools are the main tools used while sketching. Since they determine the action of the stylus as it moves on the screen, only one of these tools can be active at any time, and highlighted with a light gray background. Tapping on one of these tools makes it the active tool. Tapping on the already active tool changes its mode. A list of possible modes of the Sketch tool can also be popped up by holding the stylus down in it.
Each sketch element (dot, line, curve or text) is linked to a survey station/shot, and stored as vector graphics into the relevant survey shot record. Should the station move, the sketch element moves too. If the corresponding survey shot changes length or direction (like after loop closure), the sketch element self-adjusts if the element was sketched while the corresponding option was selected in the Display form.
Each sketch element belongs to a single Map view. Only the Top, Extended profile and Section views can be sketched on. In Sketching mode, only these views are available.
Each sketch element belongs to a layer. Up to 10 user-configurable sketch layers are available. Layers can be configured in the Layers form.
Notes:
Suggestion: Always draw in a clockwise direction to allow Auriga's heuristics to properly interpret the sketcher's intention when editing a curve or a polygon
Limitations:
When Group mode is turned on (see Sketch tool), if the Group tool is active, dragging the stylus on screen traces a selection rectangle that groups all sketch elements within that belong to the current survey shot. If the Selection tool is active, tapping on a sketch element adds it or removes it from the current group.
The group is saved when:
and grouped elements can no longer be individually selected; instead, any change on the selected group (color, layer, position or deletion) applies to all its elements.
* then executed on the newly saved group.
Notes:
This form allows configuring sketch layers.
From left to right, columns are:
The checkboxes, the color picker and the name can be changed by holding the stylus on them. Checkboxes in a column can be changed all at once by holding the stylus on the column header icon (only named layers are changed.)
Note: A nameless layer cannot be set as visible. At least one layer must be visible.
If the By Layer pushbutton is selected, sketch layers are drawn one at a time, starting with layer 0. The draw order or a layer can be changed by selecting it and using the Up and Down arrows.
Menu: Defaults.
If an acquisition device is selected in the Link tab of the Preferences form, select the Connect item in the Map menu. Received data is then assumed to be splay measurements to a detail, from the current station of the current survey shot (use the Info mode to change it.) To select a different type of splay measurement, open the Measures form with the Measures item in the Map menu or have this form automatically open when connecting the device by selecting the Popup Measures in Map pushbutton in the Link tab of the Preferences form.
If the cave or network is georeferenced and if a GPS is selected for Display mode in the Link tab of the Preferences form, it is possible to track on the Map the geographic position reported by the GPS.
Select the Connect GPS item in the Map menu or tap the Select button of the Palm 5-way Navigator to connect the GPS. Every time a position is received, the map is panned to show the current position as a +. The position can also be reported in writing by selecting the GPS Position display option of the Attributes icon. Tapping the screen disconnects the GPS, allowing to poke the map without annoyance from GPS-triggered map movements.
If both the GPS Position and the Shot Info display options are selected, the latter takes precedence unless a GPS is connected and a position has been received. When the GPS is disconnected, the + remains visible until the map is panned or the GPS Position display option is deselected.
The Map Export form allows exporting the map to various formats for further import in a GPS, Google Earth, or a drawing program.
Select the Format; GPX, KML (Google Earth), DXF (AutoCAD) and SVG (Illustrator, Inkscape, etc.) are currently offered.
Indicate the Name of the export file (by default, the name of the cave or network.)
Select the Card checkbox if the file must be placed on the memory card in the device (the file is then placed in the /PALM/Applications/Auriga directory.)
Note: If the device has a memory card slot, this is the most convenient option as the file produced is a normal file directly usable in a computer, unlike the file hosted in the device internal memory, that is actually a Palm OS database from which a normal file must be extracted (see below.)
Select the Beam to PC checkbox if the file must be transmitted by Infrared or Bluetooth to a computer and indicate whether it must be Deleted After.
Note:
If this file is beamed with IR/Bluetooth to another Palm OS device, the receptor can crash or freeze because it
does not know how to handle that kind of file.
If the file is beamed with IR/Bluetooth or HotSynced to a computer, it will be converted into a Palm OS
database, and a ".pdb" extension will be added (ex. Fairy Cave.gpx.pdb).
To be usable on a computer, the original (GPX, KML, DXF or SVG) file must be extracted from that ".pdb" file, for instance with
the PAR tool (available in Auriga's download Web page) and the following DOS command:
par x "Fairy Cave.gpx.pbd" "Fairy Cave.gpx"
Select the Shots checkbox to export the line plot as a trace (series of segments.)
Select the Stations checkbox to export stations. In DXF and SVG formats, all stations are exported; in GPX or KML format, it is possible to export a combination of:
If a Selection is available, it can be used to limit the number of exported survey shots and stations.
Note: In DXF format, the screen may blink due a palette change to determine color indexes.
In GPX or KML format, station names are exported only if they are currently visible in Map.
If a Selection exists, it can be used to limit the number of exported survey shots and stations.
In KML format, survey shots and stations Color can be selected; the Opacity of stations can also be selected.
In DXF format, select the Black background to force a conversion of black survey shots and sketches to white to make sure they remain visible. Conversely, white survey shots and sketches are converted to black it this checkbox is deselected. This allows using a different map background color in Auriga and in the PC drawing program.
In DXF format, select the Keep Origin XYZ checkbox to export absolute coordinates, that use the XYZ coordinates of the origin; otherwise, coordinates are origin-relative (i.e. as if the origin is 0,0,0).
Data is exported as follows:
Note: Compass' morphing process does not support the cross-section view; Walls' morphing process only support the top view.
Note: Walls and floor/ceiling splay measurements are exported in walls color while splay measurements to details are exported in splay measurement color (see the Display form.)
Coordinates are scaled to 72 DPI (Dots Per Inch) using the scale computed in the Paper tab:
according to paper size, orientation and margins.
Note: When exporting sections, each one occupies 72 dots (one inch). Sections are laid out to occupy the whole paper width (within margins) and as many vertical sheets of paper as necessary. In virtual paper mode, sections are laid out using an estimated number of sections.
Note: In virtual paper mode, if no drawing appears after importing the SVG file, it may be that coordinates exceed the program limit (the limit depends on the program); reducing the scale usually solves the problem.
Note: Care must be taken when moving the SVG file: Illustrator cannot open a SVG file with an uppercase .SVG extension.
Note: Successive exports overwrite the output file.
Menu: Edit
The Statistics form displays cave or network statistics. It may trigger an automatic XYZC coordinates computation if these are not up to date.
The Development is the sum of the length of every survey shot that does not have the Dead Shot or Exclude from Statistics attributes and that belongs to a series without the Exclude from Statistics attribute set (if series are used.)
The Horizontal extent is the sum of the horizontal projection of the survey shots described above.
See the note on the Map North in the the Coordinates section.
The Mapped length is the sum of the length of all survey shots.
The X, Y and Z min/max are the absolute bounding coordinates of the cave or network. dX, dY and dZ are the coordinates range, along with their scaled value (between []) according to the map scale (selected in the Computations tab of the Cave Details form), convenient when plotting the map on paper.
Statistics can be exported as memos to the built-in Memo Pad application for future viewing. The same menu also allows printing statistics or beaming them to another device.
Menu: Report.
The Clipping Mask form allows determining the six sides of the cuboid used as a mask to unclutter the Map by restricting the display to a given cave slice. The Top and Bottom sides are used in the Top view, while the North, South, West and East sides are used in the profile views. The cuboid can have open sides, thus not masking anything in those directions. The use of the mask is determined by the list of Map display options. Computations are not affected by the mask.
The Center location, as well as the North, South, West, East, Top and Bottom sides of this mask can be defined by:
The Clear button clears the current mask.
The mask sides can also be graphically selected by tracing a rectangle in the Map using the Mask mode; North, South, West and East sides can be selected in the Top view while Top and Bottom sides can be selected in any profile view. At all times in Mask mode, the Map displays the current clipping mask, if any.
Menu: Edit
The Colors by Depth form allows selecting colors and depth ranges for the Color by Depth map setting, where each survey shot is colored according to the depth (Z axis) ot its deepest station.
Up to 10 depth ranges can be determined by their corresponding bottom limit. The number of depth ranges can be increased or decreased using the arrow buttons. The first and last depth ranges are open-ended: survey shots above or below the depth limit respectively use their color.
Tapping on a color picker allows selecting its color; dragging the stylus from one color picker to another swaps these color selections.
The Spread button spreads the current vertical range of the cave or network over the current number of enabled depth ranges. If the vertical range in meters or feet is less than the number of enabled depth ranges, this number may be adjusted. Selecting the Auto checkbox automates this spread action every time the cave or network is recomputed.
The Rotate button 
rotates the color selection of enabled depth ranges.
The Rainbow button 
sets the color pickers (even the disabled ones) as a rainbow.
Depth ranges and colors can be saved as defaults or restored from defaults using the Defaults menu.
This form displays information on a network, either existing or being created.
This form has 3 tabs, selected with the pushbuttons in the title bar.
The Name of the network can be any string of 26 characters or less and may include spaces. This corresponds to the name of the Auriga network PDB on the Palm OS device (with a 5-character suffix to distinguish it between PDB types.) Editing the name of an existing network actually renames it (an alert is issued before proceeding.)
The Category selector allows selecting the network category. Categories are edited in the usual Palm OS way by selecting the Edit categories... list item.
Select measurement units to be used for computing coordinates:
Note: Measurements units selected in this form are used throughout Auriga to report coordinates, lengths and angles between stations and statistics.
Select the format to be used to display Positions in the network map (XYZ, d°m's", d°m.m', degrees or UTM.)
If latitude/longitude or UTM geographical positions are to be input, select the proper topographical Datum to use for conversions; see Supported Geodesic Datum. Tap the Datum button to open the Datum form to view the geodesic parameters that define the selected datum or to input parameters that define a User datum.
Select the Shot Navigation Mode with navigation arrows in the Survey Shot and Map forms. Choices are:
If the network cannot be built due to a lack of memory, unselecting the following checkboxes may perhaps reduce the memory requirements down to a working level, at the expense of lost functionality:
Note: If the closure error data is not retained, Auriga plots survey shots between the computed position of their start and end stations, regardless of the position resulting from actually computing the survey shot, which may differ in case of a closure error, thus forcing an artificial loop closure.
Tap the Note button to edit the network note. 255 characters are permitted.
Select the network map Grid value. See the Map tab of the Preferences form for general grid preferences (that apply to all caves/networks.)
Select the Automatic checkbox so that the map grid gets resized when it cannot be displayed within the user-defined minimum and maximum number of lines. The grid value is then multiplied or divided by 2 and rounded to the lowest integer. Otherwise, the grid is hidden.
Select the Automatic Subgrid checkbox or indicate the value and length unit of the map subgrid for this network. The Divisions unit allows a relative subgrid, dividing the grid by a fixed number of divisions. In automatic mode, the value and unit are locked and indicate the automatic configuration.
Note: an automatic subgrid shows points spaced by the field length
represented by the squares on the sketching paper
(indicated in the Map tab of the Preferences) form,
to scale with the network scale
(indicated in the Map tab of the Network Details form.
Thus, with a 1:200 scale and 1 mm paper squares,
the interval between subgrid points represents a distance of 20 cm in the field.
Select the Wall Color same as Shot checkbox so walls and dimensions are drawn in the map using the color of their corresponding survey shot. Otherwise, they are drawn using the default color selected in the Map tab of the Preferences form.
Input the cave map Scale used to compute coordinates reported in the Sketch to Scale form; for example:
1 cm = 1 m corresponds to a scale of 1:100
1 inch = 20 feet corresponds to a scale of 1:240 (there are 12 inches in a foot)
Select the Vertical factor used in profile maps and coordinate computations to exaggerate the verticality of the network for display purposes. A factor less than 1 (ex. 0.5) actually flattens out a vertical network. This factor is applied to coordinates reported in the List form for drawing, but coordinates reported in the Map form are not affected.
Select the Close Loops (by cave) so as to force loop closure for each cave, if necessary, when computing the network coordinates.
Indicate the coordinates of the network Origin (0,0,0 by default), expressed in map units.
This tab allow selecting the caves that are part of the network.
Use the Add or Remove buttons to select caves; holding down the stylus on the Add button while caves were selected (see Selection form) adds these caves to the network.
Use the Up or Down arrow buttons to move the selected cave in the list; this order alters the search for linking stations when building the network (see the Network Cave form.)
Warning: The order of caves is not without consequence: the first cave that has a georeference determines the network georeference; it is thus mandatory to first add the cave with the most precise georeference.
From left to right, the 5 columns are:
The Draw, Flip Extended Profile and Color settings can be modified by holding down the stylus on them.
Tapping on the currently selected cave displays the Network Cave form.
This form displays information on a networked cave, either already selected or being added to a network.
Select the name of the networked Cave, either manually or with the drop-down list of caves present on the device. Caves already selected for this network do not appear in the list. If there are no caves present on the device or if all caves present on the device are already selected for the network, the list does not show.
Note: Inputting up to the first 5 characters of the desired cave name while the cave list is open triggers the list lookup.
The Alias is used as a prefix before station names in the Info line of the network Map. A short alias is preferable.
Select the type of link that binds the cave to the network:
In Automatic mode, selecting the Auto Update Link Type checkbox updates the link type to that actually used by Auriga upon successfully building the network. Otherwise, the Actual link button allows knowing the type of link used by Auriga when building the network. This button only appears after the network is built.
Menu: Edit
The Selection form allows to select a set of caves, survey shots, stations or sessions to act upon in the Beam, Export and (later) Operations forms.
Use the rightmost popup list in the title bar to select the Caves, Shots, Stations or Sessions view to indicate the type of items to select.
Use the selector trigger in the middle of the title bar to view All or only Selected items. In the case of caves, the list can be filtered by category.
Items can be selected or unselected from the list by tapping on them. In Selected mode, unselecting an item immediately removes it from the list.
A continuous range of items can be selected or unselected by first selecting the Range pushbutton and the desired action (+ to select, - to unselect), then selecting the bounds of the item range. The start of the range is highlighted by dotted lines. The desired operation is immediately performed when the second range bound is selected. In Selected mode, items can only be unselected, and are immediately removed from the list. The operation can be aborted by unselecting the Range pushbutton.
The Select button opens the Select form that offers various ways to select/unselect items.
Note: The Selection is flushed from survey shots and stations when a survey shot is added or deleted to/from the cave.
Tip: To break up a large cave into smaller more manageable subsets of that cave:
Menu: Selection.
The Select form offers various ways to select/unselect items in the Selection.
Use the rightmost popup list in the title bar to select the Caves, Shots, Stations or Sessions view to indicate the type of items to select or deselect.
Select the + (select), - (unselect) or Replace pushbutton to determine the effect of the selection operation.
Select the type of selection to perform (depends on current view):
Menu: Edit
The Operations form offers various maintenance operations that can be applied on caves, survey shots, stations or sessions.
Select the target extent: all or only selected items. In the case of cave operations, maintenance can also be restricted to the current cave (if any.)
Select the maintenance operation: (depends on target type):
Menu: Edit.
This form displays the parameters used to perform geodesic conversions based on the selected datum, or to input the parameters that define a User datum.
Select the desired Datum; see Supported Geodesic Datum.
If the selected datum is the User datum, the Ellipsoid can be selected, otherwise, it shows the standard ellipsoid associated with the selected datum.
The a and 1/f fields represent the ellipsoid semi-major axis and flattening. They can only be edited if the selected ellipsoid is the User ellipsoid, otherwise, they show the standard values for the selected ellipsoid.
The TX, TY and TY fields represent the XYZ datum offset from WGS84. They can only be edited if the selected datum is the User datum, otherwise, they show the standard values for the selected datum.
Menu: Edit.
This form allows performing geodesic conversions.
Select the Unit for both input and resulting positions among d°m's", d°m.m', Degrees, UTM, MTM and Lambert.
Select the input and resulting positions Datum. The User datum is offered only if the current cave or network defines it. Inputting up to the first 5 characters of the desired datum name triggers the list lookup.
Note: Lambert coordinates are only supported for the NTF (France) and the BD72, Lambert 2005 and Lambert 2008 (Belgium) datum.
Input the position to convert and tap the Convert button. If the position cannot be converted (inconsistent location, format or datum), a '?' is displayed. The Paste menu item pastes the resulting position into the fields of the position to be converted. Back into the Survey Shot form (if it is the calling form), the Paste menu item pastes the resulting position into the survey shot if insertion point is in a position field.
Note: Upon opening, the form displays the last position seen in Auriga, if any. The input position can be cleared by tapping the Clear button.
Menu: Edit.
This form allows estimating the depth of a pit from the fall time of a rock. Computations lay on the numerical resolution of the differential equation that describes the fall of a spherical body in air. The parameters of this equation are the mass and diameter of the rock, Earth's gravitational constant, air density and the Reynolds number of a sphere, that in turn depends on the diameter and instantaneous speed of the rock, as well as air density and viscosity.
Only the rock diameter is input by the user. The rock mass is computed from this diameter, using the average limestone density of 2520 kg per cubic meter. The gravitational constant used corresponds to a 45° latitude at the surface of the Earth. Air density and viscosity depend on temperature and humidity, but values used correspond to 20° Celsius in a saturated atmosphere (100% humidity.)
The equation solution yields the distance travelled by the rock over time with the help of a constant-step 4th order Runge-Kutta method. The computed pit depth takes into account the speed of sound in air.
Find a rock, ideally spherical, and select its Diameter with the scroll bar.
At the moment the rock is dropped (with no initial speed), hit the Rock! button or any one of the 4 hardware application buttons to start the stopwatch.
When the sound of the rock hitting the bottom of the pit is heard, hit the Boom! button or one of the 4 hardware application buttons to stop he stopwatch. The estimated depth is displayed after computations that can last a few seconds. The algorithm accepts fall times of up to 15 seconds.
It is possible to manually input a fall time measured outside of Auriga by tapping the stylus on the time field to make it editable and to write that fall time. Hit the Boom! button to display the corresponding depth.
For a detailed explanation of the physical model and the underlying mathematical treatment; see the ProfondeurPuits.pdf document (in French) available in the Support page of the Auriga Web site.
Research and algorithm: Pierre Beauchemin
Menu: none.
The Font form allows choosing various fonts.
The Notes font is used to display network, cave, survey shot and session notes. It is also used for error reports.
The Survey Shot font is used to display station names in the Survey Shot form. If the cave has long station names containing letters, the standard font may be preferred.
To avoid cluttering the map, prefer a small font for Map Stations. It is possible to load fonts other than the usual basic choices by installing FontBucket (www.handshigh.com/fontbucket). FontBucket does not work on Sony Clié devices with high-resolution screen, but Auriga nonetheless offers an accrued font selection.
Menu: none.
This form pops up when printing and allows configuring the print feature.
Select the print Font (Courier, Times or Helvetica) and Size (9, 10 or 12 points.) Printing the List form imposes the use of the Courier fixed-width font for column alignment.
Input the number of Lines per page for lists (use 0 for continuous paper.)
Input the cave Map Zoom Factor used for map printing. This can be determined by experimenting with the target printer and paper size.
Select whether the Cave Name and the Current Date must be printed too.
Menu: Edit.
This menu is available in the Auriga custom keypad when editing the start station of a virtual survey shot or a series beginning. It allows selecting the type of position given to the start station (if any.)
"Beaming" can be launched in Auriga with the Beam item of the Cave menu or the Beam icon in the command bar menu (displayed when writing a slash ("/") Graffiti gesture.) When launched from the Main form, the cave currently selected in the list, if any, is beamed entirely. When launched from other forms, the Beam form is displayed:
The Beam form offers a choice of beam options; these options are context-dependent and thus, not all of them may always be available.
When launched from the Main form, it is possible to beam Auriga components (executable, language resources, math library, preferences and datums.)
Note: When beaming a networked cave, inputting up to the first 5 characters of the desired cave name while the cave list is open triggers the list lookup.
When using a date range, it spans from 00:00:00 on the start date to 23:59:59 on the end date.
Note: With any beam option, if the beamed cave already exists on the destination device, beamed data is added to the existing cave, or updates it. Nothing gets overwritten in the existing cave.
Cave details are always beamed to the receiving device so as to make beamed data interpretable. Similarly, all sessions relevant to beamed survey shots accompany these survey shots in the beamed data.
Note: By default, infrared transmission is performed; if Bluetooth is available on the device, the link type can be selected.
On the receiving device, the reception of beamed data pops up a form:
The Beamed Data Received form allows to change the target cave name; this allows creating caves of subparts of caves or to compensate for cave name differences between two devices. The vertical arrow pops up a list of existing caves on the device; inputting up to the first 5 characters of the desired cave name while the cave list is open triggers the list lookup.
If the target cave already exists, a merge process is launched:
If the beam merge process modified the local cave, a merge report is generated and written as a memo in the built-in Memo Pad application. This report indicates:
Note: If survey shots or sessions were duplicated by the beam merge process, the user should immediately clean up the cave by removing superfluous records, eventually manually merging their data into one. A cave with duplicate survey shots or sessions is bound to create confusion.
Tip: If two or more teams survey a cave, upon exiting the cave,
At the end of this operation, all devices will contain the entire cave data. Failing to remove the existing cave from the devices (step 3) before receiving the merged cave may again result in duplications and require a subsequent clean-up on receiving devices.
Warning: Beaming Auriga caves with file managers like FileZ does not trigger a beam merge process; instead, the beamed cave simply overwrites the local (existing) cave.
The export of cave survey data works the same as Beaming, except that exported data are stored into a local cave. This allows splitting a cave into subparts (for example, to reduce computation delay) or, on the opposite, to merge into one several parts of a cave mapped separately. Options offered by the Export form:
are the same as those of the Beam form, but in this case, the edited target cave name must be different from the current cave name.
Note: When exporting a subset of a cave into an empty cave, if the original cave has non-zero origin coordinates (see Computations tab of the Cave Details form) and the origin station is not exported to the target cave, the first station of the target cave is set as the origin station and the origin coordinates are computed accordingly.
When exporting from the Survey Shot form, if caves are selected in the Caves view of the Selection form, it is possible to choose these caves as a target (e.g. when propagating a survey shot data change to loops stored as subcaves.) Conversely, when exporting from the Main form, it is possible to choose these caves as the export source so as to merge them all into a single cave (e.g. when returning back into the main cave survey shots managed as subcaves.)
When the Update Only pushbutton is selected, only survey shots and sessions that exist in both source and target caves are updated with the source data; other survey shots and sessions are ignored.
Auriga can backup or restore its caves or networks to/from a memory card via items in the Cave or Network menu. Restoring a cave/network can only be performed while in The Main form
Requirements are:
In backup mode, the current cave/network DB, or the selected cave/network DB in The Main form, is written in the /PALM/applications/Auriga directory on the memory card. A confirmation is required prior to overwriting an existing cave/network.
In restore mode, a list of caves stored in the /PALM/applications/Auriga directory on the memory card is popped up for restore.
This backup/restore feature can be used as a faster alternative to beaming caves/networks between devices. However, data merge is not yet implemented; the restored cave/network can only overwrite the (existing) local cave/network.
| Form/Key | Calendar | Contacts | To Do | Notes | Calculator1 | Page Up2 | Page Down2 |
| Survey Shot | |||||||
| Survey Shot with Assistant | New shot |
||||||
| Map (Zoom) | |||||||
| Map (Info) | |||||||
| List | |||||||
| Auriga Keypad | |||||||
| Sketch | |||||||
| Others |
| Form/Key | Calendar | Contacts | Star (HotSync) | Page Up1 | Page Down1 |
| Survey Shot | |||||
| Survey Shot with Assistant | New shot |
||||
| Map (Zoom) | |||||
| Map (Info) | |||||
| List | |||||
| Auriga Keypad | |||||
| Sketch | |||||
| Others |
In the Survey Shot form under Assistant control, the brightness button creates a new survey shot or saves the current modified one.
In the Measures form, the brightness button pops up the Auriga custom keypad.
| Form/Action | Jog Up | Jog Down | Jog Push | Jog Back | Navigator Left | Navigator Right | Navigator Select |
| Main | |||||||
| Survey Shot | |||||||
| Survey Shot with Assistant | |||||||
| Session | |||||||
| Map | |||||||
| List | |||||||
| Auriga Keypad | |||||||
| Others |
The maximum number of computable survey shots is limited by available memory (RAM), as well as the amount of this memory the OS allocates for applications use ("heap"); this depends on device model and Palm OS version.
The minimum number of computable survey shots can be obtained with the Limits item of the Options menu. This estimate assumes an equal number of survey shots and stations. The maximum number of computable survey shots may be higher than the number reported if the cave has many interconnected passages, thus reducing the stations/shots ratio (and stations require almost twice as much computation memory as survey shots.) This estimate does not take into consideration memory used by sessions when computing caves (networks do not require memory for sessions.) If your cave has several sessions, the actual number of computable survey shots might be reduced. Moreover, this assumes that you are simply computing a cave and not displaying lists, which also require memory. If you display a list and later are unable to compute a cave, you might want to try exiting and reentering Auriga to then go straight to computing the map. Obviously, these manoeuvres are only necessary if your cave is close to the device memory limit. When computing a network, see the Network tab of the Network Details form for options to reduce the memory required by computations.
| Device | OS | RAM (Mb) |
CPU (MHz) |
Heap memory | Min. Cave Shots | Min. Network Shots | Min. Network "Light" Shots1 |
Screen Width (mm) |
| Palm III | ||||||||
| Palm III | ||||||||
| Palm IIIe | ||||||||
| Palm IIIx | ||||||||
| Palm IIIx | ||||||||
| Palm IIIxe | ||||||||
| Palm IIIc | ||||||||
| Palm m105 | ||||||||
| Palm m125 | ||||||||
| Palm m130 | ||||||||
| Palm Zire | ||||||||
| Palm Zire 22 | ||||||||
| Palm Zire 31 | ||||||||
| Palm Tungsten E | ||||||||
| Palm Tungsten 26 | ||||||||
| Palm Tungsten 36 | ||||||||
| Palm TX6 | ||||||||
| Life Drive6 | ||||||||
| Sony Clié S-360 | ||||||||
| Sony Clié SJ-22 |
Owners of devices not listed above are invited to run the Limits item of the Options menu and to report the results obtained.
Tip: if a cave is too large to be computed on a given device (Auriga then reports it could not allocate the graph), or if computations take too much time, it is possible to fragment the cave by exporting to another new cave only areas of current interest (as distinguished by specific sessions and/or series.) After adding new survey shots to this sub-cave, it is possible to merge this new data with the original cave by exporting the sub-cave back into the original cave. All this can obviously be done on the PC, but also in Auriga itself, because although a large cave may not be computable on some older hardware, importing and exporting caves is still possible.
For you information, here is a study on the battery duration of various devices.
Thus, a cave containing 100 survey shots is at least 6 Kbytes in size.
Minimum: Palm OS 3.0 or higher (runs on any Palm OS device since the Palm III)
Recommended: Palm OS 3.5 or higher
Uses 887 Kb of RAM.
Note: The User datum is offered only if the current cave or network defines it.
Note: Inputting up to the first 5 characters of the desired datum name triggers the datum list lookup in every form.
Note: With some datum, such as European 1950, Auriga offers the mean datum as well as local variants;
make sure you select the datum really used by your map or GPS.
| Adindan | Mean for Ethiopia, Sudan |
| Adindan Burkina Faso | Burkina Faso |
| Adindan Cameroon | Cameroon |
| Adindan Ethiopia | Ethiopia |
| Adindan Mali | Mali |
| Adindan Senegal | Senegal |
| Adindan Sudan | Sudan |
| Afgooye | Somalia |
| Ain el Abd 1970 Bahrain | Bahrain |
| Ain el Abd 1970 Saudi Arabia | Saudi Arabia |
| American Samoa 1962 | American Samoa Islands |
| Anna 1 Astro 1965 | Cocos Islands |
| Antigua Island Astro 1943 | Antigua (Leeward Islands) |
| Arc 1950 | Mean for Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Swaziland, Zaire, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
| Arc 1950 Botswana | Botswana |
| Arc 1950 Burundi | Burundi |
| Arc 1950 Lesotho | Lesotho |
| Arc 1950 Malawi | Malawi |
| Arc 1950 Swaziland | Swaziland |
| Arc 1950 Zaire | Zaire |
| Arc 1950 Zambia | Zambia |
| Arc 1950 Zimbabwe | Zimbabwe |
| Arc 1960 | Mean for Kenya, Tanzania |
| Arc 1960 Kenya | Kenya |
| Arc 1960 Taanzania | Taanzania |
| Ascension Island 1958 | Ascension Island |
| Astro B4 Sorol Atoll | Astro B4 Sorol Atoll |
| Astro Beacon E 1945 | Iwo Jima |
| Astro DOS 71/4 | St Helena Island |
| Astro Tern Island (FRIG) 1961 | Tern Island |
| Astronomical Station 1952 | Marcus Island |
| Australian Geodetic 1966 | Australia, Tasmania |
| Australian Geodetic 1984 | Australia, Tasmania |
| Ayabelle Lighthouse | Djibouti |
| Belgium 72 | Belgium |
| Bellevue (IGN) | Efate and Erromango Islands |
| Bermuda 1957 | Bermuda |
| Bissau | Guinea-Bissau |
| Bogota Observatory | Colombia |
| Bukit Rimpah | Indonesia (Bangka and Belitung Islands) |
| Camp Area Astro | Antarctica (McMurdo Camp Area) |
| Campo Inchauspe | Argentina |
| Canton Astro 1966 | Phoenix Islands |
| Cape South Africa | South Africa |
| Cape Canaveral | Bahamas, Florida |
| Carthage | Tunisia |
| CH1903 | Switzerland |
| Chatham Island Astro 1971 | New Zealand (Chatham Island) |
| Chua Astro | Paraguay |
| Corrego Alegre | Brazil |
| Dabola | Guinea |
| Deception Island | Deception Island, Antarctica |
| Djakarta (Batavia) | Indonesia (Sumatra) |
| DOS 1968 | New Georgia Islands (Gizo Island) |
| Easter Island 1967 | Easter Island |
| Estonia Coordinate System 1937 | Estonia |
| European 1950 | Mean for Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, W Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland |
| ED50 Cyprus | Cyprus |
| ED50 Egypt | Egypt |
| ED50 England | England, Ireland, Scotland, Shetland Islands |
| ED50 Finland | Finland, Norway |
| ED50 Greece | Greece |
| ED50 Iran | Iran |
| ED50 Italy (Sardinia) | Italy (Sardinia) |
| ED50 Italy (Sicilia) | Italy (Sicily) |
| ED50 Malta | Malta |
| ED50 Gulf | Mean for Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria |
| ED50 Portugal/Spain | Portugal, Spain |
| ED50 Tunisia | Tunisia |
| ETRS89 | Europe |
| European 1979 | Mean for Austria, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland |
| Finland Hayford | Finland Hayford |
| Fort Thomas 1955 | Nevis, St. Kitts (Leeward Islands) |
| Gan 1970 | Republic of Maldives |
| Gandajika Base | Gandajika Base |
| Geodetic Datum 1949 | New Zealand |
| Graciosa Base SW 1948 | Azores (Faial, Graciosa, Pico, Sao Jorge, Terceira) |
| Guam 1963 | Guam |
| Gunung Segara | Indonesia (Kalimantan) |
| GUX 1 Astro | Guadalcanal Island |
| Herat North | Afghanistan |
| Hermannskogel Datum | Croatia -Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina |
| Hjorsey 1955 | Iceland |
| Hong Kong 1963 | Hong Kong |
| Hu-Tzu-Shan | Taiwan |
| Indian Nepal | India, Nepal |
| Indian Pakistan | Pakistan |
| Indian Bangladesh | Bangladesh |
| Indian 1954 Thailand | Thailand |
| Indian 1960 Con Son Island | Vietnam (Con Son Island) |
| Indian 1960 Vietnam | Vietnam (Near 16 N) |
| Indian 1975 Thailand | Thailand |
| Indonesian 1974 | Indonesia |
| Ireland 1965 | Ireland |
| ISTS 061 Astro 1968 | South Georgia Islands |
| ISTS 073 Astro 1969 | Diego Garcia |
| ITRF92 | |
| Johnston Island 1961 | Johnston Island |
| Kandawala | Sri Lanka |
| Kerguelen Island 1949 | Kerguelen Island |
| Kertau 1948 | West Malaysia and Singapore |
| Kusaie Astro 1951 | Caroline Islands |
| Korean Geodetic System | South Korea |
| L. C. 5 Astro 1961 | Cayman Brac Island |
| Lambert 2005 | Belgium |
| Lambert 2008 | Belgium |
| Leigon | Ghana |
| Liberia 1964 | Liberia |
| Luzon Philippines | Philippines (Excluding Mindanao) |
| Luzon Mindanao | Philippines (Mindanao) |
| M'Poraloko | Gabon |
| Mahe 1971 | Mahe Island |
| Marco Astro | Marco Astro |
| Massawa | Ethiopia (Eritrea) |
| Merchich | Morocco |
| Midway Astro 1961 | Midway Islands |
| Minna Cameroon | Cameroon |
| Minna Nigeria | Nigeria |
| Montserrat Island Astro 1958 | Montserrat (Leeward Islands) |
| Nahrwan Oman | Oman (Masirah Island) |
| Nahrwan Saudi Arabia | Saudi Arabia |
| Nahrwan United Arab Emirates | United Arab Emirates |
| Naparima BWI | Trinidad and Tobago |
| NAD27 Alaska | Alaska (Excluding Aleutian Ids) |
| NAD27 Bahamas | Bahamas (Except San Salvador Id) |
| NAD27 Canada | Mean for Canada |
| NAD27 Canal Zone | Canal Zone |
| NAD27 Caribbean | Mean for Antigua, Barbados, Barbuda, Caicos Islands, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Grand Cayman, Jamaica, Turks Islands |
| NAD27 Central America | Mean for Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua |
| NAD27 Conus | Mean for Conus |
| NAD27 Cuba | Cuba |
| NAD27 Greenland | Greenland (Hayes Peninsula) |
| NAD27 Mexico | Mexico |
| NAD27 San Salvador | Bahamas (San Salvador Island) |
| NAD83 | Canada USA |
| North Sahara 1959 | Algeria |
| Nlle Triangulation Française | Nlle Triangulation Francaise |
| Observatorio 1966 | Observatorio 1966 Azores |
| Observatorio Meteorologico 1939 | Azores (Corvo and Flores Islands) |
| Ocotepeque 1935 | Costa Rica (Stentz) |
| Old Egyptian 1907 | Egypt |
| Old Hawaiian | Mean for Hawaii, Kauai, Maui, Oahu |
| Oman | Oman |
| Ordnance Survey UK 1936 | Mean for England, Isle of Man, Scotland, Shetland Islands, Wales |
| Pico de las Nieves | Canary Islands |
| Pitcairn Astro 1967 | Pitcairn Island |
| Point 58 | Mean for Burkina Faso and Niger |
| Pointe Noire 1948 | Congo |
| Porto Santo 1936 | Porto Santo, Madeira Islands |
| Provisional South American 1956 | Mean for Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Venezuela |
| Prov S Am 56 Bolivia | Bolivia |
| Prov S Am 56 N. Chile | Chile (Northern; Near 19 S) |
| Prov S Am 56 S. Chile | Chile (Southern; Near 43 S) |
| Prov S Am 56 Colombia | Colombia |
| Prov S Am 56 Ecuador | Ecuador |
| Prov S Am 56 Guyana | Guyana |
| Prov S Am 56 Peru | Peru |
| Prov S Am 56 Venezuela | Venezuela |
| Provisional South Chilean 1963 | Chile (Near 53 S) (Hito XVIII) |
| Puerto Rico | Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands |
| Pulkovo 1942 | Russia |
| Qatar National | Qatar |
| Qornoq | Greenland (South) |
| Reunion | Mascarene Islands |
| Rome 1940 | Italy (Sardinia) |
| RT 90 Sweden | RT 90 Sweden |
| S-42 (Pulkovo 1942) Hungary | Hungary |
| S-42 (Pulkovo 1942) Poland | Poland |
| S-42 (Pulkovo 1942) Czechoslovakia | Czechoslovakia |
| S-42 (Pulkovo 1942) Latvia | Latvia |
| S-42 (Pulkovo 1942) Kazakhstan | Kazakhstan |
| S-42 (Pulkovo 1942) Albania | Albania |
| S-42 (Pulkovo 1942) Romania | Romania |
| S-JTSK | Czechoslovakia (Prior 1 JAN 1993) |
| Santo (DOS) 1965 | Espirito Santo Island |
| Sao Braz | Azores (Sao Miguel, Santa Maria Ids) |
| Sapper Hill 1943 | East Falkland Island |
| Schwarzeck | Namibia |
| Selvagem Grande 1938 | Salvage Islands |
| Sierra Leone 1960 | Sierra Leone |
| South American 1969 | Mean for Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, Venezuela |
| SA69 Argentina | Argentina |
| SA69 Bolivia | Bolivia |
| SA69 Brazil | Brazil |
| SA69 Chile | Chile |
| SA69 Colombia | Colombia |
| SA69 Ecuador | Ecuador |
| SA69 Galapagos | Ecuador (Baltra, Galapagos) |
| SA69 Guyana | Guyana |
| SA69 Paraguay | Paraguay |
| SA69 Peru | Peru |
| SA69 Trinidad and Tobago | Trinidad and Tobago |
| SA69 Venezuela | Venezuela |
| South Asia | Singapore |
| Southeast Base | Southeast Base - Maderia |
| Southwest Base | Southwest Base - Azores |
| Tananarive Observatory 1925 | Madagascar |
| Timbalai 1948 | Brunei, E. Malaysia (Sabah Sarawak) |
| Tokyo | Mean for Japan, South Korea, Okinawa |
| Tristan Astro 1968 | Tristan da Cunha |
| Viti Levu 1916 | Fiji (Viti Levu Island) |
| Voirol 1960 | Algeria |
| Wake Island Astro 1952 | Wake Atoll |
| Wake-Eniwetok 1960 | Marshall Islands |
| WGS 1960 | Global Definition |
| WGS 1966 | Global Definition |
| WGS 1972 | Global Definition |
| WGS 1984 | Global Definition |
| Yacare | Uruguay |
| Zanderij | Suriname |
Auriga Web site:
www.speleo.qc.ca/Auriga
©Luc Le Blanc, MMXII
Document last updated 2012-02-24