MappRover is an iOS based user interface to the Redbex Application Server that allows a fully digital mapping and documentation process of geo-located characteristics in well defined areas along an axis. It was mainly designed for mapping and documenting geological and geotechnical characteristics during the construction of a tunnel but can also be used for mapping of any other kind of geo-located characteristics along an axis.

The name MappRover is a portmanteau word formed from Mapping, Application or App and Rover and therefore expresses some of the fundamental characteristics of the app.

How MappRover relates to the Redbex Software System

Redbex MappRover is part of the Redbex Software System, i.e. MappRover cannot work without access to a Redbex Application Server and also relies on the Redbex Smart Client as user interface for configuring the whole system and for data evaluation.

While access to the Redbex Application Server is mandatory MappRover can operate without a continuous network connection to that server so that it is fully operable in places where no network connection is available. This of course implies that Redbex MappRover implements a data synchronization procedure that is used to synchronize data that was modified offline with the data on the Application Server.

For most tasks that users can perform with MappRover they do not need any specific knowledge of the Redbex Software System, however an understanding of some basic concepts can be useful.

Redbex is a very generic software product that can be used for many different expert areas, Redbex therefore uses a very generic terminology for data structures and functions. MappRover on the other hand focuses on a very specific task and therefore also uses a very specific terminology, i.e. the same things may be named differently in both systems.

Changed approach

While MappRover was designed around the traditional process of mapping geological characteristics within a tunnel it is not intended to copy this process in every detail. The additional possibilities but also limitations of the hardware and software environment in which the app runs dictates a slightly changed approach.

Not everything that is possible in the pen and paper approach will be possible in MappRover, but on the other hand MappRover provides features that were not possible with the traditional pen-and-paper approach.