Survey Job Splitting

While performing surveys of large sites, it is sometimes convenient to split the data collection process between several employees who would walk the site independently, each of them surveying a separate area. Once the data has been collected, the separate surveys can be merged into a single project. Using TamoGraph, you can easily organize this mode of operation, as explained below.

If you plan to perform a site survey alone, using a single laptop, you do not need to read this chapter.

Step 1

Create a new project and calibrate the map. Save the project and copy the project file to the portable computers that will participate in the data collection process. The computer that is used for creating the project does not necessarily have to be equipped with a compatible wireless adapter. It can be a desktop computer.

Step 2

Open the project file in TamoGraph on each of the portable computers to which you copied the project file. Discuss how to split the survey job between your associates and assign different areas of the site map to them so that each of them surveys a separate area.

Step 3

Using the portable computers, your associates can now walk the site and survey the designated areas. When the area is fully surveyed, save the project and then click Survey => Export Survey Data in the main application menu. A dialog box will appear, and the user will be able to select the survey path(s) to be exported. Click Export to save the data to a file with the .SSTRACK extension.

Step 4

Copy the survey data files created on the portable computers back onto the main computer. Open the project that you used for the job splitting in Step 1. Click Survey => Import Survey Data in the main application menu, select the SSTRACK file to import, and then select the survey path(s) to be imported. Repeat this for all the SSTRACK files you copied from the portable computers.

Step 5

The Plans and Surveys tab on the right panel now contains all the survey paths that were created by the different users who surveyed the site in parallel. Save the project. You are now ready to analyze the data as normal.

Tips and Tricks

When you analyze the data collected by other computers, you typically do not need TamoGraph to scan Wi-Fi channels (if the computer is equipped with a wireless adapter) or display the driver installation guide (if the computer is not equipped with a wireless adapter). To turn off the scanner and prevent the driver installation guide from appearing, launch TamoGraph with the /scanneroff command line switch.