Category Archives: Professional Surveyor Archives
Sharing the Vision
As a Canadian data-collection firm scans the horizon, it sees growth in its geo-referenced 3D photo services. Are you looking for ideas on how to expand your surveying services? How’s this for a cogent business model: Familiarize yourself with a particular industry full of potential clients, form a company committed to serving that industry, take...
Gravity’s Increasing Gravitas
The importance of gravity in land surveying (part 1 of 2). Click the following links to download the author’s original PDF of this article in three PDFs (they’re large): Gravity A, Gravity B, Gravity C. Gravity’s importance in geodesy has long been recognized. Beginning with Galileo Galilei’s (1564 – 1642) gravity experiments and theories in the late 16th century,...
From the Field: What We Do
Work, work, work…time for a vacation! Unfortunately, with the economy still in the dumps my work load hasn’t been that great lately, but my brother Craig and I planned a wilderness canoe trip to the Boundary Waters of Minnesota and Quetico Provincial Park in Canada anyway. We were going old-school, in wood canoes, one that...
Political Surveyor: Mobile Mapping and the MAP-21 Act
When Congress passed and President Obama signed the MAP-21 Act in July of 2012, mobile mapping may have been given a big green light. On July 6, President Obama signed into law H.R. 4348 that became Public Law 112-141. The Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century act included provisions reauthorizing the nation’s highway...
GNSS Next: Dream Time: Chip-scale Atomic Clocks
“We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they’re called memories. Some take us forward, they’re called dreams.” —Jeremy Irons Global Navigation Satellites may revolve around the world, but the world of Global Positioning Satellites revolves around atomic clocks, and each satellite typically carries multiple atomic clocks. These are very sophisticated (and very...
Gigglebytes: Mr. Fix It (a work of fiction)
I knew I was going to have a handful of a survey when I landed this particular project. When I was informed that I’d won the job I felt lucky that I’d included a substantial budget. What I was asked to retrace was the NE quarter of the NE quarter of Section 1, Township 1...