named because of its versatility which enables an inspection and report of almost anything. Before discussing this new solution, let’s take a look at the problem with the survey process.
Over and over I heard from other surveyors with similar stories of late nights spent behind the computer and no personal life. There was clearly something wrong with our survey process and what became overwhelmingly clear, was just how much time we spent duplicated our effort when transcribing our notes. Even when sent to a transcriptionist, the review and correction time was still too long to justify the expense.
As an engineer by trade, it is in my nature to identify and fix problems just like this. Teaming up with a respected surveyor as well as a software developer, we began a mission to completely replace the notepad and pen and introduce the idea of using a tablet to collect information while in the field. To accomplish this would
It is a well known standard that preparing
a detailed survey report takes roughly an hour in the office for every hour that was spent in the field. For most surveyors, this means that most evenings and weekends will be spent working on these reports. As a partner in a well-established and very busy survey company in South Florida, I very much enjoyed the onboard survey process but hated the long nights and weekends writing these reports. Just like the preparation of any survey report, ours were tedious and time consuming. Added to the repetitious task of preparing the report is the constant stress and responsibility that comes along with trying to ensure every possible item was thoroughly checked during the inspection. The pages and pages of scribbled notes were often torn or saturated with saltwater. Every evening, my goal was to complete transcribing just half the notes collected from that day’s assignment which meant that I would spend the entire evening in front of the computer, even eating dinner at my desk. I was losing sleep, had little time for my wife or myself and I realized that continuing in this way was unsustainable. I’d had enough, but I wasn’t alone.
require the design and construction of software specifically tailored to the marine industry and with the marine surveyor’s process in mind. We identified two key challenges that would be absolutely necessary in order for this to work in the field. Firstly, this software would need to be able to rapidly navigate to a specific location within the report faster than flipping through the pages of handwritten fieldnotes, and secondly, once at that location, this software would need to be able to enter information faster than writing with a pen. With those two specific goals in mind we set out to create a program purposely designed toward entering
information while in the field and eliminating the duplicated effort of transcription once in the office.
After studying numerous survey reports and separating the structure of these reports into categories, sub-categories, and headings we chose to represent each of these sections as clickable buttons on the screen. Visually presenting the entire report layout in this fashion enabled rapid navigation to any heading within the entire report with just a single press. This rapid navigation answered our first key component.
Next, we added a list of commonly used phrases called “Quick Insert Options” to each heading within the report. Whether taking inventory, describing a condition, or writing a deficiency we often use similar phrases and statements in our writing. Having access to a running list of these phrases that could be modified, built upon and fully customized directly in the field meant that we could have an unlimited resource of all our past commonly used statements for entry when this condition was sighted again. These “Quick Insert Options” enable an entire phrase, one that was already carefully worded with references or standards, to be instantly entered into the report. Newly added phrases can be saved for future use and custom changes can be made with the tablet’s onscreen
The Report • March 2019 • Issue 87 | 51
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