There’s no doubt that 2020 has been a difficult, unprecedented year thus far. However, despite the challenges, we’ve watched our customers find new, innovative ways to improve their operations and keep their businesses profitable. And Propeller is doing everything we can to make that job easier.
We’ve been busy this year listening to your feedback. The insights we’ve gathered from countless customer interactions, as well as our recent survey of Earthwork professionals, have resulted in improvements to the platform, new features, and an increased focus on solving real problems our customers face every day in the office and on the worksite.
So far in 2020, we’ve released 30 updates to the Propeller Platform. Today, we want to walk you through the most impactful changes. Read on for a quick overview of our five biggest updates OR watch the video below to hear our product team discuss them, as well as some other big new features.
Plan for each stage of a project with Elevation Offset
Previously, Propeller users could compare their most recent survey against a final grade to determine the total amount of work left to do. However, our customers work in stages, and often need to know how much material they need to cut or fill before they can move on to the next stage of a project.
Our new Elevation Offset feature gives users the power to create a subgrade surface from within the platform by applying a vertical offset to the elevation of any DXF or TTM surface. Now, users can take advantage of the same measurement tools in the platform that they always have, while also referencing current progress against multiple benchmarks, not just the final design.
With elevation offset, teams can plan for each stage of the project further in advance, and they can do so without bothering the head of their survey operations to provide ad hoc calculations.
Find out more about the benefits of our new elevation offset feature
Click here!
Share mobile maps with your team using Crew
On an active site, data becomes outdated almost immediately. New surveys are completed, design specs are updated, and earthwork quantities change literally every minute.
Crew, our brand new Propeller Platform add-on, gives office teams the power to keep their field teams up to date with the newest survey information and designs, as soon as they become available.
With just a few clicks, platform users can create and share interactive maps of their site with project managers, foremen, subcontractors, and more. Each map generates a unique URL that can be shared with anyone and any device.
There’s no cumbersome mobile app for your team to download or login credentials to remember. Recipients simply tap the URL you send them and are immediately redirected to a browser-based map.
Not only can the Crew map creator choose which measurements and designs layers to include, but the person viewing the map can easily turn on or off each overlay of information to fit their needs. Crew helps workers hone in on the information they actually need, ignore the rest, and make faster, more confident decisions.
Request a free trial of Crew
Click here!
Upgrade to measurement accuracy and speed
Getting our customers the measurements and insights they need faster—without sacrificing survey accuracy—is something we’re constantly working on.
This year, to help us better accomplish that goal, we started calculating measurements in the cloud, rather than in our customers’ browsers. This means that calculations are done more quickly, and users who rely on older or less powerful computers are no longer at a disadvantage.
In addition, our new sampling algorithm has increased sampling density, which in turn improves the accuracy of every survey. The impact of this update shines through the most when making volume measurements across large areas or with high levels of small terrain detail.
Read our full release notes on this update
Click here!
Collaborate with confidence with new View-only permissions
Our customers asked us for more security and control when sharing access to sites with others outside of their organization.
In response to this, we updated the View-only permission level to include some additional restrictions. Users with View-only access to sites are no longer able to create, share, or export measurements and reports. They are also restricted from viewing sensitive information like volume measurements or designs.
Not only does this give users greater peace of mind that their data remains secure when granting third parties access to the platform, but it also prevents view-only users from drowning in extraneous information that might cause confusion and slow down their workflows.
Interested in taking advantage of all Propeller has to offer? Let’s talk about getting your new drone survey program off the ground.
