which was good because the trail was very rocky. We didn’t bring much mud in this year,” Galloway said, but next year we will. It was easy to get lost out there because everything looks the same,” Gal- loway added, “but when you have the right equipment with you, you feel more comfortable.” Galloway and Fairs marked key waypoints and features for possible routes, and then showed the property owner their plan. They returned to the property whenever possible to continue the layout and help clear the trails. “One weekend we used Catalyst to mark 2.5 kilometers worth of trail and another time we marked about 50 meters. In that environment you have to have a clear path because the brush is so dense on both sides. Before Catalyst we’d place flags on bushes or trees as markers for the trail. Catalyst made it much easier to layout the course.” Galloway and other fundraising volunteers also helped the owner trim and clear underbrush when they were marking trails. Strong Performance in Record Time “Catalyst performed beyond expectations, especially in such heavy tree cover,” Galloway said. “With averaging enabled in Esri Collector, we were routinely getting accuracy of 80 centimeters or better, which we thought was excellent given the site location and cell coverage chal- lenges, as well as tree cover.” To boot, it was an overcast, rainy day. Though carrying equipment is part of a field tech’s job, Catalyst made the job easier. “It was so lightweight and had the accuracy we needed in poor environmental conditions. The added bonus of using smaller hardware made trekking through thick vegetation cover a lot easier.” Women runners endured ups and downs on their way to the finish line.
Catalyst also comes at a better price point than most professional-grade GNSS tools – without compromising results. Galloway regularly shared Catalyst’s AGOL web map with event organizers and participants to show the progress of the course. The combination of accurate trail layouts and obstacle locations overlaid on current air photos (provided by Canadian company First Base Solu- tions) was critical to creating a successful race layout. Mud, Sweat, and Cheers They also created an Esri Story Map® for race participants so they could see their accomplishment. To create the map, they used data collected in the field as well as photos taken during the event by pho- tographers and volunteers. Participants had access to the Mudmoiselle Halton Story Map, where they could see the route and location of ob- stacles. The Story Map was sent out as a link on social media websites (i.e., Canadian Cancer society’s twitter and Facebook account). “This was a tough project because it was the first year at the maple farm and it was a site with lots of roadblocks,” Galloway said. ”But everything was finished in time for the race. I am looking forward to working on next year’s race, and at Dillon we are looking forward to using Catalyst in even more challenging conditions.” This year’s mud run was held in a new location which was designed and mapped using Trimble technology.
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csengineermag.com
FEBRUARY 2021
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