The area to be surveyed was about 27km² large. This is the side of a small city. This is a tiny bit larger than the floor plan I am usually dealing with!
I used the program TamoGraph Site Survey to perform the site survey. Concerning the map, I wanted to have a good enough quality of image so when I would zoom in into a specific street, I could actually read the name of the street on the map. So I needed a map with enough details. This was my first challenge.
Getting a detailed map of the area
For me, the solution was to use the following method:
- I used the tool called WebShot to download the high quality images corresponding to the area I needed to study from Google Maps. Usually WebShot is able to merge these images back together to provide you with the full high quality image. However, in my case, the area was just too big and the program was not able to handle it.
- So, I used Adobe illustrator to merge all the high quality images.
I ended up having a large image that I could zoom into with all the details needed:
Large survey file in TamoGraph
Since the area was way to big to survey in one time, I decided to divide the area into multiple smaller areas (47 in total) and I created a different survey file for each of them. My idea was to export the survey data from these smaller projects and import them back into the large project at the end.
After talking with the support team over at TamoSoft, it is actually easier (and a better idea too) to copy the gloabl survey file many times (47 times in my case), and start from this global survey file for the smaller surveys. Even if you are only surveying a small area. It is easier to merge all the collected data at the end.
Survey Methodology
It took me 5 days (nights I should say) to cover about 300km of roads.
In terms of equipment, this is what I used:
- Laptop (MacBook Air 13)
- Tamograph Site Survey installed on a Windows 8 VM (VMWare Fusion)
- GPS Receiver: USBlobalsat BU-353-S4
- 802.11 USB adapter: 3x Edimax EW-7822UAC
- Spectrum Analyzer: Wi-Spy dBx
- A car power inverter so I could keep my laptop plugged in
Analyzing the collected data
So I decided to divide the area again for analysis. This time, I divided the whole area into 17 smaller parts.
I articulated my reports around these 17 parts. For each part, I was analyzing the collected data like I would normally do for any other site surveys.
Working on this project was a lot of fun for me. If you need to survey a large area one day, don't hesitate to ask me any questions. I will be happy to share my experiences with you.
Cheers'
François