Editorial: Having the Right Tools
Earthquakes, blizzards, floods, tornadoes, erupting volcanoes, an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, financial and economic instability, political upheaval and thwarted terrorist plots--the theme song for the first half of 2010 could well be "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On." USGS records show that since 1900, an average of 16 earthquakes of magnitude-7 or ....Read the Article
Earthquakes, blizzards, floods, tornadoes, erupting volcanoes, an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, financial and economic instability, political upheaval and thwarted terrorist plots--the theme song for the first half of 2010 could well be "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On." USGS records show that since 1900, an average of 16 earthquakes of magnitude-7 or ....Read the Article
Civic Duty - A Visit to Civic Engineering and Information Technologies We've shared them before--stories about surveyor fathers and the sons who not only followed in their footsteps, but took the career to a whole new level. Clifton Ogden grew up in Gulf Shores, Alabama with a civil engineer father who enjoyed surveying. Ogden recalled his first summer in the field, spent locating wetlands. He used a .... Read the Article |
Phased Contracting One of the biggest challenges in operating a profitable land surveying business is the impact of unexpected evidence and its effect on client relationships. Not surprisingly, the two are oftentimes related and when problems arise, it can affect one's business reputation along with the proverbial bottom line. If you are in business, it is assumed you intend to make a profit. If that is ...Read the Article |
When Two Become One - A Look at the Law of Merger of Adjoining Parcels A previously ignored fact buried in the hieroglyphics of a legal description suddenly presents possibilities to someone looking for value in their real estate, particularly in this economy. As we know, land that functions as a single property may actually include more than one distinct parcel or lot (we'll use these terms as synonyms). As to ...Read the Article |
Building a Fully Functioning County GIS in Five Years Five years ago Cochise County, Arizona embarked on a comprehensive plan to install a practical Geographical Information System. Today 300 county employees use it regularly. We attended the Arizona Geographic Information Council's 2009 Education and Training Seminar in Tucson in early November. Walter Domann, GIS Coordinator for Cochise County, explained how ...Read the Article |
Full Steam Ahead - Applying 3-D Laser Scanning to a Boiler Plant Replacement Project The engineers of Sebesta Blomberg & Associates in Roseville, Minnesota faced a daunting task in documenting existing conditions within the two central boiler plants at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. The Yarbrough facility, built in 1937, contains three large boilers and an intricate network of catwalks, pipes, conduit, ductwork and structural steel supporting the boilers and the ....Read the Article |
Reconnaissance: Rewriting Legal Descriptions When presenting programs to persons in the title industry, the question is frequently asked about the tendency of some surveyors in some areas to write new descriptions for virtually any property they are surveying. The questions posed are often along the lines of "Why do they do this?" and "Which description is correct—the old one or the new one?" The answer is often the same as ...Read the Article |
Vantage Point: Professionalism, Logic, and Law Three out of the four states in which I am licensed have mandatory continuing education requirements for renewing my professional land surveying licenses. The fourth is one of a minority without such requirements, including eight other states, several territories, and the District of Columbia. I don't consider it an imposition to comply with these requirements, and ...Read the Article |
FeedBack Which Came First? I just finished Chris Wickern's article "Whose Footsteps Are They?" [ 2010 Vol. 7 No. 3]. I enjoy the discussion points he puts forth. The cover photo was very true; I have a question about the location of the corner monument under the larger rock. Which came first—the monument or the rock? Was the monument set under the large rock? What evidence was given for Mr. Dopuch to ...Read the Comments |
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Surveyors Report: Licensure by Apprenticeship: Effects on the Surveying Profession
The image of land surveying as a technician/trade image is increasingly growing. I make a case for moving away from the apprenticeship system toward an educational standard. A 1525 English document gives the word origin of survey, a French word of two parts--sur meaning "from above", and vey, meaning "to see"--that is, any method of identifying and measuring ground features and ...Read the Article
The image of land surveying as a technician/trade image is increasingly growing. I make a case for moving away from the apprenticeship system toward an educational standard. A 1525 English document gives the word origin of survey, a French word of two parts--sur meaning "from above", and vey, meaning "to see"--that is, any method of identifying and measuring ground features and ...Read the Article
