Land Surveyor Blogs

Something for surveyors to think about: LIS: GIS' poor cousin?LIS_GISpoorCousin.pdf

Happy International Surveyors Week 2012

When I started building Land Surveyors United back in 2007, I never imagined that this project could become so enlightening. Every single day that I wake up on this earth, I am greeted by passionate and driven land surveyors from virtually every location on earth, sharing their experiences and finding solutions to their problems on the network.  Together with RLS Scott Warner of Wisconsin, a set of dedicated calendar days have been determined which will fo

Survey Earth in a Day is Happening in a BIG Way

We're excited to have the support of American Congress of Surveying and Mapping in its last days.  In the newest issue of the ACSM Bulletin, you will find a nice editorial about Survey Earth in a Day event, happening at NOON in all areas of the world on June 20th, the summer solstice.

What Makes this Event Special?

A geospatial event of this magnitude has never before been attempted, ever.

There has never been an event in history which geospatial p

By now, you may have all read about
Survey Earth in a Day Project on Land Surveyors United Network. What you may not know yet is how this project fits within the larger idea of unifying the geospatial industry across the globe. What I am about to layout for you is a bold ambition which has never before been tried in the surveying industry, so let's first understand how Survey Earth in a Day fits within the calendar of International Land Surveying Events.

⚛HEADS UP!! Survey Earth in a Day featur

 John Veatch has had a lot of experience surveying near the Gulf Coast. Unfortunately the John Veatches of the world have a pension for being 20 years ahead of their time.   If you’re a history buff you might enjoy this.

John Veatch came from a preacher’s family, growing up in Indiana and Kentucky.

His father was also a member of the Indiana legislature. He received a good education with background in medicine, geology, and botany. In 1829 at the age of 21 he traveled south to New Orleans where h

Fellow "Survey the Earth in a Day" surveyors: When you pick points to log, consider going to Google Earth first, find a visible pin pointed intersection that you can see plainly from the aerial, then log it so that Google Earth can use our work to adjust their aerial photos to fit more precisely rather than our standard survey markers that are not visible on their photos. That way everyone benefits!!! Also submit all your logged "points" with all the data that can be used for the SAGES. Search o

Gary W. Breisch Already done: PointName, Lat, Lon, Elevation, Description, horizontal datum, Vertical Datum, comments = BR2,36.120600°,-96.145774°,670.22,AluminumCapMonument in gravel drive circle at gbreisch.com, WGS84, NAVD88 feet = survey accurate monument point at gbreisch.com office site.Datum, comments =GBR2,36.120600°,-96.145774°,670.22,AluminumCapMonument in gravel drive circle at gbreisch.com, WGS84, NAVD88 feet, = survey accurate monument point at gbreisch.com office site.

As you’ve probably noticed, we’ve made some big changes to Land Surveyors United, offering new ways to explore, engage with the network from any mobile device and be found in our upcoming global directory, which means new ways for all of your work to be discovered. Literally thousands of geospatial professionals are now using Land Surveyors United in new ways! Our traffic has doubled this month again and this means your reputation online has terrific visibility.

Here are 3 easy ways t

The moment we've all been waiting for is finally here! Please allow me to introduce the all new Land Surveyors United Mobile Version of the Network (in Beta)! You can access the mobile version from any and all mobile devices here:

http://landsurveyorsunited.com/m

Made for Android, Iphone, Tablets, Ipad, Blackberry and virtually all devices known to man!

This new mobile versionhas many unique features not available in previous version or even the Iphone version. Let's take a look at some of these

This is a 25+ year old Tack Ball, it was done and flattened when handed to me in 2005. Surveyor John E Wade, Jr PLS said it was lost under a tool box when installed in a new 1989 truck..it was at least 5 years old then,maybe 1984. It's funny the things we hang on to.

Do you have any old tack balls laying around that you'd like to share???  Let's see them!

Right Angle

Right angle is also olden basic tool made of wood,mild steel sheet,stainless steel with cast iron handle used for various engineering works.actualay  it used every where in engineering  field.especialy  for inner or outer corner checking .it made on right angle (90°)triangle rule that at every step of angle is as at right position. by measurement a famous rule called 3,4,5 here 3 is perpendicular 4 is base and 5 is hyputios.in our field if any surveyor does not know about right angle

Chain! Contracts and the Land Surveyor

By Deward “Karl” Bowles, RPLS

Not so long ago a firm handshake or a phone call were how business was conducted. The reputation of your firm was riding on your ability to fulfill the obligations of the verbal agreements you made with your clients. The quality of your service and product were judged by your ability to stand by the verbal contracts you made.

Those days are long past as society has become increasingly complex and increasingly litigious. I will be

2012 is bringing expansion to our firm. We are now offering Civil Engineering services and will be relocating our office in the near future...

Civil Engineering Services and New Office Location

Matt

The Excelsior Group, LLC

As a Land Surveyor I have spent much time contemplating my profession. I have sought to engage Land Surveyors across the world in order to deepen my understanding of what constitutes good practice and good principle. The theory behind Land Surveying always was my focus.

I joined and posted to websites that I thought were dedicated to the purposes I mentioned above. I was very active at some of these sites and participated in many debates dealing with the business and practice of Land Surveying. T

Basic Tool Mason Plum Bob

Zero Error Tool

It is truth that books were written from experiential but no one can do any thing by book, because fun is knowledge based and shifted from a practical person to others followers.

About 25 years ago a mason question me that what is man made thing which has no error, I went to think about man made machines daily used equipment, tools etc and guessed many things, he reject all my pointed tools, then I tired and let him to tell me, he did not replied only sho

This is a continuation of an earlier article that I wrote on the subject of Certificates of Merit. I am not surprised that this issue continues to arise.

We continue to see tests of the Texas Civil Practices and Remedies Code due to changes that were a result of the recent tort reform. Case law in the particular area of Certificates of Merit has been evolving and despite some early questionable statements by the Court (see my previous article) it seems to have reached a certain maturity.

In the in

Let me first say I have been in business for 22 years, during this time I have seen and been through alot. Over the first 20 years two things were consistent work and my ability to increase my prices. Over the past two years work has been very inconsistent and prices have plummeted.  Of course we have a bad economy to blame, but what is disturbing is this free fall that has occurred even as inflation rears its ugly head. My business is surviving these times thanks to a loyal group of clients who

In an article titled "10 Things Your Neighbor Won't Tell You" Quentin Fottrell lists this as #7..."I'm secretly stealing your land.""Few homeowners have heard of "adverse possession," but it's the legal grounds on which a neighbor can claim rights to your land. Say a neighbor moves a fence or wall, or plants trees or a bush. If he encroaches on your property, and no one notices, he can claim "continuous, exclusive, open and notorious" use of that land -- and if he's able to do so for an average

Survey Wisconsin in a day

Here is a link to an article recently published by the Wisconsin State Cartographer’s Office describing the events of “Surveying Wisconsin in a day”.

Dozens of member surveyors of the Wisconsin Society of Land Surveyors around the state simultaneously operated Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers to create a massive network of observations, being the largest ever on record for one day in Wisconsin.

I was proud to be a participant in the event. If you navigate around t

Below are excerpts from a diary my great grandfather kept between 1897 to 1956. He was born March 20, 1875 and started keeping a diary a few months before he turned 22. He lived in East Texas during the time and he worked on survey crews and did a lot of surveying as a young man. His first entries in his diary in January of 1897 are crude chaining notes. Later it is clear he is operating the transit and level. As the year of 1897 wears on his diary becomes more detailed. Below is a selection of