March 2014 Archives
History Corner: Community Service and the Pioneer Surveyor: E.B. Camp
Few people realize that the roles of the men who surveyed the wild frontiers of America (and other nations) were not confined to the profession of surveying. Because surveyors were, relative to the general population, fairly well educated and could “do their ciphers” and read complicated instructions, often they were the only men to whom […]
Best Practices in Land Surveying: Creating Superior Land Description Plats
In this new column, Landon describes best practices for land surveyors that were passed to him by his mentors and that he developed as part of his own land surveying work over the past decade. Topics include boundary surveying, GIS, data management, and business development. Land surveyors are taught the requirements of an effective land […]
Hardware Review: X90-OPUS GPS Receiver
I’ll make it short and sweet: we tried it, we like it, and we ended up buying it. I recently had the chance to test out the X90-OPUS GPS receiver. Essentially, the X90 receiver is designed for collecting static GPS occupations (when operating in real time is not available or needed) and easily submitting observations to […]
Deep Thinking: Upgrades to a Chicago Water Treatment Plant
Upgrades to a Chicago water treatment plant pose technical and logistical challenges; an innovative surveyor is helping deliver the solution. Editor’s Note: The lifespans of valuable infrastructure in both the public and private sectors can be extended far beyond the original design expectations. Upgrades can serve not only to maintain structural integrity and functionality, […]
Feature: Mapping the Centerline
The North Carolina Railroad Company uses mobile lidar and historic research to monument the corridor and map the centerline of a busy rail line dating back to 1851. Several years ago, the North Carolina Railroad Company (NCRR) began using geospatial technology to augment its rail corridor management program. An article in this magazine (July 2010, […]
Feature: Babysitting Bertha
Monitoring critical infrastructure above the world’s largest tunneling machine in Seattle involves overcoming seismic, geotechnical, and historic challenges. Seattle’s SR 99 Tunnel Project, which will provide a traffic bypass under two miles of downtown Seattle, employs Bertha, the largest-diameter tunneling machine ever built. Folks can follow the progress of Bertha with her own twitter feed […]