| Innovative and GPS Put Small Firm on Success Track
By Bill McGarigle When asked if GPS figured in selecting a survey firm for the 5,500-acre master-planned community of Twelve Bridges, in Northern California, the developer's Project Manager Don Riolo replied, "part of the reason we chose the firm we did was because of their knowledge and experience with state-of-the-art systems. We had talked to several companies that knew about GPS but didn't have the level of expertise that Andregg had."
Andregg, Inc., a 16-member survey-engineering firm out of Auburn, Calif. proposed an innovative approach with leading-edge technology to meet the developer's needs and at the same time significantly reduce initial costs for the client. In a field of competing companies, some with 100-plus employees, the small firm walked away with a contract that has the potential for multi-million-dollar earnings over the project's 20-year buildout.
Founded in 1946, Andregg has extensive experience in public and private-sector projects in the western U.S. and internationally. A commitment in 1988 to acquire satellite-based technology gave the firm a head start in the application of GPS surveying systems and quickly led to big-company capability in handling large, complex projects and computer-based products. More immediately , the new technology enabled Andregg to weather the recession of the 1990s. Project Motivates GPS Purchase
"I became interested in GPS 10 years prior to our company's becoming involved with it," said Andregg president, Dennis G. Meyer. "At that time, GPS was too expensive, but we kept it in mind. Then, in 1988, we came across two large, photo-mapping projects in the Sierra Nevada foothills. The jobs were too large for our normal staff and equipment. But we were in a financially strong position so we jumped in headfirst and bought three Trimble 4000ST GPS receivers, and went after the contract. We completely used up our budget for the project," he added, "but we also learned a lot, particularly with technical assistance from Trimble. Since then, we've integrated GPS into most of over 500 projects a year." Surviving the Recession
Private consultation in California dried up quickly with the recession. State and local agencies and utilities suddenly had smaller budgets and fewer resources. However, as Andregg GPS/GIS Manager, Mark Bardkajian pointed out, "agencies and municipalities still needed projects, but were under pressure to find more efficient ways to get them done. With GPS, we were able to show how we could save them time and money by completing their projects faster and at less expense. Projects considered too costly with conventional surveying methods began to open up for us. We became one of those companies that was approached for projects that were marginally profitable. GPS helped us keep our doors open by enabling us to work more efficiently, and thereby achieve higher productivity. We were able to maintain the staff, keep everybody working, even acquire new equipment." Combining Technologies
Having both GPS and conventional technology gave the firm greater flexibility and efficiency, and led to innovative solutions. Meyer cited FEMA flood studies conducted in Northern and Central California, in the early 1990s. "The vertical work required conventional leveling methods because of the second-order standards, but the horizontal element wasn't as important, since FEMA was mapping at a scale of 1" to 400'. We ran the levels with a Wild Leica NA 2002, Digital Level, then did our horizontal control with the 4000ST GPS receivers. Combining the technologies enabled us to get through projects much faster. Those were probably the first profitable projects with GPS, when we went in, our fee proposals were often half that of the competition." GPS Solutions
At the height of the California drought, in 1990, the Placer County Water Agency (PCWA) contracted Andregg to lay out drilling locations for eight shafts, intended to intersect a water tunnel 320 feet below the surface of remote American River Canyon, in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. Facing an imminent water shortage, PCWA was under pressure to complete the project in limited time. The difficult terrain and short time frame completely ruled out conventional surveying methods.
PCWA engineer at the time, Einar Maisch, said the agency has used Andregg for a number of years on a wide variety of projects and knew they had GPS capability.
"But I can't say I was so dialed into the particular advantages of GPS that the selection of the firm was based on that fact. I just knew that these guys had the best capability, so we selected them."
The tunnel was part of the USBR Auburn Dam project, cancelled in the 1970s for environmental and seismic reasons. Since no as-built plans existed, PCWA decided to go ahead with the project on the assumption that the 30-year-old design drawings for the tunnel were unchanged. Without access to the tunnel, crews had to survey it from the surface. Maisch said, "I was never so worried in my life, that we were going to spend 2.5 million dollars on a pump station, then drill holes all over hell's half acre and never find the tunnel."
Using the orginal drawings and three Trimble 4000ST receivers with 1-2 cm accuracy, Andregg crews surveyed both ends of the 3-mile-long, dog-leg tunnel, calculated its alignment, and located all eight drilling sites within 10 days. After the shafts were drilled, Maisch said PCWA engineers went into the tunnel in rubber rafts to verify the situation.
"All eight of the shafts were absolutely dead center down the middle of that 12-foot wide tunnel."
"There were some real believers in GPS at that point," Meyer recalled. "The water agency and the local community knew about it."
In another early GPS only project, the firm measured ground subsidence in Yolo County, where ground water, normally used for irrigation, was being extracted and exported to drought-threatened areas of Northern California. Concerned that subsidence could lead to saltwater intrusion, the CDWR (California Department of Water Resources) required vertical measurements to be made before, during, and after the pumping season, from 1991 to 1993.
The schedule, size of the project area, and cost of running First-Order differential levels by conventional methods made GPS a clear choice. Field crews set up differential base stations at end points in bedrock around the periphery of the project, an area extending 24 miles north and south, and 17 miles east and west of the pumping station, then placed 23 subsidence monitoring monuments within the project site.
"The project was all done with GPS," Meyer said. "Our equipment was single-frequency, but it worked. We used the same receivers on the same points every month to eliminate any eccentricity, and we oriented all the antennae in a common direction. Nobody really knew if that made any difference, but since we were occasionally getting eroneous data, we were trying to control the cause. With help from Trimble and others, we pinned the problem down to poor geometry caused by times with a limited number of satellites."
To comply with the requirements of the client to complete each monthly survey in two days, Andregg field crews had to work around the clock. "We were running hundreds of miles of baseline," Meyer recalled. "If you did that by conventional methods, it would take days or weeks, no matter how many crews you had. We ran very long sessions and got some pretty amazing results with post-processed repeatability in the range of 1 cm. Cost to the client was a fraction of what conventional methods would have run. The project also received a lot of attention, basically because of the excellent results, and the fact that we were surveyors, not geodesists." Maintaining Leading-Edge Capability
In response to the rapidly-evolving GPS technology, Meyer adopted an aggressive program of updating equipment and training. "Even with that, we reached the point where our equipment was becoming obsolete, and the new equipment was technologically over our heads. We were getting into more complex projects and dealing with some pretty high-powered competition. That's when we hired Mark [BardKajian]. He's kept us at the leading edge of this technology." Twelve Bridges
Andregg was well positioned to provide leading-edge technology and innovative solutions for mapping and surveying the 5,500-acre, Twelve Bridge Project.
"The developer had initially requested the entire project to be mapped at 1" - 40'," Meyer said, "and they wanted it done in a relatively short period. We knew they didn't need that large a scale immediately, besides, their schedule would have been difficult to meet. All the big firms were bidding around $250,000, and planning to use their horsepower to get the work out quickly."
"We came back to the interview committee and said we'll map the whole project for you at 1"-200', and provide the 1"-40' on an as-needed basis. All you have to do is call us when you want it and we'll provide the photogrammetry, the mapping and surveying. When we told them how we were going to do this with GPS, everybody's jaw just kind of dropped."
At the time, we were a 12-member firm, bidding against much larger companies. They were very shocked when we walked away with this premier client. Our approach enabled us to get into what began as a $50,000 job. In the long run, however, the mapping contract exceeded $200,000, which our client was able to spread out over four years."
Twelve Bridges is currently one of Andregg's largest projects. The firm is providing a wide range of services, including construction control for golf-course roads and bridges, boundary and archeological site surveys, wetlands delincations, lot-line adjustments and record of survey.
The addition of a Trimble GPS Total Station in 1994 gave field crews on foot or with pickups and all-terrain vehicles flexibility to provide instantaneous measurements to engineers making on-site adjustments, even to golf pros designing a new golf course out in the field.
The firm uses both GPS and traditional methods on the project, depending on which system is more effective for the job. For example, the firm used a Wild Leica, NA 2002 Digital Level to establish a vertical network for modeling the geoid. With data from the Leica and RTK capabilities, field crews can simultaneously record digital elevations and real-time coordinates from any point in the project area.
To provide compatibility with Total Station operation, Andregg replaced all the 4000ST receivers with RTK-compatible 4000SSE, dual-frequency receivers, with accuracies of | 1 cm | 2ppm horizontal, and +/- 2cm + 2ppm vertical. The firm uses Trimble's TrimMap Software to convert WGS 84 Datum to sep rate local, and state-plane coordinate systems. Joint Projects
Joint projects are included in the firm's more than 500 projects annually. These are usually with firms that require GPS for part of their project but do not have the resources or the professional talent to use the technology. "Typically, when we do a joint project with a firm," Meyer explained, "there is some training involved. Mark, or one of our other staff members usually has to bring them up to speed and explain how we're going to do the job, then we work with their field personnel to complete the project." What It Takes
Meyer believes the ability to listen to clients and interpret their specific needs is a major factor in the success of the firm, as is the professional level of the staff.
"We have highly-qualified, professionally-licensed people - 7 surveyors in a 16-person firm - many high-level college graduates with survey engineering degrees. It takes a commitment with people, equipment, and training, and another commitment to hang in there and apply the technology on a daily basis. If the average surveying firm isn't willing to do that, when they need help, they'll have to come to someone like us."
"GPS made it possible for us to grow during a flat economy. We were able to take on projects that were impractical or too costly with conventional surveying technology, and make them profitable. GPS has also given us the big-firm capability to handle larger and more complex projects." Just having GPS is not enough, Meyer stresses. "We've found you need to be at the leading edge with this technology all the time - with personnel, education and training - or you're not in the game." About the Author:
Bill McGarigle is a freelance writer specializing in GIS/GPS and electronic communication. He may be reached at 408-464-1451 or via e-mail: [email protected] Back |
