GDAC

The GDAC program. As I have said many times it is the greatest tool we as surveyors have ever been given and it will continue to be for as long as I will be doing this job. That can be said for certain.

Since most of the published work was done several years ago there have been significant changes to the existing monuments due to varies conditions of construction, goofy people etc.

GDAC still remains the greatest tool for positional research and recovery but since things have changed so much especially in the city areas extreme caution needs to be upheld.

I have been noticing a change in the monuments in character also horizontally and especially vertically.

I use to jump all over them but now I have backed off and always check into another, especially when establishing elevation.

There have been instances when I have found monuments to still be in character but have changed vertically, once again due to construction or goofy people.

I have gotten into the habit of hitting those NGS points in the can before I go any further as a start point. Those have a tendency to stay accurate.

A program such as GDAC no matter how awesome it is can not survive accuracy with humans. Consistent updating would need to occur and the cost would be astronomical.

So the question is how does the inventory stay current? I am sure that there is a plan in place and I would like to know what it is.

Do we as the private surveyor need to report a change?

I am curious to see how well the maintenance will go in the future. I am hopeful that it will continue to be updated and remain current.

Make it a great week surveyors.

?

You ever have one of those weeks that when it is done you wish you would have followed your childhood dream of playing guitar for Ozzy or becoming a Jedi Knight or a Dragon Slayer or a Nascar driver or anything instead of becoming a surveyor?

Welcome to my world boys and girls.

Aggghhhhhhh!!!!!! Here we go, here we go, here we go again.

Make it a great week surveyors.

I will have something much more interesting as soon as I get my brain back.

Field Stuff

There must be something in the air or I am in attract weird shit mode.

I was working on a job a while back and I approached a patio area. Going along the patio was this strap stuff that looks like Mule Tape.
I needed to locate the patio corner and it was under a tree so I whipped out old Mr. Pocket tape to pull 2 swing ties. I flipped the tape across the strap and got hit with a massive Zot of electricity, I dropped everything including the gps that got tangled in the tape.
I backed up blurted several swear words and then grabbed the rod by the carbon fiber part and got the gps out of the tape as I was hearing "zap, zap,zap".

What the hell man? Who puts electric fence around their patio? I was dazed and felt like my heart stopped. Luckily I did not have to check my pants.

I immediately set 2 traverse point and came back and detailed the area with the reflectorless TS.


Next I mentioned in my last post about doing a job in one of the more colorful parts of town. Well I returned last week to set the property corners and guess what I found that was not there before?
A brand new constructed Hobo Village under a tree right where I needed to set a corner.

I approached the lean to and was stopped by the sound of a gravely voiced female and a male with like voice arguing, about what I have no idea.
I have to admit that listening to it was majorly entertaining, however I did feel less than inclined to knock on the door and tell them that I have to set an iron pin in their living room.

I set all the rest, called the client and told him that when he serves an eviction notice and chops down the tree I'll run back and set the last pin.

I packed it up and was sitting in the truck, I looked over and the female came out of the village. She looked like Slash the guitar player, she was wearing headphones and then proceeded to do an amazing little dance that lasted for a couple of minutes while she was lighting and smoking what appeared to be half cigarettes. I was amazed and mesmerized all at the same time. If I was shameless I would have taken a video and posted it here, however I decided to keep this one for my own memory and not exploit the lady.

I do love an early morning survey in the ghetto.

Make it a great week surveyors.

Troubleshooting

I did an ALTA the other day down in a very old part of town.

The monuments I recovered reflected a change in right of ways and things were just wrong.

I contacted the City of Phoenix and they quickly sent me some quarter section maps that cleared a lot of things up. My measured monument distances were close to them and the block broke down great with a surplus and the interior monuments came in nice as well.

I finally got the title report and that confirmed everything.

There is an underground tunnel easement running through the area. I have the description of it from the title report and I plotted it but it looked extremely wrong.

I contacted the city again and they sent me some ADOT maps that assured me that I had it plotted incorrectly.

I beat my brain out looking at this thing every which way and could not figure it out. It had a POB that started 34' +/- from the south quarter corner and was certain that I was starting there.

I got so frustrated that I walked away and left the office.

About 8pm I was still thinking about it and kicked me like a donkey.

I had this thing starting in the right place according to my field points, however I was tied into the monument line of Central Avenue and not the mid section line.

The next morning ran to the office, moved everything to the correct position and what do you know that easement was spot on according to all of the info I have.

I think the moral of this story is sometimes you just gotta choke the pooch before the light comes on.

Things we see in the field

OK. Last week was a strange week in many ways.

A couple of things that happened last week that really stand out are shown below.

First I was working in a guys yard running a topo and out of the corner of my eye I see something jump, I look over and see a dog standing on a block wall staring at me.

I've seen this before but this one was pretty cool. He actually watched me complete the job.

And then Graupel.

You may be asking what the hell is that. Well that is what fell on us last week.

Per Wiki:

Graupel (German pronounciation: ['gʁaʊpɛl], also called soft hail or snow pellets)^[1] refers to precipitation that forms when supercooled droplets of water are collected and freeze on a falling snowflake, forming a 2–5 mm (0.079–0.197 in) ball of rime. Strictly speaking, graupel is not the same as hail or ice pellets, although it is sometimes referred to as small hail. However, the World Meteorological Organization defines small hail as snow pellets encapsulated by ice, a precipitation halfway between graupel and hail.


There is more but I think you get the idea.

Below is a small part of my Shea Boulevard adventure.

Software

I am having a dilemma. I hate auto cad and it's monopoly on the drafting industry and it's ridiculous license renewal fees.

I dropped mine in 2008 and am starting to fall behind in the area.

I have looked at Micro Survey which seems to be the most appealing and I have also looked at Traverse PC which is an issue because you have to literally import a cad file while MS just opens them and vice versa.
Oh, Carlson is completely off of the table.

My biggest problem is time and the learning curve. I desperately want to put auto cad in my rear view mirror. The other solutions are feasible, however the language they speak does not make it an easy enough transition.

I would stick with AC but they do not have a solution that I want. Every time a sales person calls me I ask them if they have a solution for surveyors and they say yes they do, Civil 3d. I promptly tell them that I have had CD3 for 4 years and have never used it and never will and that it does not have a practical purpose for what I do.

They just keep trying to sell it to me insisting that I must surely use it if I have it and once again I will tell them that I have no interest in updating a program that I will never use except for a small part of. It's very irritating and totally pisses me off that the people calling me have zero understanding of what it is I do and how CD3 has no purpose for me and my business.

So here I am 4 years later, I am to busy to learn something new but I have to or do the upgrade with the beast.

I recently became acquainted with a survey drafter that I think may be up to par with my standards. I am considering throwing him a majority of my drafting and then drop back and learn the Micro Survey. It's an option I am considering.

All will tell in time, however right now I hate being behind.

Make it a great week surveyors.

A Good Experience

A couple of week ago I found a significant error an a plat that was done by one of the big machines.

I promptly brought it to their attention and they looked into it.

It took them about 2 weeks to get an answer for me. It turned out that I was correct and they recorded an affidavit of correction and provided me a copy.

I get a little impatient when there is a problem and I want it fixed right away. I have absolutely zero understanding of corporate culture and their procedures, it's like the government in many ways, it all has to be done through process.

The beauty of being a small business is that we can most often do things right away, there is little wait time and we are able to jump in with both feet and find resolution.

Through no fault of their own the big machine I was dealing with had to grab that job out of archive which apparently was a whole deal and then verify what I said etc.

I understand all of that, it was just the time factor. As a small biz that is something we do not have the luxury of is time.

While a big machine can take 2 weeks we as small guys have to be in the now and on top of customer service at all times, that is what keeps us going.

My client was getting extremely agitated and kept can the big question, "can't you just??" and of course my answer was no.

At the end of the day the problem got solved and my client was grateful for my sharp eyes.

The big machine was awesome and I am very grateful to them for working with me. They were gracious and thankful that I had brought the issue to their attention and the people I worked with were attentive and kept communication going.

I the past I have been told by similar companies that it is my problem and deal with it and they are finished.

That is the utmost in non-professional behavior and the company I just dealt with are all pros and I will never hesitate to contact them again for any reason.

I know one of the people I dealt with checks this blog out from time to time, so I want to shout out big thanks to you for all the help.