You know how, when you’re in the field, you sometimes need to step back to get a little perspective? It’s similar with software. We recently took a few minutes to host a webinar, Chart new territory with lines and polygons in Fulcrum, to help our customers understand how our geospatial innovation and capabilities fit in with our purpose as a company.
The webinar had three main parts:
- VP of Product Management Mike Lambert discussed our GIS product strategy.
- VP of Product Development Coleman McCormick gave a thorough demo of key features.
- VP of Product Marketing Jake Freivald moderated a 30-minute Q&A session that fielded dozens of questions from viewers.
In this post, you can get a taste of each – and insight into the questions your peers are asking!
Product strategy
Maybe the most important single slide that Mike Lambert showed is this one.
It shows the relationship between three major systems of record, namely:
- The work and project management system of record, which could be in a variety of enterprise applications depending on the use case;
- The GIS system of record, which is most commonly Esri; and
- The field data system of record is Fulcrum.
Getting these three types of systems to work together leads to massive productivity gains and drives better data-driven decision-making, which is why GIS and integration capabilities are central to our product strategy.
Customer success and ROI
Mike also introduced a new ROI calculator for prospects and customers to estimate the cost savings that could be achieved by switching to Fulcrum from their current data collection methods. (It’s available by request – reach out to your customer success rep or Contact Us to get started!)
A recent ROI study we performed for a customer, using their own data, showcased an 88% savings in total data collection time and an 83% savings in data management time, with a payback period of less than a month and a 3-year ROI of 1868%!
A real-world example of a customer’s use of Fulcrum ROI calculator
Demo of Fulcrum geospatial innovation
If a picture is worth a thousand words, trying to describe Coleman McCormick’s demo would certainly make this blog way too long! Instead, check out this tiny webinar snippet to see how easy it is to use lines and polygons within Fulcrum, and watch the webinar on-demand to get all the details!
Questions and answers
This section of the webinar lasted almost 30 minutes, so we’re only able to give you a summary of the most popular questions. We encourage you to watch the whole thing to hear more of what your peers were asking about.
General Fulcrum questions
Q: Are the features shown in the demo video available today?
A: Yes, the demo shown uses the live Fulcrum software available for download today and is used as-is.
Q: Who is considered a user of the Fulcrum tool? Is a license required by each user who draws a polygon?
A: Fulcrum has a flat user structure where each individual needs a user license, whether they’re working in the office or out in the field. To answer the specific question, if you were sitting next to someone and working collaboratively on the same record in Fulcrum, the person would not need a separate account as they’d be operating on yours. But for any individual usage of the platform, there’s a user license associated.
Q: Is there a subscription cost associated with being able to connect Fulcrum to a portal for GIS?
A: When you have a subscription to Fulcrum and an Esri subscription supporting these capabilities, there is no additional fee to make the connection from Fulcrum to Esri, either from our end or from Esri.
Fulcrum GIS and lines and polygons
Q: Do you need to physically be at a site to draw a line or polygon of an area?
A: You don’t need to present at the site to create a line or polygon. You can search on the map you have for your desired specific location. You then have the ability to create a point, line, or polygon at that location, wherever you might be when you make the notation.
Q: Is there an option to have lines and polygons associated with child records/repeat doubles?
A: We don’t have this capability at this exact moment, but expect to roll out the feature within the next few weeks!
Q: Can I draw lines on the map to separate different work distribution areas? Or use lines to create an area to show field teams where they should be working?
A: Users can create an app in Fulcrum and draw or import the areas for this purpose, allowing for the use of record links to do lookups as well as other features.
Q: Are your GIS capabilities only going to be related to Esri? Or can we still use other platforms like QGIS with Fulcrum?
A: Fulcrum’s GIS features are not solely available in Esri. While Feature Service Layer is an Esri term, it is supported in other products as well, including QGIS. In addition, the line and polygon data capability is supported in any platform that can read a shapefile, geo JSON, or any other kind of open format that Fulcrum can produce.
Giving feedback
Q: How can I get in touch with Fulcrum to share comments or suggestions about future features I’d like added?
A: Please reach out to us on our Contact Us page. We love to get feedback, and your suggestions are key to driving development!
Conclusion
The new updates and the insights from the webinar underscore Fulcrum’s dedication to helping you leverage geospatial innovations for data collection. The enhanced GIS features are not just keeping pace with industry progress – they’re pioneering it.
Stay tuned! Fulcrum’s commitment to innovation means there’s always something new on the horizon – so keep an eye out for what’s next!
Learn more
Fulcrum isn’t just a data collection tool. It’s a transformative platform that empowers industries to make data-driven, ROI-based decisions, ensuring field efficiency and GIS capabilities at scale. Watch the full webinar to find out more about Fulcrum’s geospatial innovations. Or, just cut to the chase and talk to a Fulcrum expert who can answer all your questions!