The GeoSite Manager System is the most integrated and complete software package on the market for site construction management. No other software package takes contractors from the job quote to the finish grade.

Site Construction Tools

Map and stake sites with the ATV-mounted Rapid Survey System (RSS) running the GeoSite Manager System modules GCS: Topo and GCS: Point.

The RSS is the only survey tool designed primarily with the needs of contractors in mind. It takes the guesswork out of site construction. Find out why the RSS is the most efficient survey and staking platform for contractors on the market.

For rapid and accurate grade checking, use GCS: Field. Plan and lay pipe and cable with GCS: Pipe. Automate your equipment control with GCS valve control software GCS: Control.

Dirt Contractor Applications

Quoting
Setting up a Job
Check Other Contractor's Work
Staking
Machine-Controlled Excavation and Grading
Measuring/Cross Sectioning Stockpiles
Job Changes
Grade Checking
Grade Proofing

Other Contractors

Underground Contractors
Building Contractors
Paving Contractors
Landscapers

Contact us to discuss how GeoLogic Computer Systems can improve the accuracy and efficiency of your operation.

Dirt Contractor Applications

Quoting

Most times, contractors quote a job based upon the data of the project engineer. Engineers often get their data from aerial photographs supplemented with a handful of points collected on the ground. Mapping a job site from aerial photographs can be a very inaccurate process. Under ideal conditions, the data is only accurate to +/- 6 in (15 cm). However, photographs taken during cloudy conditions, harsh sunlight or when the surface is anything other than bare (covered by grass, snow, bushes, trees, etc.) can generate data accurate to +/- 3 ft (0.9 m). With such poor data, generating an accurate quote is very difficult.

With an RSS, you have the option of quickly generating a survey-quality map of your own or importing and checking the engineer's data. You may find there is less work on the job than the engineer's data predicted, and underbid the competition. If there turns out to be more work, you can negotiate a contract with proper compensation for extras before you begin work.

Setting up a Job

Before you start work on a site, you can stake important features for reference with the RSS. For instance, if the site requires roadway, landscaping, or underground piping, you can mark outlines, stripping limits and important points before you start work.

Checking the Work of Other Contractors

When another contractor has been working on the site and your work needs to mesh with theirs, check to make sure their work was done properly before you begin. Without surveying the work done on site, you could potentially find out at the end of the job that their work was off by a few inches to several feet. Avoid incurring extra costs compensating for someone else's mistakes.

If you hire a subcontractor, make sure the work is to your specifications before they finish and you pay them.

Staking

With an RSS, you have the option of staking the site on your own, or you can use a surveyor's stakes.

If the stakes were installed by a surveyor, you can quickly verify the accuracy of their work. Most surveyors manually log the position of their stakes - if they installed 100 stakes in the ground, two could very easily be accidentally logged incorrectly.

Checking stakes is as easy as setting up on site, importing points and driving to each stake. When you place the RSS's positioning rod next to a stake, the coordinate error is displayed on screen.

Most dirt contractors can't afford to invest hundreds of man-hours working from a misplaced stake, only to find out at the next survey that the surveyor made a mistake and a point was off.

When it comes time to replace a stake, the RSS will direct you to the point with onscreen NEZ information. Replacing stakes is so easy and fast, you can feel free to let your operators run over stakes.

The RSS gives you the option of installing your own surveyor-quality stakes. The ability to stake in-house will save you time, money and hassle. By contrast, if you call a surveyor, they will want to stake your entire site at once, potentially filling your site with stakes that you won't use for several weeks and obstructing the movement of your equipment. With the RSS, you can stake only the points you choose, when you need them. Setup is fast enough that no staking job is too small - if you need a handful of stakes updated or replaced, you won't wait several days and pay hundreds of dollars to a surveyor to get them.

Placing stakes is quick and easy. Once you set up, in one minute you can log a location, pound in a stake and drive on. The software keeps track of all your points and can easily direct you back to a given point if necessary. One operator can stake alone, with the assistance of an ATV, carrying all the necessary equipment onboard and eliminating the need for a rod man. The mobility of the ATV-mounted RSS allows you to cross large sites to place stakes faster than a team with sights, or a man on foot with a reflector and transit.

With an RSS, your grade checker can do the work of three. With the added efficiency of the RSS, you can choose to sell your mapping and staking services to the other contractors on site.

Machine-Controlled Excavation and Grading

Depending upon the tolerances of the job, your bulldozer, scraper and grader operators may be able to work with reasonable accuracy from grade stakes. However, if you need more speed or precision, you can outfit your earthmoving equipment with GCS computerized control.

With GCS computerized control, operators can perform field-based grade checking in real time from the cab. Given a surface model, the system can indicate onscreen the blade offset from grade and the equipment's position on site. The operator can then cut much closer to grade than with stakes. If your equipment utilizes GCS computerized control, you don't even need to stake.

GCS equipment uses GPS data for positioning. A GPS base station with radio control will drive a fleet of controlled equipment spread over a very large job site, without line of sight contact, unlike optically-driven (laser and total station) machine control systems.

For the ultimate in job control and efficiency, your GCS computerized control can interface with valve equipment and drive a blade directly. GCS machine control software works with several brands of valve equipment. If your machinery is already outfitted with valve control, contact us about compatibility.

Machine control will prevent expensive and time consuming overcutting, a danger of any manually controlled grading or excavating operation. Machine control powered by GCS software takes the guesswork out of excavating and grading. Your operators will get the grade right the first time - no need to repeatedly stake the same surfaces until you are on grade.

GCS computerized and machine control software are designed as part of a suite of software and integrate smoothly with the other modules that compose the GeoSite Manager System. This close integration means that if you already have an RSS, you can train other operators on it (ie: grader or bulldozer operators). All equipment works from the same graphical interface your RSS operator uses. If you ever need to move operators to different equipment running the GeoSite Manager System, they won't need to learn a new interface.

All your equipment will also operate from the same data file types. Your RSS and all your computer controlled equipment can operate from the same surface model.

If you decide that you don't need the surveying and staking abilities of the RSS, field-based grade checking and machine control can operate independently.

Measuring/Cross-Sectioning Stockpiles

Keep track of your materials on site with a quick cross-section of the stockpile from your RSS. For instance, your work might involve taking off topsoil, building a berm and replacing the soil. Before you start laying soil, you can ensure that you have the proper quantity for the new surface, and sell any extra.

Job Changes

Job changes are inevitable, and some may require more work than you quoted for. When you negotiate payment for extras, you will need to prove how much of the job has been completed to date. Instead of relying on bin counts, find out exactly how much dirt has been moved. Map the current surface with the RSS and use the software to compare it to your pre-construction maps and calculate the volume of dirt moved. Use the same software to calculate exactly how much must be moved to implement the changes and negotiate with survey-quality data.

Grade Checking/Staking

The RSS makes grade staking fast and accurate. The mobility of an ATV-mounted RSS, combined with the speed of its automated positioning and mapping functions allow a single operator to perform all your grade checking. If necessary, staking with the RSS is fast enough that your operator can check the grade around moving equipment.

Grade Proofing

After the final grade has been constructed, you'll need to prove to the engineers that your work meets the project specifications. Ensure prompt and full payment by submitting survey-quality data and maps to the engineers.

Other Contractors

Underground Contractors

Before construction starts, you can map and stake planned work with an RSS (or any without calling a surveyor.

With a topographical map of the surface, you can design a path for pipe or cable laying, and the GeoSite Manager System will guide a pipe/cable layer with computerized control along the planned path.

If the project involves laying piping and a design has not been provided, the GeoSite Manager System can plan out the most efficient way to install piping from a surface model (potentially generated from your topographic site information). No matter what vertical variation you encounter, your pipe will always drain properly.

For even more efficient operation, utilize machine control. The GeoSite Manager System installed on a wheel or plow type trencher will automate most of installation from your pipelaying plans (provided by an engineer or generated by the software). The software will direct you where to drive, while digging a trench to plan, eliminating the need for flagging.

For a more detailed listing of the GeoSite Manager Systems's pipelaying functions, see the GCS: Pipe module page.

If you've ever used laser machine control for pipelaying, you're probably familiar with the hassles of laser control. Laser systems are vulnerable to interference from the weather, and require a clear line of sight with the rotating laser to operate properly. GCS machine control frees you from the constraints of lasers with GPS positioning and radio communication. You won't lose contact if you are behind a tree, on the other side of a hill, or behind machinery.

See the GCS base station page for a full description of the advantages of GPS control over laser and other optical systems.

For especially deep trenching or wide piping requiring an excavator, the GeoSite Manager System (with the requisite hardware) can provide the excavator operator with highly accurate bucket position information. From a cab mounted screen, the operator can see the distance of the bucket from the grade and the position of the bucket with respect to the site plan. With accurate positional information, your operator won't need to stop excavation for a rod man to secure the trench and check the grade.

Building Contractors

Large sites with very large buildings can take a long time to stake on foot with hand calculations. With an RSS, you can quickly stake the corners of a structure thousands of feet across. Unlike robotic transits and rotating lasers, stakes installed with the GeoSite Manager System will be level and flat because GCS software automatically compensates for radius of curvature.

For more information on the features of the RSS, click here.

Paving Contractors

under construction

Landscapers

under construction