How to improve the accuracy of your utility mapping and asset management

ProGEO Team
Jan 7
3 min read

Zenith06 Pro with Samsung XCover 7 controller working in the rain in the UK

You're standing in an overgrown verge, trying to locate a valve that should be "somewhere around here", according to records from 1987. Your phone's ringing, it's the project manager asking if you're nearly done because the contractor's waiting. Sound familiar?

Utility mapping and asset management, whether it's water pipes, power lines, gas mains, or EV charging stations, is challenging enough without outdated plans, unclear records, and equipment that slows you down.

Utility mapping and asset management problems

There are a lot of problems surveyors have to deal with in their day-to-day jobs. You're working with incomplete asset registers where half the utilities aren't even mapped, dealing with conflicting information from multiple sources, and trying to survey in difficult terrain where you can't get a level setup. There's the constant pressure of tight deadlines while contractors wait on site, costing your client money by the hour. You're battling overgrown vegetation, working in all weather conditions, and navigating congested urban environments where GNSS signals are patchy at best. Add to that the outdated plans from decades ago that don't match reality, the frustration of equipment that slows you down when you need speed, and the ever-present knowledge that a single mistake could mean a gas strike, a flooded street, or worse.

You're expected to deliver both precision and speed while managing the data transfer bottleneck that keeps everyone waiting for your survey before they can move forward. It's a job that demands technical expertise, physical endurance, and the ability to make critical decisions under pressure, all while maintaining the accuracy that protects both your professional reputation and public safety.

A Package Built for Real-World Utility Surveying

Here are two examples of how the Zenith06 Pro GNSS receiver with Samsung XCover 7 controller running X-PAD Ultimate software is a real-world solution that helps you manage assets better.

Capture Assets Quickly and Accurately

The Zenith06 Pro improves your workflow. The tilt compensation means you're not wasting time perfectly levelling the pole for every single measurement. You can survey the manhole cover at an angle, capture the streetlight without fighting the pole in the wind, and record utilities in ditches or on slopes without the usual setup frustrations. You're getting precise measurements while working at the speed the project actually demands, not the speed your equipment forces you to work at. And with ProNet correction services delivering centimetre-level accuracy, you're getting reliable coordinates even in challenging environments that normally slow you down for example, congested city centres with signal interference, woodland areas and sites with overhead obstructions. You capture it right the first time, which means you're not coming back tomorrow to fill in the gaps or correct mistakes.

See Your Work in Real Time

X-PAD Ultimate also allows you to view your measurements as you capture them, overlay them on existing plans, and immediately spot discrepancies. You'll know before you leave the site if something doesn't add up, not three days later when you're processing data back at the office.

Stop Being the Bottleneck

With X-PAD 365, your data uploads automatically to the cloud as you work, which means you're finally free from being the project's data delivery service. No more driving back to the office to transfer files, no more engineers calling mid-survey asking "do you have that data yet?", and no more discovering at 5pm that today's survey didn't save properly. Your office team can access everything in real time, start processing while you're still in the field, run QA checks, and flag any issues while you're still on site to resolve them, not three days later when you're on another job.

And if you're working with another surveyor on a large utility network, X-PAD 365 lets you see what they've surveyed and what still needs capturing, so there's no duplicate work, no gaps in coverage, and no awkward "I thought you were doing that section" conversations at the end of the day. Check completeness before you pack up and leave, knowing the job's done right.