Frequently asked questions

A field app for mapping and documenting utility locates. It records where the utility is with high accuracy positioning, scores how confident the locate was (Point IQ and Line IQ), tags everything with the 811 ticket, and gets the data into your maps — on the device, in Subsurface Maps, or in your own ArcGIS account.

Yes — the same app, same workflow, scoring and sync on both. iPhone and iPad, Android phones and tablets. Get the apps →

LocateIQ Basic (Local) — everything runs on the device: local projects, capture, scoring, photos, tickets, exports. No account needed and nothing leaves the phone unless you export it.

LocateIQ Advanced — LocateIQ and Subsurface Maps together as one subscription: your company's cloud maps and layers, two-way sync, photo attachments, company-pushed settings and the LocateIQ dashboard.

LocateIQ WebMap — use LocateIQ with the ArcGIS account you already have; your web maps, layers and schema, edited two-way in your org's feature services. Compare on the features page →

Yes — a 7-day trial on your own Subsurface Maps or ArcGIS account. Cancel any time before day 7. Start the trial →

No. LocateIQ Basic works with no account at all. Sign in later when you want cloud maps (Advanced) or your ArcGIS org (WebMap); you can switch modes from the sign-in screen.

Only for LocateIQ WebMap. LocateIQ signs into ArcGIS as you (OAuth) and works directly with your org's web maps and hosted feature layers — there is no data broker in between. Basic and Advanced don't use ArcGIS at all.

LocateIQ Advanced includes one: the subscription covers your Subsurface Maps company account, where your cloud maps, layers and user permissions live. You sign into the app and the dashboard with those credentials.

On the sign-in screen tap Forgot your password? Subsurface Maps can email you a reset. ArcGIS passwords are managed by your ArcGIS org administrator.

Yes. In Advanced (Subsurface Maps) and WebMap (ArcGIS), everyone signs into the same maps and layers; captures sync two-way and edits made in the office come back to the field. The dashboard breaks the work down per technician.

Any Bluetooth / BLE GNSS receiver that outputs NMEA, Archer-series field computers, and precision utility locators with a survey-log / BLE stream — Radiodetection RD8200 SG, Skadi, Juniper Spire and Geode, Trimble, Leica, Emlid, EOS and more. Mock-location providers (GNSS Master, SW Maps, Emlid Flow, Lefebure NTRIP Client) work too. Supported devices →

Using something else? Tell us the device and we'll find a way to support it.

Not to use the app — the phone's built-in GPS is fine for mapping-grade work and for learning the workflow. For high accuracy (centimeter-level) positions and relocating a previous locate, pair an RTK receiver and feed it corrections.

Any NTRIP caster — bring your own network — or a built-in Cloud NTRIP subscription (SwiftNav Skylark, decimeter and centimeter tiers). The app shows your fix type (RTK Fixed / Float), accuracy and correction age live.

Gates you set for what you're willing to record: horizontal and vertical accuracy, fix type, correction age and staking distance. Points that don't meet the gate are held back, so a bad fix never lands in your data.

Yes — pick any stored point or line and follow the live distance and bearing (Relocate). With RTK you land on it to the centimeter, even when the paint is gone. It works offline once the map is on the device.

Every point gets a Point IQ and every traced line a Line IQ — a 0–100 score built live from six sub-scores: signal, null, compass, current-slope, CFC and GNSS. It tells you the confidence of both the locate and the mapped position. How the score is calculated →

The dashboard colors scores green from 85, amber from 75 to 85 and red below 75. A weak null or compass usually means signal bleed from a neighbouring line; a weak GNSS means the fix dropped. Low points are worth a second sweep before you leave the site.

Yes. Scores and their sub-scores are attributes on the feature, so they travel into Subsurface Maps, ArcGIS, every export and the dashboard, where they roll up per user, per utility and per ticket.

The ticket is an attribute, not a separate system. Enter the ticket number once and every point, line and photo you capture is stamped with it. Tap End Ticket when the job is done and the next capture prompts for the new ticket, so nothing gets tagged to the wrong job.

Yes. The ticket rides on the feature into Subsurface Maps, ArcGIS and every export, so you can filter or query by it in your GIS. In the dashboard, footage, scores and time on site roll up per ticket, and the ticket overview shows one ticket's lines on a map with per-utility and per-technician breakdowns.

Yes — full capture with no signal. Maps, layers and field definitions are cached on the device; points and photos queue and sync automatically when a connection returns, with visible pending counts. Photo upload can be limited to Wi-Fi.

You do, 100%. It lives in your accounts — your Subsurface Maps company or your ArcGIS organization — or on your device in Basic. It is never resold or pooled. Privacy →

An encrypted local database on the device, encrypted transport for all cloud sync, multi-factor authentication support, and row-level security enforced at the database so companies are fully isolated. Security →

KMZ (including photos) for anyone with Google Earth, CSV with full attributes and scores, GeoJSON for geometry, and line summaries with lengths and quality scores — per project or per ticket. Ready-made schemas and geodatabase templates are in the Schema Reference.

Full EPSG support with per-project configuration: State Plane and UTM with northing/easting stored on every point, HTDP time-dependent transformations and NAD83 epochs, geoid models for orthometric elevations, NADCON5 grid transformations, manual coordinate entry and one-tap site transformations. Transformation metadata is saved with every point.

Photos are captured in the app, stamped with heading, fix quality and time, and tied to the point, line or above-ground marker you're at. They show as thumbnails on the map and sync as feature attachments to Subsurface Maps and ArcGIS.

A live view of your Subsurface Maps data at locateiq.com/dashboard: total footage, tickets, average Point IQ and Line IQ, feet per hour; feet per day and per ticket by technician, utility, ticket or layer; ticket and technician overview cards with a mini map; and a map with popups, labels and color-by. It is part of LocateIQ Advanced.

Yes. Add sections and widgets, pick metrics and group-bys, choose colors and light or dark themes, save several dashboards, publish one as a company template, and share with a short link. Date presets and user / utility on-off filters apply everywhere.

A share link carries the layout, theme and field mapping — not the data. Whoever opens it signs into their own Subsurface Maps account and sees their own maps.

The Training Guide walks through install, sign-in, positioning, capture, Locate Mode, scores, sync and tickets in order.

Setup, schema or field questions — a real person answers. Contact support or email support@locateiq.com.