http://www.softrock.com.au/news/category/whats_happening/6 en-us copyright 07/7/2012 720 http://www.softrock.com.au/news/whats_happening/new_team_members_joining_softrock_this_week/30 Softrock is proud to announce that it has two new team members that have joined us this week. Kevin is our new Technical consultant and Lloyd is our new Store person. We believe that each team member contributes directly to Softrock's growth and success and we are looking forward to seeing what they can bring to the table. We hope their experience at Softrock will be challenging, enjoyable, and rewarding. 20/01/2012 http://www.softrock.com.au/news/whats_happening/spot_connect_now_in_stock/29 Today's smartphones provide a level of social connection far beyond what we imagined just a few years ago. But when you go beyond the reach of the grid, your smartphone needs the help of SPOT Connect to keep you in touch with friends, family, and emergency personnel. Simply pair your smartphone with SPOT Connect, and get connected to a global satellite network that lets you send messages and GPS coordinates from virtually anywhere on the planet. Update Twitter and Facebook. Send email and text messages. Request non-emergency help from professional service providers. And in the case of a critical emergency, send an SOS message requesting emergency assistance. For more information and to purchase this device See our sister site www.findmespot.net.au     4/01/2012 http://www.softrock.com.au/news/whats_happening/new_improved_pit_alarm_sent_to_agnew_mine/28 A new improved pit alarm was sent to Agnew Mine this week for their Songvang pit. The previous design utilized a piezo electronic siren which proved to be inadequate on the busy pit floor. A high output Klaxen motorised siren is now used which should be more than adequate.     22/12/2011 http://www.softrock.com.au/news/whats_happening/leica_cr_kennedy_and_softrock_strengthen_relationship_to_improve_services_and_outcomes_for_clients/26 Senior Delegates from Leica, CR Kennedy and Softrock have met over the past couple of days to work on ways they can strengthen the existing business relationship to improve services and outcomes for clients. Outcomes include working on providing more complete hardware maintenance agreements to include instrument servicing and repairs as well as seamless post service testing by Softrock for instruments serviced by any CR Kennedy service centre (not just in Perth). The 3 companies will all meet again early in the new year to share additional ideas and formalise their existing arrangements as well as provide some mutual training in their combined hardware and software. 16/12/2011 http://www.softrock.com.au/news/whats_happening/autoslope_health_check_feature_added/24 Autoslope is now available with the ability to check itself for continuity. Every 60 seconds, Autoslope will check the time lapse since the last database write. If this is over XX minutes, then a SYSTEM alarm will be sounded. The SYSTEM alarm will be visible in the Autoslope warnings window, but is also available for our physical office alarm below.  This device communicates via TCP/IP or serial.   7/12/2011 http://www.softrock.com.au/news/whats_happening/rain_gauge_now_available_at_softrock/23 With the release of Autoweather v2.0.12, you can now add a free standing rain gauge to your current system, without having to purchase a full blown weather station. The new Autoweather software allows you to run your current weather for temperature & pressure, with the added advantage of using a secondary unit, which in this case is the rain gauge. The rain gauge is an Environdata RG20, contact us today for a quote!   1/12/2011 http://www.softrock.com.au/news/whats_happening/50_discount_for_clients_wishing_to_upgrade_from_quikslope4_to_quikslope5/22 QuikSlope5 takes over from QuikSlope 4 as the analytical tool for graphical and plan data. It is also capable of interpreting GeoMoS data, providing GeoMoS users with the perfect tool for data analysis which is creating a real buzz in the industry. All prism measurements are stored on a Microsoft SQL 2005 server for maximum performance and security. Main Features of Quikslope5: • SQL 2005 data integrity• Autoslope & GeoMoS compatible• Able to import raw and calculated survey data collected manually• Powerful graphing edit tools do not affect original raw data• Velocity over 24 hours, 12 hours or user defined hours. All expressed as mm/day• Manage prisms by cluster with no restrictions. Select prisms graphically• Many graph types, multiple prisms and scatter plots• Overlay birds eye view showing current prism location• Graph spikes and steps can be marked as invisible• Draw gradient line on graph• Set any point graphically as benchmark• Automatic management of an active prism list• Integrated 3D CAD capability• Prism locations in CAD• Presentation data in CAD shows degrees of movement• Data filtering at any stage• Reports showing latest movements, direction and dip.   We are confident that Quisklope5 will become the new industry standard in Slope monitoring data analysis and management. Existing QuikSlope4 users will find Quikslop5 to be the next logical step in the evolution of the QuikSlope series software. Contact us today for a quote! 24/11/2011 http://www.softrock.com.au/news/whats_happening/50_discount_for_autoslope_users_to_migrate_to_geomos/21 Softrock is proud to announce that we have negotiated special pricing with Leica Geosystems and can now offer a 50% Discount for existing Autoslope users wishing to migrate to Leica GeoMos for a limited time. Message from Leica Geosystems: ‘Each monitoring project has specific measurement and accuracy requirements. The Leica GeoMoS software provides a highly flexible automatic deformation monitoring system that is able to combine geodetic, geotechnical and meteorological sensors to match the needs of your monitoring project, whether it is large or small, temporary or permanent’ We consider the Leica GeoMos Controller software to be the premier automated monitoring solution in the world today and we are delighted to be able to deliver this amazing offer to our Autoslope clients. Contact us today for a quote! 24/11/2011 http://www.softrock.com.au/news/whats_happening/new_manager_clint_van_der_loon/19 Clint van der Loon has been working at Softrock since 2007.  In that time he has proved himself to be adept at both the technical and management aspects of our business.  So who better than to manage Softrock Solutions!  "Softrock is now at a crossroads, and it is important that we have a strong, young management team, to deal with an exciting new world." said Bernie Malone the CEO.  "I will have less and less to do with the daily operations of the company, and I look forward to seeing Clint's vision coming to reality."         13/09/2011 http://www.softrock.com.au/news/whats_happening/lecia_viva_ts15s_now_available_at_softrock/18 Whether you want to stake-out an object on a construction site or you need accurate measurements of a tunnel or a bridge; whether you want to determine the area of a parcel of land or need the position of a power pole or to capture objects for as-built maps – you need reliable and precise data. Leica Viva combines a wide range of innovative products designed to meet the daily challenges for all positioning tasks. The simple yet powerful and versatile Leica Viva hardware and software innovations are redefi ning state-of-the-art technology to deliver maximum performance and productivity. Leica Viva gives you the inspiration to make your ambitious visions come true. Chekc out the Product Brochure here: Download Brochure Contact us today for a Quote! 30/08/2011 http://www.softrock.com.au/news/whats_happening/softrock_installs_first_automated_prism_monitoring_system_in_china/17 Softrock is proud to announce that they have started working with Eldorado Gold’s site Jinfeng in China to provide them with a complete automated prism monitoring solution. This is the first automated site Softrock are working on with Eldorado Gold and the very first automated prism monitoring system to be installed in China. Softrock look forward to a long lasting relationship with Eldorado Gold to assist them in keeping their staff and equipment safe. 21/07/2011 http://www.softrock.com.au/news/whats_happening/softrock_now_working_with_bhp_billitons_site_area_c/16 Softrock is proud to announce that they have started working with BHP Billiton’s site Area C to provide a complete automated slope monitoring solution. This is now the fifth automated site that Softrock are working with BHP Billiton on and they are delighted to assist BHP Billiton in keeping its staff and equipment safe. 21/07/2011 http://www.softrock.com.au/news/whats_happening/softrock_will_be_at_slope_stability_symposium_2011/15 Softrock is delighted to be showing at the Slope Stability Symposium in Vancouver on September 2011. Slope Stability 2011 held in the heart of downtown Vancouver at the Sheraton Wall Centre will explore recent innovation and key developments in the design, analysis, excavation and management of rock slopes. Slope Stability 2011 will provide a forum for mine owners and operators, consultants, engineers, suppliers and researchers to exchange views on how to promote best practices in slope stability investigations, design, monitoring and management. Slope Stability 2011September 18-21, 2011Sheraton VancouverVancouver, Canada See www.slopestability2011.ca for details 15/07/2011 http://www.softrock.com.au/news/whats_happening/quikslope5_to_be_released_in_august/14 Quikslope5 is in the final testing phase before release! After 2 years of beta testing and receiving valuable feedback from the mining industry, we are pleased to announce that Quikslope5 will be released in August. We have added many powerful features that we are sure will be well received. 15/07/2011 http://www.softrock.com.au/news/whats_happening/latest_program_downloads_are_available/12 Quikslope4 Quikslope v 4.705 is now ready for download. Dated 8-Feb-2011.  "Velocity" recalculations and expended blunder distance to 5000mm/day instead of 500mm/day.   Autoslope Autoslope v 6.1 build 802 is now ready for download. Dated 8-Feb-2011.  Removed facility to resolve email address names when using Outlook.  Results in less problems when using Outlook. Improved Leica measurement routines. Added single face ability to read prims Better facilities when using the CSV alarm feature. Fixed some bugs in adding new prisms Must use new Autotools and AutoXYZ programs with all new Autoslopes.   Quikcom Quikcom v4.14 has been upgraded to run on modern fast computers.  It has some new functionality as well.     8/02/2011 http://www.softrock.com.au/news/whats_happening/mitrais_-_our_software_developer/10 Software development partnership will elevate Australian mining software to world’s best Softrock's Bernie Malone predicts great success for the slope monitoring software Quikslope5   2010-11-10 05:25:25 - West Australian company Softrock Solutions has launched the newest version of its Quikslope software which will elevate it to the world’s best solution for slope monitoring in the mining industry. Quikslope5 has been developed by Mitrais, an international IT company based in Bali, in a partnership forged with Softrock Solutions. Quikslope5 positions Softrock Solutions a long way ahead of other slope monitoring software products says founder and general manager, Bernie Malone.Quikslope software is installed at more than 70 Softrock customer sites to manually or automatically monitor the movement of slopes typically found in the walls of open cut mines. These walls move at various speeds and amounts, depending on the rock structures and stresses around them. When the speed of movement becomes too high there is a risk of massive earth slips that can result in death or injury to mine personnel, loss of mine equipment, loss of production or loss of access into the pit. Mr. Malone decided to form the partnership with Mitrais because “we wanted our development to be managed by a professional company rather than an individual.” “Quikslope5 is insurance against all product knowledge being vested solely in me. The relationship with Mitrais will ensure that ongoing development and support will be totally transparent for our organisation and our clients,” he said.   Until the release of Quikslope5 Mr. Malone was solely responsible for writing and maintaining the software in-house.He said “although this was a very good way to launch and upgrade the product through my experience as a user and a developer, it had the potential to demand too much of me.”   Over recent years the company trialed software development using contractors, hiring a consultancy and even with its own in house software engineer, without great success.Mr. Malone envisages a significant expansion in the Quikslope customer base, prompted in part by the very positive reaction Quikslope5 is receiving from Swiss company Leica Geosystems, the manufacturer of surveying equipment. Softrock has chosen to use a Leica SQL database as its data source with Quikslope5, opening the door to the potentially large market of Leica equipment users worldwide.  In a significant platform upgrade, Quikslope5 is based on VB.NET and SQL2005 technology.   About Mitrais Mitrais was established in 2000 to achieve excellence in software development using Indonesia as a base of operations. Its objective is to be the leading near shore provider of application development services to the Australian IT industry and a significant player in other countries. Mitrais is a Microsoft Gold Certified developer, an Oracle Gold Partner and has also certified products in SAP NetWeaver. In 2004 the company entered the health industry, developing the Mitrais Medical Suite which it sells globally. In 2007 it absorbed Mincom Indoservices to extend its operations into the sale and support of mining software (in particular from Mincom) in Indonesia. With offices in Bali, Jakarta, Bandung, Singapore and Sydney, Mitrais has more than 100 clients and employs more than 300 staff. For further information visit www.mitrais.com     10/11/2010 http://www.softrock.com.au/news/whats_happening/reflectorless_prisms/8 Reflectorless Prisms I had a good look at the reflectorless results on site and I have discovered an interesting phenomonen that is affecting the results. Autoslope records the new position of a prism after each recording so that it searches for the prism in that updated location the next time. This is so that prisms in fast moving environments continue to be tracked when they move and do not eventually move outside the instruments searching footprint. However what I am seeing with reflectorless measurements is that the position is drifting away from its original position at an accelerated rate. It creates a trend that looks like real movement but it is not real movement at all because real prisms in a similar area are only moving very slightly. Also some reflectorless prisms are drifting away more than others. What is causing this is the angled surface of the rock that is being measured to. Imagine shining a torch against a wall on an angle and you would see a small circle of light close to the torch but the circle would become larger and less bright as it moves away from the torch. If you were to shine the torch at the wall from directly in front (right angle) the circle of light would be nice and evenly round. Reflectorless measurements use light in the same way so what is happenning is the theoretical position of the prism is moving away slightly each time the prism is read and its position is updated. So how do we fix this??? Well the first thing I would like you to do is stop reading the reflectorless points you have in the system already as I don't want them to keep moving until they are lost or not positioned well. In the meantime we will look at modifying the way Autoslope handles reflectorless positions so that the position is not updated each time it is measured. We should get much better repeatability as a result. This might take a bit of work so please patient while we work through it but certainly the potential of the reflectorless monitoring is there when the right conditions are in place. I think this will prove to be a great tool once we sort out the repositioning effect. It is the first time it has been used in a real mining environment so we didn't know how it would work out but initial results look really promising guys.   Clint van der Loon 27/10/2010 http://www.softrock.com.au/news/whats_happening/softrock_announce_future_software_directions_/6 As a matter of importance, Softrock has made some decisions on software development, which may impact on the future plans of our clients.    AutoslopeToday, our Managing Director, Bernie Malone, has made this statement. Our current Autoslope program is written in Microsoft VB6.  This language is getting a little outdated now and Softrock has been designing an upgrade to Autoslope to be written in vb.net.  It is important that our programs are kept up to date so that they can operate affectively on the new OS platforms of the future.  After much discussion, we have decided to partner with Leica and use their GeoMos as our future control platform.  We are in the process of trialling Leica software at particular sites over the next 6 months and suggest to Leica any changes and additions that we feel should be made.  The reason for our decision to use GeoMos is threefold. The very high cost of re-writing Autoslope which would need to be outsourced. The range of instruments available to Autoslope has been reduced to the Leica range.  We originally started with the Geodimeter ATS which is now superseded.  The Topcon range didn’t lead to expectations. Trimble has not released their command codes to Softrock.  Leica instruments have always been reliable & accurate work horses for our software.  With this in mind, it is both practical and mutually beneficial for Softrock Solutions to align with Leica. Although the current Autoslope is a highly accurate and user-friendly product, we feel that using proprietary software from the instrument manufacturer is better QA in the long term.  This will mean that Softrock can focus on supplying the add-on software and tools that have no impact on the actual measurement process, but make the whole process a more rewarding experience.The reason for stating our intentions here is important because some of the functionality requested by our clients may already exist in GeoMos.  For example,there are 3 alarming levels.  The GeoMos software is quite powerful but is a little unfriendly to use in some ways. Softrock will be developing tools to ensure that GeoMos will have the same (or better) functionality than Autoslope.  GeoMos can also utilize GPS updates which will add a new degree of functionality and help maintain data accuracy in an automated capacity. This can be used to monitor and automatically adjust control or even monitor sensitive assets.  This feature, when used as a 24 hour average using the GNSS/GPS system, can attain accuracies well under 5mm.  QuikslopeQuikslope version 4 has been around for over 10 years.  We feel that it has lived up to its expectations and performed very well over this period.  There has been a steady stream of upgrades that are available to all registered users.  We see that the current version 4 will continue in its current form to around 2014. Again this program is written in Microsoft VB6 and has a limited life as new operating systems come into use.   Quikslope5Quikslope version 4 will be ultimately replaced with Quikslope5. You may be aware of our software product called“Analyzer”, which we hope will become the industry standard analysis tool for prism (and other) data. We are re-branding this product Quikslope5 to avoid any confusion with other products on the market.  Leica have a similar product called “Analyzer”, which is available with GeoMos. The Leica Analyzer is a fairly basic program, and it may be quite confusing to present 2 products with the same name. Quikslope5 will be compatible with both GeoMos and Autoslope databases.  It will be able to handle automated and manual data. It will include many advanced graphing, calculation, exporting, importing, and CAD tools.     SoftrockAlert SoftwareGeoMos has very extensive alerting features.  There can be three levels of alarm.  It can trigger on all sorts of items, but these alerts need to be managed and acted upon in some way.  SoftrockAlert is a new software product that will control all alarming features of GeoMos. It will be a standalone heartbeat type monitor with features like:               Graphical interface to show current measurements             Graphical interface to show current alerts             Email control for alerts             Email control for reports            SMS control for alerts            SMS control for reports           Alert on GeoMos Limit Class           Alert on sensor communication failure          Alert on data write failure          Control of physical alarms          3rd Party Alarming system connection Software Upgrades & Cost Autoslope to GeoMos upgrade will available in October 2010.  We expect there to be a nominal charge for this in a special upgrade offer to be announced soon. There will be a nominal upgrade fee from Quikslope v4 to Quikslope5. SoftrockAlert will be released in December 2010. Support & Maintenance Current support costs will be maintained with minimal annual increases. Support for Quikslope v4 and Autoslope will continue till 2014.  This support will be available to users of operating systems up to Windows7, running in XP mode. Support for Leica GeoMos and GPS Spider will be available. Training & Support Softrock is committed to providing high levels of support and training.  Training manuals and videos to be available to users on the web site Software upgrades will be available to registered users. Phone & email support is also available for all Leica and Softrock products that we sell.  Why upgrade at all? You don’t have to!  Softrock will support your current software and hardware till at least 2014. By upgrading to GeoMos, you can be assured that your organization will be working at global best practice and industry highest standard. Softrock can concentrate on the integration of survey total stations, GNSS/GPS units, inclinometers, extensometers and piezos, all in the same SQL database. For a limited time, Softrock will be offering discounted pricing for existing customers to upgrade from their existing software and training based at the Softrock Solutions office making the changeover as affordable and efficient as possible.  Softrock will continue to provide systems integration, training and support for both Leica products and our traditional software. We look forward to providing an even better level of support for a new and exciting product range utilizing the latest technologies available. I would like to thank our current clients for your support through the years.  I think that this new direction for Softrock will be of great benefit to you. It will ensure a universal approach to monitoring, which strengthen staff understanding and training.  It ensures a high level of data security and the ability to audit any process. We trust that you will also see this as a positive step forward for the industry as a whole as we move towards the next generation of slope monitoring solutions.     Thank you so much,    BernieMalone General Manager June 25th, 2010   25/06/2010