{"id":521312,"date":"2022-06-28T19:59:54","date_gmt":"2022-06-29T02:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcnews&#038;p=521312"},"modified":"2022-06-28T11:27:54","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T18:27:54","slug":"startup-makes-preconstruction-data-collection-faster-more-accurate","status":"publish","type":"arcnews","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/startup-makes-preconstruction-data-collection-faster-more-accurate","title":{"rendered":"Startup Makes Preconstruction Data Collection Faster, More Accurate"},"author":5752,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","castos_file_data":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[465131,318502,11042],"tags":[471802,180122,18442,17262,202022],"arcnews_issues":[479682],"class_list":["post-521312","arcnews","type-arcnews","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arcgis-field-maps","category-environmental","category-esri-startup-partners","tag-aec","tag-construction","tag-data-collection","tag-startups","tag-wetland","arcnews_issues-summer-2022","arcnews_sections-collaborations"],"acf":{"short_description":"Ecobot\u2019s GIS-based platform helps environmental scientists efficiently collect data on the natural environment surrounding a project.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"In the United States, before any construction project begins\u2014especially large, infrastructure-scale projects such as those funded by the recently passed $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act\u2014developers must complete several state and federal environmental impact assessments.\r\n\r\nThese government-mandated assessments provide critical data about the natural environment that surrounds a project. Civil engineering and construction firms leverage this data to develop resilient assets that mitigate disturbances to the natural environment and avoid costly future complications caused by ecological conditions."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":519392,"image_position":"right","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"To help environmental scientists efficiently collect accurate preconstruction data, <a href=\"https:\/\/ecobot.com\/\">Ecobot<\/a>\u2014an Esri partner that recently graduated from the Esri Startup program\u2014developed a platform for completing these assessments. It works seamlessly with ArcGIS Field Maps and ArcGIS Pro.\r\n\r\nOne area of focus for Ecobot is helping developers determine the locations of wetlands. When completing preconstruction environmental impact assessments, natural resources consultants must submit the findings of wetland delineations to federal regulators. The results of their findings influence how that land can be developed.\r\n\r\nThe Ecobot platform, which consists of a mobile app and a desktop app, mirrors industry-standard procedures for this kind of data collection. It automates the calculations used to determine the presence of wetlands and populates government regulatory forms for submission. It also makes the geospatial data available to export directly to ArcGIS Pro.\r\n\r\nWhen consultants at Environmental Science and Engineering (ESE) Partners were contracted to delineate wetlands on a proposed 3,000-acre solar farm in Texas, the company had just two weeks\u2014instead of the several months it would normally take\u2014to complete the project. With only two wetland scientists available at the time, ESE Partners employed the Ecobot app alongside ArcGIS technology to expeditiously find and record hundreds of isolated wetlands and other water elements.\r\n\r\nTo determine whether an area contains wetlands, environmental consultants collect soil, vegetation, and hydrology data at various points around the site. Prior to the availability of mobile technology like Ecobot and Field Maps, this process required consultants to print out an aerial image of the site and bring that with them so they could approximate their locations while manually collecting data. After that, a professional surveyor would come in to record the data point locations at a higher level of accuracy. This step added at least a day to the project timeline and could cost tens of thousands of additional dollars, depending on the size of the project.\r\n\r\nJeremy Schewe, chief scientist and cofounder of Ecobot, used to work this way. In his nearly two decades of experience doing field research, it typically took him two days to assess a 90-acre plot of land, and then an extra day for the surveying work to be completed. And none of that includes the precursory research and data compilation that had to be done, nor does it include the time it took to transfer the data to government forms and perform quality assurance.\r\n\r\nUsing Ecobot in conjunction with Field Maps, Schewe can now complete all the work for evaluating a 90-acre plot of land in one day.\r\n\r\n\u201cI\u2019m able to work twice as fast, with greater confidence in the accuracy of the decisions being made that impact land use,\u201d he said.\r\n\r\nThis is what Nevin Durish, a senior biologist at ESE Partners, experienced when using Ecobot and ArcGIS technology during the Texas solar farm project.\r\n\r\n\u201cIn the field, we were able to complete 31 wetland sample points during a single day because of Ecobot,\u201d he said. \u201c[That\u2019s] more than twice our usual productivity.\u201d\r\n\r\nIntegrating Ecobot with ArcGIS technology was a no-brainer for Schewe and his cofounder, Ecobot CEO Lee Lance. Schewe said that he and most of his peers in the industry were already accustomed to working with ArcGIS technology to create the detailed, layered maps they used for preliminary research and to compile their final reports."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":519402,"image_position":"left","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"\u201cEsri is the number one geospatial software provider in the industry. It\u2019s critical that Ecobot and ArcGIS work together,\u201d said Schewe. \u201cBefore beginning fieldwork, we can export shapefiles from ArcGIS Pro to Field Maps and then view the map during data collection. I can see all the critical geospatial information when I\u2019m out there and where I am in respect to that. Once I\u2019m finished logging data in Ecobot, I can export a shapefile from Ecobot directly onto the basemap that was created in ArcGIS Pro.\u201d\r\n\r\nEcobot is also compatible with Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) devices, such as those from Esri partners Trimble and Eos Positioning Systems, Inc.\r\n\r\nTeams from some of the largest environmental and engineering firms in the United States have started using Ecobot in their mobile operations.\r\n\r\nKelley Samuels, senior ecologist at multinational engineering firm and Esri partner AECOM, said that Ecobot is \u201cinvaluable for new construction, especially large-scale projects.\u201d\r\n\r\nSarah Soard, environmental project and technical services manager for natural and cultural resources at consulting firm and Esri partner Burns &amp; McDonnell, said that having the real-time calculations that Ecobot provides is valuable \u201cbecause they eliminate human errors or delays.\u201d\r\n\r\nDarin Welch, associate vice president for geospatial and virtual engagement solutions at infrastructure solutions firm and Esri partner HNTB, learned about Ecobot at Esri\u2019s 2019 Geodesign Summit. His company is heavily invested in digital twins, and he sees value in integrating natural environment data, which Ecobot can provide.\r\n\r\nSince launching in 2018, Ecobot has grown to serve more than 1,360 customers that have generated over 60,000 field reports for more than 6,500 assessment projects. With a recent venture capital investment of $2.81 million, Ecobot is now in a position to widen the scope of its app, incorporate workflows for additional environmental permits, and add project management tools to the platform."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Center","content":"The Esri Startup program gives emerging businesses an edge by helping them integrate spatial functionality into their products and services. Learn more about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/en-us\/about\/partners\/our-partners\/startups\">Esri Startup Program<\/a>.","snippet":""}],"references":null},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.9 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Startup Makes Preconstruction Data Collection Faster, More Accurate | ArcNews | Summer 2022<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Ecobot\u2019s GIS-based platform helps environmental scientists efficiently collect data on the natural environment surrounding a project.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/startup-makes-preconstruction-data-collection-faster-more-accurate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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