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How to use Moasure for landscape design?

Create real-time measurements and base plans onsite with Moasure by placing a geo-located device to export linework directly into AutoCAD.
Moasure app on iPhone with mapped area of sloped driveway and main house.
Moasure app on iPhone with mapped area of sloped driveway and main house.
Image by The Landscape Library

Motion measurement is one of the fastest and most efficient ways to measure areas in a landscape such as existing structures, planting beds, hardscapes, and existing trees. Each of these key components should be documented while visiting a project site and are some of the many items to measure and include in a proposed landscape design.

Why motion measurement?

Through motion measurement, designers have the ability to take onsite measurements by placing a geo-located device at multiple points throughout a project site to gather data on what is existing. This device senses position and movement in three dimensions so you don’t have to physically document existing spaces. 

Devices like Moasure (an app plus physical device) can geo-locate points in both vertical and horizontal planes with the option to create separate layers within the app that directly import into programs like AutoCAD. 

To view landscape design software courses on AutoCAD, click here.

During the pre-design phase of the landscape design process (where you most commonly take measurements), the procurement of onsite measurements and documenting site data requires accurate information about the existing built-environment. In order to successfully gather accurate data, landscape designers must first, carefully map out architecture and structures so the proposed landscape design fits within these elements which is critical to an easy and stress-free construction process. 

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What is the benefit of using motion measurement vs. traditional methods of measurement?

Moasure app on iPhone with mapped area of sloped side yard and main house.
Image by The Landscape Library

Before motion measurement devices existed, other forms of measuring devices were used like tape measures, measuring wheels or transit levels to obtain dimensions and understand how a slope changes throughout a site. 

In order for a proposed landscape plan to lead to a successful installation, the landscape designer must first create an accurate base plan of the site. In the past, this could be done with the use of an architectural scale and notebook paper, trace paper, or graph paper with the combination of tape measures and measuring wheels. However, the downside of these methods is time. These ways are tried and true but are also a very time-consuming process and could lead to mistakes when transferring data into CAD programs like AutoCAD without seeing the basemap being developed in real-time.

While these traditional forms of measurement are still used today, other forms of measuring devices like Moasure ONE help speed up the process by digitally storing points, lines and data within an app that allows a designer to directly import onsite measurements into CAD based softwares in a matter of minutes or even seconds.

If you are in the business of landscape design, you know one of the most time consuming steps of the landscape design process is the pre-design of the project: traveling to the site, meeting with clients and documenting onsite measurements to only manually add these measurements into a CAD based software. 

To save time during this phase, the first tool that you need to start using for measuring your site is a motion measuring device like Moasure. 

With Moasure, the device is lightweight and small with a simple, easy-to-navigate app that accurately and efficiently creates and stores closed polygon perimeters with different layers that can be easily imported into computer programs. By allowing a device to store measurements digitally, you can easily import this linework and plotted points on a 3-axis that will directly upload to your computer.

How does Moasure help landscape designers?

Moasure bundle image with exported linework in AutoCAD, app interface on mobile device, and physical device.
Image by Moasure

Moasure ONE is a pocket-sized digital measuring tool that leverages patented motion-based measuring technology that can measure distances from 10cm to 300m. This all-in-one device measures distance, angle, level, and elevation simultaneously, plotting and calculating all relevant measurements at once, including flat, curved, and irregular ones. 

The Moasure ONE is a great tool for landscape designers as it uses powerful motion sensors to measure irregular shapes and takes measurements in 3 dimensions without the need for a GPS or cell signal. Its patented technology measures movement from four inches to one thousand feet and comes with a smartphone app that allows you to see real-time measurements. 

Motion measurement devices can be used for a variety of purposes, including measuring distances, perimeters, and areas. But if you’ve been in the business of landscape design, you know that one of the best and highest uses for technology like Moasure is to replace site visits and manual measurements with ease, accuracy and precision before beginning the creative and more fun part of the landscape design process.

If you have access to plat of surveys, these documents are also a great and essential way to begin a landscape plan. Plat of surveys show property lines, structures, setbacks and sometimes hardscape surfaces. But if you do not have access to these documents or need to verify measurements in the field, motion-measurement devices like Moasure are an excellent replacement and effective way to document a space.

Through the evolution of technology, Moasure has allowed landscape designers to spend less time completing onsite measurements and more time doing what matters: spending time with clients, taking pictures of key views, sketching concepts and designing. Moasure® ONE™ is the world’s first motion-based measuring tool using high performance inertial sensors, packed into a device that fits in the palm of the hand.

A powerful motion-based technology, Moasure ONE–the device–knows where it is in 3D space, allowing users to measure and draw simultaneously, capturing data as it moves from one point to another. Paired with Moasure’s smartphone and tablet app, drawings and measurement data can be viewed on-screen in real-time.

Moasure ONE users can measure areas and spaces, and have a fully dimensioned drawing complete in the time it takes to walk around any outdoor or indoor space. This allows users to dramatically speed up their measuring up process and complete more jobs in a day.

What have other landscape industry professionals had to say about Moasure?

Aerial view with Moasure app on iPhone of mapped area of sloped driveway and main house.
Image by The Landscape Library

Moasure ONE user and ForeverLawn TX Gulf Coast President, Ken Coffey, said: “For the last 12 years I have been using a measuring tape to plot out designs in yards and equipment placements. The measuring process alone would take me about an hour or more. With Moasure, I take measurements in less than 10 minutes and then export a PDF file back to my computer’s layout software. Moasure has saved me a minimum of 6 hours productivity time every week since we incorporated it into our business. Thank you all so much for the great tool!”

 

Moasure ONE user Curtis, from Stenger’s Enterprise Ltd. in Alberta Canada, posted on Facebook: “As a contractor who measures residential landscaping projects, I despise wasting time on estimates. This thing gets me in and out in literally just minutes. No notepad, no pen, no tape measure. I do it all using the Moasure tool and phone app and the customer has an estimate texted to them on the spot. Now I can add the measurements from Moasure to the estimates – and I walk away with zero work to do on the estimates. I can show customers a full 3D model right there on my phone to demonstrate that drainage slopes away from their investment.”

 

In a video review posted on Moasure’s website, Ken Hyatt from Texas-based Village Green Lawn & Landscape, said: “What Moasure allows us to do on properties that are very hard to measure – maybe there’s a circular drive or a curved bed – this allows us to get a much better square footage and get a much more accurate estimate for the customer. The Moasure ONE device is really helping us get much more accurate estimates both for fertilization and weed control and also for putting in mulch and decomposed granite.”

The above quotes belong to Moasure, to see more reviews, click here.

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