Underground Utility Locator Equipment with GPS

[cedwards8511]

Out utility locator staff is looking to replace its current equipment and has asked if there is anything available that can also record GPS/GIS data.  I've searched around and found some locators that seem to have this capability, but I would like to know what others are using, to see what really works (or not).

• Is anyone out there using a locator with built-in GPS and/or GIS? 
• What is the process you use to connect its data to your GIS? 
• What would you do different in the future.

[TylerJones]

Thank you for the help! @RWATT  ,  we had originally looked at the VM but the call of the EOS distracted my supervisor. I’d rather suffer through configuring the VM on the front side than have my techs not use the EOS on the backside. Great advise from both you and @LarryMasters !!

[ArmstKP]

@RWATT So does the portal send any data to an ArcGIS Online feature layer or do you have to export and append every time you do a new survey?  Our organization would like the updates to be automatically sent and update an existing ArcGIS Online feature service........

[RWATT]

Yep, the documentation was terrible but this is indeed what the sync function does. I hardly ever open the portal these days. It takes about 10-30 seconds from locator to field maps on a phone via VM portal and AGOL. I think it might even support deleting and editing, but we do those at the feature layer.

[ArmstKP]

@RWATT Can you bluetooth from the GNSS RTK locator to Field Maps for location?

[RWATT]

Not that I know of. Definitely a gap in the product, but the way it's set up (without Bluetooth) is so convenient for regular use.
We don't use it for walkbacks regularly, but we have devised a theoretical protocol by which a user could find a buried facility that has been GPSed.
They would take a point on a known object (manhole, utility pole, or just a mark of paint) using the metrotech and then in Field Maps measure the distance from there to the unlocated point.
Then, they could put all the digital tools away and pull a tape to find the facility. This might need to be duplicated to triangulate the exact spot.

There is also a way to send walkback points out of the VM web portal, but it seems incompatible with out existing point data collected elsewhere.