CONSTRUCTION / FIELD TO OFFICE

Keep the measurements.
Send a clear report.

Driftless brings field readings, survey files, quantities, ticket photos and crew records into a private company workspace. Use your phone on the job, then sign in on a computer to review saved work and prepare a report with your logo. No ChatGPT account is required.

Open the private workspace Access & pricing

Editing needs early access, which is free for now, or approved pilot access. Start early access. The eight free calculators and the road restriction lookup need no sign-in.

Take your datasets back to CAD

Export ground and design surfaces as DXF points and 3D triangle faces, or export measured points from a saved survey grade-check batch. Choose international feet, US survey feet or metres, keep optional point labels on their own layers, and download the coordinate-reference record with the drawing. DXF preserves the supplied coordinates; it does not reproject them or create a native Civil 3D surface object. Use LandXML for TIN surface interchange. Direct DWG export is not available; DXF can be converted in compatible CAD software.

From survey points to a client estimate

Import CSV topo shots or a named LandXML TIN and check its coordinate reference. Shape generated topo surfaces with boundaries, holes, breaklines or a maximum edge. Supported LandXML imports preserve active triangles and check straight outer and void boundaries; a work-area window can select original triangles from a larger design. Compare survey and design, measure separate cut and fill, or estimate a surveyed stockpile above its chosen base. Add a planning allowance and your own rates without hiding the measured quantities.

Prepare a scaled plan and estimate PDF with your company logo, client, revision, north reference and color or black-and-white diagrams. Choose Letter, 11 × 17, 24 × 36, A4 or A3 in portrait or landscape. Fixed scale refuses an undersized sheet; Fit prints the selected scale. Optional reviewed USGS imagery adds background context where the source grid is supported.

See the survey-to-estimate workflow and sample PDF

Review surface coverage before leaving the site

Enter the actual work boundary and choose a triangle span to review. The map shows uncovered areas and highlights triangles longer than that span, separately for survey and design. Add a note and save the review with the job, even if missing coverage prevents an estimate. Include it in a field report or a saved company job report for office review.

An entered stockpile base is identified as an assumption. These checks show coverage and geometry; they do not establish survey accuracy, and short triangles do not prove that enough ground was measured.

Compare assumptions before settling on an estimate

Keep the original estimate and compare up to three named alternatives. Change the design/base elevation, stockpile density or planning allowance one at a time. See separate cut and fill, stockpile weight where applicable, and the priced subtotal when you enter rates. Each comparison shows its difference from the original.

For example, raising a flat design 0.10 ft across a 100 × 50 ft pad reduces a one-foot cut by 18.519 yd³. The comparison explains the change without replacing the original estimate. Alternatives appear in estimate CSVs, field reports, scaled plan PDFs and company job-report PDFs.

A field book that keeps your HI

Establish height of instrument from a benchmark and backsight, or enter a known HI. Keep adding points with rod readings, target elevations and individual notes. Moving the instrument creates a new setup; earlier points keep their original HI. Pipe invert sheets add stations, grades, target elevations and observation notes.

Find the records affected by a correction

Link a recorded turning point to the next instrument setup. If that point changes or a setup is explicitly corrected, the source-review list identifies dependent setups and readings. A new setup keeps the earlier HI intact; correcting an individual point is a separate action.

Changing a survey or design can also flag saved quantities, reference sections, design checks, review maps and 3D views that used an earlier source. Opening a saved job report compares its selected records with the current job while preserving the issued snapshot. Create a revised report when ready; the earlier report remains available.

Checks follow recorded links and source references. Older records with limited history are identified; the app does not guess relationships from matching names or silently recalculate your work.

Road sections and design checks

Enter measured ground and a road width, crossfall and optional H:V side slopes. Review separate cut/fill areas and average-end-area volumes. Import a design surface as the reference for a straight-baseline section or compare measured CSV points against it. High, low, within-tolerance and outside-design observations stay distinct.

Cross-section sheets support the same paper sizes, explicit horizontal scale and optional vertical exaggeration. Save selected 3D views with their source references for office reports; a 3D illustration is not a scaled measurement.

Plan sheets, markup and point tables

Upload a digital PDF or a photo working copy, mark it up, calibrate measurements and export a PDF. Extract point tables from selectable text or a scanned sheet, then review the coordinates and elevations before accepting them. Original PDFs and saved revisions remain available to the company. OCR assists transcription; it does not establish survey control.

Ticket photos, daily reports and individual hours

Photograph truck tickets, review editable OCR suggestions and keep the original beside the register. Confirmed deliveries can be compared with a material plan. Keep planned shifts separate from actual hours by person, then review attendance before it enters reports. Daily reports include work, weather, equipment, deliveries, delays, your logo and up to three photos.

Download PDFs and CSV data, or choose email in a supported phone share sheet. Saved job-report snapshots preserve the reviewed inputs used when issued. The small Driftless reference stays on exports.

One company, field and office

Reuse company, crew and job defaults. Company owners can invite field users or office managers and manage the available user places. Field users collect job and ticket data and submit Draft hours; managers maintain schedules and review hours. All company members can see company records; access is not restricted by individual job. A person uses the same login on their phone and computer.

Paid plans haven’t been decided. If the workspace gets steady use, pricing will be announced here ahead of any change, and nothing is charged unless you choose a plan. See current access.

Prepare for a day without signal

While connected, prepare and test an encrypted offline job copy. Capture field work, ticket photos and Draft hours for the prepared crew. Keep saving the copy, then reconnect and return the field job and ticket/hours files through their respective review steps. This is explicit return and review, not automatic background sync.

Read the offline workflow and limits

Start with a familiar calculation

All seven include PDF downloads, result sharing and offline preparation without sign-in. Free exports carry a small Driftless reference; company branding is part of the private workspace.

Useful limits, stated up front

CSV supports up to 1,000 points. Imports must fit within 2 MB; each retained surface allows 1,000 points and 2,000 triangles. For a larger LandXML TIN within the file limit, select a smaller work area. Selection retains whole original triangles, which can extend beyond the window; the actual estimate boundary is entered separately. Unsupported boundaries or unresolved crossings are refused. Full road alignments and automatic coordinate transformations are not included. Location guidance suggests references to review; it cannot establish your project control. Calculations use ordinary formulas, not AI-generated quantities.

Have an older local Field job? Download its backup and import it into your company workspace. Local licence keys do not activate cloud access. Read the field guide.

Custom software requests

Need a different calculator, report layout, spreadsheet import or construction workflow? Describe your custom request. Jesse reviews the scope and any price with you before work is agreed. These are software tools and custom software requests; Driftless does not offer site surveying, engineering design or certified quantities.