Thoughts

• Land Surveyor

  DAVID C. GARCELON March 4, 2016 at 3:15pm

  Scott, 

  Noticed you comment re: "Rocking the Rod:"  Back in the 1960's when we were doing level runs with extension rods we would always remind the rodman to "Lock the Rod" and then "Rock the Rod". More than once we would have a "busted' level run because the rodman didn't get one section of the rod properly locked in place.

  On a more humorous side. We would often use the words "smidge","hair", "mite". "sliver", "tap", etc. when doing layout and other surveying work.  For example "Just a smidge right"  or "a hair left" or "down a tap", etc.  We would have fun with a a beginner by suggesting these terms were for specific distances, by calling out "I told you a hair, not a smidge!"

  David C. Garcelon
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  Nel W. Bacz September 25, 2014 at 2:48am

  thanks scott it is a 9mm glock 17

   
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  Rowan Laver August 28, 2014 at 4:14pm

  Yes I was.

  Have you been there?
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  J W Veatch May 17, 2014 at 7:24am

  Professional Land Surveyors have been kept alive by things subsurface.  Not minerals or oil or stuff like that but 1/2” iron rods set just below the surface so Joe Homeowner will not sue the guy who put it there because Joe Homeowner won’t hit it with a lawnmower.  That said there is a residual value to this type of subsurface surveying to all the PLS’s of the world who deal in real property surveys. The fact is these iron rods or pipe represent Property Rights above and subsurface when are used to mark the corners of real estate. Because they are invisible to all of this hi-tech Lidar and other new field data collecting devices that, at 1000 XYZ coordinates a second, are keeping field data collecting PLS’s setting at their desk wondering what the hell has happen.  And this is the very reason the  airborne drowns, cars, trucks and all manor of mechanized field data collection systems will not (for now) replace “feet on the ground”.

   

  As GIS becomes more user friendly the applications will surely follow.  This is not good news for land surveyors.  To be sure computer technology has made the tedious simple and the digital revolution has made the storage and retrieval of a universe of information a mouse chick away.  Even so when it comes to Digital Mapping in the USA what you think you see may not necessarily be what you get.  This is particularly true of property lines drawn on public and private online image maps.  I am referring here to the proliferation of geographic information systems in every burg and hamlet in the USA.  In a misguided attempt to show property lines on government & private systems the locale GIS managers have resorted to all kinds of low tech approaches.  The result has been the dissemination of misinformation that the uninformed would justifiably assume to represent the actual legal delineation of property lines. 

   

  What appears to be missing in any discussions regarding Digital Mapping is the recognition of the fact that lines on a map, or in our new virtual world, do not necessarily represent those same lines in the real world.  Even if the person or persons creating these lines uses real world coordinates and connects the dots they create, unless those coordinates & connecting lines were created as a result of a real world professional land surveyor’s standard of care the lines connecting those dots cannot possible represent legal property lines.  

   

  Maybe GIS really does mean “Get It Surveyed”

   

  Historically parcel level geographic information has been the realm of the professional land surveyor.  Yet because of the utility of GIS, amateurs have taken over the process of deciding just what and how land parcel data will be represented on the internet.  Even now it is very late in the game for surveyors to attempt to put a stake in the ground (pardon the pun) and claim what is legally and should rightfully be theirs.  So how do we get back in the game?  My suggestion would be to gather the resources and build a “Real Property GIS” using the new Lidar Mapping Headset I am developing. We are about to once again redesign the land surveying profession however this time we have a specific purpose that that will take thousands of property owners out of a FEMA flood zone and save them a billion or 2 in insurance payments and my Lidar device is the key to the process.  So if you or your company would be interested in becoming one of my strategic partners; join me I know the perfect place to start. 

   

  You can call me in my Florida USA office my direct line is 1-239 282 9170
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  Mike Goebel January 8, 2014 at 9:33am

  Hi Scott,

  Yes I'll be at the institute and look forward to listening to your presentation.

  Hope you have stayed warm in this cold blast.

  Mike 
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  Felix Olufemi Iyiola April 13, 2013 at 12:35am

  Yes, it is Nigeria
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  Carl Smith March 5, 2013 at 8:53am

  Hello Scott,

  Good to know that there are other Seabees out there that pursued acareer in Land Surveying. Stationed in Dong Ha, Quang Tri and Cua Viet attached to the 3rd Marines 1968-1970. Discharged in Aug 1970. Thanks to the Navy for creating a Land Surveyor.
• Land Surveyor

  DAVID C. GARCELON February 22, 2013 at 6:44am

  Scott, 

  In the " Btief Synopsis of the History of Position Fixing"  the 7th paragraph has an error..I wrote "The survey has taken on the task of establishing..". I should have written.."The survey has never taken on the task of establishing..."

  David
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  Paul Quagge December 3, 2012 at 7:59pm

  Hello Scott,

  Thanks for the association, I look forward to talking with you. Its a great site!

   

  See You, Paul

   
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  Craig Stettner September 23, 2012 at 2:01pm

  Yes.. Very busy finally. The last 2 years where very lean and pricing hit bottom. Enjoy!!