Employees of a Minnesota firm take GPS one step further with the application of cell phones.

In our surveying discipline, we have five field crews that are each equipped with standard equipment including a total station, level and four-wheel drive truck. Each crew is also equipped with a laptop computer for transferring data via their cell phones to and from the office. We have a network that allows each field crew to access our office server for sending and receiving both pictures and data files. This saves a great deal of time by allowing the field crews to minimize their travel time. They can stay out on the jobsite when they need more information, or they can quickly download their information for those “need it right away” jobs.