Survey Hero of the Week

Earlier this week I posted a problem I was having on Topica and several people responded with some great opinions and advice that helped me realize a mistake I had made and confirmed how I want to correct it.

FYI: for those that read this blog and do not belong, Topica is a discussion forum that Surveyors utilize.

After all was said and done Jason Foose posted this comment.

I am nominating Jason for the Survey Super Hero of the Week. He expresses some great insight on this situation and I believe his words should be taken to heart by all. I believe if more people thought and observed like Jason, things would go a lot smoother. See comment below.

John,

I want to thank you personally for sharing your "situation".

I believe that I have just witnessed the exercise of the following:

1.) registrant query,

2.) professional courtesy and exchange of experiences,

3.) peer review,

4.) professional judgement,

5.) professional development

6.) and corrective action.

All of this occurred in "real-time", on a message board, under the current minimum standards, less any mandated continuing education, and without A.Z.B.T.R. interaction. It appears that our colleagues offered respectful constructive advice not only to you, but also on behalf of improving our profession.

Few people will think much of this event. I suppose it's because there's nothing to argue about. Thanks again for sharing!   

  

Jason E. Foose, R.L.S.

Assistant County Surveyor

Mohave County Public Works

P.O. Box 7000

Kingman, Az. 86401

O 928-757-0910

                                        

                                    Defender of common sense Jason Foose

Section Corner

Today I saved a section corner.

First I want to express my utter dismay toward the surveyor that did the topography on this particular lot where an original 1919 GLO cap is located.

First this person did not locate the monument when doing their topography and second they did not utilize the vertical datum on this monument but instead chose an arbitrary benchmark that checked 1.5 feet off to the lot design, therefore forcing me to go into detective mode and figure it all out.

To this I say, WHAT THE HELL MAN???

I am grateful for guys like this. He spends all of his time being a bad surveyor so I can spend mine being a good one.

Enough of that, let me tell you how I saved a piece of sectional history.

I have been hired to do the staking for a new custom home. During the calculations I pulled the plat and checked the boundary in the cad file and noticed that a section corner lands in that lot. Sure enough I found it.

Now the good part, the civil engineer being unaware that the monument was there, designed a retaining wall so the footing would be right on the cap. I quickly noticed this and placed a couple of extras points in the ground to be sure.

I promptly got the builder on the phone and asked him to come over. Upon his arrival I showed him the monument and promptly began to tell him why he needed to save it.

I told him that it is illegal for him to remove it and that he would be killing a piece of history.

Needless to say the idea of breaking the law made him uneasy and I think he liked the the idea that it was placed there in 1919.

I told him I have a simple solution. I took him to the truck and explained that we could move the wall a foot or so in 1 direction and it would not take away from anything. He immediately agreed, gave me the green light to move the wall and right then history remained in tact.

I took a 4' lathe and wrote " Government Section Corner Save" and placed it next to the cap. I also wrote a TBM elevation on the lathe to also ensure that they will save it.

Hopefully this old guy will be here forever. If it survives this nothing else can touch it and it will actually be protected.

RJ Fish

I saw the announcement by Brian Dalager stating that RJ Fish an icon in Arizona Land Surveying has gone to visit that big triangulation point in the sky.

RIP RJ.

I never personally met RJ, but what I understand from the people that knew him he was extremely passionate about surveying.

I can honestly say that I never missed an RJ monument more than a tenth or two and I enjoyed reviewing his thorough maps and most of all loved that he did them all in azimuths.

Anyone that ever looked at RJ's work should have automatically known what a fanatic he was. I am wondering if RJ was a dying breed or far ahead of his time. Guys like RJ both help a profession with their zeal and also hinder it by being a hammerhead. So I think it will be up to us as individuals to decide.

I also noticed the interaction between Jeff Andrews and Brian about RJ's records which brings me to a spot of thought.

Someday I will quit surveying and at that point what the hell am I going to do with all of these years of records? Essentially they are completely worthless and all they do is take up space.

I find it incredibly disheartening that all of these years of work mean nothing except for keeping a hard drive and a file cabinet occupied.

The only thing that is worth anything is a results of survey or plat or description or piece of info that has become public information, but at that point it becomes worthless to us and useful to the world which is something that I enjoy.

I love the idea that my name will be on those certain documents until the end of time and no one will ever have my number of 37937. I own that stuff in name and that will never change.

Because of this particular factor we as surveyors are far more part of history than any profession and we should be very proud of that. We get to literally have our name on maps and documents that will be here until that day when the earth either implodes or explodes from an alien blast and no one can change that once it is recorded.

So let's all take a moment and lift a drink to RJ Fish, an old school surveyor that loved what he did and believed in a better world for surveyors and a better world because of surveyors.

RJ is probably solving a boundary problem around the perimeter of the Pearly Gates as you read this.

Something from history

(sər-vā'ĭng) noun.
"The measurement of dimensional relationships, as of horizontal distances, elevations, directions, and angles, on the earth's surface especially for use in locating property boundaries, construction layout, and mapmaking." - Merriam-Webster Dictionary



Mount Rushmore, featuring 3 surveyors and another guy. Said by some to be the second oldest profession, land surveying has a long and storied past. In relatively recent history, in 1803 Merriweather Lewis and William Clark were directed by United States President Thomas Jefferson (who was himself a surveyor) to investigate the Pacific Northwest in seach of the Northwest Passage:


"… The object of your mission is to explore the Missouri river, & such principal stream of it, as, by it’s course & communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, may offer the most direct & practicable water communication across this continent, for the purposes of commerce.
Beginning at the mouth of the Missouri, you will take observations of latitude & longitude, at all remarkable points on the river, & especially at the mouths of rivers, at rapids, at islands & other places & objects distinguished by such natural marks & characters of a durable kind, as that they may with certainty be recognized hereafter.  the courses of the river between these points of observation may be supplied by the compass, the log–line & by time, corrected by the observations themselves.  the variations of the compass too, in different places, should be noticed.
… Your observations are to be taken with great pains & accuracy, to be entered distinctly, & intelligibly for others as well as yourself, to comprehend all the elements necessary…."


Excerpts from the Diaries of Thomas Jefferson

Down Time

Sometimes a guy just has to chill out.

GPS

Senator Mike Crapo on LightSquared

Kim Leavitt, the former ISPLS NSPS Governor and newly elected NSPS Area 7 Director, contacted Idaho Senator Mike Crapo about the issues surrounding LightSquared and possible GPS interference. Senator's Crapo's response:


April 26, 2011

"Dear Kim:

Thank you for contacting me regarding potential disruptions to the Global Positioning System (GPS). I appreciate hearing from you and welcome the opportunity to respond.

As you may know, on January 26, 2011, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted LightSquared, a wireless broadband provider, authority to use its Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) L-band spectrum to provide wholesale broadband service. With the accelerated expansion of wireless devices on the market, current broadband frequencies are increasingly being overwhelmed. The FCC’s decision comes as an effort to provide more broadband capability in response to the growing consumer demand.

I recognize the importance of broadband technology and the many benefits it brings to our society. Over the past 30 years, telecommunications policy in the United States slowly has evolved from government sanctioned monopoly provision of all telecommunications services to competitive provision of most telecommunications services. In today’s world, business, government, and our personal lives rely heavily upon broadband technology. However, I am also well aware of the serious concerns that signals sent over the L-band spectrum may interfere with GPS receivers. Individual GPS operators, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Transportation, among others, have all voiced concerns on this issue.

In response, the FCC has required LightSquared to work with GPS makers and users to test the service and examine the interference issue. The group's report is due this summer. Additionally, the Senate Commerce Committee is currently conducting oversight of proposed rules being considered by the FCC. Although I am not a member of the Senate Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over these matters, I support continued oversight in this matter and look forward to reviewing the Committee’s findings. Please rest assured that I will continue to support accessibility, competition, and diversity in the broadcast industry, while protecting the needs of our vital Global Positioning System.

Again, thank you for contacting me. Please feel free to contact me in the future on this or other matters of interest to you. For more information about the issues before the U.S. Senate as well as news releases, photos, and other items of interest, please visit my Senate website, http://crapo.senate.gov/.

Sincerely,
Mike Crapo
United States Senator"

Contract Labor

As I have been predicting things are getting busy again. The big corporate engineering machines are hiring, architects are calling, boundary surveys are up and people are spending money.

I have been giving this topic a lot of thought and have come to a decision.

As the need for employees rises I am going to engage contract labor when possible as opposed to hiring out right.

The main reason for this is liability and cost.

As a business man I constantly thinking of cost and the bottom line.

The recent health care disaster has also greatly influenced this decision. If I keep people as contract labor I can avoid being forced to provide health care. I am an employer that believes in providing benefits, however the rising cost of things has made so I am unable to provide for them and still turn a profit.

Office employees will be 1099 employees and I will be unable to tell them that they can only work for me. This is a good thing because it gives them freedom to make more money, gives them a sense of independence and allows me to hire them on a project basis with pay terms and I won't have to worry about keeping them busy when things slow down.

Field guys are different. I currently use a couple of surveyors that have their own companies and insurance. Aside from professionals, if I need to hire field guys they will be on payroll because of the workers comp factor. I have had a few guys hurt themselves (myself included) while out working and these guys will be provided access to insurance, trucks etc.

The cost of things has made it tough for the surveyor. Prices rise and most refuse to raise their rates because they are afraid that they will lose their client and they are probably right due to the bottom feeders that have made it impossible for us to actually bill what we are worth.

Contract labor is going to be the key to a lot of small business people's survival. It's keeps the relationship strictly business and keeps the ill feelings out of it if the work runs out and lowers the employer liability.

A good term contract written by an attorney needs to be implemented to keep everyone honest.  If anyone wants one I have a contract written by one of my attorneys that protects the employer to the utmost. Just let me know and I'll send you a copy.