Learning Center

Dig a level area: one elevation or a fixed depth

Dig Level Area holds one flat target: type an elevation and tap Set Target, take the bucket's current elevation with Use Current, or go a fixed depth below it with Dig This Deep. How the anchor works, the Apply Depth Offset? question, Change Target and Clear Offset.

  • DIG™ Kit
  • Ditch Assist Lite

In the app Home › Excavation › Dig Level Area

Dig Level Area is the simplest excavator job: one flat target over the whole area. No survey, no design, no profile chart. Use it for a building or equipment pad, a shop floor, a pond or lagoon bottom, or a trench at a fixed depth below the ground you're on.

Before you start

  • Connected to the DIG™ module (Connect) or a Reach in Ditch Assist Lite (check in your pose), RTK Fixed
  • Either the target elevation, or a reference you can put the bucket on (finished floor, existing ground) and the depth below it

Time: about 2 minutes to set the target, then the digging.

Set the target

Tap Dig Level Area under How would you like to grade?. The dig screen opens with the target bar across the bottom of the map. There are three ways to set the target:

Dig screen with the target bar along the bottom of the map: a Target Elevation (ft) box and Set Target, Use Current, a Depth Below Bucket (ft) box and Dig This Deep, and Clear Offset
  1. Set Target. Uses the elevation typed in the box to its left.
  2. Use Current. Takes the bucket tip's elevation now.
  3. Dig This Deep. Goes the typed depth below the anchor.
You know…Do this
The elevation to dig to (from a plan, after calibrating to the benchmark)Type it in Target Elevation, tap Set Target.
The bucket is sitting at the right height nowTap Use Current.
How deep below a spot you can put the bucket onPut the bucket on that spot, Use Current, type the depth in Depth Below Bucket, tap Dig This Deep.

Tap Dig Level Area

Open Excavation and connect (Open Excavation). Under How would you like to grade?, Dig Level Area is the fifth wide button. Tap it. The dig screen opens with the target bar along the bottom of the map.

How would you like to grade? window with six wide buttons; the fifth reads Dig Level Area
  1. Dig Level Area. Fifth button down.

Put the bucket on your reference and tap Use Current

Set the cutting edge on the spot you're measuring from (the finished floor, a stake, the existing ground). Then tap Use Current, the second button in the bar. It takes the bucket's elevation as the target and as the anchor for any depth you add.

The target bar along the bottom of the map: Target Elevation (ft) box, Set Target, Use Current, Depth Below Bucket (ft) box, Dig This Deep, Clear Offset
  1. Use Current. Second button in the bar.

Use Current is greyed out while there's no GPS fix.

Tap Save to name the job

The first target you set opens Name Job (Give this job a name so it is easy to find in Resume Job.). The box is filled in with "Excavator Level" and the date and time. Type your own name if you like, then tap Save. Skip leaves the job unnamed, and Resume Job then lists it only as "Excavator".

Name Job window with the name Shop pad level, Skip and a green Save button 1
  1. Name. "Shop pad level".
  2. Save. Bottom right.

Check the target

The target now shows at the top left of the screen (Target), Start turns green, and a yellow Change Target button appears in the right-hand column.

After Use Current: Target 812.18 at the top left, the target box filled with 812.18, Start green, Change Target in the right-hand column
  1. Target 812.18. The elevation you'll dig to.
  2. Change Target. Clears it to set another.

To go deeper, type the depth

Tap the Depth Below Bucket (ft) box and type how far below the anchor to dig, for example 2 (typing on the tablet).

The target bar with 2 typed in the Depth Below Bucket box; the target at the top left still reads 812.18
  1. Depth Below Bucket (ft). 2 ft here. Remembered for next time.

Tap Dig This Deep

Dig This Deep is the orange button right after the depth box, with a down arrow. Tap it. The target at the top left becomes the anchor minus the depth: 812.18 − 2.0 = 810.18 here. The anchor doesn't move, so typing 3 next time gives anchor − 3, not another 3 deeper.

The target bar with the orange Dig This Deep button after the depth box; the target at the top left reads 812.18 before the tap
  1. Dig This Deep. Right after the depth box.
  2. Target 812.18. Before the tap. It changes to 810.18, the anchor minus the depth.

If you tap Use Current again: pick an answer

If a depth is still typed when you tap Use Current, the app asks Apply Depth Offset?. Tap Apply Offset (on the right) to make this spot the new anchor and dig the depth below it, or Use Current Only to clear the depth and dig to here. Cancel changes nothing.

Apply Depth Offset? window: Depth Below Bucket is set to 2.0 ft. Apply that offset to the new current bucket elevation, or use the current elevation only. Buttons Cancel, Use Current Only, Apply Offset
  1. Apply Offset. New anchor here; target the depth below it.
  2. Use Current Only. Clears the depth; target = here.

Tap Start

Start is the big green button at the top of the right-hand column. Tap it and dig. The bar hides while you dig.

The dig screen after Dig This Deep: Target 810.18 at the top left, and the green Start button at the top of the right-hand column
  1. Start. Top of the right-hand column.
  2. Target 810.18. Check it's the elevation you meant before you dig.

Dig to ON GRADE

The chevrons, the CUT / FILL label and the gauge work as in every excavator job. ON GRADE means within ±1.5″. Tap Stop to pause: the job saves and the bar comes back.

Digging the level area: a big ON GRADE label at the bottom of the map, the bucket on the FINAL TARGET band of the gauge, and Stop and Change Target in the right-hand column
  1. ON GRADE. The bucket is on the target.
  2. Stop. Saves; the bar comes back.

For the next pad, tap Change Target

Change Target, the yellow button under Stop, stops guidance if it's running and clears the target, so the bar is ready for a new one. The job stays loaded. Use it for the next pad, a typing mistake, or to re-anchor.

The dig screen with the yellow Change Target button under Stop
  1. Change Target. Under Stop.

Good to know

  • The depth is sticky. What you type in Depth Below Bucket is there next time, for every job. Clear Offset empties it and puts the target back on the anchor.
  • Re-anchor by putting the bucket on the new reference and tapping Use Current, or by typing an elevation and tapping Set Target.
  • Nudge lifts or drops the target 2″ a tap without changing the anchor.
  • It saves itself: on Stop, when you leave the screen or the app goes to the background, and during long digs. Resume Job brings back the anchor, target and nudge.
  • No profile chart or completion grid in this mode: one elevation has no stations to plot.

If something goes wrong

  • Target came out deeper than you expected: Dig This Deep always measures from the anchor; check the depth box, or Clear Offset.
  • Elevations don't match the plan: calibrate to the benchmark first (off by the same amount).
  • Bucket reads a few inches off: depth off at the bucket.
  • Use Current is grey or does nothing: no GPS fix, or the GPS feed is stale; see GPS stale.

Related

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