Daria Legkaia

Emlid · 2025

Surfaces

Surveyors had to leave Emlid Flow to work with surfaces. They could not upload, display, or stake out surface files directly, so construction workflows depended on third-party CAD tools and became slower and more cumbersome.

  • Desktop
  • Mobile
Illustrated construction site beside a phone showing a surface stakeout map

Role

A surface-file workflow in Emlid Flow for construction surveying. I designed the experience for working with surfaces across desktop and mobile, from early concepts and MVP planning to prototype validation and release polish, as part of a multi-designer team.

Research

Competitor analysis and interviews with construction experts revealed two main workflows: working with the surface itself, and working with objects within the surface.

Working directly with the surface was the higher-priority scenario, so we used it to define the first release.

Research visual from the Surfaces case study

Decisions

Three decisions shaped the first release.

Prioritize the core surface workflowWe focused first on surveyors working directly with the surface — the higher-priority scenario identified in research.
Early Surfaces workflow visual supporting the first product decision
Design the MVP as one connected workflowDesktop covered importing and managing surface files; mobile covered map display, object lists, and stakeout. Downloads, drag-and-drop, and clearer sync states were deferred.
MVP workflow visual from the Surfaces case study
Fit surfaces into familiar product patternsWe kept the existing object list familiar while adding surface-specific states, file metadata and errors, and made Cut / Fill feedback easy to distinguish during fieldwork.
Interface-state visual supporting the Surfaces product pattern decision

Prototype

A test surface model let us explore map behaviour before the first working prototype. We then validated the feature with professional users and finished the missing upload states, error feedback and stakeout details before release.

Early Surfaces prototype visualWorking Surfaces prototype visual

Results

The released feature let surveyors upload, view and stake out surfaces without relying on a separate CAD workflow.

1,087 surfaces uploaded by April 2025

Released Surfaces experience visual
Emlid forum

That feature is amazing. And has already made my life super easy. I’ve been asking for it for years, and they have a really nice visual for it too.

Verified Emlid Flow beta user

Very useful feature indeed, I been using it a lot with other GNSS producers and it's great to see it at Emlid also