Ideas on Mapping Out Services

[Industrial Toys]

I have so much stuff buried, it's not even funny. Criss crossing and going every which way.

Incoming Hydro
Electrical Services to Buildings
Yard and Driveway Lighting Cables (Some go 1000')
600 Volt 3 Phase
Water Lines
Drainage Lines
French Drains
Air Lines
Telephone Cables
Internet Cabling
Cat 5 Cabling
Communication Cables (Some 100 Pair!)
Sat Dish Cables
Security Cables
CCTV (Security) Cables
Driveway (Alert) Signalling Cables

I'm sure there's more

I have locating equipment and I guess that's a start.

But how can one map all this out with a fair degree of accuracy? I usually take pictures and make notes with distances in relation to buildings but sometimes don't understand later what I meant.

I am not a surveyor, but this is the skillset tht is almost needed, I am guessing. This would cost a fortune!

Any other ideas?

 

[dodge man]

I am a land surveyor and I should have mapped out some of my utilities but never did. Yes, its a skill almost needed by a surveyor. Yes it would be expensive. For me and another guy, my company charges some where in the $125 an hour range, plus there would have to be some drafting done. Just a guess, I don't know how big your property is or how many utilizes you have but I could map out a lot of utilities in a half a day and draw a map up for a $1000 or a little less.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Do you charge travel time?

How would the map look? Is it done in a grid? There is also depth to consider along with location. To me it's mind boggling, but if anything ever happended to me, this could be a real problem for someone.

 

[paulharvey]

You can take a screen shot on Google Earth, have it blown up as a 24" × 36" or 11x17, and draw on that. With a couple property corners, a 100 ft tape, and a measuring wheel, you should be able to sketch it up in an afternoon. For depths, just make notes on the map. Failing this, locate and flag everything; then have a surveyor shoot it all, at points, and provide him depths to add to the print.

The hard part is the locating or as we call it "designating". If you are knowledgeable enough to do that, I have no doubt you can draw up a map accurate to say +/- 1 ft with a Google each shot and some colored pencils.

Btw: the company I work for currently does this for FDOT as part of the design stage for road work. It's Far from cheap; think our "des" crew is $200/hour and similar for the survey crew. Time wise, a surveyor could pick it all up in a few hours with a gps unit. Then maybe a couple ours laying it out as a map. Data will only be as good as the marks of coarse.

I should note, I don't work in the surveyor or SUE (subsurface utility enginnering) part of the company; just an inspector here.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Much of the electical or where there is a conductor to put a signal on, I can do, and often I have put a fishtape up a water line to put a signal on that. I guess I don't need it exact. Just to know it's there in the area and to locate it if some digging needs to be done. I mean, you pretty much have to hand dig anything to find it before proceeding with a backhoe anyway.

I apparently need to rebury my water lines deeper this summer and am amazed and scared of the stuff I suddenly remember is burried in the way!

How would I go about getting the google image saved, blown up and then printed? I only need a black and white regular paper print?.

But as far as a real survey. How do they express the locations of all these things?

 

[paulharvey]

Much of the electical or where there is a conductor to put a signal on, I can do, and often I have put a fishtape up a water line to put a signal on that. I guess I don't need it exact. Just to know it's there in the area and to locate it if some digging needs to be done. I mean, you pretty much have to hand dig anything to find it before proceeding with a backhoe anyway.

I apparently need to rebury my water lines deeper this summer and am amazed and scared of the stuff I suddenly remember is burried in the way!

How would I go about getting the google image saved, blown up and then printed? I only need a black and white regular paper print?.

But as far as a real survey. How do they express the locations of all these things?

I'll have to mess with Google for a bit when I get home to remember the exact steps.

Surveyors can overlay their points on to an image imported from, often enough, Google Earth, imported into AutoCAD. Sorry, I can't help with that.

 

[dmccarty]

You don't likely need the map to be exact down to .000001 inches. Just a general idea of the location should be enough to find "stuff."

I now exactly where the power line runs underground to the house because it is landmarked, as is the water line from the well house, and the pipe from the septic tank to the septic field. By exact I can tell a crew where to look either by shovel or magic tools that find buried stuff. :laughing: Our phone line I kinda know by landmarks but it is easy to trace the line when required so not a big deal.

You could easily cut and past the Google Earth/Google Map/Bing/County GIS photo into Windows Paint and "draw" in the locations.

Later,
Dan

 

[dodge man]

Yes, we charge for travel time. The problem with Google Earth is getting it plotted to an exact scale. Google Earth also now keeps AutoCAD from using their images anymore. Depending on the version, the can't be imported, but if you have an older version it may still work.

Also depending on trees and building, GPS might not work. It has to have a fairly clear sky.

A person with some creativity can make a pretty accurate drawing by measuring off house corners, trees etc. I've been doing it for 30 years so it seems easy to me.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

have mine on a CAD drawing. I even put tree locations.

 

[JimRB]

I have a survey from the first mortgage. I should doodle the two power line runs, well pump power and supply line, two septic tanks, field lines, and geothermal lines. My lot is only 700 feet square so it is real easy for me to doodle out.

We have printed out the GIS picture of our lot on a small piece of paper. I could print it out to a PDF and take that file to someone who has a big printer. Many architects, big steel fab companies, landscape architects, Kinkos or other print shops may have a large format printer who could print something on big paper.

Another geek idea if it is legal where you live, is to get someone with a remote controlled helicopter camera (drone) to take some pictures. I do not know if they can get up high enough to take a picture of your lot which sounds much larger than my little 9.3 acres.