Skip to content
Get a Demo
A crew member records a pole survey on a tablet beside a fresh pole in deep snow
Pole survey · Maine
Field Notes

The record says one thing. The pole says another.

Working notes on utility field operations, GIS modernization, and what it takes to close the distance between the two.

From the team building the platform.
Start with Atlas
"

The work that keeps the world running deserves to be seen.

Carlos · Advisor & Partner
From the Workshop

Notes on the product, the field, and the work.

A collection of musings, some dating back to 2011.

Atlas mobile interface
Product · August 2026

Introducing Atlas: Mobile GIS for the Modern Field Worker

What Atlas does on the device, and why mobile-first field data capture changes what's possible for utility crews.

Read article →
Smallworld in a modern stack
Consulting · August 2026

Maximizing Your Smallworld GIS Investment

Best practices and strategies for getting the most out of a GE Smallworld implementation, without ripping it out.

Read article →
Global cloud operations
Technology · August 2026

Cloud-Native GIS: The Future of Geospatial Data

How cloud technologies are reshaping the way utilities manage and access their geospatial data.

Read article →
Atlas on multiple devices
Field Operations · August 2026

5 Ways to Improve Field Data Accuracy

Practical tips for capturing high-quality, defensible data the first time, every time.

Read article →
Solar arrays in a utility context
Industry · August 2026

GIS in Renewable Energy Planning

How utilities use geospatial intelligence to plan and integrate renewable energy at the distribution edge.

Read article →
Atlas operations dashboard
Product · August 2026

Atlas Dashboard: Real-Time Field Visibility

How the Atlas dashboard gives managers visibility into field operations and data collection progress, as it happens.

Read article →
Atlas hands-free mode field test, 2015
From the Archive · April 2015

Don't GIS and drive

Hands-free mode in Atlas: the map follows the truck, and the answers are waiting when you stop.

Read article →
Smallworld map tiles on a Sony PSP with a GPS module
From the Archive · September 2011

Smallworld on a Sony PSP

Before tablets were cheap, we put Smallworld on a Sony PSP. Presented at the 2011 GE Smallworld user conference.

Read article →
Atlas map with search
From the Archive · September 2012

Searching Smallworld

Search your Smallworld data as if you were using Google. The 2012 post where the search obsession started.

Read article →
Emacs running Magik against Smallworld 5
From the Archive · June 2016

Smallworld 5 on Emacs

GE dropped official Emacs support in Smallworld 5. Here's how we kept using it anyway.

Read article →
Smallworld 5 console output
From the Archive · June 2016

Smallworld 5: initial observations

The 25-year-old Magik VM replaced by the JVM: first observations from an early upgrade.

Read article →
Request-rate graph
From the Archive · May 2017

The concurrent users myth

"How many concurrent users?" is the wrong question. A licensing rant, with graphs.

Read article →
Pole classification by install year
From the Archive · August 2017

Rogue One: no match for A.I.

Shortly after deploying our A.I. module for pole inspections, the model flagged an anomaly.

Read article →
Storm damage assessment with Atlas
From the Archive · September 2017

Free damage assessment for utilities hit by Irma

September 2017: free access to our damage assessment tool for utilities in Irma's path.

Read article →
A field tablet in use
From the Archive · March 2018

Aging workforce? Give them an iPad

The crews most apprehensive about new technology turned out to be its biggest fans.

Read article →
Magik code generated by an LLM
From the Archive · December 2023

ChatGPT now speaks Magik

We taught an LLM the programming language behind Smallworld.

Read article →
Atlas inspection with attached photos on the map
From the Archive · October 2017

Pretty Kick Ass!

A customer's verbatim review of the release that put documents and photos on the map, quoted with permission.

Read article →
Pilot to Production

Bring us the story you'd rather not write.

Most of these began as a problem in someone's shop and ended as a fix worth writing about. Bring us the problem; we'll handle the ending.

Get a Demo Talk to us