Tag Archives: Field Notes
Professional Service or Commodity?
A Surveyor’s Thoughts on the QBS Process Editor’s Note: This month’s installment of Field Notes was submitted by James Nicolau IV, PLS, on the merits of using the quality-based selection (QBS) process to select surveyors for construction-staking services beyond where it is required under the Brooks Act (Public Law 95-582). When the QBS process is...
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...
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 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....
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...
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,...
