"Bad Elf's excellent customer service and the fun, easy to follow trainings make troubleshooting challenges easy and straightforward for our team."
Anna McGarrigle, GIS Administrator
Background
The Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority conserves the natural environment, supports agriculture, and connects people to nature, by protecting open spaces, natural areas, and working farms and ranches for future generations. Since 1993, the Authority has protected almost 30,000 acres of open space, natural areas and working lands, watersheds, and wildlife habitat - providing ecologically friendly outdoor recreation and preserving the natural beauty and environmental health of the Santa Clara Valley. For more information, please visit openspaceauthority.org.
Past Mapping/GIS Workflows
Our GIS data collection began about 25 years ago with handheld Trimble units. At the time, this technology was truly cutting edge and gave us the accuracy we needed to map infrastructure for land management and public safety. Open Space Authority properties range from small agricultural parcels to open grassland ranches to rugged backcountry forests with steep ravines, so reaching and mapping all of this infrastructure was no small task. Extracting the data, applying corrections and attributing everything in a GIS database also required significant processing.
We began using Bad Elf Flex a few years ago, and we haven't looked back.
Geospatial Solutions Deployed Today
We now collect data using our Bad Elf Flex through Field Maps. We recently upgraded the device to "Extreme" mode and added Geodnet's RTK network. With just a few clicks, our field technicians can power up the unit, connect to RTK, open Field Maps, and watch their blue dot settle in with roughly 0.3 inch accuracy. We use the Flex either on a truck mount or on a rugged monopod.
These advancements (especially having live corrections directly in the device) have transformed our data collection from a multi-day, multi person effort into a task that can be completed efficiently alongside other daily field duties.
Improvements — Accuracy, Efficiency, Field Workflows
Data completeness is the first major improvement we've seen. When workflows are difficult, people are less likely to follow them consistently, and data gaps inevitably creep into your inventory. With the easy to use Flex app paired with Field Maps, time on task has also dropped significantly. We use the GNSS metadata fields on all our feature classes to track each dataset's origin throughout its lifecycle.
Our primary use of the Flex is managing the locations of our infrastructure inventory (gates, fences, monuments, structures, and more) as well as our underground utilities, including water lines, wells, and electrical systems.
Another key application is in our trail scouting workflows (pictured), where planning teams walk proposed alignments for new trail routes. This involves loading the computer drawn alignment into Field Maps and using the Flex's precise location to follow the “imaginary” line across challenging terrain to assess route feasibility.
At the same time, we record alternative alignments and document obstacles such as water crossings.