American Surveyor Vol 8 No 2 Articles Posted

Editorial: The Things We Gather
You can tell a lot about people by the things they collect. Whatever the motivation, for most of us the process of collecting is a pleasurable pursuit. Many of our writers own fine collections--old surveying instruments, classic cars, antique clocks, coins, photographs and more. Personally, I've ....
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An Integrated Solution for Mining The Twangiza-Namoya gold belt in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is potentially one of the most exciting undeveloped gold deposits in the world today. Exploration and mining activities across what are today Banro's four ... Read the Article

What Separates the Rich from the Poor? "The rights of persons, and the rights of property, are the objects, for the protection of which Government was instituted." —James Madison. Of the 6 billion people on Earth, 2 billion try to survive on a few dollars a day. They don't businesses, or... Read the Article

Montana's GIS-Based Cadastre Layered with Riches As the fourth largest state in the United States, Montana is synonymous with frontier. Under the state's famous "big sky" are 145,552 square miles of sparsely populated open land, and-- ranked forty-fourth in total population and forty-eighth in ... Read the Article

Harnessing a GPS Network It's a powerful system, this SmartNet North America. Launched by Leica on March 1, 2010, SmartNet is a subscription-based service offering GNSS Network RTK corrections throughout North America. Geographically, SmartNet covers Ontario, Quebec ... Read the Article

Using Google Earth I'm sure many surveyors like myself have downloaded and played with Google Earth. I have virtual map pins stuck in places where I've lived and worked, and pins placed at Air Force bases where I was stationed in the United States, Europe and North Africa. There are pins in the ... Read the Article

Vantage Point: Life Behind Levees: an Overview and Update Throughout history, mankind's interaction with water has been a love/hate relationship. We have loved to be near water for drinking, bathing, fishing, watering crops, navigating our ships, and just plain aesthetics. On the other hand we have hated the unpredictability of water rising up out of .... Read the Article

Footsteps: Title Industry Changes Affect Surveying
Several changes have recently occurred in the land title industry. What caused these changes and what impact they have had on the boundary surveyor are the topics that this article will address. The land title industry is the group of companies that offer insurance to the purchaser of ...
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Volume 7, Number 7 Articles Posted

Make Me a Map of the Valley
Under clear skies and warmer than normal temperatures, nearly 100 people gathered for the 14th annual Surveyors Rendezvous. Guests were treated to an extraordinary three-night stay onboard the legendary Delta Queen steamboat. Designated as a National Historic Landmark with more than two million miles of maritime history beneath her bow, the Delta Queen is now one of Chattanooga's most ....Read the Article

Digitizing the Legacy "We are missing data on Washington's brow and cravat." "Even with the data from the scans on the talus slope?" "The angle is just too steep. We have to use the rig." "What about the scans from Lincoln, or the chins?" Two clicks brought up a different modelspace. "No,the angle was too oblique to catch the front of Washington." "We designed the rig to ....Read the Article

Machine Control: Lessons Learned I am continually asked about the opportunities for land surveyors in the machine control market and I have written a couple past articles about these opportunities. But I am more curious about what the next trend is for machine control. What else is over the horizon that we haven't seen yet? What can land surveyors do to help fill the void that machine control has left in our revenues? Being involved in ... Read the Article

Not What, but Where is Qibla? Back in the Spring of 2009, we received a routine request from one of our finer regular clients to perform a routine boundary and topographic survey. Sporting a brick rancher, the property backed up to an interstate highway, fronting on a somewhat secluded road but less than a mile from one of Tennessee's largest shopping malls. We completed the ...Read the Article

OPUS-DB and Uncertainty Testing The Conrad Blucher Institute for Surveying and Science at Texas A&M University--Corpus Christi conducted a research project with the National Park Service (NPS) and National Geodetic Survey (NGS) to determine the heights of five peaks in the Guadalupe Mountains. This mountain range is located in West Texas near its border with New Mexico ...Read the Article

Vantage Point: Safety or Fraud? About six years ago, as I chatted with a client as he drove us through northeastern Missouri to visit a work site, the inevitable questions of origins arose. Mine is a complicated tale of a family on the move from coast to coast, but his was simpler: "I'm from a small town in Pennsylvania I'm sure you've never heard of, Centralia." I turned toward him in sudden surprise and replied, "Oh, I know where that ....Read the Article

Feedback More on Apprenticeship. I have been following the discussions about this subject at various locations and in many forms for many years now. In Dave Gibson's article "Licensure by Apprenticeship: Effects on the Surveying Profession" [Vol 7, Issue 4], he makes some good points. However, what I find difficult to accept about most of the opinions I have heard is that the argument seems to be always ...Read the Comments

Surveyors Report: Making the Most of the Recession
The Barnett Shale, the second largest producing onshore domestic natural gas field in the US, stretches over North Texas. It is still actively being discovered. Young and Associates Surveying and Mapping, LLC was formed in 2007 as the Barnett Shale was booming for natural gas exploration. As land surveyors who specialize in this niche market, we were in an optimal position to step in and step up ...
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Volume 7 Number 5 Articles Posted

Guest Editorial: Aphorisms for the Surveyor
In place of my editorial in this issue, I thought our readers would enjoy these words of wisdom shared by Dr. Dick Elgin. "For many years I have delivered to state surveyor association meetings a seminar on how to improve one's surveying business. Its current revision is based on my 36 years of ....Read the Article

Big Ship {Tight Squeeze} With a clearance of about 226 feet between Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW) and the span underside of San Francisco's Bay Bridge, there's usually plenty of room for the world's biggest ships to pass through on their way to the Port of Oakland. But ....Read the Article

Herr Niebuhr and the Remarkable Traverse So began a personal adventure that continues to this day. Who was this Carsten Niebuhr chap? This we know: Born March 17, 1733, he was a farmer in the moist marshlands of coastal northern Germany, a fellow first learning alphabets and mathematics at 22 years of age, a student .... Read the Article

The Largest Non-BLM Cadastral Retracement in History Maricopa County, Arizona, is the 14th largest county of roughly 2,950 counties in the country. It contains roughly 5,904,616 acres within its bounds, over 25 municipalities and communities and more than 3.5 million people who call it home. It is ....Read the Article

GIS Matters: The Power of Place Geographic Information Systems--the powerful combination of visualization tools and spatial data--are ubiquitous today. People use GIS for many applications such as online searches for retail sources of products and services, as navigational aids in cars, planes, and boats, for ....Read the Article

Model Behavior: The How-To Guide to Successful Surface Modeling, Part 4 We've been examining some of the pitfalls in surface modeling based on differing source information. The last article [Dec. 2009] dealt with the common errors associated with using drawn contours as source ....Read the Article

Vantage Point: Beating Axles into Plowshares As businesspeople, we have always been warned to diversify our clientele and services so that we don't suffer so badly when one client or one line of work no longer provides us the same (or any) income. But the fortunes of communities and cities often rise and fall due to a single ....Read the Comments

Survey Affidavit Of No Change
Many professional land surveyors know all too well about the survey affidavit of no change, its negative effects on the surveying profession, and the impact it has on the public. If a land surveyor's primary duty is to safeguard life, health, property and promote the public welfare, then perhaps an ....Read the Article

The American Surveyor Vol 7 No 3 Articles Posted

Editorial: SPAR 2010
Under the banner of Innovate, Connect & Learn, the seventh annual SPAR laser scanning conference was held in Houston in February. In comparison to attendance in 2009, which had decreased slightly from the previous year to 630, attendance this year roared back to nearly 800. Of these ....Read the Article

SMART Surveying Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) is an overwhelmingly popular rail initiative in Northern California. Measure Q had an amazing 70% support of the two county (Sonoma-Marin) SMART District. One reason for voter enthusiasm is that SMART promises to be relatively ....Read the Article

Ashtech Comes Full Circle: An interview with François Erceau They're back! While the name Ashtech may sound new to younger folks in the precise community, its corporate predecessors, Ashtech, Thales and Magellan have ... Read the Article

Whose Footsteps Are They? The Journey to the Center Quarter Corner The center quarter corners of the Public Land Survey System are the topic of many heated discussions between surveyors. Some say the center quarter can exist only at the intersection of ...Read the Article

The Birthplace of VRS Today, Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) networks are becoming commonplace. There is at least a small RTK network (or multiple RTK networks) in every state of the U.S., some with full statewide coverage. Internationally, many countries boast nationwide networks. All have been developed within a whirlwind decade since the introduction of the ....Read the Article

Infected with Surveying: A ProFile of Dick Elgin Dick Elgin comes by his surveying "roots" honestly. Raised in his late parents' "Mom and Pop" surveying business, as with so many of us, surveying got into his blood early in life and has yet to leave. This rare combination of surveying practitioner, researcher, educator, author and ....Read the Article

Vantage Point: Ripple Effects Above and Below The most popular saying around one office I worked in was, "You can have anything you want, but you have to pay the price." Both clients and employees heard it frequently. But it applies to life on a broader scale as well, affecting many aspects of the world we live in. One of ...Read the Comments

Network News
Earl Dudley, Inc. saw the benefits of a reference station network early on. Now, nearly a decade after their first station, they are seeing a lot of new converts to the technology. Equipment suppliers in a broad range of fields can often go years without a change in their product offering. Not ...Read the Article

Volume 7, Number 2 Articles Posted

Editorial: Conference Season
Well, it's conference season again, and I'm sure many of you have or are attending your state shows. I'm very impressed with many of our state organizations for the work they do in promoting the profession and educating surveyors. The national shows, although costly, generally provide more than the state shows in the way of presentations, seminars and the latest technology and ....Read the Article

Surveyors In History Bryant Sturgess is a licensed surveyor and civil engineer in California. He was Chief Surveyor for the State Lands Commission under François (Bud) Uzes and Roy Minnick. Now retired after 38 years service he continues to the present as a water boundary consultant for the California State Lands Commission and the State ....Read the Article

GPS at LSU - A New Box for the Tigers Turning a golf course into a baseball stadium for one of the nation's most successful college teams presented a number of "interesting" challenges for my employer, Buquet & LeBlanc, Inc. of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The fact that the new stadium would replace a legendary ballpark that had been the site of the Louisiana State University Fighting Tigers' success for... Read the Article

Surveyors Convert, Connect & Expand to Create a Network of Possibilities Beginning in 1967, Van Harten Surveying (VHS) built a reputation in the City of Guelph, Ontario, Canada and surrounding communities for its ability to complete a wide range of engineering and surveying activities with speed and accuracy. The company's list of clients eventually grew to include builders, developers, lawyers, universities, utilities and government agencies. Yet...Read the Article

A Visit To Nedo When it comes to history, the picturesque town of Dornstetten has deep roots tracing back more than twelve hundred years. Translated "thorn places"or "thorn sites", its municipal crest bears a deer antler above a thorn bush. Located at the edge of the Black Forest in southwestern Germany, the town was first mentioned in public records in ....Read the Article

Students in the Pipeline Surveyors don't need advanced tools to see changes on the horizon for their industry. The general economic slowdown has meant challenging times today, but the future promises increased opportunities. The 2008­2009 edition of the Bureau of Labor and Statistics' Occupational Outlook Handbook contained the prediction that "Overall employment of surveyors, cartographers ....Read the Article

Vantage Point: A Wish List for Risk MAP Map Modernization is dead, long live Risk MAP. So said a colleague while discussing the future of floodplain mapping in the United States. What he meant was that FEMA is finishing up its final year of Congressional funding for the Flood Map Modernization Program and has begun the transition toward its new Risk MAP (Mapping, Assessment, and Planning) strategy. While Map Mod tried to ...Read the Comments

Pointed Journeys
After driving until the road ends and then hiking for hours, you arrive at your goal. Are you atop a mountain peak, at a cave's entrance, or at a rare fossil dig? No, you're at a degree confluence point. There is no band, victory tape, not even a marker. You are likely to be standing in a field alongside some bored-looking cows. But you are on a unique spot­where a line of ...Read the Article

December articles posted

Editorial: Tumultuous Times
If you've reached the end of 2008 feeling just a bit worn out, you're not alone. From the adrenaline highs of Michael Phelps winning eight gold medals in the Beijing Olympics to the depressing lows of an economy in crisis, and from the euphoria surrounding Obama's November election to the sobering realities of the ....Read the Article

Point to Point: The Digital Surveys Archive A show of hands now: How many of you produced a hand-drawn plat or map within the last month? Within the last year? Undoubtedly there are surveyors still drawing by hand, but their numbers get smaller and smaller as the years pass. For the rest of us, the digital age means not only that computations and ....Read the Article

A New Star Over Milan Innovation and precise surveying bring complex architecture to life. They are meant to impress. Designed by cutting-edge architects, today's office buildings, commercial complexes and public buildings are taking on new and exciting forms. With glittering facades and ...Read the Article

A Visit to MicroSurvey In my forty-some years in the survey industry I've crossed paths with lots of interesting people, each with a story to tell. The roads that led many to successful careers were a `straight shot' for some, with a specific goal in mind and clear-cut steps to get there. But for many others the stories include tales of ...Read the Article

The WowFactor: Topcon ImageMaster Surveyors traditionally have welcomed emerging technology when it offers an improvement in the accuracy and integrity of measurement and mapping. One of the most revolutionary tools of late for the surveyor has been the emergence of Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). The term encompasses ....Read the Article

ProFile: Sam Diaz - Chief Surveyor of Bechtel Corporation One of eight brothers and sisters, 54-year-old Sam Diaz grew accustomed to changing locations and making cross-country moves early in life. Today, having changed world time-zones as easily as some people change radio stations, we are pleased to have this veteran surveyor and world traveler share ....Read the Article

Scanning In The Streets Anyone who's visited Fenway Park to see the Boston Red Sox knows that current principal owner John Henry is among the world's best in sports event marketing. The Red Sox Nation experience spans generations and economic strata and reaches from eastern Maine to ...Read the Article

Surv-Fi, Part 3: Defending The Future There had been so much interest in the case, that the venue had been changed to a hearing room at the state capitol. The notices and press releases included an invitation for attendees who wished to arrive early and use their own instruments to observe three test marks set up in ...Read the Article

Product Review: The Topcon IS Imaging Station The Topcon IS (Imaging Station) is the latest offering from Topcon Positioning Systems' optical equipment lineup. It is built on the 900 series robotic chassis, however its expanded capabilities go well beyond a typical servo-driven total station. True to Topcon's philosophy of reaching the masses, they have managed to ...Read the Article

Vantage Point: Fiddling with Floods
My brother and I recently spent several days in New Orleans working with Habitat for Humanity on new, elevated homes in the Upper 9th Ward. On our way to the job site each day, we passed businesses and houses that, three years and a month after Katrina's tumultuous visit, look like ...Read the Article