TimberGuide Pro is mobile data collection done right! If you are involved in any aspect or process that touches the timber supply-chain, and you need to collect, store and share digital information with your team, then TimberGuide Pro (TGP) is the solution. TimberGuide Pro combines the power of a mapping application, with the flexibility of simple form data collection. TGP allows you to fill out forms and attach form data to an asset or location on the ground. This app has tons of relevant forestry use cases, which we will discuss soon enough, but first let’s mention the core tenets that TimberGuide Pro was built on.

CORE IDEAS AND APPLICATION COMPONENTS

1. Flexible – capture and report forest data without any coding experience needed, yet capable of integrating with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems.
2. Mobile – eliminate paper and Excel spreadsheets in the field, collect real-time data without internet connectivity.
3. Secure – your data belongs to you, never lose it. TGP is designed with military data security standards.

• TimberGuide Admin – for interfacing with the mobile app. Allows uploading of boundary assets in ESRI Shapefile format, uploading raster base maps, creating pick-lists, customizing forms and more.
• TimberGuide Mobile App – for collecting and viewing information about forest assets and synchronizing that information back to the hosted database. The mobile app includes standard street and aerial base maps, a popup display for the underlying Shapefile attribute fields, geotagged notes and icons, and simple mapping tools such as area and linear measurement, pan and zoom.

EXAMPLES OF FORESTRY USE CASES

1. Track logging equipment and fill out harvest records such as digital load books, delivery tickets, and scale tickets.
2. Document scouting forms, EMS reports, compliance forms, assessments, inspections and audit records
3. Store notes and icons about assets in the field such as culverts, gates, roads, oil and gas assets, boundary encroachments, and more.
4. Daily production reports on field crews, such as harvest productivity, planting or application productivity.
5. Collect herbicide and fertilizer application records.
6. Collect data on real estate listings, and manage property records
7. Document any process, any where, using live base maps and mapping tools that come standard.

USER CONFIGURATIONS

All of the functionality of the app is available with a single user license, but is further enhanced through synchronized sharing between multiple users. Users do not have to be within a single organization. The app is configurable with one or more databases, where access can be granted by user type. This would be useful in a fully-integrated scenario where the forester, logger, and procurement personnel are all working with different views of the same information.

This app has so many features it is impossible to list them all in a short blog post. TGP is more than an app, it also features a web interface for administering the app, and extracting business intelligence information from the hosted database. I really like that TGP was designed to be flexible and still fit the needs of the individual and the organization. What do I mean by that? What I mean is TGP can be a simple as you want it to be (just a mapping tool), or as complex as you need it to be (server queries, with advanced reporting, management dashboards and Business Intelligence (BI) tools).

Below I’ve included some snapshots of the mobile app interface. These snapshots provide a glimpse of the user interface, the map navigation pane, symbology features and popup menus within the app. Overall, the mobile app is simple to use, simple to learn and won’t cost your company a fortune in training and support.

For questions, or for more information about the TimberGuide Pro app, check out the TimberGuide Pro page at http://www.catenaut.com/timberguide

Categories: Forestry Apps

Tagged as: Forest GIS iOS app Mapping Software

JwL