Several years ago, I started poking around to fix a challenge all field engineers deal with when generating materials field testing data: Accurately collecting data from the field without knowing where I was standing in relation to the plan.
捕获该信息的传统方法是耗时的，并且会遇到数据输入错误。当我向项目管理进行职业过渡时，我看到了客户的交付方式。那时，我开始研究成为目标的东西，使用第三方软件和移动设备上的GPS的现场数据收集工作流程将准确的位置数据集成到核心陶龙系统中。
成为目标的目标是解决三个挑战：创建更高效，简化的现场数据收集，包括GPS位置；更快，更容易的现场报告过程和更好的客户报告
Today, we use TARGETID for larger projects, but the materials testing data challenge is still there, no matter the size of the project. If your site is 1,000 acres that has been stripped bare, how do you describe where you took your test or performed an inspection? The traditional method is you get on your phone, dial up Google Earth, drop a pin and get the GPS coordinates — a string of 25 numbers — manually key in those numbers and hope you don’t make a data entry mistake, and do that again for each of the 20, 30 or more tests you do that day. The client doesn’t know what these (latitude and longitude) numbers mean. So, you key in those numbers again, this time to Google Maps, and create a PDF of that map so the client can see where the test(s) occurred.
您可以很容易地重新铺设目标停车场，在沥青上产生40-50次测试，每次测试都需要一个新的参考点 - 距离南部的第三扇门27英尺，距离岛上3英尺，距…以西100英尺。你得到图片。该项目不必大大就可以是一个挑战和耗时的，即可准确地报告材料测试数据位置。这可能是我工作中最糟糕的部分。
I started trying different solutions, working with various third-party applications, each with its own limitations until I came across what might work best for our firm — Esri’s ArcGIS software platform. I downloaded it on my personal computer for the 90-day free trial and tested it out on a Terracon project. As the free trial was ending, I showed our office manager what I was able to do and got permission to purchase a license for the software. This discovery phase took about six months as I started trial and error in its configuration — what I thought we wanted to do with it, what would work, what wouldn’t.
当我过渡到其开发阶段时，我必须制定协议和自动化，这使我在工程师的大脑和计算机科学大脑之间来回切换。我学习了Python和其他几种编程语言，因为我弄清楚如何使设置项目，自动化数据收集和报告的效率更高，同时仍在担任陶龙项目经理。新利18备用网址
大约两年半的时间，我在TargetID的第三版上似乎将其推出到其他陶土办公室。我搬到了它，并成为陶龙GIS部门的成员。一组敬业的开发人员的集中努力使这项工作更快。报告中的许多微调和整合发生在2020年。
More Efficient, Streamlined Field Data Collection
这是一个项目交付的工具。实地data collection, TARGETID allowed us to stop using paper – writing information in a field book and translating that into a report typed up later. Now we collect data in a digital format so its dynamic – you can access it, manage it, use it later on. You can’t perform data management from a PDF.
技术人员和检查人员进入测试和inspection data while in the field, pulling data into an interactive map using the project plans. Site data is available in real time, from the locations where the testing is performed. TARGETID leverages geospatial information to collect, communicate and report materials testing through a map-centric and intuitive, interactive interface.
Quicker, Easier Field Reporting Process
What our field engineers do best is field work, not writing and reporting. With the traditional method you can be in the field all day and have hours more paperwork to do after that. TARGETID collects data seamlessly and processes the required report. This allows the technicians and inspectors to get more field work done in the same amount of time, and it helps with work/life balance as well.
You can see how this matters in a project like the Indeck Niles Energy Center in Michigan. This $500-million clean energy center has so far generated data points for 3,454 soil density tests, 625 concrete samplings, 131 proof rolls, 200 asphalt density tests and 115 grout samplings.
更好的客户可交付
The TARGETID dashboard breaks down the traditional silos between design, construction and owner groups, bringing visibility to the entire scope. Team members can filter data to desired date ranges (also test status, length, volume, floor or elevation), click on a test to see photos or final reports associated with it, see test colors which indicate status (accepted, deviation, in-progress) and more.
With the Nashville Soccer Club’s stadium project, for example, site plans for the stadium were entered into TARGETID, enabling the contractor to find information by location or phase of construction.
This field data collection workflow has absolutely transformed the work, and client experience for the better. There is no end to improvements we can make — to data collection forms, internal systems, photo log creation, 3D modeling. We solved for those first three challenges but there are so many more.
Justin Reynolds has more than 10 years of experience working on materials construction projects in the lab, field and as a project engineer. He is the technical lead for TARGETID and directly supports and consults on many of Terracon's largest projects across the nation.陶土is an employee-owned engineering consulting firm with more than 5,000 employees providing environmental, facilities, geotechnical, and materials services from more than 150 offices with services available in all 50 states. Terracon ranks 24th on ENR's 2021 list of Top 500 Design Firms.
