InfoTown™
Stevie's journey · Engineering · Lesson 1

The survey nobody could find

Before you start

In the story

The right survey existed. It was on Stevie's laptop.

Back to the story

The right way

Survey checked

The day it's checked, Stevie's survey goes on the CDE, labelled with what it is, when it was done, and its coordinates and datum. It's shared as reference: everyone works from it, nobody edits it.

The old one

The old archive survey is marked as five years old and superseded, so nobody mistakes it for the current one.

On site

Alex designs from the new survey. The ramp meets the road. Rex is mildly disappointed there's no step.

SURVEY_NEW, on a laptopA five-year-old survey, a ramp that ends in a step, and a redesign.
On the CDE, dated and labelledOne current survey everyone can find, and a road that meets the ramp.
Think like Stevie

When you make something other people will build on, ask where they'll look for it. If the answer is "my laptop", they won't find it. Every survey needs a date, a datum and an address the whole team can reach.

Continue Stevie's journey

Story 2: The point cloud on a hard drive

A 400GB laser scan of the old Precinct. Too big for the shared system. Just right for a drawer.
The right way, explained

The right way, explained

The town's base map lives in the library, not in the surveyor's coat pocket. Anyone drawing a new street starts from the library copy, and the library knows which copy is the newest.

If you're the designer

If you're the designer

Before you draw a line, check the survey's date and datum. If the newest survey is older than the last big change on site, say so and ask for a new one.

In the town See it in the town: the right survey existed. Where should it have been?

Stevie's view: the survey belongs in the Site Office, the project's CDE, where every firm on the job can use it, not in one surveyor's drawer.

The towns meet at the project site Your town, Designer Town and Client Town each stay where they are. Roads from all three lead into one shared project site in the middle, with a Site Office being built and a sign saying for this job only. DESIGNER TOWNYOUR TOWNCLIENT TOWN THE PROJECT SITESITE OFFICE THIS JOB ONLY stays where it isstays where it isstays where it is everyone worksthrough the site

Now mobilise it: build and connect the site

In the middle sits the Site Office: the project's CDE, joined to your own Records Office by the home line. Lines run out to every town: the design line to the designers, the client line to the client, the home line back to your own Records Office, the feeder line to the site apps and footpaths to the cabins. The workflows running along all these lines are how one system passes work to another. Signposts tell everyone where each kind of work goes, and the gate decides who gets in.

  1. Build the Site Office
  2. Connect the towns
  3. Plug in the site apps
  4. Put up the signposts
  5. Set up the gate
  6. Test everything

The towns are there. The project site is an empty plot. Your job: mobilise it.

The project site, connected A project site with the Site Office (the project CDE) at its centre. A design line runs to Designer Town, a line runs to the Client Town, a line runs home to your town's Records Office, a feeder line runs to the site apps, and footpaths lead to the site cabins. Signposts show where drawings, photos, RFIs and approvals go. A gate at the edge of the site controls who gets in. PROJECT SITE DESIGN LINE CLIENT LINE HOME LINE FEEDER LINE DESIGNER TOWN DESIGN SYSTEM CLIENT TOWN YOUR TOWN RECORDS OFFICE CDE SITE OFFICE SITE CABINS SITE APPS MOBILISED ✓ Drawings → Site Office ← Paper? Scan it in Site photos → app ← Visitors: sign in here Approvals → client line
Design line. To and from the designers.
Home line. Back to your own Records Office.
Client line. To and from the Client Town.
Feeder line. What's captured on site must reach the Site Office: by hand, on a schedule, through a link between systems, or because the app is part of the CDE.

This is Reference Information!

What everyone builds from: surveys, records and anything else that was there before us, shared and never edited.

Sam's Heads Up The newest survey may not be yours

InfoTown good practice: Existing information is gathered and shared before anyone designs.

On your job: The latest survey might sit with the client or a previous contractor. Ask for it in writing, and record what you were given, and when.

For the audit What the auditor will ask
  • Which survey was this design based on, and how did the designer know it was the latest?
  • How do you keep reference information apart from work in progress?
For the audit What good evidence looks like
  • The survey on the CDE, with its date, datum and status.
  • The design recording which survey it used.
From the standard
ISO 19650 Reference information

ISO 19650 expects the existing information a team works from, like surveys, to be gathered and made available to everyone before production starts.

Based on the ISO 19650 series: the ideas come from the standard; the plain-English wording, examples and advice are InfoTown's. ISO 19650 is © ISO and BSI. You'll hear the same language across the industry. Read more for free in the Information Management Initiative (IMI) Framework guidance from BSI and nima. For the full requirements, use the standard itself.