Stolen instrument recovered, calibrated and back on site within four days
Survey instrument theft is a problem that’s showing no signs of abating and unfortunately Murphy Surveys Ltd. are the latest KOREC customer to fall victim. However, in this case the company was lucky enough to recover its stolen instrument and have it back on site, fully cleaned and recalibrated, within four days, thanks to Trimble L2P tracking, the fast response by the local Gardai and KOREC and Murphy Surveys Ltd. staff working through the night.
Based in the UK and Ireland, Murphy Surveys Ltd. report that although this theft occurred just outside of Dublin, they have suffered more theft incidents in the UK than Ireland, where thankfully this type of event is relatively infrequent. In this case, on Friday 29th June 2018, a Trimble S5 Robotic Total Station was stolen from a site at midday. The theft was immediately reported to the Gardaí, along with the make of vehicle driven by the thieves.
Around 5.00pm Murphy Surveys Ltd. contacted KOREC Ireland on the off chance that the instrument Trimble L2P was protected and were delighted to hear that it was and that we could trace its whereabouts. A quick log-in to our system and we could see that it was currently at rest in a residential area to the south-west of the city, about 30km from the site.
The Gardaí were quick to follow up on a series of screen grabs we sent them and Murphy Surveys Ltd., pinpointing the S5’s location. Although they searched several vehicles in the area, they were unable to recover the instrument. This was due to the number of cars and buildings in close proximity and because there was no sign of the vehicle that Murphy Surveys Ltd. had described.
Not to be put off, KOREC was able to track the journey of the S5 in detail, thus revealing that the instrument had clearly been moved from one vehicle to another, but until it was active again, it was impossible to pinpoint exactly which vehicle.
KOREC therefore set up a ‘geo-fence’ on their L2P tracking software and waited….
Around midnight the geo-fence alarm was triggered and a few minutes later the instrument was shown to be stationary in a green area. The Gardaí were called and the instrument was immediately recovered. It was returned to KOREC the following Monday morning for cleaning and recalibration, and was back on Murphy Surveys Ltd. site, fully functional, by the middle of the week.
The chain of events that led to the recovery of the S5 demonstrates that early police activity in the area had alerted the thieves to the possibility of the instrument being tracked and that they had consequently decided to abandon it.
This is another great example of how promptly the Police, in this case the Gardaí, can respond when supplied with real-time tracking information and coordinates. It’s also an early sign that instrument tracking may eventually prove to be a deterrent to thieves as well as a means of instrument recovery.
Raymond Murphy, Chief Executive Officer, Murphy Surveys Ltd. said, “We were thoroughly impressed with the tracking capability of the Trimble S5. The fact that we were able to pin point the position of the instrument so quickly, and with the support of the Gardaí retrieve the kit was the best possible outcome. As an industry we are being targeted by criminals and we’re not the only survey company falling victim to these senseless crimes. As a business and employer we have a duty of care to our employees and we simply do not stand for this behaviour. We are continually reviewing and strengthening our security polices and we welcome new technology and initiatives to help protect our industry.”
Our thanks to Murphy Surveys Ltd. for sharing this story with us.
KOREC was able to provide the Gardaí with coordinates of the stolen S5’s position
The latest issue of CES magazine is out now and KOREC can’t help but think that the Editor’s interest in all things Star Wars may have assisted in the great coverage of this unusual case study, a monitoring story set on one of Ireland’s most important herigage sites, Skellig Michael…better know as the location where Luke Skywalker was tracked down in the cliff hanger scene of The Force Awkens!
Construction intelligence has valued UK contracts in 2017 at £71bn. A great number of these will require some form of monitoring which is why adding deformation monitoring to your survey portfolio can be highly profitable.
And it’s easier than you think. More often than not, you already have the equipment to do it with basic systems requiring nothing more than a Trimble Total Station with FineLock technology and the stake-out function in Trimble Access software running on a controller.
Alternatively, you may already have a laser scanner for creating surface models and of course surface to surface comparisons, ideal for detecting a bulging retaining wall, without the need to put prisms on structures.
The next step would be investing in Trimble’s modestly priced 4D monitoring app for setting up a measuring regime. Full information on all these options, and more advanced ones, is available from our webinar.
It’s been a busy first half of the year for KOREC and so much has happened that we’ve published an extra issue of Mensura this year. Welcome to the July newsletter!
Key topics include:
Case study – ‘Business in a box’
KOREC support – why we’ve upped the game
Introducing our new Trimble MX9 Mobile Mapping system (right)
Product news – the TSC7
…and much much more.
If you’d like to regularly receive a hard copy of Mensura in the post, then please sign up here.
5 Reasons to Attend Dimensions 2018
We know you have choices when it comes to conferences, but no other event has the same combination of education, technology and networking to transform the way you work!
Here are 5 reasons why you should join us at Dimensions on November 5–7, 2018 in Las Vegas:
- Expand your Knowledge
Learn beyond your field of interest. Attend sessions, workshops, hands-on training and computer labs led by industry experts from around the world. Meet your continuing education requirements in the many sessions offering PDH credits. - Networking Galore!
Swap ideas with professionals across industries and geographies; broaden your knowledge and have some fun during sessions, breaks, and evening networking events. - Access to Innovation
Check out the Expo to explore the latest technology solutions and talk to Trimble experts, visionaries and valued partners about which ones are right for you. - Meet the Future
Get the first look at Trimble’s cutting-edge solutions, and lead your business into a successful tomorrow. - Be Part of a Success Story
Listen to a powerful lineup of keynote and session presenters sharing their success stories, vision for the future, innovative best practices and much more.
At Dimensions, the goal is to make your trip an enjoyable one. The Trimble team has every detail covered so you can focus on making the most of your time at Dimensions 2018. All you have to do is get here!
KOREC is delighted to announce that following a successful tender, it has supplied Ordnance Survey with fifty-five Trimble new generation Trimble Alloy GNSS Reference Receivers in support of OS Net. OS Net is Great Britain’s national global navigation satellite system (GNSS) infrastructure, operated by Ordnance Survey.
The Alloy units will be supported by KOREC for the duration of the five year contract.
The Trimble Alloy Reference Receiver is both future proof and the most technically advanced GNSS receiver available on the market today being compliant with GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, BeiDou, EGNOS, QZSS, IRNSS, SBAS and L-Band whilst the inclusion of dual Trimble Maxwell 7 chipsets combined with a powerful processor provides strong tracking and processing power. Additionally, with 672 channels, Alloy has the capacity to accommodate additional signals as they may become available, eliminating the need to replace hardware to keep pace with technology.
Mark Poveda, Commercial Director, KOREC, said “The next generation Trimble Alloy Reference Receiver will assist the Ordnance Survey in its plans to modernise its network. Users of OS Net can now receive signals from the widest range of constellations available enabling them to be more productive in the field and work effectively in challenging GNSS conditions. KOREC prides itself on a reputation for delivering cutting edge Trimble technology backed up by a high level of service and support and we believe that this combination has helped us to win the prestigious order with Ordnance Survey.”
The latest functionality that we’ve added to our K-Mobile field data capture software has been developed specifically to save time and speed up efficiency in the field, especially for those working in high density asset areas. Field workers can now select a wide range of feature points from the front screen saving at least a couple of clicks for each asset recorded.
We’ve also introduced a new form ‘Clipboard’ feature. This is ideal for anyone who has a number of forms to fill in, but not all in one go. Users can now revisit the same form at intervals throughout the day, without the risk of duplicating the form, and add information as and when it’s collected. Coloured white, amber and green icons for each form provide a quick glance progress report as to how much information has been collected for each of these forms. Useful!
How examining your database can shape your company’s future. KOREC’s Business Area Manager – Mapping & GIS, Richard Gauchwin, shares some thoughts on how our GIS and mapping customer base has changed over the years and what this means for the future.
With GDPR well and truly upon us, here at KOREC we’ve be closely examining our customer database to ensure that only those of you who wish to hear from us do.
Taking the time to analyse our customer data has reminded us just how many industries we’ve been working with and how varied our customer applications are. But what can we learn from our changing database and how will it shape our future plans?
Emphasis on efficiency – more industries are going digital
A decade ago, KOREC’s strongest message for potential mapping customers was ‘…if you want to become more efficient in both the field and the office, ditch the pen and paper and go digital’. Our case studies focused on ‘core user’ examples involving street column surveys, cemetery mapping and street furniture inventories with the collected data usually managed on a corporate GIS. Today, our database shows that adoption of digital data capture, digital inspections and digital data verification is now widespread across a broad base of users, and it’s easy to understand why. Whilst the need for greater efficiency never diminishes, fortunately the cost of the relevant hardware and the length of the software learning curve has!
KOREC Opinion – With these barriers removed, going digital is a ‘no brainer’ – the benefits far outweigh the investment! We expect the market to grow and broaden.
Our customers seek solutions rather than products
There is no doubt that today’s KOREC/K-Mobile customer has a far more sophisticated approach to data capture than ever before. It goes way beyond the initial need for a product or system that simply enables the recording of just the positional and attribute information that we were still seeing even five years ago. KOREC customers now want this geospatial element to be part of an overall workflow where the end product is intelligent data that can be queried and used for proactive rather than reactive purposes. Our customers don’t want to just know where a certain gully is, they want to know when it was last cleaned? How often does it flood? Does its maintenance programme need changing from every six months to every two months. In short, can it be part of a proactive maintenance problem that will improve efficiency and cut costs?
KOREC Opinion – More and more of our customers want a fully integrated system that allows them to capture, update and query information in a seamless process. We’ll be continuing to develop K- Portal, our hosted, cloud based solution for the live monitoring of a project’s progress and the assignment of work orders based on intelligent information. In a recent industry survey*, 84% of respondees think users are now demanding complete workflow solutions rather than standalone products and we’re completely in agreement.
Customisation is king!
We’ve recently devoted a whole Let’s Be Specific article to this very subject and it’s just been published in Geomatics World. During the past twelve months, KOREC’s in-house software development team has been approached many times over by customers with very specific requests. For example, “We want to move from pen and paper to digital data collection and retain our existing workflow because it works well but off-the-peg data capture software won’t allow us to do this.” Or “We want software that automatically calculates a value we need out in the field for immediate decision making rather than our current system that requires us to process information back in the office.”
KOREC Opinion – Our in-house software development team has customised applications on behalf of many industries. But here’s another thought, if customisation is generally accepted as a crucial element in the successful take-up of a system, why not create data capture systems that are not just application/industry specific but customer specific?….and that’s exactly what we’re doing by handling requests from the smallest tweak to full systems. We expect widespread take-up of customer specific solutions.
Greater acceptance of cloud computing and its benefits
Not so long ago, ‘The Cloud’ was viewed as a slightly suspicious concept that may or may not be secure. Five years on and it’s been an industry game changer. Importantly, access to the cloud is through any web browser, minimising impact on IT infrastructure and resources. This easy access, combined with the increased bandwidth for storage, processing and sharing of data, has changed the way we present data, share it and act upon it.
In particular, users of our Mobile Mapping service for large projects can use our K-Portal to monitor work on a minute by minute basis through a ‘breadcrumb’ trail and this useful information can be used in interactive charts, for example, just click on a segment to view the location of all recorded defects. This means information can be acted on immediately.
KOREC Opinion – More and more KOREC customers are asking for customised solutions that include our K-Portal hosted, cloud based solution for the live monitoring of projects, live analysis and the issuing of work orders. In fact, we have one customer that, via the cloud, remotely manages its operations on the other side of the world! And of course, as data becomes viewed by more shareholders, the quality of the end product or deliverable, whether it be a report or a plan, will become even more important.
‘Geospatial’ is everywhere
Thanks to the rise of the Smartphone, field software such as K-Mobile (running on both Windows and Android), and of course Trimble Catalyst, the industry’s first software, low cost, subscription based GPS, affordable cm positioning is now available to everyone. The arrival of Trimble Catalyst, a simple ‘plug and play’ system means that accurate data collection is no longer reliant on a full understanding of coordinate systems, geodetic datums and correction sources.
KOREC Opinion – Unlimited growth outside of our traditional customer base. The affordable tools are all in place to address the needs of a broader range of users, particularly those for whom accurate, positional data is important but still secondary to their line of work.
A new age of entrepreneurs
We are entering the Fourth Industrial Revolution, one that will be driven by A1, Big Data, IoT, Robotics and Cloud Computing. The rate of innovation is likely to be fast because our world has greater connectivity than ever before. Consequently, we will see a new generation of thinkers, those who have grown up with Smartphones and the cloud, who will be better equipped to push the boundaries of the geospatial industry from both inside and outside and use positional information in ways that, as yet, we can’t even imagine!
KOREC Opinion – We are already seeing signs of this through the Ordnance Survey’s Geovation initiative. Based in London ‘The Hub’ is a data lab for creative people who want to experiment with property and location information and technology. It is also the recipient of a number of free Trimble Catalyst Licenses to further assist innovative use of high accuracy positioning. Exciting project at the hub are combining Catalyst, robotics and AI. Watch this space!
Alex Wrottesley, Head of Geovation, commented: “Location is at the heart of all new technology propositions. In a world where smartphone use is ubiquitous every interaction can be connected to location-data and intent. At Geovation we work with hundreds of entrepreneurs and startups looking at opportunities in almost every sector – property, infrastructure, connectivity, transportation and wellness to name a few. We can’t wait to see that the next generation of businesses can do with the technologies that are now available to them”.
In conclusion, we can’t begin to imagine what our customer database will look like 10 years from now but we are preparing for a customer that is well versed in the benefits of Big Data, AI, Robotics, Cloud technology, Customised Workflows and subscription based services.
*We’re not the only ones to share our views on the market. Over 50 geospatial industry leaders have been sharing their thoughts and opinions in the Geospatial World Leaders’ Outlook report. It’s well worth a read.
Thanks to GeoConnexion UK for covering our story on how one enterprising individual got an aerial survey business off the ground and delivering high quality imagery in just eight weeks.
KOREC customer, Geraint Thomas, shares with us how he successfully immersed himself in the world of aerial surveys in order to help out a client of his photography business, Horizon Nuclear Power, that required fast delivery on high quality site imagery on Anglesey. Geraint’s UAV (a senseFly eBee Plus RTK), his pilot training through The Drone Pilot Academy and his product training were all arranged through KOREC as a package as was onsite support for his early flights.
Read the full story here.
The Doncaster campus of The National College of High Speed Rail (NCHSR) was the location for KOREC’s UK launch of Trimble’s GEDO IMS, a lightweight, flexible and fast system that combines an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) with scanning and geodetic sensors for surveying railway lines and documenting assets along the track.
The day was attended by key players from the UK rail industry who all enjoyed presentations and live demonstrations from KOREC and Trimble rail specialists Matthew Lock and Tom Williamson (KOREC) and Matthew Moss (Trimble).
Many of the attendees remained for a tour of the College at the end of the day. NCHSR (Doncaster) was opened in October 2017 by education secretary Justine Greening and was the recipient of a significant gift from Trimble to expand its training and research in railway design, construction and maintenance.
Matthew Lock, KOREC Business Area Manager – Rail and Monitoring, said “The new Trimble GEDO IMU is a fantastic addition to the well-established GEDO family. It offers fast initialisation, high-speed precise measuring and robust construction in a lightweight package. The increased productivity and ease of use, coupled with the fact that it is a single-TMD solution, means our customers take less time on site and do so more safely. We have been really delighted with the response from our customers and look forward to continuing to promote Trimble’s highly productive rail portfolio.”
Clair Mowbray, NCHSR CEO, said, “We are delighted to have been the host venue for KOREC’s UK launch of Trimble’s GEDO IMS and to have welcomed key players from the UK rail industry. Our unique facilities set us apart and we are thrilled we were able to help KOREC demonstrate their new system on the track at the Doncaster campus.”
For further information on Trimble Rail Solutions supplies by KOREC, please contact matthew.lock@korecgroup.com