Augmented reality software shows where pipes and other underground structures are

Pricing: “Send us all your data”
Translation: “If you have to ask, you can’t afford it”

Years ago on my way to breakfast I walked past a sign lying on the ground, and a hole. The sign had obviously been pulled out of the ground by a back hoe, complete with its concrete footing. At the bottom of the sign were the words “Before digging, call 123 4567”.
On my way back from breakfast I saw two guys sitting in the hole, splicing cable. They were there until after dark.

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vGIS Team here. Happy to take questions - ask away!

The most common comment is about data quality. Yes, the system is only as accurate as the GIS data fed into the system. That’s been said, the purpose of vGIS is not to replace conventional tools, but to add a complementary system that you can carry on your phone in your pocket. You wouldn’t dig based on vGIS visuals - that will violate all safety protocols (and common sense). However, you’ll use it to help you find assets, understand relationship between assets, collaborate with your coworkers and collect missing data. The system saves locators on average between 12 and 20 hours per month, and 3-5 hours to ordinary users.

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That is not correct. vGIS doens’t resell data or takes any ownership of it. The subscription is flat price, and requires you to save 30-45 minutes a months to pay for itself. In most cases, our clients save between 12 and 20 hours a months for active users, and 3 to 5 hours for casual users.

Implementation takes approximately 10 minutes, and even smallest of municipalities can afford it.

Last software we rolled out was a nightmare to get everyone trained to use, technically people are still struggling to learn how to use it. And no, software, its continued support and development is insanely expensive. Fyi, i work for a utility.

But what if this gets used by Bad Guys to locate and destroy critical infrastructure?

The good guy with a GIS will stop the bad guy with a GIS, obviously.

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I find the optimism of this idea adorable.

Case in point. My city, Dallas, which has no shortage of funds to implement good GIS has this to say about the GIS data they publish.

The accuracy is not to be taken / used as data produced by a Registered Professional Land Surveyor for the State of Texas. For this level of detail, supervision and certification of the produced data by a Registered Land Surveyor for the State of Texas would be required

In other words “Are you kidding? This GIS data is a joke” which explains why there are so many construction related service outages. What kind of resources and GIS quality assurance do you have in your neck of the woods? GIS might get you close, but only close.

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Can confirm also with my company. Here’s our blurb when i shoot someone stuff showing our system:

makes every effort to maintain and distribute accurate information, it makes no warranties and/or representations of any kind regarding information, data provided, nor are any such warranties to be implied with respect to the information, data furnished herein.

Aka: Totes not accurate. Follow at your own peril.

Hell our asbuilts are not all that accurate sometimes :stuck_out_tongue:

I noticed this system didn’t bother to reveal what’s really going on:

Good data or bad data is better than no data. We do not have a single client that digs based on vGIS visuals. Yet, we have plenty of many clients around the world that save hours every day on trying to understand the infrastructure around them or locating the asset they need. There is no magic pill for all problems, but there are tools that help address some aspects of most common issues.

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