The Oregon Department of Transportation has saved thousands of dollars by using tablets in its construction management offices and for biology, geology, roadway, and wetland projects. Oregon DOT worked with DT Research to design purpose-built rugged tablets that allow state workers to easily collect and transmit geospatial measurements in the field using GPS real-time kinetic (RTK) technology.

“We now have essentially created one-person survey crews because the DT Research tablets are so much easier to use than a tape measure and paper to accurately calculate and record measurements during complex construction projects,” said Chris Pucci, construction automation surveyor with Oregon DOT. “Using the tablets saves us an average of $2,000 for every survey-grade measurement job that does not require a full survey crew.”

The tablets have a dual-frequency GNSS module built in, which provides standalone sub meter accuracy to centimeter-level accuracy. The tablets are compatible with existing survey and GIS software for mapping applications.

Ideal for field work, the tablet can store up to one terabyte of data and can be fitted with a high-capacity hot-swappable battery pack. The tablet runs on Microsoft Windows 7 or windows 10 IoT Enterprise.