All posts by Scott Martin
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...
Surveying Scientists: The USGS Does It Right
As is often the case in our tightly networked profession, one thing leads to another. In early 2017 I was contacted by the US Geological Survey (USGS) hydrologist, Brenda Densmore, from the USGS Nebraska Water Science Center. Brenda had found me through the NGS State Geodetic Coordinator web page and reached out to me for...
Getting out Is a Good Thing
Field Notes Although I have been active in the surveying profession in several ways over the years, including serving as the editor of Field Notes, I really haven’t ventured out much to seek face-to-face encounters in various venues and settings, but that recently changed a bit and has produced a new perspective for me. In...
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...
Surveyors: An Identity Crisis
It seems that during my entire career as a proud professional land surveyor, surveyors have been waging an image battle. We often hear that we aren’t perceived by the public as—or paid on par with—other professionals, such as our next-of-kin, engineers, and even lawyers and doctors. I continually hear and read discussions that we aren’t...
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....