Haydon cuts surveying time and connects the site to the office.

For Haydon, the value of faster surveying is straightforward: less time collecting individual points and quicker access to data the team can actually use. The general contractor works across civil construction, earthmoving, utilities, and vertical building projects. With SDX-Compact OnTop, SDX-PocketScan, and SDX-Cloud, Haydon is connecting field capture with surface modeling, progress tracking, and shared access to project information.

“What typically takes me weeks using my GPS, I can do in half an hour to an hour.”

Jason ElderProject superintendent, Haydon

Weeks of surveying done in an hour?

Collecting site data point by point.

On road and civil construction projects, building a useful surface model meant collecting a long list of individual measurements. Jason describes surveying curbs at intervals of around 10 feet, with much tighter spacing around curves and corners. Water valves, manholes, and the road centerline also needed to be recorded before he could build the model.

That work competed with the rest of his responsibilities. As a project superintendent, Jason manages personnel, safety, and the day-to-day operation of the site. Time spent collecting survey points was time unavailable for other tasks.

For Haydon’s earthmoving operations in Texas, the previous approach involved drone surveys or manual topographic surveying with a base and rover. The team needed a faster way to understand current ground conditions, track progress, and see how much cut and fill remained.

From site scanning to shared project data.

Haydon uses the SDX-Compact OnTop to capture terrain data for roadworks and earthmoving projects. The team scans the site and uploads the data to SDX-Cloud, where other team members can access it to review progress and quantities.

Getting colleagues comfortable with the workflow was quick. Asked how difficult it had been for others to learn the system, Jason says they had it down after one or two uses.

The SDX-PocketScan adds a handheld option for capturing specific areas on site. Jason highlights accurate as-built documentation, particularly for underground infrastructure, as an important application. Being able to walk and scan gives the team a practical way to record conditions exactly when they need to.

In SDX-Cloud, the captured data becomes useful beyond the person who collected it. Team members can access project information through a web browser, check quantities and areas, and share data with colleagues, survey teams, or clients. Jason also describes importing design and surface files to compare planned conditions with the captured site.

Putting flexible capture into more hands.

Jason sees potential for broader use across roadworks, utilities, and earthmoving. One possibility is equipping more superintendents with their own SDX-PocketScan so they can capture as-built information as work progresses.

That would make scanning something more people can handle directly on site, rather than leaving every capture task to one person. Jason also acknowledges that familiarity with technology matters: less technical users may need some time to get comfortable.

The result: Faster capture, easier access

The biggest change for Jason is the time needed to capture site conditions and create a usable model. His example of three to four weeks of manual work compared with a roughly 30-to-60-minute site scan shows why he was interested in SDX-Compact OnTop from the first demonstration.

For the Texas operation, he also reports having current site data available in about an hour, helping the team review earthmoving progress without relying solely on drone surveys or point-by-point collection.

The benefit continues in the office. With project data accessible in SDX-Cloud, the team can review, compare, and share information without keeping it confined to a data collector or separate desktop program. For a superintendent overseeing a busy project, having everything together means less searching and more time using the data.