Hi there!
We’re excited to introduce a long-awaited feature in Emlid Flow & Emlid Flow 360—the Intersection tool, part of our expanding COGO toolkit for solving geometry tasks with minimal input. Whether you’re working from paper plans, recovering lost data, or calculating hard-to-reach locations, the Intersection tool helps you compute new points based on reference inputs.
What’s inside the tool
The Intersection tool supports three input methods:
Distance–Distance
This method allows you to define a new point based on its distance from two known reference points. With two distances, the app draws two circles—one around each reference point. The intersection of these circles gives two possible locations, and you can select the correct one based on site context.
The method is especially useful when working from legacy plans or when the target point is physically inaccessible, but distance measurements are available.
Direction–Direction
Use this method to calculate where two directional lines (azimuths) intersect, starting from two known points. The app visualizes each direction as a ray and computes their intersection. It’s the ideal choice when distances aren’t available, but you have directional data—such as from a paper sketch or a digital design.
The method is commonly used in design-based stakeout or when reconstructing points from partial field data.
Direction-Distance
This method combines a known distance from one point with a direction (azimuth) from another. The app draws a circle from the distance point and a ray from the direction point. The two intersect at two possible locations, and you choose which one to save.
It’s a flexible solution when working with incomplete or mixed-source data, such as old plans that specify only one direction and one distance.
How It Works
Each method provides step-by-step guidance and visual feedback right inside the app. Simply:
- Choose the required method.
- Select your reference points from the project.
- Enter known values depending on the chosen method.
- Review the automatically calculated intersection point or points.
- Save the result and proceed to stakeout if needed.
The workflow is the same both for Emlid Flow and Emlid Flow 360. Learn more details from the guide in our documentation.
Don’t forget to update the Emlid Flow app to get access to the Intersection tool included in the Survey plan!
