Field Engineers/Surveyors.... I got a question for ya.

[clodhopper]

Looking to see if you guys might have some ideas or solutions.

Subject: Borehole location maps.

Problem: marking job site locations in large open field from a provided point grid. Also the reverse, recording field locations for easy dump into cad drawing.

Needs: data transmitted by cell for field staff, either to or from. Does not need to be "survey quality", around 1 or 2 meter accuracy will work unless I can tighten it up some. Generally at the scale we use, the location dots are like 10 or 50 feet in diameter on paper, so reasonable accuracy is sufficient.

We have been trying to work with KMZ files and cell phone mapping to transmit locations for field staking, but obstructions and cell reception can limit accuracy or kill it entirely. Was looking at Bad Elf to resolve the GPS drop, but the mapping method remains very clunky and doesn’t work backward to create location drawings. Also, KMZ sometimes is way off sometimes on cellphone mapping software.

Part of it is the same challenge I fought 25 years ago converting state plane coordinates to UTM and back. Autocad isnt really GPS friendly (unless there is a trick to it). Converting is really difficult, buggy and hard. Now I would be fine staying in all UTM GPS and field can shoot property corners to provide drawing anchors. But still need a solution to do this.

Any ideas? What magical new tech exists that might help that I have never hear of?

 

[bgaidan]

Something like one of the trimble GIS handhelds may be accurate enough for you. Should be able to tether to a phone to transmit data. And they should be able to stay in state plain.

I've never personally used the GIS stuff though. I mainly deal with the high precision GPS stuff - like with the new constellations I've seen repeatability in the range of a few thousandths of a foot. Since all the new data collectors run windows 10, I set all of ours up on a Google drive account. All the guys in the field need to do is turn on their hotspots and the data collectors will automatically sync everything to drive. Really handy when I need to push a new design out to them or I need to get shots from them back in to the office. Saves me a lot of driving time and/or time on the phone trying to walk them through moving files.

 

[bgaidan]

Also, not sure what state you're in or what your budget is, but you might look into whether or not there's a VRS network available. Here in NC I can buy in to the state's network and have full RTK coverage pretty much anywhere in the state without having to set up a base on every site. Accuracy is a little lower than with a local base, but it's still under a tenth.

And if you really have decent budget, Trimble has a form of satellite VRS now where your corrections come via satellite instead of via data/internet connection like traditional vrs. I demo'd it a few months ago but it wasn't quite right for what we were doing at the time.

 

[boardbysled]

Sounds like something that ArcGIS field maps or ArcGIS Survey123 might be perfect for, at least on the software side of things. Then one of the Anatum products, either the Bad Elf or the Arrow if you need more accuracy.

Trimble might also be worth looking into as they might give you a package deal on both hardware and software.

Personally, I have an older windows mobile handheld with ArcPad that I use for all my field data collection, but it is pretty much ancient technology now. The handheld has a super accurate gps and ArcPad has some GPS post-processing that increases the accuracy. I pretty regularly get 1 meter accuracy with it. Then I transfer it manually to ArcGIS. I could do the same with ArcGIS field maps on an andriod/apple with a bluetooth GPS antenna and ArcMap I believe.

 

[alk1174]

I am using an older topcon cellular RTK survey grade setup. Accuracy of .05' or less is the norm. I don't use the cloud based data transfer but have on other systems. With multiple crews we found it to be too much trouble. It was easier to just export the data and email it directly to who needed it. Between all of the different users and softwares this was just easier. Maybe there is a better way.

I have also used a lot of trimble handheld mapping grade units. Sub meter accuracy was the norm. The units I used were older and did not have cellular or RTK capabilities but I would bet they do now. They are much cheaper than the survey grade stuff and sound more like what you need.

As far as cad goes I use Civil 3d. It handles points great for what I do. All of my work is in state plane but if I need to convert to lat long it will do it just fine. If you set your drawing settings correctly t will transform coordinates for you.

There is also a program called corpscon. Its a free software put out by the Army Corps that will convert coordinates across most any grid system. It don't find it to be that user friendly but it works well.

If ya have more questions post them.