Applies to: All customers.
Steps 3-5 get your device ready before you leave: sync on good Wi-Fi, pre-load your map area for offline use, and set up your measurement mode. The short videos below walk through calibration and the High Accuracy Stick.
Measurement calibration and stick settings (1)
Measurement calibration and stick settings (2)
Measurement calibration and stick settings (3)
Step 3: Sync on Wi-Fi before you leave
Before you leave for the job site, make sure the UtilityScout app is fully synced on good Wi-Fi. This puts the latest project data on your phone and pushes up anything already on it. Syncing out in the field over cellular can be slow, unreliable, or fail.
Open the app and make sure you are signed in.
Get on good Wi-Fi (home, hotel, or rental), not out in the field on cellular.
In the top left there is a sync toggle. Make sure it is on.
Watch the sync status. It shows what is left to sync (a count of files and data objects) and a status word.
Wait until it reads fully synced before heading out.
How syncing actually works (worth knowing).
Sync runs in two independent queues: data (fast) and photos (slow), and the pending count breaks them out as "N files, M objects." The pill reads Synced only once BOTH counts reach zero, so it keeps showing Syncing while photos are still uploading. Watch for the pending count to hit zero (and the status dot next to Synced to turn green) before you rely on a job being fully uploaded.
On multi-fielder jobs, if two people edit the same value, the most recent change wins; the older value is kept in the record's history.
Logging out with unsynced work puts it at risk (the app warns you if you try). Never sign out or reinstall the app until the status confirms everything, including photos, has synced.
Build the habit. Once you leave for the field, toggle sync off. While the app is open with sync on, it keeps syncing in the background, which can slow you down. You will sync again at end of day (Step 12).
Step 4: Pre-load your map area for offline use
If you are heading somewhere with little or no cell service, pre-load the map tiles ahead of time on good Wi-Fi. In the current app there is no "download this region" control: the app caches the map tiles you view automatically, so you pre-load an area by viewing it on Wi-Fi before you leave.
Tap the Job selector at the top left of the map and pick your job. The map loads and centers on the job location.
On good Wi-Fi, pan and zoom across the whole job area at the zoom levels you will actually use in the field (close enough that streets and poles are clear). The tiles you pass over are cached as you go.
Switch between Standard and Satellite if you plan to use both, so both are cached.
Tips. Do this at the same time as Step 3, on Wi-Fi. There is no separate "name this region / download" step and no progress overlay to wait on in the current build; the caching happens as you view the map. Cached map storage is capped at roughly 2 GB, and you can clear the map cache in Settings (Storage) when you no longer need an area.
Note: a deliberate "download offline area" feature exists in the code but is turned off in the shipping app, so the download controls do not appear. If a future update re-enables it, this step will change.
Step 5: Choose your measurement mode and set up the High Accuracy Stick
Cloneable measures poles and midspans using the phone camera and augmented reality (AR). There are two accuracy modes.
Standard mode (phone only): no extra equipment. Good for quick inspections, when the stick is impractical, or on steep or high-traffic sites. You place the phone flat against the pole face for a tilt reading, walk back, and mark the base and top.
High Accuracy mode (with the stick): uses the High Accuracy Stick as a known reference for the most accurate heights. Best for design-grade pole loading.
You switch modes on the fly by pressing and holding the pole or midspan measure button. The app remembers your last choice per workflow and defaults to High Accuracy. A common practice is High Accuracy for poles (the stick straps to the pole) and Standard for midspans (holding the stick out in a span is not practical).
What the High Accuracy Stick is
Four aluminum two-foot sections that screw together.
Two 3D-printed black-and-white target discs that attach to the assembled stick.
The two targets are always exactly four feet apart. What changes is how much stick sits below the bottom target.
Two configurations: six-foot (one section below the bottom target; best for low or mowed grass) and eight-foot (two sections below; best for thick, tall grass where you need the extra height to keep targets visible).
Two target versions: Version 1 and Version 2 are different generations of the target discs. Use whichever matches the physical targets you have.
Configure the stick in the app
Open Settings (person-silhouette icon, top right) and open Pole measurement settings.
Select your target version (Version 1 or Version 2). The app requires this before you can measure. If you skip this and go straight to measuring, the app stops you with a pop-up asking you to pick a version right then, so you can also set it in the moment instead of hunting for it in Settings beforehand.
Find tilt zeroing. It normally stays at zero (see the note below).
Set Bottom Pole Length. The app labels the options 1 and 2: choose 1 for the six-foot configuration or 2 for the eight-foot configuration.
Rule of thumb: mowed or low grass uses config 1 (six-foot); thick or tall grass uses config 2 (eight-foot). Reset Bottom Pole Length back to 1 after you remove the extension, or your heights will be off.
Tilt zeroing
Tilt zeroing is a one-time calibration for a given phone-and-case combination, not something you redo every project. It matters most for Standard mode. Hold the phone flat against a vertical surface and run the calibration; a flat-backed case helps the phone sit true.
How the stick is used during measurement
The stick is a passive reference; there is no wireless pairing. You tell the app which version you have, and during measurement you identify the top target, then the bottom target. A yellow reference line appears over the pole; use the left and right arrows (each tap nudges the tilt slightly) to tilt it so it lines up with the pole's lean.
Accuracy check. In both modes the app takes a two-pass tilt reading, and the two readings must agree within about half a degree. If your measurements come out consistently wrong, suspect the target version or Bottom Pole Length setting before you suspect tilt calibration. A camera-connection message and a measurement line that keeps drifting to one side are usually a device limitation, not something you are doing wrong: they show up most on older or non-Pro iPhones without LiDAR. The High Accuracy Stick's fixed target spacing helps the app compensate; if it still happens often, that is worth mentioning to your administrator when choosing field devices.
Unmeasured poles (including freshly imported ones) show as red. When you finalize the pole height measurement, the pole changes to its complete color (blue in the default configuration). The pole you currently have selected is surrounded by a yellow glow, which is separate from completion. Some organizations customize the status colors.
Using an external RTK receiver (Emlid)
If you use an external Bluetooth RTK receiver such as an Emlid for higher location accuracy, open Settings and go to the External GPS screen. Choose Open to launch the Emlid Flow app and connect to the receiver, which is where RTK corrections are turned on, then return to UtilityScout and choose Refresh Connection. You can expand the details to see the live connection status. Once connected, the receiver's position is used when you place poles and anchors.