Category Archives: Surveying
It Can Get Uncomfortable Out There
Most field surveyors are pretty tough. This is somewhat contrary to what I had written in a previous article which posed the question, “Are Surveyors Getting Soft These Days?” That can be debated, but I truly believe that my first sentence is true. When the temperature gets above 90 degrees, as it does in many...
On the House
Free data make the mapping world go round Reliable geospatial data used to be hard to find and expensive. But thanks to the profusion of online data repositories, it’s now at our fingertips for free. It is telling that one of the first websites where mapmakers can have access to free satellite imagery was created...
Boundaries: For the Love of Surveying
A memoir of the field, family, friends, fortitude—and fun Anthony “Tony” Vetturelli’s recently published memoir, Land Surveyor – Journey, Challenges & Destiny, is a fascinating personal journey, a life-long passion for surveying, and a first-hand chronicle of a particularly impactful epoch in the history of surveying. It’s the story of a kid who immigrated from...
Touching Off a Stampede
Sponsored by Carlson Software In the old days of surveying, it was common practice to fill out a crew with a “warm body”—anyone who could follow directions and hold a rod would suffice. One of those guys who was assigned to my crew was a young man by the name of Chris. Since Chris was...
Staying Fluid: The Ocean Decade
More than 23 percent of the ocean seabed is now mapped Seabed 2030 is a partnership between the Nippon Foundation and the General Bathymetric Chart of the Oceans (GEBCO) and aims to map the entire planet’s seabed by 2030. To date, the project has mapped around 23.4 percent of the seabed. The latest data was...
UAS and ALTA Surveys – Part One
Recognizing that with the right equipment and practices, specifications for ALTA surveys can easily be met, surveyors have rapidly adopted UAS for these and many other types of surveys. The adoption of UAS in the surveying profession has been more rapid than some past tech. It was only 2016 when the FAA Part 107...