Tag Archives: surveying
Future of Determining Elevation
A frank discussion of the different heights used in surveying, what’s inside a geoid model, and how geoid model data is used within GNSS software to produce elevations. Certainly most geospatial professionals who have used Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) within their surveying workflows have come across the term “geoid model” before. But who actually knows...
A Post-licensing World for Surveying?
One geospatial professional’s suggestions on increasing the professional aspect and relevancy of the surveying profession. Editor’s note: The subject of licensure for surveyors, photogrammetrists, and other geospatial professionals has heated up of late. This has been as a result of efforts in a number of states, including Tennessee and Washington, to redefine the definition of...
Accuracy With Small UAS Mapping
Two recent advances in heretofore unrelated technologies are giving birth to a new way to perform local-area metric mapping. The first is the development of small, unmanned aerial systems (sUAS), spurred on primarily by the miniaturization of autopilot components. The second is the development of novel algorithms for creating digital surface models from collections of...
The Lot Corner
A large survey-engineering firm had developed a subdivision, bounded by a section line on the north side and a 1950 subdivision and 1/16 line on the east side. By doing so they had exposed a five-foot overlap between the section line as run with GPS and the 1950 subdivision. They sought advice from the county...
Critical Issues for GIS/Survey Cooperation
State Plane Coordinates in Legal Descriptions The time is now to have State Plane Coordinates (SPC) attached to key monuments that should be part of just about any legal description, in the proper context.* This has been discussed since the early 1980s and has been accomplished only on a piecemeal basis. With coordinate inclusion, a...
Heads-up Hard Hats
A new smart helmet brings VR to the workplace. Virtual Reality (VR) and “wearables” are all the rage now, but we expect the hype to subside at some point, and then we’ll start seeing products suitable for real-world applications. Sure, there is Glass and Oculus, but how can such devices move beyond gaming, marketing, (and...
