What works well is to find out what subdivisions are in the territory, their direction of increasing mileage, the rail types known to be in place, any rail classification criteria, and the types of obstacles to be recorded, a few days before the first survey. The database should be prepared in the relative peace of the office, not on the field data collection vehicle while waiting for trains. After the database is checked for accuracy in the office, it may be copied to the field computer.
The files to be copied are: