The huge variety of softwares and apps that exist today allow us to optimize our performance in field operations of all types.
Operational efficiency is, without a doubt, one of the most important element of all production or service activities. In addition, precise control of field operations can be the difference between achieving goals and losing competitiveness.
Below is a list of the softwares that can help you with your company’s field operations at all levels.

Pix4D

Pix4D is a must for all your photogrammetry and drone flight configuration needs.
With Pix4D, you are in complete control of all aspects of your project and have access to:

• Defining specific areas of interest
• Selecting processing options.
• Adding ground control points.
• Editing point clouds.
• DSMs.
• Meshes.
• Orthomosaics.

SimPRO Software: Project and inventory management

SimPRO is a powerful field service management software which was designed and created by trade contractors, for trade contractors.
If you’re struggling to come up with offers, manage multi-stage projects, manage inventory, connect the office to the field or any other area of your workflow, SimPRO provides a streamlined platform to meet all your most pressing needs while helping you increase your productivity and profits at the same time.

Coral Collect: Mobile data collection

Coral Collect is a solution for the collection and management of field data.
If you want to carry out inspections and readings or make checklists, this solution is ideal for you. In addition to being very easy to use, it allows you to automatically create databases and reports from data collected in the field.
In addition, all the information collected is georeferenced so that you can view it on an online map or other mapping software.
Coral Collect is without a doubt the best value for money in terms of solutions for data collection in the field. Coral Collect offers free plans and an unlimited number of users.

Slack: Communication first and foremost

Slack is one of the most widely used employee-to-employee communication platforms in companies today. You might think that only office workers use Slack, but it’s in fact an excellent tool for communication with field teams thanks to its linked mobile application.
In addition to being free, the application allows you to communicate with all the members of your organization and create specific channels for each team.

TOMTOM: Full control over your vehicle fleet

The TomTom software technology appears to be a very effective option for managing vehicle fleets in real time.
This solution has a simple and user-friendly interface with clear lines and no complexity. It instantly displays traffic information, providing more detailed visibility of the exact status and location of monitored vehicles.
With TomTom’s Dashboard function, it’s possible to:

• View the status of fleets
• Check the individual performance of each driver, as well as evaluate their equipment,
• Obtain a full overview of all fleet members and equipment at your fingertips.
• Get access to the most relevant information, so that the supervisor can detect (and even prevent) possible unforeseen events.

This means that users can make better strategic decisions relating to:

• Adjustment of variables.
• Choice or change of routes based on traffic conditions.
• Sending of new instructions to drivers.
• Warnings when too much fuel is being used, excessive acceleration is detected, or the brakes of a vehicle are performing poorly.
• The app is a flexible tool and has mobile versions for iOS and Android systems too.

We hope this list of softwares that can be used during field survey work was useful. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions regarding the Coral Collect app.

One of the problems with past field data collection methods was the lag in sharing data with stakeholders. Consequently, manual data collection could create costly errors and delays for businesses.

However, times have changed. Field data collection software and GIS apps have streamlined the process and made sharing data easier and faster than ever before.

Coral Collect is one such field survey app. With it, you can share a field data collection form with a single click, enhancing the data collection process for all involved. Stakeholders like customers and managers can then make better and faster decisions with the collected information.

Benefits of real-time data sharing with Coral Collect

Data collection is a recurring activity. The goal is to collect the right data, in the right format, and to share it quickly with stakeholders. These stakeholders depend on the field data and need to view the most up-to-date information at any given time.

Because the Coral Collect system synchronizes with a cloud service, the information can be viewed or exported anywhere and in real time by customers or managers with access to the data collection platform. Thus, users can view the data automatically on a web map or export the data and view it in a preferred software (QGIS, for example).

Everyone who has access to the data can retrieve it in various formats such as CSV, Shapefile, GeoJSON, Excel, or PDF. Or, users can view them on an online map.

You can invite clients or customers to view the information at any time. Having easy access to data in multiple formats enables more advanced uses of this information in real time.

How to share your real-time data with Coral Collect

Follow these steps to create an account and share your important data in real time with stakeholders.

1. Create a Coral Collect account at api.chacc.tech
2. Create a new project
   • Press the “+” button in the “My projects” section. All the information collected in the field will be compiled here. You can create multiple projects for different operations.
3. Create field forms
   • Access the mobile form builder by pressing the “+” button in the “Forms” section to create digital forms
   • For a detailed explanation, you can watch this video
4. Apply permissions

This part is necessary to ensure all stakeholders can intervene on the project as you wish. This is the recommended way to get started:

• In Organization click on “Teams”
• Click on the “Collector” group
• Check the “Show” and “Change” boxes next to the project you just created
• Check the “Show” box next to the form you just created

To then let stakeholders of your choice view real-time project data and download the data collection forms:

• Go back to “Teams”
• Click on “Guest”
• Check the “Show” and “Export” boxes next to the project you just created

1. Invite your stakeholders (they will receive an invitation email)
   • Go to “Organization”
   • Click on “members”
   • Click on “+” and enter the email address of all the stakeholders you wish to invite
   • Choose which group of permissions you will place them in based on if they are clients or data collectors
2. Collect your data and visualize it in real time
   • Open the inspection app and start collecting data in the field
   • You can watch a video that shows you how to collect the data in the field with Coral Collect
   • As your teams collect data, they will be visible in the Project tab when they sync their device.
3. Export data (optional)
   • In the “My projects” tab, select the project with the data you want to recover
   • Click on the export button at the top right
   • Select “Data”
   • Choose the format you want

Survey data collection of the past was a time-consuming process. From going out into the field, taking pictures, writing paper forms, to entering them into a computer, a lot could go wrong.

Thanks to solutions like Coral Collect’s, these processes are quicker, easier, and produce fewer errors. You can collect, save, and share data in the field in a collaborative way. Furthermore, all levels of the organization including the technicians, analysts, and managers can be involved in field data management.

We often hear people saying, “I collect data in the field with my good old paper form. I have always done it that way and it works great.”

The accessibility, low cost and the fact that the use of paper forms does not require any special training are undeniable. However, the simplicity of using pen and paper when doing field surveys does not necessarily mean that this is the best or most effective way of getting things done.

If you are serious about improving your work processes and increasing your productivity, here are the 3 top reasons why using paper forms is no longer the best solution when compared with field data collection apps.

1. Communication delays

During field operations, communication between field workers and the office is one of the fundamental factors that determine efficiency. In the case of paper forms, it is necessary for field workers to first return to the office in order to share their data before it can be analyzed.

2. Transcription errors

Another element which comes into play when using paper forms for field work is the fact that data collected has to be manually entered into a database once it has been returned to the office. This process can be both time consuming as well as inaccurate and any field technician that had to do this will know how tedious it can be!

Other potential problems that can arise when paper forms are used for field surveys are:

• data entry errors
• incomplete forms
• lost or damaged forms
• forgotten forms that are never processed

3. Messy Workflow

An organised and efficient workflow is difficult to achieve when using paper forms for field work. This can quickly lead to unwieldy and burdensome processes.

The key to overcoming the above and other problems is the standardisation and automation of data collection in the field.

The answer – Coral Collect

A perfect solution to avoid the inefficiency and errors that often occur with paper form surveys is to use a data collection app.

Coral Collect makes data collection in the field a simple, efficient and streamlined process. With Coral Collect, you can now fill out forms digitally on a tablet or even your phone. You can then send your data directly to the database without having to go through the additional process of entering it into a database manually.

Coral Collect’s ultra streamlined process thus means that much of the tedious and error-prone work that is necessary with traditional paper form surveys in the field is fully automated in addition to the fact that errors can be drastically reduced.

Other features that Coral Collect offers:

• Add media and photos to your data
• Automatically capture the geographic position at which your data was collected
• You can completely avoid transcription and manual data input errors
• Your data’s format is standardised, meaning that it is easier to analyze

Get Coral Collect for free now and see for yourself how much more you can accomplish with a field data collection app!

Geospatial data technologies such as geographic information systems (GIS) and geomatics sound like futuristic elements that are inaccessible to ordinary people, but individuals use these technologies every day.

For example, when we use car GPS to plan a family road trip or figure out where the closest takeout restaurant is, we rely on geospatial data.

Tasks that require knowing the location of an individual or object on the planet use geospatial technologies to record and transmit that data.

Chaac Technologies and Geospatial Data

As experts in the domain of geospatial technology, we at Chaac Technologies specialize in managing data. Originally, our expertise comes from dealing with data when it’s most critical: during environmental emergencies.

From oil spills to forest fires, geospatial data is necessary in regions where data position is crucial. Our mission is to democratize the acquisition, processing, and sharing of field data with the most relevant tools by creating a technological ecosystem with geomatics and geospatial data.

The individuals who work with field data collection software are generally neophytes in the field of geomatics. That is why we want to provide those exceptional workers with the necessary tools to collect, export, and locate that data on a map.

What are Geomatics, GIS, and GPS?

Where geospatial data involves object placement in areas (-spatial) on Earth (geo-), geomatics is the automation of geographical data. The root “matics,” also found in words like schematics or automatic, comes from computer science and represents geographical data processing.

Geographic information systems (GIS) acquire, store, examine and refine geospatial data using geomatic applications. Despite the scarcity of public knowledge on GIS apps, over 80 percent of the world is encompassed in geospatial data, and more is accumulating every day.

How Does GIS Technology Affect Data Applications?

GIS and geomatics perform a wide array of processes to provide accurate geospatial information as quickly as possible. We will cover the following terms in this article:

• Data Gathering
• Processing of Georeferenced data
• Exporting Formats

Data Gathering

There are many GIS tools for us to utilize. For those who work in the field to collect critical data for their area of expertise, geographic data is imperative to understand and visualize trends in the data.

Trends in data are essential to making informed and empowering decisions, such as evaluating the condition of telecommunication poles, observing the location and level of shorelines contamination during oil spills, or simply going door to door to collect donations.

When gathering data, two key components are necessary: the data’s geographical position and descriptive information associated with that data. The data collection can proceed in two ways.

Outdated Data Collection Tools

The outdated data collection method uses paper data collection forms, GPS, and a camera. This method requires exorbitant resources and hours spent preparing, filling out, and re-transcribing data in a database from the paper forms.

Efficient Data Collection

Field data collection apps, such as Coral Collect, which specializes in collecting and managing georeferenced data in field forms, require a smart device. With a phone or tablet containing the data application, mobile forms can be prepared and shared with the team before entering the field.

This data is then uploaded with a picture, description, geospatial location and synchronized in real-time. For offline data collection, individuals can upload the forms to a cloud at the end of the day.

Processing of Georeferenced Data

In the days of paper, processing georeferenced data involved coordinating all the data at the end of the day with the team, often becoming a confusing and laborious task.

With apps like Coral Collect, individuals can process data in real-time with an internet connection, where it is available in the application dashboard whenever needed. Data can be exported or viewed at any time.

Understanding the Export Formats

There are several export formats for geospatial data, such as comma-separated values (CSV) or Shapefile. While these files are somewhat abstract, their main advantage is that they contain GPS information in a ready format for immediate display of the data on a geographical map.

Conclusion

At Chaac technologies, we want data applications to do the busy work so that you can focus on the work that matters. So, if you’re ready to start collecting data in the field, head to our registration page!