Why  chose a company specializing in GPS services ( like Advanced Mapping) when you need GPS data? Short answer: a GPS company specializes in data collection so you get better (quality) data.

Interested enough to read the long answer ? Here it is:

When you select a company for their services, you are interested in the quality of their services first and only afterwards in the pricing and time schedule (mainly because the latter ones ….can be negotiated). So, if you need to locate the underground utilities at your site , you would be looking for a good (or maybe the best ) locating company. However, nowadays most such jobs are the prelude of an engineering project and the ground markings are therefore going to be used in a CAD or GIS design application so, you’ll also need the digital version of the markings, right? Well, conveniently enough, most if not all locating companies are also offering the digital version  for their markings. The only “problem” is the accuracy of such digital data.  So, while the locating company “concentrates” on locating underground utilities as accurately as possible (and the digital/GPS data is just a by-product of this effort) , a company specializing in data collection (like Advanced Mapping ) “concentrates” on data collection.

For instance, a locating company will be locating underground utilities with an accuracy of +/-1ft while usually, the digital data (GPS) will be captured with an accuracy of 1-5m (usually ) or sub-meter in best case scenarios (sometimes) . But even if the equipment is capable of sub-meter accuracy, the operator is not necessarily concerned with the quality of data and constantly QA/QC-ing the data … and this is normal , because the main task is locating!  Besides, after all, it is the equipment that does it all, isn’t it? Well, not necessarily. Having the equipment configured correctly is another factor that might take a toll on data quality…

Matching the accuracy of GPS- data with the accuracy of the locating is another matter… For instance, why request (and pay) for survey-grade accuracy if your locator only guarantees +/-1-2ft accuracy? From our experience, sub-foot accuracy is the best option  95-99% of the time. Only when potholing is being used for locating ( and utilities are actually exposed) is when you might want to use survey-grade accuracy ( cm level).

How do we do it? We constantly check the quality of the data by making sure only accurate data is being used for recording marking locations and always using imagery for QA/QC-ing in real time. We take it a step further and generate a complete rendering of the site by “connecting the dots” : digitally  construct utility lines based on point markings. Each marking point  carries attributes matching actual marking  (actual picture of the marking is available upon request) . Linear utilities also carry attributes based on markings used to construct them.
Deliverables include a digital map (geo-PDF map -standard deliverable) as well as CAD /GIS or Google Earth formatted data along with an ortho-imagery of the site (customer can immediately validate  the data).

So, who you’re going to hire for your next GPS project? Well, it all depends on what is important to you : the utilities marking, the digital data or both !

Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or want to discuss a new project…we’ll help you figure out if you can take advantage of GPS or GIS  technology….Map on!