Quick and easy digital surveying, anyone can do it

What a youthful entrepreneurial spirit and sufficient understanding of the matter can lead to is proven at Marathon 3j in Hilversum since 2017. In that year, Tommy van der Heijden and Raoul van Ginkel joined forces and launched marXact. A dynamic company that makes digital surveying to the centimeter with GNSS easy and affordable for any excavator who can operate a smartphone. The fresh wind that their team of 25 specialists has been blowing since then in the field of digital surveying has a number of promising developments and further developments. 

marXact makes digital surveying via Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GPS/GNSS) possible for anyone who has to measure anything in public space. Within the GWW sector, among others, at cable and pipe companies, landscapers and in construction & infra. "With our innovative, user-friendly and favorably priced software and hardware, we have greatly simplified accurate surveying," says Van der Heijden. "Such that every employee in the field can perform this work himself and synchronize the obtained data with his or her GIS tools without any problems. Where previously a surveyor and complicated equipment was used, we have developed a solution in the form of a GNSS receiver and special simplified software that allows the work to be mapped quickly and easily, down to the centimeter. Subsequently, the data obtained via the cloud is available for processing in the office within seconds." 

Continuous development

To provide earthworkers with user-friendly and affordable measurement solutions, marXact is continuously active in coming up with new inventions. One product that will soon see the light of day and was developed partly based on market input, involves a super-stable mobile app. "Currently, the measurement software can only be used via a web browser," Van der Heijden said. "With the app, which is expected to be introduced around the turn of the year for existing customers, the ease of use and possibilities for the user increase further. One can think of adding photos of the measurement location and using different map layers, such as aerial photos. In addition, the app will also be suitable for machine controls in the course of 2023. Specifically, according to the plug & play principle, you can also use our equipment on an excavator, for example, to perform excavation work very precisely according to a machine model." 

Versatile

As mentioned, marXact's products and services are widely applicable. To emphasize the application spectrum, Van der Heijden mentions two industries in which the need for marXact solutions is currently very high. "Around the energy transition, there is a lot going on in the ground at the moment, the replacement rate of the energy networks is very high and also, for example, a lot of fiberglass is going into the ground. Developments that increase the need for digital surveying. Not only to perform the work faster and more accurately, but also to reduce excavation damage."

Another corner where marXact highlights are currently widely used is the post-Corona revived festival and event industry. "Here, too, we provide an answer with our equipment," Van der Heijden believes. "For example, while positioning the corners of a stage or to indicate the right place for the seat pockets during an André Rieu concert at the Maastricht Vrijthof. It marks the versatility of our solutions."