Surveyors Philippines is a Hub andĀ Forum for Surveyors working in the Philippines to share questions, ideas, and opinions about Land Surveying. Share your surveying experiences working in the Philippines here.
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Insight needed on correct procedure for Railway Alignment design, survey, and alignment fixing (incl Topographical survey)
Question for the experts:During Railway alignment design and topographical survey for 260km long rail corridor , I came across a process where a survey company followed the below procedure1. Established DGPS Stations every 5 km using whole to part concept. Total of 85 control point pairs have been established in 260km long corridor.2. Converted theĀ DGPS control points coordinates to grid coordinates - UTM 44 N3. Again converted the UTM Coordinates to modified UTM ("they are calling it Planeā¦
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Thoughts
It seems too much for me to comprehend why government agencies supposedly safeguarding public safety and interest always fell short from its mandate. As supposedly the approving authority, local government units are not requiring comprehensive detailed engineering before a subdivision development project is given the License To Sell. Can we attribute this to lack of competence or shall we say, corruption in government? If I may, I shall say both.
Flood mitigation is always on top of the list for a project to comply with in order to ensure public safety. As one of the bases of detailed engineering, topographic map shall always be as accurate as providing the designer/planner not only actual ground relief but also actual gravitation in the project area. Achieving the required accuracy is hitting the first base towards flood mitigation. In view of this, geoid modelling is thus required for every topo project. Effective watershed analysis shall only provide meaningful result if it is based on meaningful accurate topo map. Is geoid modelling accomplished in local practice? Of course not! How can then flooding be avoided?
On the other hand, mining industry is being castigated by politicians as one of the main causes of flooding. In my opinion, it is the incompetence of regulating government agencies and the corruption in government are two main causes. As professional engineers, the concerned approving officers should have at least the required credentials. Incompetence in government is I guess one of the culprits of failure to safeguard public safety contrary to what politicians are saying in TV/radio. Incompetence invites corruption to come in. What disturbs me a lot is the incompetent government regulating incompetent small scale miners.
Other issues in flood mitigation is hydrology. How can the brightest hydrologist come up with meaningful hydrologic model if accurate meaningful topo map is not present?
In my opinion, flooding will continue to occur until incompetence and corruption in government are effectively addressed. By whom?
God have mercy on us.
Just my two cents.
Does anybody have any new ideas about what this webpage for Surveyors in the Philippines should have on it? Ā Do you see anything that should be changed or added? Ā Your opinions are very important to the administrators of LSU.
-Scott D. Warner, R.L.S.
Ā LSU Senior Director
Awesome, Ronnie! Like my number is 2524, which means I am the 2524th person in the history of the State of Wisconsin to be Licensed as a Land Surveyor. Ā I get it now, thanks.
I guess if I was rated by my test score or other ranking, I would not even know because that is not done here.
Interesting.
Thanks.
-Scott D. Warner, R.L.S.