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Android app · Data collector or phone

Your Windows Mobile programs, on Android

TopoMan WCE runs Windows Mobile 6.5 surveying programs on an Android data collector or phone, unmodified and connected to the total station and the GNSS. It is compatible with the main field programs: MicroSurvey FieldGenius 12, Spectra Precision Survey Pro 6 and Carlson SurvCE 6, tested in demo mode.

Download the APKPricingSee what it does

The app includes no third-party program: you install yours from its .CAB, with its own license.

It is not an emulator

An emulator simulates a whole device inside another one, which is why it tends to be slow. TopoMan WCE does not simulate any Windows Mobile or any data collector: it runs the actual program, and that is why it runs smoothly.

It runs directly on the processor

The original program is loaded as it is, and its instructions are executed directly by the processor of the Android device.

A layer of its own plays the part of Windows Mobile

When the program asks for a window, a file or a COM port, the TopoMan WCE layer answers using what Android has: the screen, Bluetooth, USB and GPS.

Smoother than on the original data collector

An Android device today has far more processor than a Windows Mobile data collector. The program opens in seconds, and on a South H8 the FieldGenius map moves at about 60 frames per second.

The newest phones no longer run 32-bit programs. On them, the same app adds a translator that converts the program's code on the fly: there is still no simulated Windows Mobile, and on a Galaxy S25 Ultra it feels smooth.

What it does

All screenshots are from a South H8 data collector with Android 11, with the app in Spanish.

Your usual program, untouched

It is not a new version or an imitation: it is your same program, with its menus and its way of working, so there is nothing to learn again and it handles just as it did on the old data collector.

  • FieldGenius 12.2: projects, map, DXF and ASCII import and export, and audio notes
  • Portrait or landscape, and on tall phones the menu and keyboard adapt to the screen
  • Android's Back key works inside the program: it closes menus and presses Cancel or Back
  • The same APK carries the build for phones that only have 64 bits

Connected to the instruments

Each COM port of the program is assigned to what you use: Bluetooth, USB, TCP or the device's own GPS, which reaches the program as an NMEA receiver.

  • Connects over Bluetooth to a Nikon Nivo 5.M total station, in FieldGenius, SurvCE and Survey Pro
  • The Bluetooth list shows first what could be an instrument
  • The drivers for USB to serial adapters are inside the app
  • A device that is off or out of range is reported in about 10 seconds

Installed from its .CAB, and the files at hand

Your program installs from its original .CAB installer: the app does that job. And it opens one from the file manager, WhatsApp, mail or Drive too.

  • File explorer: copy, move, search, ZIP and share, also with folders of more than a thousand items
  • A text editor for whatever needs touching up in the field
  • Encrypted .twce packages, to move private projects between data collectors: only TopoMan WCE opens them
  • An Android shortcut for each program, with its own icon

Survey Pro opens too

Survey Pro 6.1.1 runs in demo mode with all its menus, its calculations, the map, the raw data and the help, and with its own keyboard if you install its .CAB.

  • It finds, saves and connects the total station with its Bluetooth button, and measures
  • On tall phones, the main menu uses the whole screen

SurvCE, as on a data collector

SurvCE 6.02 runs in demo mode and looks as it does on the data collector: its tabbed menu, its numbered buttons and its notices, in Spanish or English, in portrait or landscape.

  • File, Equip, Survey, COGO and Road, with its keypad for typing in data
  • Connects over Bluetooth to the total station and measures, like the other two

Set up for each program

What one program needs is not what another needs, so the screen, the sound and the internet are chosen per program.

  • The app in Spanish or English, with a light or dark theme
  • The size of the points on the FieldGenius map, which look big on a phone
  • It updates itself: the start screen announces the new version and downloads it when you tap
  • When you uninstall it, Android offers to keep the data: programs and projects come back on reinstall

What works today, program by program

All three have been tested in demo mode. Each program's license comes from its maker, and that is what changes most from one to the other.

In demo mode

FieldGenius 12.2

Reviewed from end to end in demo mode, from the project manager to the map, with import and export and the Bluetooth connection. It gives its Device ID, which is what MicroSurvey asks for to license it: whether they grant it for your device is their decision.

In demo mode

SurvCE 6.02

It opens with its menus as on a data collector, in Spanish or English, in portrait or landscape, and connects to the total station over Bluetooth. SurvCE only gives its Unit ID, the number to buy its license, on the data collectors it recognizes: an app setting, off from the factory, takes it to its registration screen. The license is sold by Carlson or its dealer, who decides whether to grant it, and it has not been tested with a real one yet.

In demo mode

Survey Pro 6.1.1

All its menus open and it connects to the total station over Bluetooth. It does not give a serial number to register it with, because it only gives one on the data collectors it recognizes, so for now it stays in demo mode.

The essentials

  • Android 8.0 or newer. On Android 7 or older it does not install: the system rejects it
  • An ARM processor, 32 or 64 bits, which is what data collectors and phones have. Tested on Android 11 (South H8 data collector) and Android 17 (Galaxy S25 Ultra)
  • The .CAB installer of your program for Windows Mobile, and its license: the app includes neither
  • Internet to activate it with the email and a code, and from time to time for the subscription to renew
  • Permission to install apps from that source: it is not on Google Play, you download it from this site
  • For instruments, whatever you will use: Bluetooth, USB host (OTG) for cables, or GPS. The app asks for the nearby devices or location permissions when you use them, and for the microphone for audio notes

What has not been tested yet

  • USB cables with a real instrument
  • NTRIP with a real caster
  • Android 8, 9 and 10 on a real device
  • Data collectors with a 32-bit system, like many with Android 8 and 9: there the Windows Mobile program may not open, and it is checked model by model

The subscription

TopoMan WCE comes in two ways: with its own subscription, per data collector or Android phone, or in TopoMan Suite, with TopoMan CAD and the plugin for AutoCAD: one data collector or phone per computer in the plan. It is activated in «License and device» with the subscription email and a code.

Without a license, the app opens, installs programs and handles files, but it does not launch the programs. The TopoMan WCE license does not replace your program's, which remains between you and its maker.

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