Tag Archives: surveying

The Next Generation: FIG’s Young Surveyor’s Network

We are writing at the end of 2013, when geographic information and spatial thinking, both essential for the surveying profession, are increasingly part of our daily lives and jobs. The availability and the speed with which we can connect and use this geographic information, and even our way of spatial thinking, has changed dramatically in...

Business Angle: Hardware and Software Purchase Decisions

Hardware and software purchases are two of the largest expenses, outside of personnel, for surveying professionals. There was a time when a surveyor could purchase a high-quality instrument and expect to use it for a decade or more. When I was first sent out to perform field surveys, I (as the new guy) got the...

History Corner: John Wasson: Surveyor General in Apache Land, Part 1

Arizona was made a separate surveying district on July 11, 1870.  It was a momentous occasion for the young territory.  Governor Anson P. K. Safford, newly appointed after his stint as surveyor general of Nevada, recommended his Nevada friend, newspaperman John Wasson, for the new position.   At his side in the recommendation of Wasson...

Guest Editorial: How the Future Surveyor Can Be Relevant

I wrote a guest essay in the March 2013 issue of PSM portraying my vision of the future.  I believe I made a miscalculation—the “future” is progressing very rapidly, and a lot of what I envisioned is already here. Here are several notable examples. Locata, the Australian-based company that developed their terrestrial-based replication of the GNSS...

Where Theory Meets Practice: Geodetic Observations – Part 2

Part 1 of this article (March 2014) presents the differences between azimuths that surveyors observe with a total station and the geodetic azimuths listed in GNSS adjustment reports. However, the effect on angles caused by the deflection of the vertical at the observing station is typically small. Thus, the difference between the observed astronomic angle and...

Education in Surveying: Improving the Geospatial Learning Experience: GeoLearn

GeoLearn is an online education company founded in 2013 and designed to improve the learning experience for busy professionals and technicians in the geospatial professions.  Joe Paiva, PhD, PS, PE, a long-time geospatial industry educator, and Robert Morris are principals of this start-up educational company.  The company’s initial slate of  professional development courses, announced at launch...