Jacob | Martin relies on its Surveying Department to gather almost all the field data necessary to design plans and concepts for our clients. The most common method of surveying utilized by Jacob | Martin is Field to Finish Surveying.
Field to Finish Surveying
Field to Finish work involves survey field crews going out to project sites with modern data collectors and sensors in order to create digital, georeferenced maps of features using assigned point codes and lines. The codes that our surveyors use are assigned to different layer types. Every specific layer gets imported into CAD (Computer-Aided Design) under certain settings and visibility types. This coding system narrows down desirable features for different projects.
For example, if the engineer is redesigning a municipal water line to supply residents with usable water, they would first need to know the location and of all current water utilities to first to design around them and potentially replace. Luckily, they don’t have to comb through the entire survey for all these features, they are already coded under a ‘water layer’ and are easily viewable from their CAD program.
For road reconstruction projects, civil engineers can view road features like asphalt, concrete, curb and gutter, and surface breaklines. All these codes are listed under a ‘surface layer’ that can be viewed more easily for road and drainage redesign.
The tools that our surveyors use in daily Field to Finish applications consist of tilt-assisted GNSS receivers (Global Navigation Satellite Systems), robotic total-stations, laser measuring tools, and a statewide internet-based GNSS correction network.
These tools allow our surveyors to collect everything visible within their working scope by drawing out the features that are in front of them. At the end of the survey, the surveyor produces a three-dimensional map that is ready to be imported into CAD for design purposes. At this point, there is very little (if any) coding or linework that should have to be drawn in CAD from the draftsman.
Field to Finish surveying is beneficial to both the surveyor and the draftsman, due to the increased efficiency and reduction of potential errors. The surveyor acts as the eyes and ears on the ground for the design team and can easily capture the existing project site with survey software that can assign points and lines with simple commands. There is no longer the constant need for two- or three-man crews to collect data and hand draft everything in a field notebook.
Originally, these notes were interpreted and redrawn in CAD by a draftsman. This added time and cost to the project, as well as increasing the potential for errors. Therefore, in addition to the Field to Finish data, the draftsman also has access to high quality satellite imagery, or Google Earth imagery as a secondary reference for the survey.
How it benefits our clients and Jacob | Martin
The Field to Finish capabilities that our survey crews have been using for years has really benefited our clients by saving them time and money. One field surveyor can complete 95% of the drafting required with Field to Finish methods before the survey is uploaded into a CAD drawing for final drafting edits. One field surveyor can now do jobs that required three surveyors just 15 years ago. To conclude, Field to Finish surveying allows us to gather more information in a shorter amount of time, and in a more accurate manner.
Field to Finish capabilities benefit our company as well, as we can cover more ground faster than ever before. Jacob | Martin is able to take on a larger, more diverse portfolio of projects and the ability to take on projects as large as multi-county utility routes.
Jacob | Martin offers a number of Survey services including Boundary, Topographic, Construction Staking, ALTA/ACSM, As-builts, Reality capture, Easements and Utility corridor mapping, and more. For more information regarding our survey services, contact Lee Rosenbaum, R.P.L.S., Associate Partner, and Director of Surveying at 325-695-1070 (Ext. 135) or send an email to lwr@jacobmartin.com.