Replacing email, shared drives and couriered disks
Survey deliverables usually reach a client as an email attachment, a shared drive link or a disk in a courier bag, and none of the three puts the version, the opening and the downloads in one record. GISweaver replaces that hand-off with a numbered release, sent as an expiring link or delivered to the client’s own organisation, where the opening and the downloads are recorded.
What can’t email or a drive link answer?
- Which version they have. An attachment and a link carry a filename, so a correction becomes a second file with a similar name and the question is settled by searching a mailbox.
- Who has it. A drive link works for whoever holds the address for as long as it exists, and an attachment works for whoever the mail was forwarded to.
- Whether they downloaded it. Nothing in a mailbox or a courier receipt records that the client opened the survey, or which of the files they actually pulled down.
- Whether what they hold is what you sent. Without a per-file checksum there is nothing to check a saved copy against, and a truncated download looks like a file.
What replaces it
- Upload the survey to a project. GISweaver checks what each file really is (not just its name); only programs, scripts, disk images, macro-enabled Office files and web pages are refused. A file reaches another organisation, or a link, only once its malware scan is clean.
- Publish it as a release: a numbered, fixed copy of the survey with a checksum, which never changes once published. A correction becomes a new release.
- Send the release as an expiring link, or deliver it to the client’s organisation, named by the code they read off their own settings page, for a period you choose. A delivery to an organisation may wait for a set time (the delivery hold) before it can be downloaded. You can withdraw it during the hold.
- The client reviews the release in a browser and downloads the files, signed in to their own organisation or through the link with no account. You can end a link at any time.
What you can show afterwards
- Which files have been downloaded. The client sees their own file-by-file record; you see how many of the files have been downloaded, and not which person in their office downloaded them.
- A receipt, written once every file has finished downloading, naming both organisations, the release with its publication date and checksum, and every file with its size and SHA-256 checksum.
- Delivery and account activity in each organisation’s own records: when it was delivered or opened, when it became available, when it was accepted or declined, when files were downloaded, when the access period was extended.
What it is not, before you plan around it
- A link is the sender’s choice. It expires, it can be ended, and it gives a read-and-download view of one release. A client who wants to keep working with the release in their own projects needs a GISweaver organisation of their own — receiving is free and uses none of their storage.
- GeoJSON and ASCII DXF become map layers a client can measure against. LAS and LAZ point clouds open in the 3D view, in your own project and through a link; a delivery to another organisation opens as its 2D layers. Every other file a survey firm uses, DWG drawings, PDFs and ZIP archives included, is kept with the release and reaches another organisation only once its malware scan is clean. Programs, scripts, disk images, macro-enabled Office files and web pages are refused.
- Files are identified by type, checked against their upload checksum, and a ZIP is also checked for structure. A file reaches another organisation, or a link, only once its malware scan is clean.
The step-by-step instructions
The documentation walks through sending a release to another organisation, checking a delivery afterwards and what to do when one needs attention, with the screens as they appear.
DocumentationQuestions firms ask about this
- Do our clients have to buy GISweaver to receive a survey?
- Not to look: a link opens with no account. To receive a delivery into an organisation of their own, they need one, and it can be on the free plan. Receiving is refused on no plan and uses none of the receiving organisation’s storage; the files count against the sending firm’s.
- Can we send a link to somebody who has no account?
- Yes. Send an expiring link: the recipient opens it in a browser with no account, views and measures the release and, if you allow downloads, downloads its files until the link expires. You can tie a link to one email address, which then asks for a one-time code, see when it was opened and what was downloaded, and end it at any time. Delivering to an organisation remains the route for a signed receipt, a download of everything as one archive, and a copy kept in the client’s own account.
- Which files can we deliver?
- Every file a survey firm uses, except programs, scripts, disk images, macro-enabled Office files and web pages. The Supported formats page lists each format and what happens to it. A file reaches another organisation, or a link, only once its malware scan is clean.
- How long does the client keep access?
- For the period you set when you deliver: a year by default, up to two years. You can extend it later at no cost. Downloading everything does not close it; it runs until it ends or you delete the files.
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