All posts by John Palatiello
Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Brooks Act
By John Palatiello On this day, October 27, in 1972, President Nixon signed into law legislation providing for qualifications based selection (QBS) of architecture, engineering, (A&E) and related services, including surveying and mapping. It was 50 years ago today the Brooks Act became law. At the time of its enactment, the Brooks Act was a...
Modern Surveying: It’s Time to Bury the Dead Presidents
By John M. Palatiello How would you respond if asked to name a famous surveyor? Here’s what prompted me to think about this. In October 2014 at the NSPS leadership meeting in Overland Park, Kansas during the joint Kansas and Missouri surveyors’ conference, my firm arranged for representative Kevin Yoder (R-KS) to address the then-NSPS...
Infrastructure Gets a C from COGO
Former governor says U.S. spatial data leadership has slipped. The nation’s spatial data infrastructure gets a barely passing grade of “C” indicating it “requires attention,” former Governor Jim Geringer (R-WY) reported on February 23. Speaking at a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, Geringer said the national spatial data infrastructure (NSDI), a...
