PCS Field Data Collector Maps: Optimizing Your Survey Experience. Virtual Brew 9/19/2024

In this episode of Virtual Brew, our free monthly webinar, Product Manager Patrick McLellan dives into the PCS Field Data Collector app. Learn how PCS FDC Maps can transform how you manage and visualize your surveys to boost your accuracy and productivity.

Resources from this episode: Download the PDF guide for a detailed walkthrough of the features covered in this episode.

Transcript

Introduction

Patrick
Thank you, Justin, thank you, Christian. As Justin said, I’m Patrick, the product manager over FDC and our survey accessory lines. Today we’re going to try to accomplish optimizing FDC in one of its flagship features, the maps. In our Allegro legacy software, we did a lot of things through list views and things of that nature — in the FDC line, we’ve been able to expand that to show your survey sites geographically on a map, which helps make your survey experience more efficient and effective.

The use case I want to walk through today is how to optimize that experience — we want to send our facilities with the correct data, in the right fields, in an efficient order, to FDC, so that when you’re out surveying, you can use our mapping and navigation features to really expand your survey experience.

Session Overview and Agenda

I’m going to go through these slides pretty quickly, but we’ll have a PDF of this as a quick reference after Virtual Brew, so you can look back at it. We’ll cover: how to set up your data and fields in PCS so your sites correctly display on the maps in Survey Manager as well as FDC; key features in the FDC maps that let you see your facilities, navigate to them, and make your inspection work seamless; and some nice bonus navigation features for efficiently locating your assets in the field. We’ll end with a quick Q&A, but we’ll hold questions until the end.

Setting Up Facility Data in PCS

First, we need the right data in PCS. Here’s the CPDM data grid, showing the test point facility type. What I’m highlighting here are the facility information fields — these help you find your assets in the field and confirm what you’re looking at. The black fields are facility-level common fields, available for every facility type in PCS — you want these ordered in a way that’s easy and convenient for you: row code and pipe, milepost, location description, and address. If you’re transmission or distribution, you may lean more on address-type fields versus your right-of-way codes and pipe — I like to have them all up there so I have the correct data populated and know how to find my assets in the field.

The other key fields are elevation, latitude, and longitude — where your GPS coordinates populate, whether captured in the field on FDC or entered manually through a bridge import or the grid. Before I send my surveys out, I like to do a quick check for any missing GPS — you can see at the top of this grid, two assets don’t have GPS. You can either enter the location manually here if you know it, or capture those fields in the field using GPS capture on FDC. Just make sure you have these fields in your grid and populated with data.

Setting Up FDC Prompts

Once you know you have the right fields, you’ll want to set up your field data computer prompts — the fields actually included in the survey file. Go to Field Computer Send, then Customize, then click Prompts. Here, for each facility type you have access to, you select which fields from PCS you want included in the survey. There are some key things to set up here so maps work correctly once you get to FDC.

First, the Information Fields section — this mirrors what I highlighted in the information grid: add the same fields, row code, milepost, location description, and address, so you can find your assets in the field. These fields are also used in what’s called the site list setup, which uses “showcase fields” — we’ll get to that.

It’s extremely important that elevation, latitude, and longitude are also added to this info section, for every single facility type — these are what allow facilities to be displayed on the maps. If they’re missing, that facility type won’t display on the FDC maps.

Showcase Fields and Site Pin Cards

The other thing to set up is the Site List section of the prompt theme — this becomes your showcase fields. Showcase fields populate your information data to help find assets, but they’re also used to populate the site pin card — the information that pops up when you’re on the map, as well as at the top of the inspection page while you’re doing your inspection, giving you a quick reference to confirm you’re on the right site.

When adding these fields, you can only add fields common to all facility types, since these need to display consistently across all your asset types — a rectifier, a test point, a leak, whatever it may be. The top three fields you define are what show on your showcase pins, and you want to order them in the sequence you want to see them — in my case, row code and pipe, milepost, and facility ID.

Sending Data to Survey Manager

Now that this is all set up, I’ll close this prompt theme, select Send to Cloud, select just test points and rectifiers for this demo, and add one previous history record to make sure I can send history over. I’ll load the data grid, select the assets I want to send to Survey Manager so I can create custom routes and send them to the field data collector app — I’ve got test points and rectifiers loaded, and I’ll hit Send. It builds a survey and sends it through the cloud to Survey Manager.

Now, in Survey Manager, under Facility Survey, I’ll hit the plus sign to import from the cloud — here’s the test point I just sent, with its history records included, which you can choose to include or not. I’ll go ahead and import that into Survey Manager. Since there was a duplicate name, it added a new one — I’ll select that, and now you’ll see the test point and rectifier survey I just sent from PCS is all included in Survey Manager.

Building Custom Routes

A nice feature is that the map you see in Survey Manager uses the same Mapbox mapping utility as FDC, so what you see in Survey Manager is what you’ll see in FDC. When deciding what to send to the field — maybe you send everything out, but you know you’re only going to be in a specific area this week — you can zoom in on the map and use the polygon drawing tool, or hold Alt on your keyboard and highlight, to select surveys and build a custom route.

I’ll select the polygon tool and draw around these assets — clicking back at the starting point selects everything I highlighted. You’ll see a folder checkbox option — checking this adds the selection to your groupings, which becomes the survey you assign to a technician or yourself, and that’s what actually gets sent to the mobile device.

I can also add sites through the grid — holding Ctrl and right-clicking lets me add additional sites to my group selection, so I’ve added a couple of extra test points to my group. Once everything’s the way you want it, click the save icon — I’ll call this “VB Demo” (Virtual Brew Demo) and create the group. This builds those into a survey file in a staging status. Then you click this icon to select which technician or user to send the survey to FDC — I’ll type in my name and assign it to myself.

Sending the Survey to FDC

Now switching over to the FDC application — I’m in Periodic Survey, loading my survey grid, and “VB Demo” just showed up. This confirms it downloaded — my device is connected to the network, has internet connectivity, and pulled the survey down from Survey Manager. It shows a cloud icon meaning it’s staged and ready to download — I’ll click it, it downloads with a loading indicator, and now we’re ready to jump into the survey.

When you land on the survey, you’re on the site list, with navigation at the bottom — what we’re focused on today is the site map, which accesses the map. One nice thing: the look and feel of what you set up in Survey Manager and what you see in FDC is very consistent.

FDC Map Overview: Icons and Navigation

Let’s maximize this and focus on FDC. First, what are we looking at on the map — what do the icons at the top mean? The square-looking icon in the upper-left corner zooms the map out to fit — I’ll zoom way out for a bird’s-eye view of the whole survey, to get a mental sense of where I need to be and what I need to do. Clicking that icon zooms the map to include all the facility assets in that survey.

The other thing you need is to see where you are — I’m zoomed way out, so it’ll find my current location, helping you quickly see where you are relative to your assets. Going back to Zoom to Extent — there are a couple ways to navigate: clicking a pin (each pin represents a survey site) opens a flyout card called a site pin card, which tells you the facility type — in this case, a test point — and the showcase field data, like row code and pipe, milepost, and facility ID if defined. A little arrow lets you jump directly into your survey and land on the inspection page — so as soon as you’re at your site, tap the site pin and jump right into the inspection page, with the same showcase fields (row code, milepost, location description) displayed so you can confirm you’re on the right asset before entering data.

You can also jump back to the site map, and it’ll be on the same pin. The site list and site map are synced — if site one is highlighted on the list, it’s highlighted on the map too — so no matter which view you use, you always know your focus is consistent.

Missing GPS Coordinates Indicator

The last icon on the map is a diamond with a number — in this case, two. Remember, on Survey Manager I selected two additional points that didn’t have GPS coordinates in PCS. This tells the user: I’m looking at what is on the map, but two sites in the survey aren’t displayed because they’re missing GPS coordinates. Any site missing coordinates shows this diamond icon on the site list too, so you have a quick, easy reference for which sites need coordinates updated while you’re in the field.

To capture them: land on the inspection page, switch to the information page, and there’s a GPS icon — click it, hit Capture, and it captures your current location. Make sure you do this while standing at the asset, for the closest coordinate capture to where it’s actually located. Save it, and back on the map, you’ll see that count go down by one — you’ve resolved one of the sites not displaying on the map, updating that site pin to your location right in the field.

Map Orientation and True North

When I zoom to extent now, it’ll include that new location, way out in a remote area. Another feature: you can rotate the map to change orientation, and if you want to realign with true north, click the compass icon and it’ll line the map up to true north — helpful for quickly orienting yourself no matter which way you’re facing while navigating your survey.

Survey Status Indicators

One more thing: going back into this site, you’ll notice it’s blue — why? Because I updated the coordinates, meaning I’ve visited that site, but I haven’t yet met all the criteria to be considered surveyed. Once you meet the surveyed indicator criteria, it turns green. The map shows you visually where you are and the status of all your surveys at a glance — unvisited sites are white, visited-but-not-yet-meeting-criteria sites are blue, and surveyed sites are green. You can look at the map and immediately see what you still need to do or where you’ve been. The same indicators appear on the site list and on the site itself, so you always have a clear picture of your progress.

Turn-by-Turn Directions

These next two icons are really useful — how do you actually get to these locations? The turn-by-turn directions icon looks like a small direction arrow — clicking it (I’ll pick a site that’s a bit farther away for a better example) jumps you to your device’s native mapping app, or opens a web browser to Google Maps, giving you turn-by-turn directions to your asset — a nice feature if you’ve never been to a site before.

Bearing and Distance

Switching back to FDC, say I’m in the field, near the right gate of this right-of-way, but I don’t know which way to walk. Clicking the site pin and then the compass arrow icon gives you a bearing and distance to the site — cardinal direction and how far away you are, in feet or meters depending on your preference. It shows your current location and GPS source, and the current GPS of your asset, and it updates live — if you walk the wrong way, the distance number goes up, so you can quickly correct course and find your asset.

Combining these navigation features — bearing and distance, and turn-by-turn directions — really helps you find your assets in the field quickly and effectively.

Q&A: Supported Devices

[Attendee]
What devices does this work with?

Patrick
This works on our Mesa T3 Android device, on iOS iPads, iPad Airs, general iPads, and in the future it’ll be on Windows as well, on our Mesa T4 line. As far as the maps and these features go, it’s essentially any device you’re using this application on — this isn’t hardware-specific, it’s simply about using the FDC software, so this is a standard feature set across iOS, Windows, and Android — whatever you’re using, you have the same functionality.

Q&A: Connectivity and Offline Map Tiles

And to Justin’s comment in the chat — yes, for turn-by-turn directions, you’ll need internet or Wi-Fi/cellular connectivity so it can jump out and map that route, so that won’t be available offline. One thing to note on the maps: once you load your surveys and have network connectivity, the best practice is to go to your maps while you’re on internet service to load your map tiles — once you’re out in the field and offline, those tiles will already be available offline, so you won’t need internet or Wi-Fi as long as you looked at your maps before losing connectivity, and you’ll have full access to the map tiles just like when you were connected.

Q&A: Accessing Survey Manager

[Moderator]
One of the questions was: where do you access the manager screen?

Patrick
Setting up and sending all of your surveys to hardware devices happens through our PCS Survey Manager, which is a cloud-based module of PCS. If you’re currently using PCS but not Survey Manager — the wireless syncing component — this is also where you manage your CI and ECDA-related data. This is called PCS Survey Manager.

[Moderator]
Christian, if you could drop a link to the data sheets and location so we can answer that for Eric — Eric, we’re happy to follow up with you directly to give you an overview of this platform as well.

Q&A: Commercial GIS Map Integration

[Moderator]
Patrick, one from Brad, asking about integrating commercially available maps or GIS.

Patrick
Right now we’re using our Mapbox solution to populate the maps — we’re not integrating with customers’ GIS database systems right now, but that’s something that could be looked at in the future. I’d like to understand more about the use case, so, Brad, feel free to send me some more information and we can gather more details.

[Moderator]
Brad, I can definitely see some advantages here that we talk about a lot internally — things like being able to import KML or KMZ overlay data, to have your centerline prominently displayed on your field data collection device and inside Survey Manager. That’s something we talk about, and it’s a pretty big open idea on our future roadmap, so we definitely want more feedback there. I want to make sure — and Patrick believes this too — that this is built by and for corrosion professionals, so anything we’re doing is because we’ve gotten feedback and are trying to make your lives easier in the field, whether from a management or technician perspective. Please don’t hesitate to give us constructive feedback — that’s one of Patrick’s main responsibilities, making sure this meets the needs of our end users.

Q&A: CSV Export from Survey Manager

[Moderator]
Michael Tally was asking if we can export CSV from Survey Manager.

Patrick
Yes — with the CI, DCVG, and ECDA data on this screen, that’s your periodic survey data, driven by PCS, so annual/periodic reporting is only out of PCS. But you can report directly, CSV or PDF, on all of your ECDA data — CI, DCVG, etc. — right out of Survey Manager live. It depends on the data, but I can follow up with you directly, Michael, right after this meeting.

Closing

We’re at the top of the time here, so Christian is going to send out a PDF to all attendees — an overview of this presentation with screenshot progressions of everything Patrick covered, which will probably spark some more questions. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to make sure your questions get answered, so you can get the best use out of these tools.

We really appreciate your time and all the questions today at Virtual Brew — we look forward to seeing you at October’s Virtual Brew, and hope to see many of you at our User Group, where we’ll get into more technical, detailed best practices for all of our tools — that’s November 3rd through 7th in Austin, Texas.

Appreciate that, Justin — thanks, everyone, for attending this morning. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me directly, happy to answer anything after this as well. Thank you very much, everyone.