The following are the major and minor feature updates available in the latest release:
6.70.01 Sept 3 2015
After backing up your database folder, you should uninstall the previous version of Quick Pole and re-install this new one. There is no need to delete any files or folders unless the uninstall didn't remove the c:/Program Files/quickpole directory.
This is large change for Quick Pole with an updated GIS and application framework, plus the movement to support and run on Java 8. Java 8 will be installed and will only be known to Quick Pole. Aside from these changes, the largest change has been to split the one database that was used for Reference Standards/items, Project Files and User items into separate databases. This should not matter to Users at this point, but this will enable us to grow Quick Pole properly.
With the splitting of the databases, the project files will contain pointers to the data in the Reference and User Databases and will no longer include that data in the project file itself. The Reference Database will be re-instated on each startup of Quick Pole from a fresh copy; ensuring that the pointers in the project files can never become broken. This makes project files much smaller than previously, which will help enable other features in the near future.
On the opening of a project, each pointer in the project file will be validated that it points to valid data and will display messages in the main tab of the project (near the bottom) for any issues with this matching. Most issues seen were for projects that were using items from the User database. Whenever possible, the matching will occur with the User Database just as it would for the Reference Database. It is expected that some re-match of User items will be necessary for previous projects, or a re-matching to the desired Reference Database items (preferred). With previous versions of Quick Pole, items that could not be matched properly during the import of projects were placed in the User Database area and linked to the project items from there. This is the primary reason why you may have miss-matches in previously generated Quick Pole projects with this version. This is also related to some users getting different results when importing the same project.
In addition to these internal changes to Quick Pole, this release contains some new features and a few bug fixes:
1. Feature - Adoption of Guy/Anchor strength factors to 0.90. This is equivalent to an overload factor of 1.1. This was the only thing missing from full compliance with the latest CSA standard as Quick Pole has always been ahead of all other changes. You can see the effect in the Guy and Anchor Tension report as the difference between required strength and factored strength. For a full listing of all overload and strength factors, click on a pole in the Plan View and then scroll down the list of Properties on the right.
2. Feature - When selecting multiple poles in the Plan View and attempting to move them, previously any connected buildings did not also move. Now any connected buildings to the poles being moved will move along with these poles by the same relative amounts. This keeps the span distances and angles the same.
3. Feature - Clearances for overhead guys is now calculated and displayed like other spans.
4. Feature - You can now fix the Wind Direction on a per pole basis to get different views on how the structure will react.
5. Feature(minor) - A prefix of "Down Guy" or "OH Guy" was added to the message screen to help better identify guy wires in the list.
6. Feature - The Strand Attachments Dialog and Power Attachments Dialogs remember your preferences in "From & To" directions between each other and for the lifetime that the project is opened and being edited.
7. Feature - Autoupdate of Quick pole has been disabled to better enable the Beta testing process by key users. Forcing an update is still available through Help->Check for Updates. The Start screen will announce the availability of new updates once Beta testing is complete.
8. Feature - The Service tensions are now available as per standard via the Reference Database values (such as USF), or can be adjusted downwards (if possible) using the Triplex Tension Study results of enabling 0.4m of vertical sag below the building attachment point at installation time. This is an option that is available on the Project Settings tab. The default is to include this scenario. In spans over 25m, this option often has little effect as the standard tension is the limiting factor. Results can be seen in the Detailed Sags and Tensions reports. This same feature is available for Communication wires and strands to buildings as it is common for communications to sag their plant matching the power attachment directly above. In addition for both Power and Communication service wire attachments, The "Service Tensions" Checkbox will always be set when going from a pole to a building. Also, editing the pole attachment height, the building attachment height will automatically follow by 2.0m. Editing the building attachment height will not change the pole height.
Again, this version requires a re-install of Quick Pole. Make a backup copy of your databases prior to starting this process. After installing, your current database will be updated automatically to the new configuration.
6.70.03 Sept 15 2015
The following has been added to this update:
1) Generating reports at the Project Level should now appear in the same order as shown in the analysis tree.
2) Angles in reports and other Windows/Dialogs are now limited to positive values only (no negative angles).
3) Clicking on a span will show additional information in the properties window. The angle and angle complement will show you the poles the angle is created from (77 degrees P6 to P7). Elevation change is now also listed.
4) Span measurements for items shorter than 15 meters are hidden in the project view, but can be seen by selecting the span and looking at the properties window. This is to help de-clutter the plan view.
6.70.04 Sept 17 2015
The export function was updated to include in the exported file, all "User" database items included in the project(s). The import function was adjusted to look for this extra data and adapt accordingly.
With this change, the import of projects and KML file data have been separated out into different menu items. As a result, importing a project file is also much faster now.
6.70.07 Sept 23 2015
Version 6.70.07 has just been uploaded that moves buildings and anchors at the same time via the Nudge tool, Pole Sequence Loader, Bulk Edit Tool, plus a graphical move with the mouse.
6.70.08 Sept 23 2015
Detecting excessive tension on Service Masts has just been added to Quick Pole 6.70.08. The actual max tension from the Attachment Load Non-Linearity(if used) is compared with a fixed value of 2649N (from CEC part 1). The note says to check the attachment manually, since it may not actually be a service mast attachment.
This detection is enabled on the Project Settings tab of the project. You can set this detection as either a Warning or an Error. These settings are saved with the project.
6.70.09 Sep 30 2015
1) The full list of Clearance categories available in the CSA and NESC codes are now available to be selected. In addition, higher AC and DC voltages can be selected for Power wires and the required clearance requirement will be determined. Previously only the most common voltages were supported.
2) The Pole Sequence Loader has been enhanced to show the resulting span angles between the poles. Also the manner in which this feature is activated has changed. To start you right-click on the desired starting pole and select the "Prepare Actions from here..." menu item. You then can select the poles desired in the sequence either individually by holding down the Control key and selecting individual poles, or by selecting a wide are of poles. Previously only the latter option was available.
3) Point Loads can now be entered using X and Z component forces in addition to the previous method of entering the resulting tension and the direction.
4) Span guys between poles can now be copied and pasted to other spans.
5) The "Tag" field for attachments that allowed you to identify the owner of a strand (Rogers/Bell, etc) is now both visible and edit-able in the Structure Details Dialog. You can also identify the anchor owner there as well.
6.70.12 Oct 7 2015
This update has some re-worked messages for whenever the Line of Sight is violated. This info will always tell you how close the other wire is, regardless of wire type. There is no need to interpret other reports.
6.70.14 Oct 8 2015
The messages related to the neutral sagging below the line of sight have been re-tested. Some adjustments were made and should be even more useful now. The setting for Neutral wires will cause the message to become a Warning as opposed to an error, whenever it is a CSA violation. Over 75 meters in accordance with CSA prints a message in grey and is not a warning or error.
6.70.15 Oct 10 2015
1. The removal of the label to buildings when the distance is less than 15 meters was intentional in the previous release. It was an attempt to de-clutter the work Plan. What was left was the ability to click on the span to see the length and angle over in the Properties Window. This could be a problem to place the building properly on short spans. We have changed this so that while you are moving the building, you will always see the length and angle. Once you stop moving it, the label will disappear.
FYI: You do have the ability to move the labels themselves just by dragging them. Their new locations won't be remembered by Quick Pole though. It's just short-term help.
2. The ability to set a pole for Attachment Non-Linearity while it is disabled at the project level.
When a project is opened it is thoroughly reviewed to check every item that the project points. It validates that every one of these linkages is correct. Whenever there is a mis-match, it will generate a message and sometimes provide a default item as a reasonable first guess. All messages suggest they need to be fixed or reviewed.
6.70.20 Oct 22 2015
In this update we have two new features, plus some database updates.
Features: In the Structure Details Dialog you can now associate up to 11 pictures and up to five pdf documents with a particular pole. The pictures and documents are not stored in the database, only the file pointers to them. We had disabled this feature for the last number of months as storing the files in the database was really slowing down the application. All the standard features of Viewers you would expect are there, except being able to mark them up permanently. The help file and manual are up to date with these features.
Database: The spun secondary wires for Enersource have been included in in the database. Some validation on tensions with Enersource is outstanding at the moment; however the values would be on the safe side for use until confirmation is received. The lower value for USF 3/0 AACSR spun secondary received has been updated for all span lengths.
6.70.23 Oct 24 2015
Two features have been added to Quick Pole:
1) For Projects that were imported via KML files, or otherwise have the GIS coordinates of at least one pole set, you can now launch Google StreetView by right-clicking on a pole. It brings up Google Maps and identifies the pole location so that you can run StreetView from there.
2) Sidewalk fixtures now show their capacity utilization in the messages and reports. Following the utilization results is the actual load and de-rated capacity due to buckling. The size of the pipe is automatically up-sized from a 2" SCH40 pipe to a 2.5" SCH40 pipe, if necessary for capacity reasons. Warnings are generated whenever a pipe needs to be up-sized, or it is longer than 10 feet, the USF standard. Both cases require 2.5" SCH40 pipe. Apparently the Bell standard now is lengths up to 6 feet are 2" and up to 12 feet is 2.5". USF standard is 2.0" up to 10 feet. Default height/width in Structure Details Dialog set to USF standards (3.3/3.048m).
C83 Requirements: Maximum compression rating for the hardware of 70,000 Newtons is tested and generates an error if it is exceeded. Tension differences in each attached guy wire at the end point between upper guy wire and wire to the ground cannot exceed 13,000 Newtons. An error message is generated if exceeded. If not, the tension difference is provided for informational purposes.
6.70.30 Nov 10 2015
This version has improvements in how well it can accurately determine if a pole is stable or unstable. When poles are very close to being unstable, but actually are not, it becomes increasingly difficult for algorithms to tell the difference. These changes have been tested and show much improvement. Along with theses changes, the Linear, Nonlinear basic, guying non-linearity and attachment load non-linearity features have all been re-certified.
In addition there is one more analysis option added that separates Attachment Non-Linearity into a basic version that responds inline only, with an additional option to include geometric effects. The second option is the one that allows Attachment Non-linearity to help support wind load from partial angle changes caused from pole deflection.
Nov 26 2015 6.70.34
This update has further improved the stability of poles that are using Attachment Non-linearity.
In a previous release we adjusted the effects of Attachment Non-linearity due to pole deflections to assume that the adjacent poles moved as well. This was an attempt to make the maximum tensions of wires to fall within more reasonable limits, under actual field conditions. This adjustment has been removed in this release to better align with CSA standards.
Service Triplexes will continue to be tested against the limits of typical service masts.
Nov 30 2015 6.70.38
We added an option in the project settings to allow the tensions to go to 100%. It is off by default, so normally they will go to 70% for Attachment Nonlinearity. As before, 60 % for just geometric nonlinearity.
Dec 6 2015 6.70.40
In this update, Quick Pole is now able to open project files from versions prior to 6.40.xx.
Also, it better identifies span guy wires that are slack when analyzing a particular pole that does not require their support. It does this by customizing the appropriate messages. The other pole end that requires its support would not see this message. This should be helpful as the only other way to determine which end is slack is to review the guy segments loading report.
6.70.42 Dec 9 2015
New functionality:
- Attachment Non-Linearity error messages now only appear against poles that have this feature enabled, even though they are associated with a span between two poles.
- Several USF wire tensions were updated to agree with the latest version. The major change was to a couple of spun buss secondaries
Changed behavior
- The default setting for new projects is now to allow RTS tests on Attachment Nonlinearity effects to go to 100%. Users should check their existing projects after the update to ensure the message setting is still what they want to use.
6.70.45 Dec 14 2015
Database changes - Several insulators of various voltages have been added to the Master list. They include both pole top and typical USF side mounted insulators (15 degree slope)
Structure Details Dialog - When the pole class, height or species is changed, any values present in the Depth of Setting, Height above ground or groundline circumference, will be retained. Previously they were reset, but now we have a better understanding of how they are being used. Also, we reverted back to storing the groundline circumference field if it is in a warning state (orange). Red error-ed fields are never retained or used in any way.
Settings - We have added the ability to set Quick Pole to never automatically download and install an update. This is found in Tools->Options->Quick Pole Settings. Reminders may be added in the future if a user's software is getting really out of date.
6.70.48
A couple of other changes are implemented in this version:
1: The Building Icon on the main Plan View has been made smaller and the minimum span distance for the span distance labels to be displayed has been reduced from 15m to 10m. This is an adjustment to the previous change to help reduce visual clutter.
2. When entering spans from poles to buildings: If the building height is entered first, it will not reset to the pole attachment height - 2.0m. Otherwise it will as an entry assistance.
6.70.49 Dec 26th
In the Guy and Anchor Summary report we changed the title for guy strains to maximum guy strains as it is the worst of the upper or lower guy tensions on sidewalk struts that is reported. Under some conditions of multiple guys on sidewalk struts, the top segment could be slack and the bottom portion under tension; due to clamping at the end of the strut. We adjusted the messages in that case not to report the whole guy as slack, as you would then have a slack guy with some %utilization, which would be confusing.
As before, the guy %utilization is based on the maximum tension of any portion of the same wire. In The Attachment Loads report, only the loads from the guy wires applied to the pole is included. In the case of sidewalk guys, both ends can be quite different. This includes the bending moments caused by its vertical load applied to the side of the pole. In case some values seem confusing with sidewalk guys, it is suggested to take the Guy Segment Reports and draw a diagram from them showing all the forces from each guy segment.