Blog
Between the Scanner and the Deliverable: How Mach9 is Building the Missing Layer in Geospatial Production
A Carnegie Mellon-trained roboticist who learned surveying in a coal mine and mapped uranium deposits inside decommissioning pipes is now building what he calls a new category of software — one that sits at the intersection of CAD, GIS, and the physical world. Alex Baikovitz did not set out to build CAD software. He set...
Cleaner Signals, Better Sites
How Antenna-Level Interference Mitigation Improves Machine Control Productivity. Construction job sites have always been challenging environments for positioning. Steel structures, heavy machinery, changing terrain, and partial sky visibility are part of the daily reality. What has changed dramatically over the past decade is the radio-frequency (RF) environment in which modern construction now operates. Today’s job...
Brave New Coordinates: What NSRS Modernization Means for Survey and GIS Practice
NAD 83, NAVD 88 and “SPCS ’83” are finally giving way to a modern, GNSS- and gravity-based National Spatial Reference System. The technical pieces are arriving now. For surveyors and GIS professionals, the hard work will be managing the transition while keeping projects on track. For more than a decade, NOAA’s National Geodetic Survey (NGS)...
xyHt Magazine January/February 2026
Read the Jan/Feb xyHt digital edition. Table of Contents Brave New Coordinates: Working in the Modernized NSRS – Practical guidance for using NATRF2022, NAPGD2022 and SPC2022 to keep everyday projects aligned with the new U.S. reference frames. Fresno State: Building the Next Generation – How Fresno State’s geomatics program is training students on GNSS,...
Topcon Expands Capture Reality Portfolio with Introduction of New Handheld Scanning System
Topcon Positioning Systems has introduced the CR-S1, a handheld scanning system that combines LiDAR, panoramic cameras, visual SLAM cameras, and a GNSS antenna in a single device. The CR-S1 utilizes Topcon’s Collage mass-data software ecosystem central to a connected workflow. The CR-S1 expands the company’s Capture Reality portfolio as a higher‑performance option alongside the CR‑S2....
Topcon 2.0 in Practice
How Connected Workflows Are Redefining Geospatial and Construction Execution Over the past decade, geomatics has shifted from a discipline defined primarily by measurement accuracy to one increasingly shaped by workflow execution. Sensors are more capable, data volumes larger, and project timelines tighter, while survey, GIS, and construction activities now routinely overlap. In this environment, the...
