Blog

Feature: UAS & Accuracy

Field tests of UAS photogrammetry reveal verifiably superior results over traditional survey technologies.  Editor’s note: Throughout the past year as PSM has been covering UAS, we’ve been looking for end-user evaluations of the accuracies that can be expected from these promising tools. A forward-thinking surveying firm in Cork, Ireland has done just that: in the...

Feature: Surveying Google

Three days submerged in the Googleplex through a surveyor’s eyes.One of my side gigs is as an adjunct lecturer on GIS with the University of Arizona. Through that association, I was recently given the opportunity to attend the first Google Geo for Higher Ed workshop at Google’s corporate headquarters in Mountain View, California. Referred to as the “Googleplex,”...

Dual Frequency: NSPS Awards $22.5k in Scholarships

The National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) has awarded $22,500 in scholarships to 14 college students studying the surveying profession with intention of joining the profession when they graduate. “Selecting this year’s recipients was very challenging because of the number of excellent and qualified students who applied and demonstrated real financial need,” said NSPS executive director...

SGM

Obtaining economical and accurate point clouds from semi-global matching. In the old days, mappers were thrilled with 30 meter USGS digital elevation models (DEMs). These were available for almost everywhere in the United States. Years later they started producing 10m DEMs, and life was really good. We had one elevation point “on the ground” every...

History Corner: A New Prime Meridian Marker for Florida

If surveyors share one characteristic in general it is their perseverance in the face of adversity. In setting the initial points for the beginnings of surveys in the territories and states, many surveyors suffered hardships that only one who reads the field notes understands. The threat of annihilation from hostile natives, the dread of Yellow...

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