Module 1 will help you access Optioneer, navigate the interface and carry out basic operations. This page will cover the following:
The other pages in Module 1 cover:
🔑 Team Management
To access Optioneer, you must be added to a project space by the project admin and verify your email address. This is done via an email that will be sent to you by support@continuum.industries. Please check your spam folder if you cannot find this email. The link in the email expires 24 hours after it is sent. If it times out, get in touch with us.
The team management tool can be accessed via the avatar in the top right-hand corner. This will allow you to
See who has access to the project area
Determine the users' rights
Admin: Can add other team members and access all of Optioneers functionality.
Execute: Can run cases, add comments and edit project features.
Write: Can add comments and edit project features.
Read: Can view the project results and comments, but cannot edit features or run cases.
🧑🤝🧑 Adding your team to Optioneer
🧑🤝🧑 Adding your team to Optioneer
Anyone with admin rights can add a user to an Optioneer project area. To determine if you have admin rights:
Click on the account icon in the top right-hand corner.
Select the Team Management Tool. In the Users section of the team management tool, there is a list of everyone who has access to the project area along with their rights.
If you do not have admin rights, contact the team member who does to add the team member on your behalf.
To add users to the project area,
Go to the Invites and Sharing section of the team management tool.
Enter the person's email address.
Click 'send'.
If they are new to Optioneer, they will have to follow the instructions in Accessing Optioneer. Otherwise, the project will appear the next time they log in to Optioneer.
🌎 Optioneer Environment
Now you are in Optioneer, you will want to familiarise yourself with the interface.
Watch this short video which introduces you to the Optioneer environment.
There are five windows within Optioneer, which roughly resemble a general routing workflow.
🧭 Map Functionality
Map view is the core of Optioneer. You will be in map view when are you in the Data, Setup or Analyze windows. From the map, you can:
navigate the map,
open the Map Controls panel and
change the Basemap (e.g. satellite),
activate the 3D view,
toggle visibilities of project features (points, lines, polygons and comments) and outputs (heatmaps and options).
NB these are master controls. See the 'Basic Operations' and 'Accessing Results' to toggle the visibility of individual items,
and manage GIS layers.
open the Point Inspection Tool by clicking anywhere on the map. This will allow you to,
understand what results, objects and GIS data layers exist at that location.
view attributes about the data layers at that point in the pop-up window.
🏷 Comments
Comments are useful for tracking changes in a project, logging information that isn't available in GIS format and communicating with team members. Comments can be geo-referenced to 1m accuracy.
You can reply to comments and form threads, search for keywords in comments, and relocate existing comments. In map view, select the comment icon in the left-hand toolbar to view the comments as a list. Hovering over a comment in the list will allow you to select the 'fly to' icon and the menu. The 'fly to' tool takes you to the location of the comment on the map. You can also upload files to a comment using the paper clip icon. The size limit for files is 70MB.
The Comment Menu allows you to carry out three actions:
Show thread
This allows you to view any responses to the comment.
Copy link
This feature creates a URL linked to that comment. When the URL is selected, providing the individual has access to the project, Optioneer will open in Map View at the location of the comment. The URL can be placed in reports or can be used to refer colleagues to a particular comment.
Edit
If the comment is yours and it has not been replied to, you will be able to edit the comment.
All comments in the project may be exported in bulk as a CSV file, allowing easy inclusion in reports or presentations.
💾 Saved Views
Saved views are a useful feature for illustrating how routes interact with important constraints and topography or compare with other routes.
When you first log into Optioneer, the map view will not have any GIS data, project features or results loaded. Saving a view can allow you to:
prepare views or slides to show discussion points ahead of a meeting or presentation
allow you to bring up the most relevant data sets in one click
allow you to pick up where you left off
To create a saved view, toggle on the relevant features and click 'save view' in the top right corner. If you are already in a saved view, expand the 'saved view' menu and click 'save as new'. You will then be prompted to name the view.
To access a saved view, expand the 'view' menu in the top right corner and select the view you wish to load.
Elements of the map that can be saved:
Project features: points, lines and polygons
Raster and vector GIS data.
Your location/perspective on the map - including the topography if you are in 3D mode!
Results, both the visibility and selection of them and metrics
Heatmaps
Elements that cannot be saved:
Metrics (check out the Saved Metrics feature below).
🔬 Accessing Results
The Results Library can also be accessed via the toolbar on the left-hand side of the screen. It contains Optioneer's outputs or results. In the Results Library, you can:
toggle visibility of options and heatmaps,
delete results and options,
export results in bulk,
selecting a result means that you can access its metrics in the Analyse Window. This is discussed further in Module 3.
and attach labels to the results
NB. Results can be labelled so that it’s easier to organise them in a way that is intuitive for you and your team. Labels are stored across the project so that you can use common labels with your collaborators. You create a new label by typing into the label fields next to the result status.
🔢 Saved Metrics
Saved metrics work similarly to Saved Views, but apply to metrics provided by Optioneer. This will allow you to:
👷 Save groups of metrics relevant to your role
🔑 Recall the key metrics very quickly
📹 Record the metrics used in reports and presentations
To save a group of metrics, select the metrics you wish to save in the metrics tab of the Results Library or via the parameters table in the Analyse Window. Above either table click 'Save Metrics' from the top right-hand corner click 'Save as new' and name it appropriately. Everyone with access to the project area will be able to use this list.
You can access saved metrics via the Results Library or via the parameters table in the Analyse Window by selecting the drop-down menu on the right top-hand corner and selecting the view you wish to use. This view can be overwritten by selecting 'Save metrics'.
👁️ Icon Visibility
If an option is made visible on the map, you can toggle the visibility of indicative icons associated with that option by using the Icon Visibility Tool in the toolbar on the left-hand side.
Icons can indicate two things related to an option:
Crossings - Points along an option where linear features (roads, rivers, pipelines etc.) are crossed.
Predicted structures (transmission lines only) - Indicative positioning of towers along an option.
