Machine control, Takeoff and Drone Data Education and News

Illustration of a yellow excavator on a nighttime construction site, gently lowering its bucket to hold a crescent moon like a cradle. Stars fill the sky, and silhouetted buildings appear in the background. The title reads “Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site."

Cat Trial 13: Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site and 3D Machine Control

Caterpillar needed precise 3D machine control models to bring Cat Trial 13 to life. QLD's Ryan Murguia built the Cat Grade surface files that made it work.

Quantum Land Design

PAC-MAN!

When Caterpillar's Edwards Demonstration and Learning Center has a challenging project, they know who to call.

Quantum Land Design

Cat Command for Compaction

It's not on the street, yet, but Caterpillar has announced Cat COMMAND for Compaction. It is an operator assisted technology that will

Quantum Land Design

American Flat Track

Machine control models aren't just for commercial projects. Quantum's experts improved a problem jump and fixed track drainage issu

Zach Pieper

Cat Monitor Simulator app interface shown on iPhone, Android phone, iPad, tablet, Mac and Vision headset, replicating Cat excavator in-cab display for risk-free operator training.

Train Operators Anywhere With the Cat Monitor Simulator App

Boost operator confidence before they ever start the engine. The Cat Monitor Simulator app replicates the full Next Gen excavator display on phones, tablets, Macs and even Apple Vision. Crews can adjust hydraulics, power modes and Cat Grade 2D/3D settings in a risk-free sandbox—no diesel, no wear, no downtime. Download from the App Store or Google Play, hand a device to each operator, and watch start-up times, rework and fuel costs drop.

Quantum Land Design

Featured Posts

Infographic showing 4 GPS site control principles for machine control: use the design engineer's surveyor, surround the site with control points, calibrate to 5 or more points, and trust but verify with daily checks.

Get Your 3D Grading Under Control: 4 Site Control Principles Every GPS Contractor Needs to Know

Poor site control is the number one problem we see from contractors running GPS machine control. Not bad models or broken equipment. Site control, the first step on every single project. We've seen it cost contractors two weeks of production, turn a correct machine control model on a balanced site into a mysterious site export, and force concrete footings to be redone because the control was rotated 2.8 degrees. Every one of those situations was avoidable.

A screenshot from a drone flight planning interface titled “DJI Mavic 3E Flight Planning for Topographic Survey Mapping” shows a mapped area with a green grid overlay and waypoint markers on the left. On the right, advanced settings display sliders for side overlap ratio (80%), frontal overlap ratio (80%), and margin distance. A note emphasizes that 80% overlap provides good photogrammetry results and should not be set below 70% for 3D mapping. A YouTube play button is centered over the image.

Quantum Flight Pack - DJI Mavic 3E Training Hub

If you're running a DJI Mavic 3E on a construction site, this is where to start. These training videos cover flight planning, RTK setup, camera settings, and calibration — everything you need to get clean topo data that works with your GPS machine control system.