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Get to Know Your Way Around the Groundhawk Portal

You will find all the relevant information that will make using Groundhawk Portal efficient in your daily work.

Groundhawk Portal Basics

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Logging into the Portal
  • Log into the Portal using your Groundhawk credentials 
  • You can choose the language or change your password in the top right corner - under your name


Accessing your sites
  • When choosing sites in the portal, you will see both the draft and active sites by default 
  • In case you want to look at past projects, choose ‘archived’ 
  • You can also search, filter, and sort sites based on your needs 

    • Status = Draft, Active or Archived. Only influences visibility. Archived sites are not visible on Groundhawk device and default not visible in the list.
    • Owner = Network owner profile applied to site (special configurations)
    • Access = Teams access to site
    • Recordings = Last mappings to site
    • Open trench, % = how many m are mapped in open trench of full length and what is the percentage of open trench mappings. If 75% or higher then green. 25% or lower red.
    • Last export = When were downloadable files last exported
    • ... Context menu to 1) edit site info, 2) manage access, 3) view progress and 4) Download files
The sites are uploaded to the portal automatically and will be viewable in the portal roughly 10 minutes after the field user has finished the upload 
Basic Map features
  • Add depth markers to see how deep the trench is in the measuring points 
  • Add points and photos to see all the points that have been mapped 
  • Add plan to visualize how the mapping looks in relation to the initial plan 
  • Click on the route to see the lengths of each part in terms of cable and protection, and what the cover is 

Plan management

It's recommended to upload a plan as a base map before construction because you can constantly compare it to the plans, and it's easy to see if any surveys are missing.

Here's how to do it:

DXF File
Make sure you have a DXF file of the plan. Also, find out what coordinate system the DXF file was created in.

Create a Project
First, create a project as you normally would if you haven't already.

Import the Plan
Import the plan to the project from the relevant section.

Upload the File
First, select the file and then the coordinate system. If you can't find a suitable coordinate system in the list, contact Groundhawk support.

Preview Layers
In the preview, select only the layers that contain the necessary routes and key points.

For example, it is not worth importing houses because they can already be found on the background map.

Groundhawk

Good to know:

Coordinate Systems
In Finland, the TM35FIN coordinate system is commonly used. Another common local coordinate system is the GK 21-28 series (21 in the west and 28 in the far east).

DXF File Format
The DXF file is an open, widely used CAD file format in which plans can generally be saved. Many design software programs support the DXF format. It's easy to convert other file formats, such as DWG or many other GIS formats, to DXF.

DXF Map Layers
Designers typically use multiple layers to make it easy to choose what to display on the map. You can usually distinguish between 1) a base map layer (e.g., a Google Maps road map), 2) the built environment (detailed roads and buildings), and 3) the planned network. Often, a DXF file may include both levels 2 and 3. The planned network can be in several separate layers, such as cabinets on their own layer and cables on theirs, and so on.

Deleting and Updating Plans
You can import multiple plans to the same Groundhawk project if, for example, you're designing the same project in different parts. You can also import an updated plan and delete the old one.

File downloads

You can find downloadable files in the project list under the menu item ... or under the site map heading.

Groundhawk nav

The Basics

Downloadable files are created only after the uploaded data has been quality checked. This is done by the Groundhawk quality assurance team.

If you urgently need files for a specific project, you should contact the quality assurance team. These projects are processed regularly, and downloadable files will appear in the format specified for the project under "cable file format." You should double-check that the correct file format is selected here.

Info example GH

Downloadable files
All files containing data for the entire site can be found on the first page. Please note that users can select multiple export file formats.

Exports GH

User's own export files
The user can create their own file export from quality-assured data. This allows the user to create, for example, a time-filtered export file that only shows recently added measurements.

Export new GH

 

How to Utilize Groundhawk to the Fullest

Get more out of the Portal

Map Features

  • Add tasks to see the progress in different measuring points 
  • For communicating with the team on the field add comments and tasks from the plus icon 
  • This is an easy way to ask the Groundhawk Support Team to add missing items/connections, fix trenches/depths, etc. 
  • If you know there is something that needs extra attention add quality checks with action points - This allows the team of field workers to document the extra quality checks with photos right to the portal 
  • The quality checks are then visible on the statistics report as well 

Accessing Statistics

In Site Overview 

  • Access site statistics, for example the meters built, by clicking on the icon on the far right 


 

In Map View 

  • Access site statistics, for example the meters built, by clicking on the icon under the ‘layer’ options 

Downloading Sites

Download the desired site(s) in any of the supported formats like DXF, KMZ and network owner specific mapping formats 

If there is any other format you would like, let us know so we can implement it 

  • You can choose the formats from the portal, by clicking the ‘edit’ button 

Processing the Data – Explained 

When Can I See the Data in the Portal? 

The data collected by field users is uploaded to the Portal within 10 minutes.

When Can I Export/Download the Site? 

After the initial upload by the field users is complete, our team will look at the site and make sure everything is correct. This process can take between 1 hour and several days.

Site Management

Main uses of Site Management for Project Managers and Documenters

 

Adding Users to Sites

Do you have a new member in your team who is eager to start using Groundhawk? Great! 

It is important that the Groundhawk users have their own credentials to Groundhawk. You can request a new user from your Groundhawk organization administrator and if you don’t know that person you can make a request to support@groundhawk.io   

You need to provide the following information:  

  • Full name, phone number, and organization.  
  • Optional: email   
  • Role: 
  • Field User: These are the workers in the field who will be using Groundhawk devices at the sites, they have access to the Portal, but cannot edit the portal 
  • Viewer: These are (for example) the companies ordering the work, who would like to see the progress but do not have any need to edit the information within the site, they have only view access to the Portal 
  • Project Manager: These are the workers in charge of overseeing the process of the site – start to finish, they have full access to the Portal 
  • Documenter: These are the workers who work primarily with the Portal and finished site information, they have full access to the Portal 
  • Organization Manager: These workers have access to everything within the organization and Portal as well as being able to create new users 
  • Optional: ongoing Groundhawk projects that the user should get access to  

The username and password to Groundhawk will be provided directly to the user using SMS or email.  

Depending on the contract the Groundhawk user might also be provided with additional online training services. 

  • Project managers can add more users on the portal page by email or phone number 
  • Field users need to be given access as a field user to the desired site to see the site in their Groundhawk device 
  • A viewer could be, for example, an end customer or a network owner 
  • Choose the correct type of user from the dropdown menu 

Edit Site Information

  • To edit the information, click on the pen icon 
  • For example, add more info, change the status, switch or add cable file format or edit the planned-out length here 

Check Back to How Project Managers Use Groundhawk

Check Back to How Documenters Use Groundhawk

What Would You Like to Learn Next?

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