While there have been advances in bringing more digital tools to the construction field in some sectors, much of heavy civil construction still lags behind. Inspections and other documentation of as-builts are often still captured on pen and paper, to be entered into computer systems later in the day. This disconnect can lead to errors and delays on road projects, says Shawn Tinkey, field representative with HNTB.
“We were used to taking several measurements out in the field, and then going back to the office to draw out the lines [in CAD software], and if there was undulating surfaces we needed to create terrain models,” he says. Tinkey wasn’t satisfied with the GNSS and GPS survey software available, saying it was geared for professional surveyors, with too steep a learning curve for his field team to use properly. So he reached out internally to HNTB’s technology team, which led him to survey technology manufacturer Leica Geosystems and software maker InfoTech.