As a government agency, het Waterschap Drents Overijsselse Delta (the Drents Overijsselse Delta Water Board) is responsible for monitoring and maintaining water safety in the provinces of Drenthe and Overijssel. They do this by checking large water systems and barriers, but also the small (er) ditches around the corner. They use no less than 6 UNI-GR1s to do so!
Calibrating and checking
Innovation advisor Jeroen Waanders on the activities of WDODelta: “As a water board, we look at how, for example, dikes, ditches, and waterways are located and whether they can still fulfil their task properly. For this, we make cross sections and check whether they meet the set standards. Another example is calibrating and checking whether weirs still transmit well-measured values, we do this with GPS equipment.
We had several GPS devices in circulation, all of which were due for replacement. I thought it was a limitation they were linked to old-fashioned field controllers and I wanted to get rid of that. Trade in for a system where you use maps, preferably directly loaded into AutoCAD or GIS. After some searching on Google, I ended up at marXact.”
Working without restrictions
“I immediately chose 6 UNI-GR1’s and did not start with 1 device to expand later on. I wanted uniformity within our organization and, because you can easily measure and store data, everyone can work with this. In addition, this task had been on the shelf for a while and I wanted to finish it, also from a cost-saving perspective. I chose marXact for its ease of use and competitive price, this even remains an attractive investment when purchasing multiple devices at the same time.”
Internal training
Just how important Waanders thinks it is that colleagues can survey easily, proves his next step. “I am currently organizing an internal training in which 50 people learn to work with the receivers and to measure themselves. This way, I guarantee that our work can always continue and that water safety is guaranteed.”
Conscious decision
marXact CEO and Co-Founder Tommy van der Heijden: “What I like about WDODelta is that they consciously chose the UNI-GR1 as the universal receiver. Partly because of the possibilities offered by the UNI-Cloud API and the different data formats, it chooses itself which systems they link to or how they work. This gives WDODelta the data freedom that we would like to see with our customers.
The fact that they are now showing this internally to colleagues, is great of course”
The future
WDOD is working on the future and continues to develop for this. Waanders: “We use the UNI-GR1s a lot, but I also look to the future with an oblique eye. For example, we have started experimenting carefully and are practicing placing the sensors and surveying devices on vehicles. Linking to rolling stock can offer us even more advantages and save time, especially when measuring long sections. Well, that is something for the future, I am very happy with the results we have already achieved! ”
Jeroens advice for the first time
“Just go and do it, it is so much simpler than any other device and the ease of use is great. I don’t see why you shouldn’t do this.”
