Category Archives: Surveying

Leveraging the Land Surveying Role, Part 3

The economics of land surveying Editor’s note: This past May, Ambrose Gmeiner completed his Professional Science Masters Degree from the University of Maine. His final paper, The Land Surveyor as a Project Lead and Providing Professional Testimony, is the source for this series of articles on increasing the skills, strengths, and credentials of the professional...

Surveyors Wanted

Mars Colonization: Mars Needs Surveyors!

Elon Musk’s plan to make us a space-faring and multi-planetary species will provide another planet to survey. Late last month, SpaceX’s founder Elon Musk unveiled his plan to start Mars colonization by 2025. Musk believes passionately that for humankind to survive in the long run, we must become a space-faring and multi-planetary species. Sooner or later,...

Meades Ranch monument

Coordinates: The Rodney Dangerfield of Boundary Surveying

Although my entire surveying career has been in California, I believe that the following is true in almost every, if not every, state. With regards to the Priority of Evidence Rules (Rule of Construction), when conflicting elements exist when determining boundary location, coordinates are always at the bottom of the list. In my 30 years...

BRx6_Application_02

Carlson’s BRx5 Receiver: the Birth of a New Instrument

Carlson Software & Hemisphere GNSS Bring a Lightweight Receiver to Market For land surveyors and others in careers that rely on constant use of GPS and GNSS technology, not to mention the millions of consumers with receivers in their smart phones, it is easy to forget that instant location remains technologically miraculous, relying as it...

Trimble SX10

Trimble Unveils SX10 Scanning Total Station

Trimble unveiled a next-generation survey instrument—the Trimble® SX10 Scanning Total Station. It merges high-speed 3D scanning, enhanced Trimble VISION™ imaging technology and high-accuracy total station measurements into familiar field and office workflows for surveyors. The innovative solution provides surveyors and geospatial professionals with the capabilities and versatility to handle projects from traditional surveys to complex...

Norfolk Hilton, building process

A New High-rise Squeezes in, Thanks to a Total Station

A Hilton complex requires survey technology to ensure its place among historic buildings in Norfolk, Virginia. Norfolk, Virginia, has a history of adapting to change. (Above: Norfolk’s newest high-rise was engineered to fit into its urban footprint.) With beginnings in 1636, the city has undergone war, epidemics, fires, and economic depression to grow into the...