Docs Drainage

Your drainage setup with Chip

What happens the first time an Owner or Manager opens Drainage on the web, how Chip sets up your icons and drain line templates with you, the tour of the toolbar, and the short tour for everyone after.

The first time you open Drainage in a desktop web browser as an Owner or Manager, Turfile walks you through setting up your drainage workspace. Chip, Turfile’s assistant, sets up your Preferences with you by chat, then Turfile shows you where the main controls are, how to add things to the map, and what the other tools on the toolbar do.

Before you start

“Let’s Set Up Your Drainage Workspace” Click Start Setup. If you don’t have time now, click Go Back to Home. The setup opens again the next time you open Drainage.
“Already Have Drainage Maps?” If you have drainage drawings, maps or files (PDF, SHP or DWG), click Yes, I Have Maps. Otherwise click No, I’ll Start Mapping. Turfile skips this question if your property already has drainage items on the map.
“We’ll Help You Bring Them Into Turfile” (only if you have maps). Send your files to support@turfile.com and the Turfile team helps you bring them into your workspace. Click Email Your Files to open an email to us; this ends the setup. To carry on with the setup first, click Continue Setup.

Set up your Preferences with Chip

“Start With Preferences” highlights Preferences on the left toolbar. Click it. Chip says hello in the middle of the screen, then moves to the side as the Drainage Preferences panel opens on the Icons tab, and stays in a chat window beside it.

Chat with Chip the way you’d explain your drainage to a colleague. Chip makes the changes in your Preferences as you talk, and you see each one appear in the panel. You can give several details in one message, ask questions, or ask Chip to change something you set up earlier. You can also edit the panel yourself at any time.

Chip goes through two tabs in order. Your areas and holes are shared with Irrigation, so the setup doesn’t go through the Areas & Holes tab. Turfile switches tabs for you, and the chat starts fresh on each tab:

Icons. Chip asks whether you have different sizes or types of catch basins, then area drains. The Catch Basin icon is renamed to your first type and copied for each other type; the Area Drain icon works the same way. Chip can also rename your other structures to your team’s words and add types Turfile doesn’t have yet. Click I’m Happy With This to continue.
Drain Lines. Chip asks how many types of drain line are in the ground and creates a template for each. Then, one template at a time, it asks whether it’s a pipe in a trench or a trench with no pipe; for a pipe, the material, wall, size, whether it’s perforated and whether it has a sock; the trench width, depth and backfill; a name; and a color. You can leave anything you don’t know as unknown. Click I’m Happy With This to continue.

To set a tab up yourself or later, click Skip for Now before you start chatting; once you’ve written to Chip on a tab, finish it with the main button. You can change everything Chip set up later in Preferences. See Set up your workspace.

After each tab, Turfile shows you its main controls while Chip explains each one: on Icons, adding, renaming, duplicating and uploading icons and changing their colors; on Drain Lines, adding, editing and deleting templates. Click Next after each one. This part also runs when you skipped the chat.

See how to add things to the map

When Preferences are done, the panel closes and Chip tells you it will show you a quick demo. Click I’m Ready. Turfile then shows you the real tools one at a time: each control is highlighted with a short note beside it and the pointer resting on it. Click Next and Turfile clicks that control for you and moves on to the next one:

A catch basin: Add to map on the toolbar, then Add object, a click on the map, the type, a name (use the names your team already uses, like the ones on your drainage plans), and a hole and area if you have them. Turfile points at Add To Map and then clicks Cancel.
A drain line: Drain line tools, a drain line template, Start Drawing, Curved, and a few points on the map. Turfile points at Finish Drawing and then cancels.

Nothing from this demo is saved to your map. To add your own items, see Add a drainage object and Draw drain lines.

Turfile then goes down the toolbar one tool at a time. Each tool is highlighted on the open toolbar, with a card beside it that explains it and a short animation of it in use. Nothing is opened or changed. Click Next after each one:

“Drainage Inventory” Every drainage object on your map in one list, to search and narrow by hole, area or type. See Manage the inventory.
“Drainage Issues” Every open drainage issue in one priority list, whether it was reported on an item or outlined on the map. See Report an issue on the map.
“Drainage To-Do’s” Your to-dos and your team’s. A to-do completes itself when its issue is resolved. See Assign and work to-dos.
“Drainage History” Resolved issues with their to-dos, notes and photos, and records of past work. See History.
“Filter the Map” Which item types, drain lines, holes and areas show on your map. See Filter the map.
“Inspection Scheduler” How often each type of drainage item is checked, and what’s due. See Drainage inspections.
“Export Your Map” Shapefiles for GIS software or a print-ready PDF map sheet. See Export your map.
“Import Existing Maps” GIS files or CAD drawings of your drainage, brought onto your map at once. See Import an existing drainage map.
“Drainage Photos” Every photo from Drainage in one grid.
“You’re Ready to Start Mapping” Click Finish Setup.

If your workspace is already set up

When someone on your property has already set up drainage, the next Owners and Managers who open Drainage get a short tour instead of the setup:

“Let’s Show You Around” Click Show Me Around, or Go Back to Home to see it next time.
“Start With Preferences” Click Preferences on the left toolbar. Chip says hello and the panel opens.
Chip shows you the Icons and Drain Lines tabs and their main controls. Click Next after each one. Nothing is changed.
Click I’m Ready for the same map demo and the same look at the rest of the toolbar as above, then Finish Setup.

If you stop partway

If you reload or close the page during the setup, it picks up where you left off the next time you open Drainage. During the chat it asks you to open Preferences again and continues with the tab you were on. Chip starts a fresh conversation, but it sees everything already set up in your Preferences. During the look at the toolbar it starts again from the first tool.
Once you finish, the setup doesn’t come back.