Category Archives: Professional Surveyor Archives
Editor’s Desk: Lobby Day
This past November, Thursday the 21st, was the annual Lobby Day for the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS). Held in conjunction with the semi-annual meetings of NSPS’s Board of Governors and Board of Directors, this is an opportunity for representatives of the surveying community to meet with their state’s members of Congress and their...
Stories from the “E” File: Garibaldi’s Great Leap
The soap factory was going to be shut down. The people of Pied Gros, Louisiana, had been subjected to noxious smells, persistent flies, and environmental abuse for over 40 years, until 1969. The people had protested, filed suits, and appealed to elected officials for decades until the small fishing community finally won. However, the decision...
Compass Data
CASE STUDY CompassData Ground Control Ensures Accuracy of Digital Aviation Maps Aviation mapping is rapidly transitioning from paper to digital, and CompassData is working hard to ensure the new maps are better than their predecessors. In just the past two years, CompassData crews have collected high-accuracy, globally consistent ground control points (GCPs) and generated satellite-derived orthoimages...
Measuring Form and Function
By K. Olaf Niemann The Hyperspectral-Lidar Research Group at the University of Victoria uses multisensor airborne remote sensing for vegetation mapping. Advances in sensor technology have, in recent years, allowed the remote sensing community the luxury of simultaneously acquiring data from complementary acquisition systems. We now have the ability to characterize a surface in terms...
3D Scanning: Mobile Mapping: Survey Grade vs Mapping Grade
As mobile mapping systems become more commonplace the debate between accuracy and cost rages, with suppliers competing in terms of system performance as well as fitness for purpose. Here are some of the pitfalls and misperceptions associated with the selection and application of a mobile mapping system and a description of the differences between survey-...
Business Angle: Communication: The Two-way Street
Columnist Bill Beardslee, PLS, PE, PP, writes in this space about the importance of clear communication with your clients. This month a surveying company based in New York shares their insights into client communication from more than 35 years of business, as they expanded into a multi-discipline, multi-state firm. Marketing your business and its services...