" Smart Stick"?Anyone?

**TMO** · March 17th, 2010, 07:50 PM

Been hearing rumers of a smart paint stick. reciever and paint with 1 tool. Anyone else caught this rumor floating around?
I have no idea how i COULD work , or how much it wieghs , but...
Also been hearing about a 'smart' truck with its own server inside.

**Goldenboy** · March 17th, 2010, 08:31 PM

I don't think I could locate without a paintstick in my right hand. I would feel off balanced. It always acts as a crutch when on uneven terrain.

**ProfessionalLocator** · March 17th, 2010, 09:23 PM

A gps enabled paint stick with a wireless link to the laptop in your truck. Keeps constant track of your location, the color paint you loaded into the stick and every time you pull the trigger records where you put the paint. Imagine what that will cost to outfit your entire company with them. Considering the beating a paint stick takes they better be made of armor plate.

**yahoo** · March 17th, 2010, 09:37 PM

yes .......this is all familiar! future utiliquest/sts events coming soon!

**ProfessionalLocator** · March 17th, 2010, 10:15 PM

Originally Posted by yahoo

yes .......this is all familiar! future utiliquest/sts events coming soon!

Another couple of million spent on new surveillance toys along with the proposed "smart trucks", the current gps in the trucks and all the rest.
I heard you guys are getting your fair share of the big spending. Big raises along with fully paid medical and more vacation time. After all these new gizmos have made you guys so productive they are making money had over fist.

**Mke** · March 18th, 2010, 11:57 AM

I don't know about you guys, but my paint stick doubles as a "berry beater", "Dog beater", and the occasional "turkey beater" I'd hate it if they put expensive elctronics in it.

mke

**mls62976** · March 18th, 2010, 07:00 PM

I would hate to not be able to locate because my paint stick was running slow.

**TMO** · March 18th, 2010, 08:09 PM

Originally Posted by ProfessionalLocator

A gps enabled paint stick with a wireless link to the laptop in your truck. Keeps constant track of your location, the color paint you loaded into the stick and every time you pull the trigger records where you put the paint. Imagine what that will cost to outfit your entire company with them. Considering the beating a paint stick takes they better be made of armor plate.

Bingo! This is excactly what i've heard too. With all the innovation being developed towards documenting locations of lines ( and apparently the paint too ) , it makes me wonder why we ( the boots on the ground ) dont have access to the documentation while on site during future locates .. Even the E-sketches we do , they get uploaded to our server, but i've never heard why we arent able to pull one back up if we want to.Maybe to be some sort of assist on a late night oncall in an area im not familiar with? So i wonder how awesome the smartstick would be , when i know we wont have access to the info it will record.

**ProfessionalLocator** · March 18th, 2010, 08:27 PM

Originally Posted by TMO

Bingo! This is excactly what i've heard too. With all the innovation being developed towards documenting locations of lines ( and apparently the paint too ) , it makes me wonder why we ( the boots on the ground ) dont have access to the documentation while on site during future locates .. Even the E-sketches we do , they get uploaded to our server, but i've never heard why we arent able to pull one back up if we want to.Maybe to be some sort of assist on a late night oncall in an area im not familiar with? So i wonder how awesome the smartstick would be , when i know we wont have access to the info it will record.

The way I understand it is they do no want you do bring up that info because if you do you may not hook up and tone the job again on remark tickets.

They do not want you to come back today to a job you painted yesterday for a catv drop where everything is already marked and not hook up and re-tone the entire thing again. The idea being that you may have made a mistake the first time and if you do it again you will not repeat that mistake. Since such a device records every mark you make and what color paint you put down along with the exact time you made each individual paint mark you cannot leave the scene with fully toning and marking. That you are an experienced locator who does not get damages and quality checks show you do great work is not an issue for them. There are so many poorly trained locators out there now somebody thinks it is a great idea to spend money on electronics that will make anybody a great locator. (they think such things will make a great locator, we know better.) Of course production falls and they will be very puzzled as to why. They cannot blame their decision on spending hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars on equipment that reduces or eliminates profit.
They will blame the locators and look for other devices to buy that will magically turn Beavis and Butthead into great locators.

A lot of the electronics available today offer great advantages but improperly utilized will result in spending money to get rid of profits.

It is hard enough just finding people for who locating is appealing, many people just do not like it. It is a lot harder finding people who like it and are good at it. Now we have to find people who like having their every move, footstep recorded and then given constant reviews on it.

**ProfessionalLocator** · March 18th, 2010, 08:37 PM

Originally Posted by Mke

I don't know about you guys, but my paint stick doubles as a "berry beater", "Dog beater", and the occasional "turkey beater" I'd hate it if they put expensive elctronics in it.

mke

Also the spraying paint is used to shoo away bees and wasps, keep dogs away, spray into an area to make spider webs visible, spray up into the air to clear a clogging nozzle.

Plus we use it to "dot" where we are uncertain and come back a little later when we are sure what we are on. That ought to lead to some confusion.

For you noobies you do not have to paint a dog to keep it away. The spray of paint into the air as a thin cloud before it gets too close keeps it back, they don't like the smell.

**yahoo** · March 18th, 2010, 08:56 PM

fullly paid medical????? someone didn't telll me about that part....and the productive part ....if you was to say that 50 and 5 was the same numbers then i would say ...yes production is just the same! ha!

Originally Posted by ProfessionalLocator

Another couple of million spent on new surveillance toys along with the proposed "smart trucks", the current gps in the trucks and all the rest.
I heard you guys are getting your fair share of the big spending. Big raises along with fully paid medical and more vacation time. After all these new gizmos have made you guys so productive they are making money had over fist.

**TMO** · March 20th, 2010, 10:42 PM

Originally Posted by ProfessionalLocator

The way I understand it is they do no want you do bring up that info because if you do you may not hook up and tone the job again on remark tickets.

They do not want you to come back today to a job you painted yesterday for a catv drop where everything is already marked and not hook up and re-tone the entire thing again. The idea being that you may have made a mistake the first time and if you do it again you will not repeat that mistake. Since such a device records every mark you make and what color paint you put down along with the exact time you made each individual paint mark you cannot leave the scene with fully toning and marking. That you are an experienced locator who does not get damages and quality checks show you do great work is not an issue for them. There are so many poorly trained locators out there now somebody thinks it is a great idea to spend money on electronics that will make anybody a great locator. (they think such things will make a great locator, we know better.) Of course production falls and they will be very puzzled as to why. They cannot blame their decision on spending hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars on equipment that reduces or eliminates profit.
They will blame the locators and look for other devices to buy that will magically turn Beavis and Butthead into great locators.

A lot of the electronics available today offer great advantages but improperly utilized will result in spending money to get rid of profits.

It is hard enough just finding people for who locating is appealing, many people just do not like it. It is a lot harder finding people who like it and are good at it. Now we have to find people who like having their every move, footstep recorded and then given constant reviews on it.

Agreed! I know i love constantly being reviewed.....The truth is , im addicted to this work , so i dont mind a few different hoops to jump through. Sick , i know ...

**TMO** · April 2nd, 2010, 08:00 PM

Well, thanks proloc--- here's a quick look at a shiny blue one !
http://www.marjoramcreative.com/?page_id=293

**ProfessionalLocator** · April 2nd, 2010, 08:29 PM

Originally Posted by TMO

Well, thanks proloc--- here's a quick look at a shiny blue one !
http://www.marjoramcreative.com/?page_id=293

By chance I found that and posted that video and URL to another thread.

Did you notice that all the things the locators had to sign a nondisclosure agreement too were revealed in the video?

Perhaps something that is not known is that 100% of all tickets are now audited in the office.
It looks like they had to hire people off the street and then train them to correct the experienced locator's work.

Because of truth in advertising laws, that video was made to present to prospective clients at presentations and trade shows, they are committed to all that GPS and other equipment. Just turning it off because it does not work as expected becomes a legal issue.

**sprayandpray** · April 2nd, 2010, 09:58 PM

All that looks real impressive unless you happen to know that they are so far behind on their tickets here in DFW they offered double-time and a $200 bonus to their locators last week-end. They are in the same boat us USINK, they can't/won't hire enough locators to do the job properly. I heard that they were unable to do a locate for street bores in front of a Verizon CO this last week because they didn't have enough manhole equipment - guards, blowers, pumps. They just crossed their fingers I guess.

There is something turning rotten in the locating business down here involving UQ and USIC both.