Historic structures and architectural wonders like the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris rely on the inventions of their era to stay standing for…
Category: Feature
12.18.2019
Early Black Hills Triangulation
When the United States Geological Survey (USGS) became tasked with mapping the nation into one contiguous system based upon accurate latitude and longitude…
12.18.2019
The Past and Future of Handheld 3D Scanning
Handheld SLAM-based lidar scanners are changing the way we think about 3D capture
In the past few years, SLAM-based handheld lidar scanners have made a big entrance into the 3D-capture market. These solutions are becoming popular…
11.14.2019
Deep Understanding
GNSS and precise point positioning aid understanding of magma movement in active volcanoes
Italy’s Mount Etna is one of the world’s most famous—and most active—volcanoes. Located on the east coast of Sicily, the mountain’s location and…
11.14.2019
Modern Adventures in History
Digitally Preserving the Ancient City of Volterra
Not many geospatial professionals enter the field thinking they will travel to Italy to document and digitize ancient sites. For many, it would…
11.14.2019
Unsung Hero: The Arkansas-Mississippi Line
Surveys across America by Samuel Stinson Gannett
Port Royal was once the county seat in Coahoma County, Mississippi. It was a bustling little town along the banks of the Mississippi…
10.05.2019
A Zoological Datum
How Honey Bees Use Datums for Mapping and Navigation
“The bee’s life is like a magic well: the more you draw from it, the more it fills with water.” —Karl von Frisch,…
10.05.2019
New Vertical Construction Technology
Scanning robotic total station combines two functions
In the 1950s, Ace Books began publishing Ace Doubles, which were two separate novels combined in a single volume. For example, a reader…
10.05.2019
Bringing the Field into the Office in Real Time
Sometimes a project comes along that changes everything. For the Tarrant Regional Water District (TRWD), in Fort Worth, Texas, that project was the…
08.03.2019
SPAR 3D Expo & Conference/AEC Next Technology Expo + Conference
Throughout the last half century I have been to my share of trade shows and conferences. When I was a kid, my favorite…
