How to Organize Survey Data

https://rpls.com/community/surveying-geomatics/indexing-your-job-files/#post-403723

Carlson software does this with .dwg files, with the option to browse a map to open drawings.  If you have GIS software, it is not that difficult to keep your projects in GIS.

GE

I tried to post my kmz file to show you how easy it is for a dumb dirt surveyor like me.  But kmz files are not allowed here, apparently.  Then I tried to DM you to encourage you to send me an email so I could email to you my kmz file.  Strike two.

ott at mainstreetconsulting dot com

I just drop a new pin for every new job, as part of the new job setup process.

Then I saveas the kmz file at the first day of every month.

back before Google earth trashed the PRO version, it had a pretty solid geocoding option .  I was able to geocode a huge old spreadsheet of my projects that made a pin and the column data was in the expanded info box.  

I think most of the free geocoders have become a pay item, but if they do it well, it's worth the investment.    

Assuming you are talking about processing old data, not just making a new pin for every project.  

I bet you could use an AI system to generate those pretty easily.    Actually, I bet you could use AI to create the whole thing these days. 

I tried to post my kmz file

Don't know if the trick works here, but many places you can rename it xxxx.kmz.txt to post and the other person can download and rename it back to xxxx.kmz to use it.

@bill93 good tip.

This is where a geodatabase shines and i may have the name wrong it might be called something else but esri i would post projects to a esri dashboard. So map view or list view whatever. I have not done it with land surveying but the concept is the same.  I could send a link to another state office they could simply view and know what all data i had for a specific job. Now the poor boy version. I in TBC will simply export a kml/kmz from my project even linework notes text callouts heck you can do a final project if you want. It will all show up in google earth. Points polygons lines etc. now those files get large fast. You can do the reverse as well. So i might draw limits in google earth and bring that into tbc and create a dxf for the crews close enough limits to topo etc many times. I get photo control jobs and the client always sends the flight and where they want panel points etc in kml kmz. I simply bring right into tbc export the points as a csv and area polygon as dxf for the field. Makes it much easier for them when google earth shows trees now it has all been logged and they want a panel point. They simply stake it out to get close etc. 

This is where a geodatabase shines

yep!

We do job cards, each job gets a job card or multiple cards that place the location of the job, it also cross-references the location with the client name and job number. Google pins aren't really good for us when the job covers large areas, sometimes a number of townships. Big jobs get lots of sub-jobs and lots of job cards. For something like town jobs they also get a card and a note in the town main drawing with the job# across the location area.

By card I mean an electronic card searchable by location, job name, job #, ect.

@mightymoe Did yall build that in like microsoft access. We went from excel to access as access is much more user friendly and customizable for doing searches etc. still once you get a geodatabase set up and have the data in correctly. You can query for any aspect of information so a simple scanned in field book to research to raw data points lines polygons photos etc. in the case you describe above large project with smaller sub projects that’s another great reason for geodatabases. The good thing about them also is you don’t have to make a drastic change in how you already do business. Most surveyors have a folder systems already and file cabinets I remember using index cards and that was set up to search the plat drawers and or file cabinet and drawer. Every bit of that information can be built to have that same referencing way and also both internal and external resources. If us jar heads USMC could learn it anyone could. It actually surprises me that larger firms have not adopted that. They already have multiple servers and backups. All the folder systems are already built having a expert consultant come in and work with each department from survey to engineering seems like a very logical step to me. The time savings of me walking in and standing in front a a touch screen tv monitor and going a client want x done at this address. Let me see what all we have. And bam engineers sue survey etc all at my fingertips do a buffer of say 1000 ft around the parcel and bam we did x in 1988 etc. here is everything from field notes to design as built etc. tell it to reach out to the county gis or online deed research etc. lots of information pulled quickly. Now that doesn’t change that the surveyor needs to do the reading and checking of the data. Information is just that until we figure out its reliability and application to the task at hand. You can even have event log showing who what when did a look so maybe another department is already doing work and just has not been updated yet. Just the fact they have been on site recently might make the proposal process more accurate as hey its a swamp out there now trees briars everywhere google earth is not a good representation of today’s conditions for example

i keep a google earth database of all our primary gps base points and section corner ties.  I don't include individual monuments as that would overload the already overloaded system. I also keep google earth polygons of everything we topo.

I maintain a TBC database with all primary control points tied together.  This is expanded regularly as we add new points and tie out to our existing control points.

We also save everything we cogo by T, R and Section.  This eliminates duplication and helps build a database of surveys and plats.  We literally have thousands of drawings cogo'd up. 

We're in the process of getting all our data into an actual GIS which will contain a graphical search, by far the easiest IMO, amongst other types of searches based on the data we populate the GIS with.

@wa-id-surveyor will you or have you used the gis module in TBC so you can connect directly to all of this in the future by chance. We are not in a PLSS state but I am thinking the same way you are. No reason not to maintain a database of control because this week i do tract x two months from now i do one down the road or an adjoining tract. Build it and it will pay you back in the return trips and such.

With a Google account, a super simple way is to use Google My Maps and just visually select the location to place a pin.  Rename the pin location with a job number.  Then you can either use that job number to search (on a Google Drive backup possibly) for any useful info from the job file.  Or, you can also link a file within the dialog box for the push pin and have a PDF of a drawing directly linked.  The useful thing about this is you can access it anywhere.

@jon-payne my crews love that google maps.  One of our cad techs does this so tax id on pin one color then control points another and polygons around the parcel type thing. Not bad for them to drive up to a control point and be off to the races especially when multiple crews go to the project areas and it’s their first time on site. I am going to have to learn how to make those. That way they don’t have to make one from the kml i send them.

@olemanriver 

It's our accounting program that's tied to quickbooks and our accounting firm. It's Excel and won't ever be switched. Start with a client account, then Job#, then job data with job card. When it's "finished" the job is scanned, filed away and archived into the system. A folder is placed in the filing cabinet with almost all the paper pitched. 

When you enter a location for more work access the job cards for that section or subdivision or town and you can get a list of job numbers and then you can click on the year and number and see the file folder electronically. We had to do it, there wasn't room for our records. They are all scanned now. 

Also, all filed surveys are put in the appropriate location in our database. So if you go to section 24, TXXN, RxxW, you will find a list of drawings that are filed in the court house in that section. Ours and any others that are filed in that section, subdivision, block, ect. 

@mightymoe Now you have my brain wondering if i could somehow link the quickbooks to save data in a geodatabase as well. I imagine it’s possible anything is possible.  Yes I imagine that storage space could become limited overtime for all the hard copies etc. More and more things are more digital now days for sure. I still like paper estimates in the field but i see the younger generation they would rather have a email with pdf of things they can carry. I guess field folders are in some cases becoming obsolete now days. 

we have mastered data storage memory on servers and computers is cheap. We are in the information management stage all that data is easy to store. Getting it back out is not always the easiest.  

@jon-payne you can also import data in a CVS file with lat long

@olemanriver You can create custom fields for customers and jobs. We did state plane for each job, then exported the job list to a comma delimited file and pulled it into mapping software.

There is a way to access the database see this link:  https://quickbooks.intuit.com/learn-support/en-us/help-article/data-systems/open-database-connectivity-odbc-driver-faqs/L1C6l99Fq_US_en_US so you could do some programing for a link. 

@gary_g oh my you nailed it. See you can attach or relate anything to a datum.  Just as time never is separated from anything time is a function of distance datums only show the relationship of time and distance and direction so yep we can graphically show accounting records .  If I ever brave and defy the wife and go solo and build a surveying business i know now how some of the accounting will be done.  That’s if I live long enough to try. Lol.