January 2013 Archives
The Oregon Lidar Consortium
A statewide, airborne, lidar-collection effort achieves wide area coverage and high data quality on a low budget. Images courtesy of Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries and created by Daniel E. Coe In less than six years since it was formed, the Oregon Lidar Consortium (OLC) has collected 16 million acres of high-resolution data, which is […]
Pulling It All Together
A Forest Service surveyor reconciles a complex collection of geospatial data—survey, archaeology, geology, environmental, plus a labyrinth of underwater caves below—for Silver Glen Springs in Florida. In the past three years since I’ve worked for the National Forests in Florida, many mapping exercises have been cumbersome and have involved duplication of effort because results were […]
Educational Partnerships
Two unique surveying programs develop partnerships with professional associations and industry, for the benefit of all. “We need to prepare students for their future, not our past.” —Ian Jukes, educator and futurist PSM has had the pleasure of profiling many fine surveying programs and schools over the years. Every time we explore an aspect of […]
No Compromise
Roadway Work Zones Are Hazardous for Surveyors You cannot afford to forget that you work in a hazardous profession! Surveyors work alongside professions that the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Safety Council deem as some of the most dangerous jobs to have, including construction, mining, and oil and gas drilling. Potential accidents range […]
Gigglebytes: Mr. Fix It (a work of fiction)
I knew I was going to have a handful of a survey when I landed this particular project. When I was informed that I’d won the job I felt lucky that I’d included a substantial budget. What I was asked to retrace was the NE quarter of the NE quarter of Section 1, Township 1 […]
GNSS Next: Dream Time: Chip-scale Atomic Clocks
“We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they’re called memories. Some take us forward, they’re called dreams.” —Jeremy Irons Global Navigation Satellites may revolve around the world, but the world of Global Positioning Satellites revolves around atomic clocks, and each satellite typically carries multiple atomic clocks. These are very sophisticated (and very […]