At my last position I created an Access spreadsheet to track where past work had been done and integrated it into CAD using an ODBC connection. I need to recreate something similar here at my new job but I want to use GE instead. Searched some of the past threads looking for something I could recycle, not big on reinventing the wheel when I don't need to. Anybody have a template or something I could use to structure a spreadsheet to plot where different past jobs had been done by my predecessor and to help keep track of current jobs using 'My Places'?
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
I think you can import a text file, delimited with your data and include lat lon of the site?
@gary_g I believe that's doable. Just a question of how best to set it up and get it in. For right now I'm just going in and adding place marks to tell me what the year/job number is with a yellow thumbtack icon so I know what file to go look for if I have a job come up somewhere my predecessor did work. I can throw some relevant info in the description just to give some idea what was done previously.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
I thought it was a different name. Called my maps.
https://support.google.com/mymaps/answer/3024836?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop
You can set that my maps up in google earth. You can add notes and hyperlinks inside the place mark and such as well. I had a google earth set up so anytime we started a new project I could rough my plat comps or even a few points and I would do a show in google earth to see what other projects I had near by. The best would be but more expensive is to set up a geodatabase and dashboard. All projects go in and out of that and you can set up the dashboard to show whatever you attach to to geodatabase like hours check list of progress along with final deliverables etc. they have a little survey123 not survey like we do but it allows you to make custom forms. So for example your crew could check a box daily of different task and completion of task like field work for control done. Boundary 90% complete 2 of x corners need to be set etc. Topo done. Photos pdf’s any documents down to scope contract bill sent and all be linked from your billing and account receivables to the data base in several ways. You can have other tv or touch monitor up in say field crew room and they can know status or even access it via phone. You can let them see and interact of items you want not everything they don’t need. Same for client. They just need a link to a dashboard of what you want them to see . You can share from and to clients through the right set up. Say it’s a contractor and he or she got changes to an area from the engineer. They can give you the updated plans a message etc. that might be something that goes to your project manager or field crew coordinator. You might only want colors and a bar graph for your self at high level that is mapped. Or pie charts etc. if you can think of it and have a decent GIS person that is on the problem solving side they can develop it . So many add ons it can become mind boggling. But a good KISS set up can work wonders. Cuts emails down tremendously. Project manager gets the scope from you his version of dashboard. He sets up to crew coordinator that has his version and field crew coordinator sets out the schedule and instructions/information for crews assigned. All of this linked back to the high end dashboard for detailed or simple graphs you can track the life of project through and have a small map interface that as new projects come up you can see what is done or being done nearby. This can aid in logistics and scheduling. If you have gps on trucks that can be brought in for those I need this done yesterday small projects so crew coordinator can see who is closest and what they are doing how far ahead of their projects they are and he can say hey new project go do this After lunch.
When i was in business we used Quickbooks and had the ability to set user definable fields. For every project I started I would store state plane coordinates. Every week I would write out a delimited text file with certain information. Then i could import that into GIS to display every project. That way I could see what we have already done when looking at new projects. It was simple and worked, no special programming or complicated management. SIB-KISS. See It Big - Keep It Simple.
@olemanriver I have a total staff of three. Me, myself, and I and keeping the three rowing in the same direction is an ever present challenge. Let me get with my team and kick around what you laid down. I'm definitely focused on the KISS aspect, if for no other reason I have nobody left to assign this task to.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
I'd love to have some custom database manager set up for GIS integration, but like you, I'm a one man show at the moment and I just use GE as GE for this. Our county tax site has map links to create a GE feature, so I just do the for each new project, open it up and rename it into my list of projects. At the least it makes it easy to see what I've done nearby and there is room in the kml to add notes and other info if desired. Down side is there's no GIS type data analysis, grouping, export and as the list gets longer I've notice GE getting slower.
You might look into doing something with QGIS.
@williwaw I would not implement what I discussed for a team of 3. The bell curve doesn’t make it profitable unless the price point of using someone like ESRI or someone else that is doing and willing to host for you. I will try and Pvt message you sometime next week. I know a company that is doing this so they already have the hardware and such in place. If they seem like they could make it a win win by hosting the system I will get you in contact with them. They probably would not be a direct competitor as I am sure you are not doing the same work or type of work. For a small team I think the cost would not justify the means. On your own. However you could probably develop something through a teams or other software that has white board type environments built in was little effort and use links to Naruto the maps even google earth. I did a small cost analysis for a 150 member team. That was survey and engineering. That was almost a break even but the up front cost was to great. As we all know nothing is linear and as cost up front vs long term doesn’t always scale out in a linear fashion. You can still set up the basic premise for a small team with freeware just not as automated is all. A good chalk board and such works wonders for small teams. For organizing. I have never used qgis but I bet with the right know how some of this could be integrated via simple pushing data or a search. Sorta along the basis of access and excel. I remember setting excel up to where it sent a email when data exceeded a threshold it was not as stable of course and not as reliable but did work. A lot of what if statements etc. that was my first go at making dashboards for higher ups. Then we got the smart young folks to build something in python which integrated with ESRI software along our other software and emails etc. but that was a fed employee so time and money didn’t matter like it would on Pvt sector side. KISS is the way to go for your team for sure
Just wanted to offer a thought from my experience. At Kudurru Stone, we are a project management tool that does more than just log your data—it also maps it out. Imagine having your project history visualized on a map so you can quickly see what work was done nearby, locate control points, or recall where corners were set. We built it with a simple, straightforward approach in mind (always the KISS principle). Just sharing an idea that might help streamline your workflow if mapping your projects is something you value.
Feel free to ask if you have any questions or want to know more.
I think you can import a text file, delimited with your data and include lat lon of the site?
You should not necessarily need a lat long or coordinate on the information data. If you have say a point it has lat long or north east. Then all you need is another column with a unique identifier say point number or name as long as that is unique. Then have that in a dbf4 out of excel. Then you could have another dbf4 with that same unique identifier point name or number no lat long required. With all the other info so project # client name and anything else you can think of even a column with hyperlinks to other info say a final plat in pdf etc. I would imagine you can place those two different tables together in any GIS software. It would probably work via csv now days. Except hyperlinks part I always used a db4 format back years ago but man things have changed.
@olemanriver Yea, I always kept it simple. custom field in Quickbooks with some type of coordinate, be it state plane or lat, lon. export cvs file with those values and project info, import into mapping software of choice, ARCGis, QGIS, Google, and I'm done.
Just wanted to offer a thought from my experience. At Kudurru Stone, we are a project management tool that does more than just log your data—it also maps it out. Imagine having your project history visualized on a map so you can quickly see what work was done nearby, locate control points, or recall where corners were set. We built it with a simple, straightforward approach in mind (always the KISS principle). Just sharing an idea that might help streamline your workflow if mapping your projects is something you value.
Feel free to ask if you have any questions or want to know more.
Thanks. At this point being new to this position and flying solo I'm doing triage while drinking from a firehose so something very simple that just gives me a reference to where past work was done along with a year-job number to get me looking in the right place to make an assessment if there's anything there that might give me a leg up on whatever gets thrown at me. I'm saving all of my spare attention and focus on trying to develop the right tools and workflow to map using drones, which at first glance seems simple enough, until you get down in the weeds (har har). Dropping a mess of waypoints in My Places with the year/job number and a few notes, while not particularly pretty or sophisticated, appears to be meeting my basic needs, at least for now. I'm all about the KISS principle where it is simply good enough.
Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get me.
Thanks. At this point being new to this position and flying solo I'm doing triage while drinking from a firehose so something very simple that just gives me a reference to where past work was done along with a year-job number to get me looking in the right place to make an assessment if there's anything there that might give me a leg up on whatever gets thrown at me. I'm saving all of my spare attention and focus on trying to develop the right tools and workflow to map using drones, which at first glance seems simple enough, until you get down in the weeds (har har). Dropping a mess of waypoints in My Places with the year/job number and a few notes, while not particularly pretty or sophisticated, appears to be meeting my basic needs, at least for now. I'm all about the KISS principle where it is simply good enough.
Sometimes the best method 'for now' is the simplest and easiest. Once you get a handle on that firehose and have your fill lets chat. Maybe we can help with the constant triage and firehose drinking. Neither one is very healthy long term. 😀