Floor Elevation is currently available in beta. Workflows and outputs may change between releases as the feature is refined.
Overview
Good Floor Elevation data starts with good setup and good stationing habits. The patterns below come from operators running Floor Elevation on real jobs. Follow them, and your heatmap will tell the truth about your slab. Skip them, and you'll be chasing bad data back to the office.
This guide assumes you've already read How to Use Floor Elevation (Beta).
Set Up the Tracker in a Stable Spot
The tracker is only as accurate as the surface it sits on. Before you station:
- Pick a tripod location that's stable and out of the layout path. The tripod will sit there for a while; make sure it won't get bumped and won't block the FieldPrinter.
- Give the tracker time to warm up before you start recording. A cold tracker produces noisier data.
- Run Check Levelness and center the bubble inside the circle. Only start stationing once this passes.
Station Well Before You Measure Anything
Stationing errors carry through into every elevation reading you take. Take the time to do it right.
- Scan at least three control points. Four or five is better. The more points you use, the stronger your geometry and the lower your stationing error.
- Spread your control points as far apart as the site allows. Points bunched in one corner give the system a narrow view of the floor; points in opposite corners give it a wide one.
- Eliminate control points with large errors before you finalize the station. If a point reads more than an inch off, don't use it. Flag it as bad and move on.
- Record a verification point after you station. Scan a known control point that wasn't part of your station and confirm the elevation and position read as expected.
If the station doesn't look right, restart it. A fast restart is cheaper than a day of bad data.
Re-stationing: Always Use Control Points From Your Previous Station
This is the single most important habit on any Floor Elevation job that spans more than one stationing. When you move the tracker and restation, reuse control points from your previous station.
Why It Matters
Dusty stitches elevation data across stationings in the cloud. Stitching only works when each stationing shares at least one control point with a prior stationing. Without that overlap, Dusty has no reliable way to align the elevation frames from your different stations. The heatmap will show seams, step changes across stationing boundaries, or elevation values that disagree from one area to the next. You'll spot it in Portal and have nothing to do but come back for another visit.
How to Do It
- Note which control points you used before you break down your first station. The Setup tab on the iPad shows you this.
- Set up your next station position so that at least one of those control points is still in line of sight.
- Rescan at least one of the same control points you used before when you re-station. Two or three is even better. Add new control points on top of that to strengthen your geometry at the new location.
- For very large sites where no single control point is visible from both stations, print or mark temporary control points during the first station that you can reuse from the second. Place them where they'll be visible from both tracker positions.
Watch for the iPad's Warning
The iPad will tell you when a new stationing does not share control points with a previous one. Take that warning seriously. If you see it, stop and add an overlapping point before you keep measuring.
Fill in the Heatmap Before You Leave the Site
Floor Elevation is a field tool, and field tools deserve a field check.
- Keep an eye on the heatmap on the iPad while the FieldPrinter is working. If you see gaps, drive the FieldPrinter through them before you pack up.
- Rerun Check Levelness periodically during the session, especially if the tracker gets knocked or moved.
- Consider restationing partway through long sessions as a quality step, even if you don't need to reach a new area. Share control points with the previous station so the cloud can still stitch.
- Upload data to the Portal before you leave the jobsite if you can. That way, you can open the Elevation tab on a phone or laptop and spot problems while you're still there to fix them.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
A few specific things that chew up sessions on real jobs:
- Mixing control point sources with inconsistent elevations. If you're using surveyor-provided control points, don't mix them with control points you created on the iPad if the elevations don't agree. Pick one source and stay with it.
- Using stale control points. The iPad warns you when recorded control points are more than 16 hours old. Take the warning and restart rather than trust old data.
- Ignoring tracker tilt. If the levelness check is failing or the tracker reports tilt errors, your elevation data will not be recorded. Re-level and restation.
- Clearing points between stationings. Do not reset your recorded control points unless you actually want a fresh start. Keeping them in place is what lets the cloud stitch your session together.
When Things Go Wrong
If your heatmap shows seams between stationings, an area isn't filling in, or the numbers look off, reach out to your CSM or open a ticket in Dusty Support. Send the project URL and the date and time of the session. The more specific you are about which section looks wrong, the faster we can help.