I started out in surveying more than 40 years ago working for a federal agency. All of our projects were internal, so we had field books for each project, and each book had only one project in it but multiple surveys. When it was full, we would start a new book for that project. They are now up to 2800+ field books. Some of which have disappeared over the years in the bowels of the local federal building, never to be seen again...
I learned to record everything in the book, make sketches, etc. That was before data collectors and electronic total stations and levels, so all data HAD to be in the field book so that someone in the office could compute it.?ÿ?ÿ
Other than GPS only jobs (which I use log sheets on, previously paper but now digital), I still use field books, but don't record nearly as much data. For total station work, I record all setup data like HI, HT, type of prism, as well as descriptions, sketches, etc. For leveling, we still record the raw elevation for every point that we want adjusted (i.e. not the turns) and descriptions.?ÿ
But, nowadays the client usually just gets a pdf of the scanned field book pages. But it is a bit of a chore scanning the field books, and there is always a dark section in the fold. I would like to get away from bound field books.?ÿ
I am thinking making a few forms up on 8.5 X 11 paper for different types of surveys, i.e. one for total station/scanner setups, another for leveling, etc, and making a bunch of copies to be carried in the truck on a clipboard. These are very easy to scan.?ÿ
I would be interested to hear what others are doing.?ÿ
?ÿ
?ÿ
Electronic field books for all except field sketches, inverts, and level notes.?ÿ Those go in a standard field book with a heading (date, weather, project name/number, crew). Page pairs are numbered on the RH page only, the LH and RH sides together making a single page.
We tried what you are up to, and ran across the following trouble:
1) letter size sheets on a clipboard are super nice, but we never found a good way to carry the clipboard that seemed comfortable, 2) once the paper gets wet, you're screwed, 3) once you get a few sheets in the clipboard, they tend to move around or fall out pretty easily.
Thread-bound field books always seemed to be the hardest to work with. (Seemingly more so for lefty's?)
They make 3-ring binder field books (with rite-in-rain paper refills) that you can add/remove pages easily, and the "cover" is hard plastic. The bad thing about those is they never fit in a vest pocket very well. This is our go-to for now.
https://www.riteintherain.com/5-inch-ring-binder
https://www.riteintherain.com/4-625x7-loose-leaf
Yes, have done what you're describing.?ÿ Works well.?ÿ Laser jet printing on Rite in the Rain paper.?ÿ Ink jet printing doesn't work, obviously.
Not too much more recent than the 40 years ago, I had a friend at college who used an aluminum clipboard with storage.?ÿ Might be useful in your situation to hold copies of the various forms in.?ÿ Combine that with some loose leaf binder clips and you could pull pre-printed sheets as needed and clip together to keep everything in one place for the job.?ÿ When your ready to scan, un-clip and send everything through the auto-document feed of the printer/scanner/fax/cappuccino machine then bind it back together for the file.
I use field books for leveling for FEMA projects. Other than that, I print a portion of the project on paper to take into the field with the data collector and make notes on that. I file the page with the electronic field notes printed out and put it in the project file.?ÿ
Historic boundaries and conservation efforts.
@jon-payne Hey, how come our printer doesn't make cappuccino?
@lurker ha gotta get one of those new fangle dangle machines. I stick with coffee its much simpler. ?ÿLol. ?ÿ When I was out on a camping trip as a Marine I sometimes made pudding withe the coco powder, crackers, powdered creamer. Other times I made Po Boy Mochas using the coco powder coffee . ?ÿMRE??s and Marines can make lots of gourmet meals. ?ÿLol.
What's in your field notes that isn't in the raw data files??ÿ ?ÿ ?ÿI can see sketches and level runs in books, but that's about it for me.?ÿ ?ÿ
We have tried the loose leaf rite-in-the-rain pages, and that is a backup for when the field book is inadvertently left in the office. Easy to scan, but it makes two separate pages for the left and right pages. Or you need to manually scan by putting the left and right pages side by side on a flatbed scanner.?ÿ
It has always been my practice to record information like level notes, setups, etc on the left and descriptions, comments, sketches on the right page.?ÿ
you will get my field book when you pry it out of my dead cold hands
We have lots of field books we will sell dating back to the 40's.?ÿ We quit keeping detailed handwritten field notes when we coded our field data electronically.?ÿ ?ÿWe do keep a sketch which is generally added to an overlay of a previous survey/s or tax map together with anything the field crew makes notice of.
?ÿ
I'm probably in the minority here but I think that paper in the field has to go the way of the dodo. Photos, on the other hand, especially when you can annotate them, are far more useful.?ÿ
The first company I worked for used field notes for everything and I thought that was perfectly normal until I went to a different company that only did field notes where it was strictly necessary and were much more productive.
Paper in the office, however, is the best thing ever. No wind, no rain, access to?ÿ a greater variety of stationery. Love it.
It has always been my practice to record information like level notes, setups, etc on the left and descriptions, comments, sketches on the right page.?ÿ
Same here, and I still use bound field books. However, very seldom does one of my clients want field notes, so I don't scan them except on those rare occasions.
These days most of my field notes consist of point numbers and HIs, with a sketch on maybe every third job.?ÿ They have very little value once I've processed the work in the office.?ÿ Between F2F coding, photos and raw data files, there's just not much need for hand-written data anymore.
5.5?x8.5?
Very easy to scan.
Mostly used for phone notes.
Rarely used for field notes.
edit~
These are notepads.
Last batch I had printed was in 2014.
I think Wendell recommended the guy:
https://www.greatfxprinting.com
Field book for collection of non-automated data has one great advantage. Once done the data is there forever - no need to refresh, move to new modern software or whatever. Just open to the right page, assuming you indexed the work and haven't lost the book. It's amazing what "notes" you wrote in the margin which would never have been recorded in electronic form.
Every year we go back to the records of at least one job which is 20 or more years old and find some useful gem of information which didn't make it to the electronic records.
Photos, on the other hand, especially when you can annotate them, are far more useful.?ÿ
We were discussing this last week. Annotate them right in the field using something like Microsoft Paint.
I hung onto keeping paper notes for control, boundary, and topo for a long time, but I've now all but abandoned the practice. Instead I religiously download and backup the raw data files in a regimented manner. I still use books for levelling - something of a dying art.
I keep one of these in my shirt pocket and sketch up the control schemes on my many small projects for quick reference.?ÿ
From 2016-2020 I was doing a lot of construction staking and I found paper notes very handy. I filled up 20 bound books in that period.
I formerly used looseleaf Rite in the Rain and put the sheets in the file, but when using books I prefer the hardback bound books now.?ÿ I then scan them and archive the scans with the raw data.?ÿ
I gave up on the bound books when I started out on my own.?ÿ Not much in them other that setup info, point ranges and monument/ control descriptions along with the occasional sketch.?ÿ I scan the loose-leaf pages with a duplex document scanner which is really quick.?ÿ If I'm out of town for an extended period I have a simplex portable document scanner which gets the job done, all be it a bit slower.
how about Bluebeam?
redline a plat or drawing in the field so you can direct to the engineers architects planners etc and keep them pinned at their desks!
?ÿ
????