Category Archives: Surveying
Spring has Sprung
Field Notes Is there a better profession than being a surveyor–especially in the spring? These are the beautiful days we all wait for with anticipation through the cold and windy days of winter. I’ve always felt that when one works outdoors, they freeze all winter for a few nice days in the spring and then...
Surveying for Safety at Waipio Valley
Lush vegetation, beautiful ocean vistas, and a historic Hawaiian valley provide the setting for a complex engineering project that addresses technical and cultural concerns. The Waipio Valley on the island of Hawaii has great historical significance within Hawaiian culture. Known as the Valley of Kings, it was home to many generations of the royal family...
The Incredible UAV
Looking Forward Land surveyors aren’t just surveyors anymore. Map makers aren’t just cartographers anymore. We are all tied together in these geospatial professions of measuring, mapping, photogrammetry—anyone who collects and interprets data. We are ‘geospatialists.’ One of the things that tie all of us together is uncrewed aerial vehicles. A few years ago, who would...
Mechanics, Science, Chemistry, and Surveying
The genesis of modern surveying and geodetic instruments sprang from a convergence of multiple sciences I held the century-old instrument, a compact high-precision optical theodolite, and thought: ‘This has more in common with our present-day instruments than not. And who were the geniuses that engineered and built such things?’ Surveying instruments have been in a...
Tackling the Aerial-to-CAD Bottleneck
Aerial capture is getting easier and faster, but the subsequent step of CAD linework generation is a bottleneck—especially given the present shortage of qualified drafters. AI is stepping in to help. In 2017, the co-founders of what would become AirWorks Solutions Inc. first met and began discussing ideas for a new geospatial venture. Both had...
Boundary by Acquiescence
Legal Boundaries This time around we have a question from a Georgia reader about the doctrine of acquiescence and applying it to an existing fence that does not match the deeded measurements. Question: In the case of a line of acquiescence with an existing fence that has a history, would I...
