The K-Mobile team is nothing if not accommodating and most of all they enjoy problem solving, no matter how large, or in this case, how small! Here are three of the latest that they’ve been tackling.
Help – no one delivering goods or visiting us on our motorway site can find us!
Large road construction projects are all referenced by chainage so we’ve developed a really useful little function that’s now included in all versions of K-Mobile. Designed to provide users with a free dynamic chainage display on any linear job, it’s ideal for deliveries and visitors who can be provided with access via a link.
We’re collecting information on traffic light conditions but have to open up each individual record to tick a ‘fully functional’ box. When we have 20 sets of working lights on an intersection this can take 20 minutes. How can we speed up this process?
Welcome to ‘lassoo assets’! It does exactly what the name says and can be used on any asset type allowing for a time saving ‘batch’ approach to changing a field. In this case we developed ‘lassoo assets’ as a useful add-on to K-Mobile, making the process 20x faster. This is just the sort of small development the K-Mobile team can undertake in less than a day!
How can I QA check the offset measurements from my laser rangefinder
With the rise of Trimble Catalyst (software based GNSS) running on tablets, we’re seeing increased usage of the TruPulse laser rangefinder for offset measurements as an alternative to the Trimble GeoExporer with its built -in laser. The K-Mobile team has responded accordingly by enhancing the form that pops up automatically when a laser measurement is taken. You can now store any laser measurement and the coordinates of where you are standing as attributes. Two positions – ideal for QA purposes!
Although developed for handheld lasers, this feature works with any NEMA style BlueTooth device such as sonar devices and radiation detectors.
What would improve your productivity? Please contact the K-Mobile team on 0345 603 1214
KOREC’s customer service and technical support accounts for 80% of Coastway’s decision
Coastway Surveys is a thriving survey business with offices in Ireland and the UK. Offering a wide range of services including land, engineering and aerial surveys, scan to BIM and mobile mapping, it is a company that has prepared for further expansion with a new management structure designed to meet the needs of a growing business. As a part of this re-structure, Paul Moir has taken up the new role of Operations Director bringing with him extensive surveying, engineering, data analysis and consultancy skills from over 20 years of worldwide industry experience.
One of Paul’s first strategic decisions was to select a preferred surveying instrument supplier that was equipped to grow with Coastway Surveys and work with it as a partner during its expansion into new business areas. Although Coastway had had satisfactory relationships with a number of suppliers previously, Paul felt that whilst price, reliability and functionality of equipment would be key criteria, the overriding consideration would be the level of service and support that a supplier could offer. Familiar with Trimble technology, he therefore contacted KOREC Ireland and was impressed immediately by the fast response of the team, by KOREC’s personal approach and by the set-up of the company’s Technical Support department.
Paul explains, “Service and support are key to the day to day running of our surveying and engineering services. Even the best instruments and software can have break downs or blips and KOREC has proved itself to be extremely proficient in dealing with these issues, whether it’s with the free loan of a replacement instrument or solving something over a quick phone call. For me service and support was 80% of the Coastway decision to go with KOREC as our preferred supplier and the service we have received has been exceptional. The team is always contactable with dedicated support staff so that I never feel I am taking someone away from another area of their job. Issues are addressed immediately and both the technical and sales staff are entirely flexible in their approach – I’ve even had the Regional Sales Director meet me on site over a weekend. Along with some excellent free training, this is the sort of relationship that we believe will help Coastway’s dynamic approach towards expansion into new business areas.”
Coastway Surveys has invested in a wide range of KOREC supplied instrumentation including Trimble R10 GNSS, S6 Total Station, SX10 Scanning Total Station and TX8 Laser Scanner technology. The company has also purchased senseFly eBee Plus fixed wing survey drones.
Coastway’s Paul Moir (top left) with Shane Murtagh of KOREC
It is the largest maze in Britain, and one of the largest mazes in the world so we’re delighted to report that once again York Maze has been using KOREC supplied Trimble sub-metre Geo handheld mapping technology to map out this year’s Jurassic themed attraction!
Last year Maze Master Tom Pearcy explained to us exactly how it’s done. “We’ve come a long way since our first creation in 2002. Back then our mazes were based on just lines and circles drawn onto graph paper and in the field, we used sticks and strings to set out the design, a time consuming exercise which could take two weeks or more.
Today the process is much more straightforward. Our theme is designed in a basic drawing package and then uploaded onto our Trimble Geo which provides us with the 0.5m accuracy that this type of work requires.
We then go out into the maize field and effectively create the biggest dot to dot in the world!
Using the map on the Trimble Geo, I plot out the design amongst the 6” high maize plants, marking the points as I go, whilst a cultivator follows on behind.
The accuracy and reliability of the Geo enables us to complete the work in just 3-4 days and of course reproduce much more complex designs.”
www.yorkmaze.co.uk Open daily from 10am – 6:30pm until Monday 3rd September 2018
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!