How Do I Use the Polygon Dump Counter?


The polygon dump count feature on the DirtMate dashboard provides automatic tracking for trucks visiting a regular location, such as a dump area or crusher. 

The first iteration of this tool in the DirtMate dashboard generates load counts based on a pin location with a specified radius.

For machines with DirtMate installed, the polygon dump count tool allows you to view:

  • Number of dump events per polygon
  • Hourly breakdown of load counts by machine
  • Dump Duration(s)
  • Loading Duration(s)

How do I create a polygon to be used as a dump event?

Note about “manual pin counter” events in the dashboard: The first iteration of DirtMate’s event counter used a fixed radius circle configured in the dashboard based on the location of a pin. While those events will continue to generate dump events, we have removed the capability to create new manual pin counter dump events. Please refer to the below section if you wish to create new dump events to track with DirtMate.

1. Log in to the site where you would like to create a dump event. 

2. Click the CREATE MEASUREMENT button and select any polygon measurement (for example, Compare to Previous Survey, Compare to Latest Design).

3. Draw a polygon around the area of interest you want to set as a dump event for DirtMate-enabled machines. Click to create each vertex, and click the first vertex you placed to close the polygon shape.

4. Save the measurement by adding a name and clicking SAVE.

5. Click the three dots to the right of the name to Use as Manual Counter (DM).


How do I view the dump events that DirtMate has tracked?

1. After placing one or more polygon dump events in the home view, navigate to the DirtMate dashboard for the site to which you have added the event.

2. Ensure the Truck Load Counts and map widgets are enabled in the view options menu on the right-hand side of the screen.

3. In the truck counts widget, you will see your site's total number of loads & dumps for the selected timeframe.

4. Click on any machine in the list to view an hourly breakdown of the cycle counts, including the cycle duration, load time, and dump time for that machine in detail. 

You can click arrows to move between the hourly ranges. If a period of time has no load counts recorded, it will automatically skip that hour.

5. Select the By dump location category to view the number of dump events per location. This will sort the dump events by location and display the total dumps alongside the average dump time for that location. Clicking a specific polygon dump event location will give an hourly breakdown of the load counts.

How does DirtMate work with the polygon dump event? 

We automatically track dump events based on DirtMate-enabled machines entering the geofence of the polygon dump counter. The dump duration starts based on when the machine enters the geofence and will end when it leaves.

Cycle duration is the time for a complete cycle, including the load and dump duration. The cycle time shown is defined by when the machine enters the polygon until the next time it is detected in the radius of that same polygon or enters a loading zone (for example, within the 17-meter range of an excavator). We will not generate a cycle time if the machine goes directly from one dump polygon to another, as we expect a load event to occur between these dump events.

The average cycle duration is calculated by excluding outliers so that long breaks do not pollute the average. We exclude any cycle durations that are more than half an hour longer than the full average. For example, if there are 12 cycles, each about 8 minutes long, and there is one, 1.5 hour cycle, then we report the average as 8 minutes. Including the outlier (1.5 hours) would increase the average to 14 minutes.


I still can't do it!

We wrote these articles to equip you with everything you need to get the job done on your own, but we understand that sometimes this isn't sufficient.

If you're stuck, the Propeller support team may be able to help. You can contact our support team by emailing sitesupport@propelleraero.com.au or by clicking the support tab on the top-right corner of the portal.