Inspections + GIS
Stormwater inspections and GIS, in one workspace inspectors will actually open.
Mobile field capture, photo and GPS evidence, structured forms, asset and outfall maps, and clean exports back to your annual report process. For Phase II MS4 inspection teams that handle annual reporting elsewhere. From $7,500 a year.
01 · What this is for
A specialized scope, not a feature-stripped version of the platform.
This page is for stormwater inspection teams that already handle their annual reporting somewhere else and want inspections, GIS, assets, corrective actions, attachments, and exports in one workspace. The Inspection + GIS Starter tier is built around that scope.
If your program needs full MS4 annual reporting in NPDESTracker, the Annual Platform is the right tier. The annual report evidence workspace, Smart Draft, MCM 1 Public Education, MCM 2 Public Participation, MS4 Metrics, certification capture, the print-friendly annual report preview, and permit-specific report templates live there. The Starter is intentionally narrower so a program that does not need those capabilities does not pay for them.
Both tiers run on the same platform. Same tenant isolation, same role-based access, same audit log on records. The difference is scope, not security or quality.
02 · Field inspections
Structured forms for the inspections your program actually runs.
Each inspection kind has its own structured form, its own follow-up logic, and a clear distinction between site-level and structure-level work. Forms are built around the inspection, not bent from a generic template. The full inspection workflow including deficient-finding follow-through is detailed on the inspections page.
Inspection kinds in scope
- Construction site inspections during active build-out
- Source control inspections at industrial and commercial sites
- Operations and maintenance inspections for municipal good-housekeeping
- Structure inspections (catch basins, manholes, vaults)
- Outfall inspections and dry-weather screening
- Post-construction BMP inspections on accepted assets
Field capture
- Mobile-friendly forms that work on a phone or tablet
- Photo attachment with timestamp and location
- GPS coordinates pinned to the inspection record
- Structured fields per inspection kind, not a generic note
- Deficient findings flow into follow-up tasks automatically
- Designed for field use; broader offline behavior covered during onboarding
03 · GIS workspace
Spatial context where the inspection lives.
Stormwater is spatial. The GIS workspace puts site, outfall, structure, and BMP layers on a live municipal map alongside inspection records, so a coordinator can move from a map pin to the underlying record's full history with one click. The full GIS workspace story is on the GIS page.
This is not a GIS platform. It is GIS-aware compliance software. NPDESTracker is designed to work beside ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Enterprise, or QGIS, not to replace any of them. Standard file formats and standard coordinate systems are how the boundary works. The longer framing is in MS4 software vs ArcGIS.
GIS capabilities
- Site, outfall, structure, and BMP layers on a live map
- Layer import in standard formats (GeoJSON, shapefile, CSV with lat/lon)
- One click from a map pin to the record's full inspection history
- Filter by inspection status, overdue, or recently flagged
- Coordinates flow back out in standard formats for the GIS team
- Designed to work beside ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Enterprise, or QGIS
04 · Tasks and corrective actions
Findings go somewhere. Closures show up in the record.
When an inspection turns up a deficient finding, a follow-up task opens against the record. The task carries a due date, an assignee, a closure status, and the evidence (photo, note, follow-up inspection) of how it was resolved. Overdue and due-soon work is visible across the program before it becomes an audit finding.
Task capabilities
- Deficient findings open follow-up tasks attached to the record
- Due dates per task and per inspection cadence
- Assignee, status, and completion attribution
- Closure evidence (photo, note, follow-up inspection) on the task itself
- Overdue and due-soon visibility across the program
- Audit trails on key compliance records and reporting actions
05 · Records and exports
Audit-ready records, exportable when you need them.
Audit trails on key compliance records and reporting actions, so the team that handles your annual reporting elsewhere has the underlying inspection and asset history in shapes they can use. Security framing for the platform is on the security page.
Reports and exports
- Inspection summary reports filtered by date, site, or kind
- Asset rosters (sites, outfalls, structures, BMPs) with current status
- Task and corrective-action lists with closure status
- CSV exports for supported operational records, with broader export support available during onboarding and support requests
- Audit trails on key compliance records and reporting actions
- Print-friendly views of individual inspection records
06 · What lives on the Annual Platform
The annual reporting workspace, plainly.
The Annual Platform is a broader MS4 program workspace. It includes annual reporting, Smart Draft, Public Education, Public Participation, MS4 Metrics, certification capture, and permit-specific report templates. Inspection + GIS Starter remains a specialized option for teams that handle annual reporting elsewhere. The annual reporting story is detailed on the annual reporting page, and the Smart Draft assistive drafting feature is described on the Smart Draft and AI page.
NPDESTracker does not submit annual reports to Ecology, EPA, or any state agency on a customer's behalf. The submission step stays with the human at the agency, on the agency's submission channel. That posture holds across both tiers.
On the Annual Platform, not on Starter
- Annual report evidence workspace and per-question evidence linking
- Smart Draft drafting from linked evidence
- Public Education and Outreach module (MCM 1)
- Public Participation module (MCM 2)
- MS4 Metrics supervisor snapshot
- Annual report state machine and certification capture
- Print-friendly annual report preview
- Permit-specific annual report templates (currently WA Phase II Western 2024-2029)
These capabilities make the Annual Platform a different kind of offer. The Starter intentionally does not include them.
07 · Upgrade path
If scope grows, Starter dollars credit toward Annual Platform.
Programs that start on Inspection + GIS Starter and later need full MS4 annual reporting in NPDESTracker can move to the Annual Platform without losing the unused months. The remaining Starter value is credited against the Annual Platform price for year one.
That makes Starter a safe first step for inspection teams that are not yet sure whether they will eventually want to do annual reporting in the same workspace. Same tenant, same records, same audit log. The upgrade adds the annual reporting workspace and the MCM 1 / MCM 2 modules on top of the work already in the system.
Full pricing including the Starter card, the Annual Platform tiers, and the credit-on-upgrade language is on the pricing page.
See the inspection workspace on sample data.
Open the demo to see the daily workspace, or request a guided walkthrough of this module.