Bridges and boardwalk
Span, decking, stringers, abutments and railing — with the lumber and hardware they were built from, so a rebuild starts from what is actually there.
Infrastructure
A bridge is an asset, not a to-do item
Structures carry a condition, an inspection interval and a history of every walk somebody has done on them. When a board fails, the record of the last four inspections is attached to the bridge rather than in somebody's notebook.
What you can record
Everything on the trail that is not the trail
Each type carries its own fields, so a bridge is described as a bridge rather than as a generic thing with a note attached.
Gates, kiosks, signs and trailheads
The things that go missing, get vandalized or fall over, each with a code, a location and a condition your crew keeps current.
Stairs, culverts, retaining structures
Anything you build and then have to look after. Add your own types when the list does not have yours.
Photos, over time
Every inspection can carry its own pictures, so a structure accumulates a visual record of how it is aging rather than one photo from the day it went in.
Viewpoints, campsites, water
Points of interest are the other half — the things a visitor is looking for, shown on your public map and in the app.
A lumber list from a bridge record
The materials calculator turns a bridge's own dimensions and stock sizes into a cut list and a hardware count you can take to a supplier.
How it worksMapping
Every structure on one map
Most organizations know roughly where their bridges are. Fewer can say how many there are, which trail each one is on, or which of them nobody has looked at in three years. Getting them on the map is the first step, and it is done standing next to each one.
Drop a pin where you are standing
Adding a structure is a short wizard in the field app: pick the type, take a few photos, confirm the spot and fill in the details. The location comes from your phone's GPS, and you can drag the pin if the fix is off. Anyone on your team can add one, so an inventory gets built by the crew that is already out walking the trails.
- A code on every structure Each one gets a code from its type — BR-0001, SI-0014 — that never changes and is never reused, so a work order, an inspection and a photo all point at the same thing.
- Attached to a trail or a network A bridge belongs to its trail and shows up on that trail's page. A kiosk serving a whole trailhead can belong to the network instead, and a structure can stand alone until its trail is on the map.
- Pinned by category, filtered by state The Infrastructure map colors each pin by category. Filter to one type, to anything overdue for inspection, or to everything rated poor or failed.
- With you offline Structures ride along in the field app's offline downloads, so the map and every record on it are there when the signal is not.
Measurements
The numbers, recorded once, where the structure is
The tape measure comes out on the bridge, not back at the office. Each structure type asks for the measurements that matter for it, on the same screen where it is added, and every one stays on the record for the next person.
Your fields, per type
A bridge asks for its length, its deck width, the decking board thickness and the board width out of the box. Add whatever else you track — number of steps on a stair set, post material on a sign, culvert diameter — and choose what kind of answer each field takes: a number, a measurement, a date, a choice from a list, or a yes or no.
- Feet and inches, or meters Measurements are entered and shown in the units each person prefers. Somebody measuring in inches and somebody reading in meters are looking at the same number.
- Search by size Filter the list on any measurement: every bridge at least 20 feet long, every stair set with at least 30 steps.
- Export all of it The CSV export carries a column per field, so your inventory goes into a spreadsheet, a grant application or an insurer's questionnaire without retyping.
- Photos on the record Up to twenty photos per structure, plus the ones taken on each inspection, so the numbers have a picture beside them.
Materials calculator
From a bridge record to a lumber list
When a bridge needs replacing, the question is what to put on the truck. The calculator answers it from the measurements already on the record: how many deck boards, how many stringers, what size and what length, and roughly how many fasteners.
See the bridge before you buy it
Open the calculator from the bridge, or from a maintenance item filed against it. It draws the bridge from its own numbers, every deck board and every stringer to scale, then gives you the list. Choose rough-cut or dressed lumber and the stock lengths your supplier actually carries, and the list is one you can buy.
- Stringers sized for the span Stringer size comes from a span table for the length of the bridge. Where the span is longer than your boards, it works out how each run is joined: lapped, scabbed, or butted over a post.
- Split a crossing into spans A bridge over water with dry banks at each end can be divided into stretches. Each one says whether it can take a post, and the stringers are sized for the longest one rather than the whole length.
- Checked against your yard Lumber tagged in Inventory is matched line by line, so the list shows what is in stock and what is left to buy, and you can reserve those boards for the job.
- A PDF for the supplier The list, a total in board feet or cubic meters, the cutting list with its offcuts, and the plan, side and section drawings, ready for a quote, a work order or a grant budget.
An estimate that says where it stops
The calculator is for planning the shopping and the budget, and it is plain about its limits. Its assumptions are written out, and past the longest span its table covers it stops sizing stringers and says so rather than guessing at an engineered beam. Anything load-bearing that people cross still needs somebody qualified to sign it off, and the drawings and list are what you bring to that conversation.
Inspections
The questions are yours, and they change per type
A bridge inspection and a sign inspection have almost nothing in common. Each structure type carries its own question set, and you can edit it — the defaults are a starting point, not a straitjacket.
01
One question at a time, in the field
The inspection is a wizard rather than a long form. One question per step, big targets, works with one thumb and no signal — because it is filled in standing on the structure.
02
Photos you can draw on
Mark the crack, circle the rotten board. An annotated photo attached to the answer is worth more than a paragraph describing where to look.
03
A condition rating comes out of it
The answers set the structure's condition, so a list of everything needing attention is derived from the walks rather than maintained by hand.
04
And the next one is scheduled
Each type carries an interval. Recording an inspection stamps the next due date, and a dashboard list shows what is overdue or coming up — measured in your organization's own days, not the server's.
05
Anything found becomes work
An answer that flags a problem raises a maintenance item against the structure, already described and already located, so the walk and the fix are one chain.
In the documentation
How this works, in detail
Step-by-step guides for setting each of these up.
Get the bridges on the books
Add your structures on the free plan and walk the first inspection from your phone.