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Our Blog

Transforming Infrastructure with Advanced Utility Data

Increasing costs on materials and components, rising overheads, compressed timelines, and higher competition for bids—the construction industry has little room for error when it comes to maintaining owner cost-benefit and contractor profitability. Any source of uncertainty must be assessed, quantified, and mitigated to ensure successful outcomes. So why does the number one risk factor for transportation construction projects often go unacknowledged?

Industry Insights

Tamar Shafrir

August 21, 2025

Utility AI Mapping vs Traditional Utility Mapping

Remember the days before we all had Google Maps on our phones? We can time-travel back to the days of printing out MapQuest directions, or further back to the 80s when you had to go buy a physical map and chart your course to your destination before you left your driveway.

AI Innovation

Chris Garafola

July 7, 2025

Utility AI Mapping: Better Data and Better Decisions with Amir Hofman

Utility AI Mapping: Better Data and Better Decisions with Amir Hofman

Our Utility AI Platform is a fundamentally new approach to understanding, consuming, and accessing utility data. Traditional utility mapping has relied on fragmented records, outdated as-builts, and manual field investigation. It’s hard to know what’s really out there without exhaustive, inefficient, time-consuming research, and even then there are still unknowns. 

Product

Chris Garafola

April 17, 2025

Smarter Infrastructure Planning with Utility Intelligence

Kaustabh Page, Senior Product Director at 4M, sat down with me recently for an episode of “Convos with Chris.” We discussed the core principles guiding his product decisions and how those principles shape everything from the user interface to the data validation process of 4M’s Utility AI platform. 

Product

Chris Garafola

May 2, 2025

Here's What's New in 4M: May 2025

You asked. We delivered. From Improved admin dashboards to easier ways to share folders and export utility insights, this month's updates are packed with upgrades designed to give you more control, visibility, and collaboration in 4Map.

Product

Chris Garafola

June 2, 2025

The Future of Utility Mapping, AI Innovations, and Winning with 4M

During his military service, 4M Analytics Co-Founder and CEO Itzik Malka was trained to locate and dispose of buried explosives. That experience sparked Malka’s interest in the subsurface, which contains an underground network of man-made infrastructure powering the lives of every American.

Product

Chris Garafola

January 22, 2025

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Why Real-Time Utility Data is A Game-Changer in Construction Project Planning

When you're managing a construction or infrastructure project, early access to utility data is crucial.

February 12, 2024

Industry Insights

Preliminary Real-Time Data: An AI-Powered Utility Desk Study, Available in Real-Time

Let's face it: the subsurface landscape is becoming increasingly complex, and traditional methods to obtain utility data, with their lengthy turnaround times and validation processes, are no longer sufficient.

February 5, 2024

Product

Infrastructure Consulting & Engineering (ICE) Streamlines Field Investigations with 4M

When Infrastructure Consulting & Engineering (ICE) prepares to bid on projects, personnel must often perform time-consuming field research, often in remote areas, to uncover utility data. The firm saw an opportunity to streamline field investigation using 4M's Utility AI Mapping solution, saving hours — if not days — of effort.

Chris Garafola

February 5, 2024

Customer Story

4M Analytics Year in Review

Welcome to 2024! Looking back, it's astounding to see the evolution in the utility risk mitigation industry, and we're proud to have contributed to this progress. Being the first fully remote Utility AI Mapping and Analytics Solution “with no field visit’, we are honored to help transform the way civil engineers, general contractors, and project owners undertake utility investigation, utility coordination, and utility data management - ensuring the continuity of all critical infrastructure and services people rely on daily.

January 16, 2024

Product

Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE): Everything You Need to Know

Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) plays a crucial role in construction and infrastructure projects by providing accurate location information about subsurface utilities. Using a combination of existing utility records, geophysical location methods, and potholing, SUE professionals identify, map, and manage underground utilities to minimize risks and ensure project success.

December 26, 2023

Industry Insights

10 Common Excavation Hazards

Excavation work is an essential part of many construction projects, but it comes with its fair share of risks and hazards.

Chris Garafola

December 12, 2023

Industry Insights

What is a Utility Locator?

Utility locators play a crucial role in several industries — including construction, excavation, and landscaping — by identifying and marking underground utilities.

Chris Garafola

November 27, 2023

Industry Insights

Utility AI Mapping Decoded: Civil Engineers' Perspective

With the advent of new technology — such as artificial intelligence (AI) utility mapping — those laborious processes are getting easier. Best of all, construction teams get more data earlier in the game — during planning and design instead of days before breaking ground.

November 22, 2023

Industry Insights

Utility Locating Services: Unlock a Safer and More Efficient Construction Process

You've called 811, and they've marked the ground at your construction site. Are you ready to dig? Or should you hire a private utility locating service with subsurface utility engineering (SUE) professionals to take a second look?

November 16, 2023

Industry Insights

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