As new methods of reality capture proliferate and produce massive volumes of detailed information, interoperability and standardization are key to realizing the full…
Category: Feature
How Survey Monuments Came to Be Considered Holy Relics
My survey career began in the metropolitan area of Denver, Co in 1971. The ALTA standards had been promulgated but were not yet…
Public Works Pioneers Drones-as-a-Service Program for Salem, Oregon
River Road in Salem frequently experiences landslides due to hillside creep and cracks. Drone imagery processed in Site Scan for ArcGIS was used…
Here’s Your Sign
How LiDAR and GIS are Modernizing Road Sign Inventories for Safer Travel in West Virginia
The West Virginia Division of Highways (WVDOH) needed a solution to modernize its road sign inventory and identify areas for updates or replacements…
What Technology Cannot Replace
Dennis Kemmesat of Frontier Precision Speaks to Surveyors
Employee-owned Frontier Precision was founded in Bismarck, ND in 1988, and has since expanded to South Dakota, Minnesota, Colorado, Alaska, Montana, Idaho, Hawaii,…
Rising From the Ashes
A power line fell early on the morning of Aug. 8, 2023, sparking a fire in overgrown brush near the edge of the historic…
Creative Technology Solves Underground Puzzle
When faced with mapping over 10,000 linear feet of utility tunnels, with some portions located five stories underground, Colliers Engineering & Design (CED)…
The University of Akron Surveying & Mapping Program
The year 1964 was a big one and full of firsts. Americans took their first bite of an Arby’s sandwich, while sitting in…
The Sixth Time’s a “Charm”
My first exposure to retracing original GLO surveys was at, of all places, the Larch Mountain Honor Camp, located about 20 miles east…
Ode to the Little Guy Part 2
Charles (Karl) Preuss, Surveyor and Cartographer of Fremont’s 2nd Expedition •1843–44•
The dearth of survey techniques in Charles Preuss’ accounts is regrettable but normal for historical papers. In this extract of Karl Preuss’ journal,…