Field Notes Archives
Destiny: I Was Meant to Be a Surveyor
Even though I didn’t realize it at the time, I had two experiences in my youth with direct links to me becoming a surveyor. Were they omens or simply coincidences? There’s no way of knowing, but I like to think they were part of my early survey indoctrination. My father was a high school teacher, […]
Passive Survey Marks Get a “Stay” under the NSRS
My first order of business is to thank Dr. Dru Smith and the National Geodetic Survey (NGS) for their response to my “Are HARNs on Death Row?” article. When I wrote the piece, my objective was to increase awareness and incite action among the surveying community regarding the perpetuation of historical passive survey marks under […]
A Silver Survey in My Golden Years
This summer I had the joy of experiencing the best boundary retracement “job” of my 40-year surveying career, and it came about quite by accident. For most of my life I’ve had the privilege of visiting a cabin on the eastern side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains owned by the family of a childhood friend. […]
Polar Motion Studies and NOAA’s Legacy of International Scientific Cooperation: Ukiah and Gaithersburg Latitude Observatories
Above image: A panoramic view of the Ukiah Observatory Park shortly before its dedication in April 2014. Credit: City of Ukiah archives. Editor’s note: Dana J. Caccamise II is the NGS regional geodetic advisor to California and Nevada. Dana has been instrumental in assisting the City of Ukiah with bringing their latitude observatory back to life to […]
A Taste of the Country Club Golf Life
My brother chose a career in information technology, which has worked out well for him. However, the problem with being a computer wizard is that your skills are often sought after to assist family and friends as a “favor.” For a surveyor, those requests are very rare, if ever. I have often joked with him […]
Lost My Rodman
On June 25th, I lost my rodman, who was also my brother, best friend, and only sibling, at the much-too-young age of 57. He went to sleep and didn’t wake up. Turns out he had been ignoring symptoms of heart trouble for some time, and, unfortunately, it was a fatal mistake. My weeks since have […]