Would you like to see street-level imagery of your community without the inconvenience of leaving the office...or poolside (tomorrow is the 4th of July after all)? In AssetAlly there's a simple way to access Google Street View for observation of your assets. The "Linked Maps" tool can be found under the "Home" tab in your toolbar.
Clicking the "Linked Maps" tool will open a new window pane below your map. The blue dot (highlighted in the image below) in your GIS viewer represents the location in the street view window and the arrow indicates the direction street view is facing. As you are navigating through street view, the location icon will move simultaneously in your map above. You may also click and drag the blue icon to a different location in the map and street view will update, showing the new location. To sum it all up, the two windows are "linked" together, hence the name of the tool!
This tool is an excellent resource if you quickly need to verify the accuracy of your utilities and their location (perhaps due to missing survey data) in AssetAlly. In the image above, we are able to verify there is a hydrant and hydrant valve in the same location which the GIS represents. This process can potentially save you and your staff the time, money, and hassle of going out into the field to verify details about your assets!
