The American Surveyor Vol 8 No 7

Editorial: Putting the Lean On Manufacturing—A Visit to Topcon
The manufacturing area of Topcon's US headquarters in Livermore, California was a veritable beehive of activity during my recent visit. Colin Kavanagh, Senior VP for Operations, called attention to the "lean" manufacturing processes that have "eliminated expenditures for resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer". To achieve this, Topcon cast a critical eye on ....
Read the Article

Surveying with Google Earth Over the past few years, I have become convinced that Google Earth represents an extraordinary opportunity to visualize and communicate survey data, though I too was skeptical of its value as a professional land surveying tool in the beginning. At the time, Metzger + Willard, Inc. (MWI) was making AutoCAD base maps with orthophotos in the vicinity of NGS control stations. Our reasoning was that, equipped with .... Read the Article

Conference Review: Hexagon User Conference 2011 What is Hexagon and what is the business of Hexagon? A company that decades ago was "importing tuna fish," according to CEO Ola Rollén, is now a key international player in geospatial products and services, metrology, design and process; this by acquiring and integrating a long list of established companies successful in their own .... Read the Article

Driving the Islands When the Public Works department for Washington state's San Juan County was challenged with identifying and mapping roadside assets in an effort to improve traffic safety, it responded by sending out crews with hand-held GPS units. They quickly realized both the scope such a project entailed and the overall inefficiency of using that technique. Knowing the importance of the effort, however ... Read the Article

How Precise is OPUS? Part 3: The Rest of the Story This is the third of three articles discussing the precision obtainable with the Online Positioning User Service (OPUS) offered by NOAA's National Geodetic Survey (NGS). The first two articles appeared in preceding issues of this magazine. OPUS is a Web-based utility available at www.geodesy.noaa.gov/OPUS to which surveyors and others can ... Read the Article

Footsteps: Changes to the 2009 Manual of Surveying Instructions In a previous article, published online in June 2011, I discussed why the 2009 update to the Manual of Surveying Instructions was needed and how the BLM implemented it. The article is available in the Amerisurv Exclusive Online section of The American Surveyor website at www.amerisurv.com/content/view/8774/. What follows here are highlights of some of those changes in the 2009 edition of ... Read the Article

Vantage Point: Noticing a Dirty Past Accutherm, Inc. manufactured thermometers containing mercury in Franklinville, New Jersey until 1994. It notified the state's Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) of its ceased operations, NJDEP issued cleanup orders to Accutherm, and when Accutherm didn't comply, the site was referred to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for an assessment. The EPA's 1996 report .... Read the Article

Surveying `Da Situation: An Unexpected Gift
I believe we have all heard stories or had personal experiences of feeling as though someone close that we have lost reached out to touch us in some way. I had just that kind of experience recently. Back in the mid 1960s, my Dad was a deputy in the local sheriff's department. He had that job for several years until he found another one that paid a little better and freed up his weekends. Well, the county ....
Read the Article

The American Surveyor Vol 8 No 6

Editors Corner: Do You Depend on GPS to Make Money? By Marc Cheves, LS 301kb

Surveyors on a Busman’s Holiday In their time off, a group of surveyors investigate an interesting jog in a state boundary. By Paul Hoinowski 1,545kb

The Elevation Certificate Translated (Part 2 of 2) Our flood plain experts continue with their instructions for filling out the form. By C. Barton Crattie, LS, CFM and Wendy Lathrop, LS, CFM 1,963kb

The Javad GNSS Triumph V.S. Our Nashville correspondent examines the latest offering from Javad Ashjaee. By Clifton Ogden, EI, LSIT 1,787kb

Conference Review: The Second Optech Innovative LiDAR Solutions Conference LiDAR technology continues to boldly move forward. By Gene Roe, LS, PE, PhD 1,099kb

How Precise is OPUS? (Part 2 of 3) Experts from NGS examine available precision estimates. By Richard Snay, Kevin Choi, Gerald Mader, Charles Schwarz, Tomás Soler and Neil Weston 523kb

Reconnaissance: Developments and Questions Regarding the New 2011 ALTA/ACSM Standards Our ALTA expert shines more light on the new Standards. By Gary Kent, LS 883kb

Earthquake in Christchurch A land surveyor shares his eyewitness account of the unexpected quake that struck Christchurch during his visit to New Zealand. By Malcolm Anderson, FRICS, FCInstCES (ret.) 1,243kb

Surveyors Report: The Face of Surveying A Louisiana surveyor provides a history of the national organizations and a possible way forward for the future. J. Anthony Cavell, LS, CFedS By J. Anthony Cavell, LS, CFedS 534kb

The American Surveyor Vol 8 No 5

Table of Contents 346kb

Editors Corner: Military Surveying, Then and Now By Marc Cheves, LS 311kb

Subsurface Modeling New technology that employs GNSS and the capability to “see underground” holds promise for surveying utilities. By Les MacFarlane, LS, and Jim Waite 1,446kb

The Elevation Certificate {translated} Part 1 FEMA certifications continue to provide work for surveyors. Unfortunately, some fall short of properly completing the paperwork. By C. Barton Crattie, LS, CFM and Wendy Lathrop, LS, CFM 2,177kb

Reconstructing an Accident Scene GNSS RTK from Altus Positioning Systems helps the Royal Canadian Mounted Police reconstruct collision scenes. By Daniel C. Brown 1,342kb

Product Review: Sokkia SRX Our expert product reviewer examines this popular robotic total station. By Shawn Billings, LS 529kb

How Precise is OPUS? Part 1: Experimental Results Thousands of surveyors are using OPUS. Do they understand the legal ramifications of the underlying accuracy and precision? By Richard Snay, Kevin Choi, Gerald Mader, Charles Schwarz, Tomás Soler and Neil Weston 728kb

BookMarks: Burt’s Solar Compass: It Conception, Development, Manufacturing, Marketing and Daily Use by Robert C. Miller By Jack N. Owens, LS 211kb

The American Surveyor Vol 8 No 4

Table of Contents 247kb

Editors Corner: Angular Accuracy By Marc Cheves, LS 194kb

Mr. Bilby’s Elegant Assembly, Being both Elegant and Sublime Long before GNSS, triangulation angle-turners had to take to the air. By C. Barton Crattie, LS, CFM 2,146kb

Star Crossing & Stone Monuments The USGS releases a circular about early-day control surveying in Colorado. By J. B. Guyton, LS 782kb

The Story of a Stone Metes and bounds Colonial states still depend on stone monuments set long ago. By Timothy S. Guisewhite, LS 3,513kb

Mapping Interior Spaces with Speed, Ease & Accuracy A growing market—with opportunities for surveyors—is served by the Applanix TIMMS. By Peter Canter and Andrew Stott 701kb

Vantage Point: Signs of the Times By Wendy Lathrop, LS, CFM 480kb

GIS Matters: Point Data as GIS Features—ASCII Continuing with our series on how surveyors can become involved in GIS. By Rj Zimmer, LS 592kb

Footsteps: Claudino v. Pereira This 2008 California case may have application across the country. By Landon Blake, LS 662kb

Broadband vs. GPS Do not panic, but be prepared to panic. By Gavin Schrock, LS 503kb