Where: UtilityScout, on the phone, Measure Pole on a selected pole.
When you finish: you can start the method your job names, work the high-accuracy steps from tilt to Finalize, and know the three ways around a blocked base. Allow a few minutes per pole at first.
Your job names the method. Do not guess at the pole; if it does not name one, ask before you collect. If your job requires high accuracy and you cannot place the stick against the pole, stay in high accuracy and use one of the three ways around it below. Do not switch to Standard to get around the stick.
Method | Uses | When |
High accuracy | The stick with targets | Engineering needs the numbers within an inch |
Standard | AR only, no stick | Only when your job names Standard. See Standard Accuracy: measure a midspan and a pole |
Start the measurement
Select the pole on the map.
Tap Measure Pole to start in the last mode used on this configuration; a configuration with no saved choice starts in High Accuracy.
To pick the other mode, touch and hold Measure Pole and choose it. The button's label changes to show the mode; tap it to start. Read the label before you tap; you cannot switch after the flow starts.
For High Accuracy, make sure the app's target version matches the bracket on your stick and Bottom Pole Length matches how you built it before your first measurement of the day. See Set up your accuracy stick.
Measuring in Standard?
If your job names Standard, follow Standard Accuracy: measure a midspan and a pole. It covers the two tilt readings, the marker, the photo and the review, without the stick.
The high-accuracy steps
Your steps come from your configuration, so you may see more or fewer, in a different order. These are the ones most crews see.
1. Place the stick
Targets face up. Both target backs flat and flush against the wood. Ignore printed markings on the stick.
2. Capture tilt
Stand at the stick, hold the phone flat against the top target, and capture twice. Both readings must agree within 0.5°; if not, the app says so and you start again. This corrects camera perspective; it is not a check that the pole is plumb.
3. Take the photo
Walk back 10 to 15 feet. Frame the whole pole, ground line to true top. 1x zoom is the default; 2x is available. Crouch or angle up in a tight alley; avoid extreme angles. Look at the photo before you accept, and retake if there is any doubt, because everything after this depends on it.
4. Scale the targets
The app finds the two target circles on its own. Check the rings sit on both centres. If it grabbed the wrong thing, or risers block a target, use Skip and drag the rings onto the centres yourself. This is how the app learns how big things are; it is not the yellow top and bottom lines.
5. Set the top and the bottom
Drag the yellow line to the exact physical top of the pole and the bottom point to true ground. Snap controls help and the height reads out as you go. Hide line tucks the overlay while you place them.
6. Fill the details and Finalize
Swipe up the gray details sheet, fill the fields your job requires, tap Finalize.
The yellow line is a guide, not the pole. Pull it all the way to the true top. Left short, the height can go to infinity.
If the pole bends toward or away from you above the stick, shoot from the side. If the capture offers left and right arrows, use them to match the lean you see. Place the stick across the worst twist, not along it.
Three ways around a blocked base
Situation | Do this | Trade-off |
Brush or a fence blocks the base and you cannot get the phone onto the pole | Use Can't reach the base? Skip tilt and confirm | The app treats tilt as zero, slightly less accurate on a leaned pole |
The stick can touch the pole but the targets cannot sit flush | Skip tilt, dismiss the two-known-points sheet if it opens (swipe it down), then place the stick targets as usual | Targets still set the scale; tilt stays at zero. Better than storing a bad tilt |
You cannot place the stick at all: a fence, a highway, standing water, no safe footing | Tap No stick? Use two known points. Enter two heights you actually know (ground is often 0; the second is often a rangefinder reading to a visible mark), save, tap those two spots on the photo, both on the same side of the pole | Works from any distance the camera can reach. Only use heights you know from a tape, a rangefinder or a marked reference; wrong heights make every measurement on that pole wrong |
When you cannot see the base: snow, grass, brush
On screen: Use this when the pole base is hidden (snow, vegetation). First place the bottom line where you can see it, the snow line, top of the vegetation, or bottom of the stick. Then enter the distance from there down to the true ground, and the bottom line drops by that amount.
The offset adds to the measured height: a two-foot offset on 65' 8" gives 67' 8". That is the point; you are telling the app how much pole is buried in what you cannot see.
After you apply it you can edit or clear it, and the app shows a caution so you remember it is in effect.
Finish and check
Fill the required fields and tap Finalize.
Watch the Poles counter on the map, not the pole's colour. A measurement that lands moves the left number up by one. Colour is your organization's icon rule and may not change.
Look at the height before you walk away and compare it with the expected range on your job. A reading outside it usually means a scaling problem, and it is far cheaper to check now than after you leave.
One person can complete a pole: set the stand, fill details, take the shot, then the midspan if the job asks. Two people can split it: one fills details, the other shoots. Agree who shoots which photos first, and never both measure the same pole.
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