Category Archives: Energy/Utilities
Damage to the Underground: A Stitch in Time Saves Nine
Avoiding damage to utility infrastructure could save billions. This is a summary of a white paper “Reducing Damage to Underground Utility Infrastructure during Excavation” prepared by Geoff Zeiss and Dr. Sakura Shinoaki and published by the Geospatial Information & Technology Association. Over two decades in the United States there have been more than 400 fatalities and...
The Early Days of 3D Scanning
When I first came across Cyra Technologies Inc., a start-up that was developing 3D laser scanning, I was working at Trimble Navigation in Sunnyvale, California, in the heart of the San Francisco Bay area’s “Silicon Valley.” I consider myself lucky. I had the good fortune to be deeply involved in the very beginning of 3D...
Recordkeeping: Preserving the Past, Present, and Future
History Reveals the Importance of Underground Documentation and Recordkeeping Featured image: Boston designers, engineers and construction crews work underground to extend the Boston subway in the early 1900s. In 2002, owners and designers of The Dalles Lock and Dam, which stretches over 1.7 miles on the Columbia River between Washington and Oregon, undertook a $20...
The Many Facets (and Faces) of Surveying
Surveyors have traditionally done a variety of essential and interesting work—and they continue to do so. We’ve asked surveyors from various work disciplines what inspires them. To get an idea of where we are going, it’s important to stop and take a look at where we have been. This rings especially true for those of...
GNSS for Curingue: Accessing Remote Water Resources
A surveyor volunteers his time and expertise to help supply fresh water to Curingue, an isolated village in the Andes. Featured image: As part of the water project, Curingue residents work on building a structure for water collection, storage, and pumping. High in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador, the village of Curingue has no centralized...
Another Curveball: Coronavirus and Geospatial
Out of the blue, we’re facing another curveball. The current global concern (COVID-19, aka the Coronavirus) was generally not anticipated, and the situation changes daily. It was hoped that, by the time this is published, the situation would have calmed dramatically—but sadly it has taken a turn for the worse. Thus far disruptions have only...