Category Archives: Professional Surveyor Archives
Business Leader: Trimble’s Rob Miller Talks UAS
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) have hit the mainstream, or at the very least they’re poised to be ready for take-off when the FAA rules for commercial use are ready (possibly in 2015). For an insight from a supporting industry we interviewed Rob Miller, the product portfolio manager for Unmanned Systems at Trimble.PSM: Do you feel that...
Education in Surveying: The ROI from a Formal Surveying Education
As faculty members in the Surveying Engineering Technology program at the University of Maine, we are often asked if it is worth pursuing a bachelor of science degree in surveying. In other words, will a graduate receive a good return on his or her investment by pursuing academic studies in surveying? Our answer is an...
The Next Generation: FIG’s Young Surveyor’s Network
We are writing at the end of 2013, when geographic information and spatial thinking, both essential for the surveying profession, are increasingly part of our daily lives and jobs. The availability and the speed with which we can connect and use this geographic information, and even our way of spatial thinking, has changed dramatically in...
The “Pre” in Precision
Before they leave the Leica Geosystems factory floor, surveying instruments must perform extraordinary feats of precision. “In the manufacture of glass for precision optics, if the glass is cooled too quickly there will be stress in the glass,” explained Hans Weinbuch of Leica Geosystems. He spoke to me during a tour of Swiss Optics, a...
Back to Mount McKinley
Climbers locate a special, 25-year-old monument feared lost; it still marks the peak of North America’s tallest mountain. Rhonda Rushing, president of Berntsen International, Inc., regularly hears from people who have spotted her company’s survey monuments, usually in places like the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in North Carolina or at Disney World. The monument erected at...
Business Angle: Hardware and Software Purchase Decisions
Hardware and software purchases are two of the largest expenses, outside of personnel, for surveying professionals. There was a time when a surveyor could purchase a high-quality instrument and expect to use it for a decade or more. When I was first sent out to perform field surveys, I (as the new guy) got the...