On Saturday, March 19th 2011, a first-ever simultaneous nationwide Global Positioning System (GPS) survey will be conducted by members of the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS) to commemorate National Surveyors Week and promote the numerous benefits of GPS. The goal of NSPS Surveying USA is to give the public an opportunity to observe local surveyors in action and to learn more about one of the world’s oldest professions. Surveyors at each location will be available to answer questions about the event and to discuss the role of surveyors in the community. Anyone with a GPS unit (hand-held or otherwise) is welcome to join in the fun. More information is at the NSPS link below.
The DCALS effort will include occupying various points of interest in the District of Columbia with dual frequency GPS equipment and submission to OPUS. Volunteer surveyors from DCALS will occupy the Jefferson Stone (assuming we receive NPS approval), the DC High Point monument, the southern boundary stone at Jones Point and high accuracy vertical marks to support the high point occupation. This is the time to join us for inclusion of any points or marks of interest in the effort. The DC coordinator for DCALS is Tom Yoakum and may be contacted at tyoakum@mercadoeng.com or at 301-260-0090. The NSPS link is http://www.nspsmo.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=page.viewpage&pageid=851
To date we have Joe Allegra (Allegra Consulting) providing a pair of shiny new Ashtech receivers for the main effort. Joe Allegra will use one of these pretty receivers for the high profile Jefferson Stone occupation and Joe Evjen (NGS) will use the other for the high interest DC High Point monument. We also have Mercado Consultants, Inc. covering the less visible Jones Point boundary stone and a tidal bench on the SW waterfront bulkhead with their somewhat less pretty equipment. That is as far as we have gotten with the mission planning. Therefore anyone with GPS equipment and a pet benchmark or whatever else we can find that is suitable for satellite observation is encouraged to join the fun.
And what could be more fun than a four hour GPS occupation in March? Well the mission planning for one thing. We are planning on a Friday evening mission planning get together somewhere in or near Silver Spring in order to (hopefully) coordinate our activities. We really are trying for good data on our key points and will need some coordination for that effort. The time and place for that, however, have not been determined. Right now we have a two person consensus on the Fire Station (www.firestation-1.com) located on Georgia Avenue. Since Jerry Schuessler is one of those two people and Joe Evjen at NGS the other, this seems like the most likely spot. We will work out a time and follow up.
Also, anyone wishing to occupy well known or often used marks is encouraged to let me know ahead of time in order to prevent two people from attempting to occupy the same mark. As the web site link above will explain, a four hour occupation and dual frequency GPS equipment are not required for the NSPS effort. But we hoping for that on the high point and Jefferson Stone to support OPUS processing. We will try to get more information posted on the DCALS web site once we a little further along with the planning. That is to say, when we have a better idea how many people are participating, where or what they want to occupy and, more importantly, where and when we are meeting Friday night.
Contact info
Thomas M. Yoakum, LS
Associate
Mercado Consultants, Inc.
17830 New Hampshire Ave., Suite 200
Ashton, Maryland 20861
Phone: 301-260-0090
Fax: 301-260-0018
www.mercadoeng.com