Category Archives: Surveying

Seen at HxGN LIVE 2019

BLK2GO SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) lidar handhelds have become popular for BIM, as-builts, and rapid 3D modeling. The new Leica Geosystems BLK2GO shares some of the core technologies of earlier members of the BLK family (like the BLK360 scanner). What distinguishes this from many of the other SLAM handhelds is that it utilizes cameras...

ridgecrest earthquake

Shake, Rattle & Roll: Disruptions to the Geodetic Fabric

On July 4, 2019 the desert region near Ridegcrest, California was hit with a magnitude 6.4 earthquake, resulting in minor damage in the area, most significantly to the infrastructure at the Naval Air Weapons Station at China Lake. Approximately 44 hours later on July 6th, a larger earthquake of magnitude 7.1 struck the region, causing...

2019 National Trig-Star Competition and Trig-Star Scholarship Recipients

Sponsored by the National Society of Professional Surveyors, Trig-Star is a competition that recognizes and rewards high school students who excel in mathematics, particularly Trigonometry, and their teachers. The goal of the program is to demonstrate practical uses for mathematics and bring greater awareness of the surveying profession. The Trig-Star Scholarship program (https://trig-star.com/scholarships) offers the opportunity for...

New Video Promoting Surveying as a Career

US Careers Online has partnered with WithersRavenel to highlight Geomatics and Surveying as a possible career path. North Carolina based US Careers Online—a leader in helping students find a career in new and interesting fields for over a decade—has released its newest video profile highlighting the field of Geomatics and Surveying. The video is collaboration...

Search for the Missing Pier

Above: The Gaithersburg Latitude Observatory is now a community park. My tale of locating the latitude pier of the Cincinnati Latitude Observatory, one of six international latitude observatories now defunct but historically significant. It was 1974, and I’d been working at the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) for two years. One afternoon my boss told me...

Construction Staking

Are you doing it right? In today’s world, survey construction staking is a major service being provided by most companies within the land surveying and civil engineering industry. Throughout my career, like many of you, I have been employed by a handful of different land surveying and civil engineering firms, and with each firm came...