Category Archives: Surveying
More on the Datum Epoch
Editor’s note: Our April feature “Datum Epochs, and How to Understand Them” by Richard Maher, generated a lot of interest, and readers asking for more on geodesy fundamentals. One letter to the editor provided more detail on keys points. In the interests of providing multiple perspectives, we present the following from Steven J. Martin as...
SLAM, Bam, Thank You Ma’am: Giving Preservation a Hand(held)
Handheld SLAM mapping technology helps preserve historical sites for future generations. Across the world, places of historical significance are regularly monitored to ensure they are cared for properly and preserved for future generations. This care and attention can help us learn more about our past and inform design and building projects of the future. When...
Just Say No
This article appeared in xyHt‘s e-newsletter, Field Notes. We email it once a month, and it covers a variety of land surveying topics in a conversational tone. You’re welcome to subscribe to the e-newsletter here. (You’ll also receive the Pangaea newsletter with your subscription.) As I have aged and learned, I have worked diligently to improve myself, whether through...
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...
Scans, Soundings, Surve and Sailcargo: Building Ceiba with Surveying
Timeless maritime arts and craftwork mixed with modern technologies—including high-precision surveying—are helping reintroduce wind power to seaborne trade in Ceiba. It was a chance meeting that changed two lives. It may also change the way the world thinks about maritime shipping. It’s Ceiba! An accomplished sailor, Danielle Doggett loves tall ships—the large wind-powered sailing vessels...
BIM It Up and Fly Them In, Mactan-Cebu Airport!
Designed using building information modeling, Mactan-Cebu International Airport is a tribute not only to technology but also team collaboration and creativity. Featured image: Photomontage (by Marcel Lam) shows the BIM model combined with an actual photo of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport’s roof. Everything about the design of the newly built Terminal 2 at the Mactan-Cebu...
