Field data · COGO · Stakeout · GPS + Aerial imagery

A survey data collector, already in your pocket.

Name: ChainLink Survey
Author: Michael P. Ross

Import your existing points, set up over a known or assumed point, and shoot. ChainLink records your shots and works out coordinates in 2D or full 3D, then runs the COGO — inverse, intersections, resection, traverse adjustment, areas, and stakeout to points, lines, and curves. Works with no signal, with whatever total station you're running, and sends the file back to the office when you're done.

And because it lives on a phone, it can do what a data collector can't: one GPS fix puts your job on real State Plane coordinates, draws your work over live aerial imagery, shows where you're standing, and walks you to any point.

Open the App →

ChainLink on a phone — a measured traverse with bearings and distances drawn over live satellite imagery, with the crew's GPS position shown as a blue dot — A real traverse, on real imagery, on a phone

A note from the maker

I work on a survey crew. My last outfit ran high-tech gear. Then I moved across the country to support family, and the field tool I was handed at the new job was an HP 48GX — a graphing calculator from the early '90s with survey programs loaded on it, far too antiquated for modern tasks, in my opinion. I had a smartphone in my pocket the whole time, but I couldn't find a single app that would record measurements and run COGO on a phone.

So I built what I wanted: something that runs on the phone already on me and works with no signal.

It's grown well past what I first needed. It works in 2D or full 3D, handles the heavier COGO — resection, intersections, traverse adjustment, areas with curved boundaries — and stakes out points, lines, and curves. It'll reduce two-face shots, average points for tighter control, apply atmospheric and scale corrections, and export to CSV, DXF, LandXML, KML, or a PDF field book for the office. Now it'll even put your work on live aerial imagery from one GPS fix. I hope it's useful for you.

— Michael P. Ross

What it is

How it works.

ChainLink is a single self-contained app — nothing to install, no account, and it keeps working with no signal once it's loaded. It turns the angles and distances from the gun into real coordinates, draws them on a plot you can see and edit, and does the layout math.

Whether you've never had a collector, yours just quit in the field, or you're laying out your own project with a borrowed or used gun — it's the same tool, and you don't have to be licensed to use it.

What it does

The tools it has.

Turns your shots into coordinates, with the weather and prism corrections built in
Distance and direction between any two points, and find points where lines cross
Guides you to lay out a point, a line, or a curve — tells you which way to move the rod
Draw lines and curves, get areas and acreage, work along a baseline
Starts a job on your state's official coordinate grid from one GPS fix, with the ground elevation filled in from USGS survey data
Shows your work over live aerial imagery or USGS topo maps, with your position as a blue dot — and saves the imagery for offline use
Walks you to any point with live distance and direction — handy for finding a corner in the brush
Send your work to the office — CSV, DXF, LandXML, KML for Google Earth, a PDF plot or field book
Works with no signal. Pan, zoom, and tap the plot to fix anything

The phone earns its keep

It knows where it's standing.

A data collector only knows the numbers you feed it. Your phone also knows where it is on Earth — so ChainLink uses that.

Stand at your starting point and take one GPS fix: the job lands on your state's real coordinate grid, the aerial photo lines up behind your linework, and from then on a blue dot shows where you are on your own survey. Pick any point and the app gives you live distance and direction to walk to it.

Scouting a property? Drop a pin at anything you find — an iron, a gate, a culvert — and it's stored as a point, clearly tagged as GPS-grade so it's never confused with an instrument shot. The precise work still belongs to the gun; the phone gets you there and shows you the whole picture.

Install it

Add it to your device like an app.

ChainLink is a web app — open it once and add it to your home screen, then it launches full-screen and runs offline. No store, no download.

Android

Open the app in Chrome
Tap the ⋮ menu, top-right
Tap Install app (or Add to Home screen)

iPhone / iPad

Open the app in Safari
Tap the Share button
Tap Add to Home Screen

PC / Mac

Open the app in Chrome or Edge
Click the install icon in the address bar
Click Install

⚠ iPhone & iPad — read this. On Apple devices, some file features are limited (saving exports to a chosen folder isn't supported in Safari), and iOS may clear a web app's stored data after long periods without opening it. Export your jobs to CSV regularly so you always have a permanent copy — don't rely on the phone keeping them indefinitely.

No account, no card, nothing to sign up for — open it and it's yours.

Open the App →