Managing your site photographs
How valuable would a simplified process be to your firm?
What are the biggest challenges for the site inspector?
Whether conducting Phase I Environmental Site Assessments (ESAs) or Property Condition Assessments (PCAs), many site inspectors have indicated that dealing with site photographs after the site reconnaissance is the most frustrating portion of their field work. These frustrations arise from the following:
- The need to connect a camera to a computer via a cable to download photos.
- Photographic file names are created as numbers and letters when downloaded - not file names descriptive of the content of the photograph.
- There is no simple way to add captions to the photos.
- Photos cannot be sorted by subject without renaming them individually.
- Site photos are not automatically separated when more than one site visit is conducted in a day.
- Photos must be compressed to a manageable size.
- Significant time is lost due to the inefficiency of the process.
How valuable would a process be that solved all the the challenges above?
Collateral Status (cStat) has launched the cStat Photo Export which in conjunction with the cStat ESA app and cStat PCA app addresses all the challenges above. Let us show you how.
Photo and field data collection in cStat
The cStat ESA and cStat PCA apps are designed to collect field information (photos and field data) in specific sections that mimic typical sections in a report. Photos taken are automatically assigned a file name which matches the section the photo was taken in the cStat app and then each additional photo taken in that section is sequentially ordered. Once finished with a particular site, the site assessor syncs the photos and field data with the cStat web platform (website).
Captioning and exporting photos
The site assessor can immediately export the compressed photos in a zip file from the cStat website following syncing. No connection of the iPad to the computer via a cable is necessary. The site assessor also has the option to enter an additional caption for each photo. The additional information is typed into the box for each photo in the cStat Photo Library. The additional caption is entered behind the original section and number sequence.
Photo management after unzipping
As shown in the photo (click on the photo to enlarge), the photos are automatically labeled as describe above and will include the additional caption if it was entered. The general description provides a easy way to search for particular photos in the folder and provides a jump start on the final captioning in Quire. In a collaborative writing situation (when a different person than the site inspector writes the report), this provides a simple way for the site inspector to turn in all of the labeled site photos.
Ready to see a demonstration of the cStat Photo Export and the process discussed above?
cStat Photo Export Demo
The cStat Photo Export is a first step in the integration of cStat collected field information with Quire's report writing platform.
In order to provide those firms which are interested in an integrated solution for their projects, cStat and Quire are working together to create a seamless and time-saving process for integrating cStat collected site information into reports being written in Quire. The first step is the integration of photos collected in cStat. Once the cStat collected photos have been unzipped into a folder, they can be uploaded to Appendix E in Quire. That's really all there is to it. And since all the photos have a basic file name which becomes the caption, the site assessor already has a start on creating the final captions in Quire. How amazing is that!
Contact us to get started with cStat
Please call Kurt Winters, Director of Technical Sales and Integration with any questions regarding the cStat apps and how they can create efficiencies when integrated with Quire. For a refresher on the cStat ESA and PCA apps, please click on the links below this section.
Email: kwinters@collateralstatus.com
Website: http://www.collateralstatus.com
Location: Grapevine, TX, United States
Phone: 817-296-4466