Case Study: City of Wellington achieves faster, more accurate GIS field data collection with Trimble Geo-XH

A Unique Approach to Efficient GIS Field Data Collection

The City of Wellington GIS Division faced a mandate to identify, locate and map all municipal features within public rights-of-way for inventory, maintenance and GASB 34 reporting. The challenge was to collect accurate horizontal (±6 in) and vertical data quickly and cost‑effectively across pilot and neighborhood areas while minimizing office post‑processing and personnel time.

Wellington deployed Trimble Geo‑XH with VRS RTK for horizontal positioning, bench-and-level runs for elevations, and a customized ArcPad app on a Panasonic Toughbook to capture attributes in the field. After a pilot using two two‑person crews and a golf cart, they switched to a one‑person crew riding a Segway for the neighborhood phase, eliminating a second staffer and cutting mobility time. Results: the Pilot gathered 2,356 features over 0.62 sq mi in 14 eight‑hour days; the Neighborhoods project collected 2,645 features over 0.45 sq mi in 8 eight‑hour days, with reduced office conversion and improved field efficiency.

City of Wellington