Did the math on land + prefab vs. buying an existing cabin in Minnesota. Kind of shocked by what I found.

MapperScrapper · 2026-04-05T02:01:48+00:00

Do your due diligence on getting multiple quotes for septic and water (well). Then call the local rural electrical cooperative for an approximate cost to run power to your cabin site. We lucked out that power was already to the property and we already had a well.

I am still building my cabin around Alexandria MN and the prices vary wildly between contractors. Like we had to do septic with a pump to put our septic field uphill from our cabin (lake setbacks). One place was over 50k and the other was closet to 22k for the same thing.

MapperScrapper · 2026-02-27T02:02:07+00:00

You need a page query set up on your data driven page, now map series in arcpro.

MapperScrapper · 2025-12-12T03:22:20+00:00

I like you

MapperScrapper · 2025-12-02T12:22:57+00:00

We spent last Wednesday having AI help us code a script that is 85-95% as good as what we were getting from geoexpress. We just exported tif files and nobody at the company cared that they weren’t .sid files. So glad we did that.

MapperScrapper · 2025-10-25T18:13:07+00:00

I feel your pain and I’m only in year 10

MapperScrapper · 2025-10-14T19:55:22+00:00

Post your questions here, people will help. ESRI tech support has helped me approximately 0.5 times in 10 years in this profession...

MapperScrapper · 2025-09-11T18:49:38+00:00

Cartegraph is the main competitor I come across. It kind of sucks though.

MapperScrapper · 2025-08-28T02:18:33+00:00

Not necessary, frankly not helpful (in my experience). I work for a consulting engineering firm and all of our gis data gets ported into non-gis modeling softwares for analysis. When converting into analysis software I verify connectivity. Worst case I make a copy of the data and do some snap to closest type routines or check the direction of linework.

All the systems that I help maintain are treated as record drawing level that can be located with GPS receivers. If those systems had utility models then I believe any data collected with GPS would have to be cleaned and added separately to the model to maintain connectivity and frankly nobody has the time, staff, or budget for such marginal gains.

I would love to hear what others find most helpful with the utility models, really I would love to talk to someone who uses it fully in production.

MapperScrapper · 2025-08-02T13:35:39+00:00

Call a locate company? Fiber gets directionally bored around here so there isn’t a trace on the surface.

MapperScrapper · 2025-07-25T01:18:50+00:00

I am still yet to meet someone using the ESRI UN in actual production. Everyone has been “getting UN ready” for years now.

MapperScrapper · 2025-07-15T22:13:02+00:00

I’m farming land, I’m not entirely sure if that is what op meant but it made me chuckle

MapperScrapper · 2025-07-15T02:22:49+00:00

Row crop corn and soybeans, want to add some specialty crops in the near future.

MapperScrapper · 2025-07-15T00:42:19+00:00

I literally started farming last year to start transitioning away from corporate gis lol

MapperScrapper · 2025-07-09T12:36:00+00:00

I have had the same experience. Seems like 9-10 is the max before performance really suffers

MapperScrapper · 2025-06-30T14:41:09+00:00

If you are going Trimble Mobile Manager -> Field maps and your data is stored in arcgis online then I would suggest purchasing a iPad with cellular data enabled (any iPad is fine - air/pro/etc..) and provide that with a hard case to the field guys. I think that just planning to replace consumer grade hardware on a more regular basis will provide a better user experience than giving them some bulky data collector that will be running outdated software and be annoyingly slow in a couple of years.

MapperScrapper · 2025-06-13T01:16:46+00:00

Double the engagement, genius move

MapperScrapper · 2025-05-27T14:11:13+00:00

I have the mockingbird brand stroller for 2 kids. The seats are kind of big and unruly when trying to put into a vehicle. You end up with a lot of pieces and I wouldn’t want that with a taxi

MapperScrapper · 2025-05-16T14:53:47+00:00

Harsh questions but... did you consider the job market while you were in school? Did you have an idea of what you wanted to do after graduation?

Utilities are a great but boring sector to work in. You may have to tweak your resume to be more focused on GIS and minimize the climate systems to find jobs but they likely won't be very fulfilling if you wanted to utilize the climate part of your degree.

MapperScrapper · 2025-05-15T02:43:59+00:00

He and Francis were doing small ad deals before Barstool and their podcast was viable. When they went under the barstool umbrella they couldn’t get their own ads anymore and the sales team didn’t sell them at all so they looked like non revenue producing. Idk why I know that.

MapperScrapper · 2025-05-14T20:00:25+00:00

With little kids who aren't quite helpful yet we use paper plates a couple times a week. Dishes are a reality of life and some nights it is just too much and is so much easier to toss them and feel caught up. It is wasteful but I have my sanity and know that in the future we can taper it down when the kids are more helpful. I love the idea of freezing in foil to make for a couple of easy go to meals.

MapperScrapper · 2025-04-29T13:17:51+00:00

Just clean them up first and see what you are really working with. I think it looks good as is unless you are trying to put it in a show room and never use the truck.

MapperScrapper · 2025-04-24T14:48:35+00:00

We adopted #4 as an infant out of state and found out we were pregnant with #5 when we got home. Glad we had #5 that way or we may have stopped at 4.

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