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Description Of Business	12 Months Ended
Description Of Business	Jan. 01, 2016
Description Of Business [Abstract]
Description Of Business	DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS Trimble Navigation Limited, a California corporation, is a leading provider of technology solutions that enable professionals and field mobile workers to improve or transform their work processes. Trimble's solutions are used across a range of industries including agriculture, architecture, civil engineering, survey and land administration, construction, geospatial, environmental management, government, natural resources, transportation and utilities. Representative Trimble customers include engineering and construction firms, surveying companies, farmers and agricultural companies, enterprise firms with large-scale fleets, energy, mining and utility companies, and state, federal and municipal governments. Trimble focuses on integrating broad technological and application capabilities to create system-level solutions that transform how work is done within the industries the Company serves. Products are sold based on return on investment and provide benefits such as lower operational costs, higher productivity, improved quality, enhanced safety and regulatory compliance, and reduced environmental impact. Representative products include equipment that automates large industrial equipment such as tractors and bulldozers; integrated systems that track fleets of vehicles and workers and provide real-time information and powerful analytics to the back-office; data collection systems that enable the management of large amounts of geo-referenced information; software solutions that connect all aspects of a construction site or a farm; and building information modeling (BIM) software that is used throughout the design, build, and operation of buildings. The Company began operations in 1978 and incorporated in California in 1981.