Smart Site Intelligence & Estimation

Smart Estimate analyses your quote's site boundary against a set of environmental intelligence factors and produces an adjusted estimate for field days and reporting effort in one click. The result is a set of suggested line items ready to add to your quote.

Running Smart Estimate requires a site boundary to be drawn or imported on the quote editor map. Once a boundary is set, the Smart Estimate panel becomes active in the right-hand sidebar.

The Eight Intelligence Factors

Each factor is evaluated independently against the site boundary geometry. The source data, finding, and impact level are displayed for every factor so you can understand exactly what was detected and why the estimate changed.

Terrain

Source: Copernicus GLO-30 Digital Elevation Model (30m resolution)

Measures the mean slope across the site in degrees. Steep terrain increases traversal time and reduces the distance a surveyor can cover in a field day. Slopes above 15° are classified as high impact; 5–15° as low impact.

Vegetation

Source: WMS vegetation density and structure layers

Detects vegetation density and structural complexity. Dense or multi-layered vegetation — such as wet sclerophyll forest or closed heath — slows field progress and increases the effort required to detect and record species. Open woodland and grassland are classified as low impact.

Shape

Source: Geometric analysis of the polygon

Evaluates how regular the polygon boundary is. Highly irregular shapes with many vertices and narrow arms require more non-productive travel time between survey points. Simple rectangles and convex polygons are classified as no impact.

Scale

Source: Area calculation

Benchmarks the site area against typical survey scales for the selected method. Very large sites may trigger minimum crew-day floor adjustments to ensure adequate coverage.

Access

Source: OpenStreetMap road network

Calculates the proximity of the nearest formed road to the site boundary. Remote sites with no sealed road within 1 km require additional mobilisation time and may require high-clearance vehicles.

Climate

Source: Latitude-based climate zone classification and BOM zone data

Identifies the climate zone at the site centroid. Tropical and subtropical sites carry additional allowances for wet season restrictions, heat loading, and reduced productive hours per field day. Temperate and arid sites typically have no climate impact on estimation.

Heritage

Source: Heritage register proximity layers (AHIMS and state equivalents)

Checks for registered Aboriginal cultural heritage sites and historical heritage items within and immediately adjacent to the boundary. Heritage constraints affect the report multiplier — targeted heritage surveys and consultation requirements increase reporting complexity.

Regulatory

Source: Protected areas layer (CAPAD — Collaborative Australian Protected Areas Database)

Detects overlap with national parks, nature reserves, marine parks, and other declared protected areas. Protected area overlaps affect reporting complexity due to research licence conditions, NPWS consultation requirements, and additional compliance commitments in reports.

How Multipliers Work

Each factor produces a numerical multiplier that scales either the field day estimate or the report day estimate:

• Field day multiplier — A multiplier of 1.15 means the estimated field days are increased by 15% to account for the detected constraint. Terrain, Vegetation, Shape, Scale, Access, and Climate all affect field days.
• Report day multiplier — Scales the estimated reporting and analysis effort. Heritage and Regulatory constraints affect this multiplier.

The combined multipliers are calculated as:

Combined Field Day Multiplier = Terrain × Vegetation × Shape × Scale × Access × Climate

Combined Report Day Multiplier = Heritage × Regulatory

Both combined values are displayed prominently in the results panel so you can see the total effect before adding items to the quote.

Editing Multipliers

Every factor's multiplier is editable inline. Click the multiplier value next to any factor to open an edit field. Enter your adjusted value and press Enter or click away — the estimate summary recalculates immediately.

This is useful when you have site-specific knowledge that differs from the automated assessment. For example:

• You have surveyed this property before and know the access track is better than the road network data suggests
• You are aware of a recent bushfire that has opened up the vegetation, reducing the impact on field effort
• A client has confirmed that helicopter access is available, removing the road access penalty

Edited multipliers apply to the current estimation session only — they are not saved back to the stored site assessment.

Travel and Accommodation Estimates

If your firm has office locations configured under Settings → Office Locations, Smart Estimate also calculates travel logistics based on the nearest office to the site centroid.

The travel panel shows:

If no office locations are configured, the travel section is not shown. Add offices in Settings → Office Locations to enable this feature.

Configuring Office Locations

Navigate to Settings → Office Locations. Click Add Office to add a new location.

For each office, enter:

• Name — a short label used in estimates (e.g., "Sydney Head Office", "Perth Regional Office")
• Address — the street address, shown in travel summaries
• Coordinates — latitude and longitude of the office. Use the location picker to click a point on the map, or enter coordinates manually.

Mark one location as your default office. This is used when multiple offices are equidistant from a site, or when you want a single consistent departure point across all estimates.

Office locations are tenant-wide — all users in your organisation see the same list.

Adding All Items to the Quote

Once you are satisfied with the estimate, click Add All to Quote in the Smart Estimate panel. This inserts all suggested line items — labour, disbursements, equipment, and travel — into the quote's line items table.

After adding, review each item:

• Check quantities — field days, report days, accommodation nights, and travel units should align with your experience of comparable surveys
• Adjust unit rates — if your firm's standard rates differ from the suggested rates, update them inline
• Remove inapplicable items — delete any line items that do not apply to this particular scope

The Smart Estimate is a starting point, not a finished quote. Always review and adjust line items before sending to your client.

Related Articles

• Creating and Managing Quotes — full guide to the quote editor, line items, and PDF generation
• Advanced Quoting — Sections, Approvals & Revisions — multi-section quotes, approval workflow, and revisions