Trimble Inc. is an American software, hardware, and services technology company. Trimble supports global industries in building & construction, agriculture, geospatial, natural resources and utilities, governments, transportation and others. Trimble also does hardware development of

global navigation satellite system A satellite navigation or satnav system is a system that uses satellites to provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning. It allows satellite navigation devices to determine their location (longitude, latitude, and altitude/elevation) to high pr ...

(GNSS) receivers, scanners,

laser rangefinder A laser rangefinder, also known as a laser telemeter, is a rangefinder that uses a laser beam to determine the distance to an object. The most common form of laser rangefinder operates on the time of flight principle by sending a laser pulse in ...

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controll ...

s (UAVs),

inertial navigation system An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors ( accelerometers), rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning the position, the orientation, and the velocity ...

s and software processing tools.

History

Trimble Navigation was founded in November 1978 by Charles Trimble and two partners from

Hewlett Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

. It initially operated above a movie theatre in

Los Altos, California Los Altos (; Spanish for "The Heights") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 31,625 according to the 2020 census. Most of the city's growth occurred between 1950 and 1980. Originally ...

. By the end of 2016, the company had 8,388 employees, with more than half of employees in locations outside the United States. The company's acquisitions include Telog Instruments, Pocket Mobile AB, @Road, Cengea Solutions Inc., Datacom Software Research, Spectra Precision Group, Tripod Data Systems, Advanced Public Safety, Inc., ALK Technologies, Apache Technologies, Acutest Engineering Solutions Ltd,

Applanix Applanix, based in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, develops and manufactures a line of Inertial Navigation System products. The company's Position and Orientation Systems (POS) are used worldwide for a variety of applications such as aerial sur ...

, Géo-3D, INPHO, Gatewing, Gehry Technologies, MENSI,

Meridian Systems Meridian Systems, a Trimble Inc Trimble Inc. is an American software, hardware, and services technology company. Trimble supports global industries in building & construction, agriculture, geospatial, natural resources and utilities, governme ...

, NTech Industries, Pacific Crest,

Quantm Quantm is a software package, marketed as Trimble Quantm, that is used to design road alignments and railway alignments. The program performs an otherwise tedious and laborious task where an immense amount of data are involved and choices have to ...

, Accubid Systems,

SketchUp SketchUp is a suite of subscription products that include SketchUp Pro Desktop, a 3D modeling Computer-Aided Design (CAD) program for a broad range of drawing and design applications — including architectural, interior design, industrial and ...

, QuickPen International, SECO Mfg. Co., Inc., Visual Statement, Stabiplan, XYZ Solutions, Inc,

Tekla Tekla is a software product family that consists of programs for analysis and design, detailing and project communication. Tekla software is produced by Trimble, the publicly listed US-based technology company. History , Tekla Corporation ...

, Vianova Systems, ThingMagic, Spime Inc., Punch Telematix NV, TMW Systems, Kuebix, and TopoSys Gmbh. In 2002,

Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sy ...

and Trimble formed a joint venture Caterpillar Trimble Control Technologies (CTCT), to develop machine control products for improved customer productivity and lower costs on

earthmoving Earthworks are engineering works created through the processing of parts of the earth's surface involving quantities of soil or unformed rock. Shoring structures An incomplete list of possible temporary or permanent geotechnical shoring structur ...

projects. Their role in

building information modeling Building information modeling (BIM) is a process supported by various tools, technologies and contracts involving the generation and management of digital representations of physical and functional characteristics of places. Building informatio ...

(BIM), architecture and construction has been growing. Trimble acquired the

3D modeling In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical coordinate-based representation of any surface of an object (inanimate or living) in three dimensions via specialized software by manipulating edges, vertices, a ...

software package

from Google in 2012. As of 2014, they also own

(BIM modelling), Vico Office (BIM data handling) and Gehry Technologies' GTeam (project coordination). In 2016, Trimble acquired

Sefaira Sefaira is a software company specializing in cloud-based software for energy-efficient building design. In 2011, Sefaira won the Green Building Innovation of the Year award at London’s Ecobuild. The company was founded in 2009. On February ...

(sustainability analysis software including energy modeling and daylight visualization). On April 23, 2018, Trimble entered into an agreement to acquire privately held Viewpoint from investment firm Bain Capital in an all-cash transaction of US$1.2bn, with an expected completion in Q3 of 2018. On February 12, 2019, a new division called Trimble MAPS (Maps and Applications for Professional Solutions) was launched, bringing together Trimble's former ALK Technologies and TMW Appian Final Mile businesses. On October 3, 2019, Trimble acquired Cityworks to expand its GIS-centric digital asset and infrastructure management solutions. On October 30, 2019, Trimble announced that its Board of Directors has unanimously elected Robert G. Painter to succeed Steven W. Berglund as president and CEO of Trimble, effective January 4, 2020, the first day of Trimble's 2020 fiscal year. Painter joined the Trimble Board of Directors on January 4, 2020 as well. On May 28, 2020, Trimble and Kuebix launched next-generation Community Load Match capabilities to simplify finding and filling truckload capacity. A solution that facilitates collaboration between shippers and carriers to optimize how freight moves throughout the supply chain. On October 6, 2022, Trimble announced its headquarters had relocated to Westminster, Colorado from Sunnyvale, California.

Name change

The company changed its name from Trimble Navigation Limited to Trimble Inc.; the name change and change in legal domicile became effective October 1, 2016. Trimble Inc. continued to operate without change or material impacts to stakeholders. The corporate headquarters remained in California until October 2022, when it relocated to Westminster, Colorado.

Industries

Trimble sells products and services into the following industries: land survey, construction, agriculture, transportation, telecommunications, asset tracking, mapping, railways, utilities, mobile resource management, and government.

References

External links

{{authority control 1978 establishments in California Companies based in Sunnyvale, California Companies listed on the Nasdaq Electronics companies established in 1978 Geographic data and information equipment companies Navigation system companies Radio-frequency identification companies