The company I work for does level loops, total station work, and inverts on manholes regularly. I usually take the notes and scan them and check them in excel. Excel is nice because I can pull the data into cad in a table. I was wondering if anyone else does this or goes a step further. Does anyone have the field crews enter data into excel or another app or program in the field? We use Topcon 5000 and 6000 data collectors that are capable of excel and other programs. If the data was already in excel, the field crews would not have to manually calc and I would not have to enter data into the computer. I am just trying to make life easier.
I collect levelling notes on paper, in field books, and reduce the data in a spreadsheet. Then I adjust the networks using StarNet. If I had a greater volume of such data I'd probably go to an automated system, but as it is it is not worth the investment of time or money.
Other data types are electronic, using data collectors, in the common fashion. Downloaded and backed up daily.