This is a panel discussion moderated by Angel St. Jean from the Baltimore’s Mayor Office of Employment Development. The panelists included students from our Future Surveyors Program and the industry. [Read more…] about Video – Future Surveyors Panel Discussion, Baltimore
surveying
Intergeo 2013 Amerisurv Photo Gallery
Surveyors and GIS – A new Book, GNSS for iPad and more
My colleague Marc Cheves from Amerisurv has been very busy these days and has just rolled out another print and E(iPad) magazine and an informative E-news update – those of you interested in Surveying, mapping, GPS, and related technologies be sure to check it out! Of particular interest is a guest editorial that looks at the surveying profession being at a crossroads… great stuff! A piece on re-writing surveying job descriptions in Florida is also a nice read! Speaking of surveying, there’s a new book for Land Surveyors on using GIS in their job, “GIS for Surveyors” – check out details of this fine, new title HERE. In other cool technology news, Montreal-based Geneq Inc. has announced the iSXBlue II GNSS, the world’s first sub-meter GNSS receiver that is Bluetooth-compatible with Apple iPads and iPhones – Sweet!
Irish Geomatics Student Wins Big in Vegas
KOREC has announce that David Hyland, Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), was presented recently with a gift of Trimble’s next-generation R10 GNSS for use by its students of geomatics and spatial information. David won the International Trimble Dimensions 2012 Student Paper Competition. The prize included a trip to Las Vegas to present his paper at Trimble’s Dimensions 2012 conference, and a donation of the Trimble R10 for his home institution. The Trimble R10 GNSS is the company’s latest precision instrument, designed to be light and durable, providing surveyors with fast accurate measurements in all terrains, including where there is limited connectivity. It is the first of its kind to be delivered in Ireland. See More GISuser (http://s.tt/1yqpA)
Trimble Announes Yuma 2 Rugged Tablet
Trimble today has introduced today the Yuma 2 rugged tablet computer—a powerful mobile computing solution that provides full office capabilities in the field for construction, transportation, public safety, field service, forestry, utilities, mapping, insurance and any other outdoor or service-related industry.
The Trimble Survey Student Competition
An amazing opportunity for students has been brought to my attention by gene Roe of LiDARnews, Gene shares an update on the Trimble Survey Student Paper Competition. From Gene… As somewhat of a follow up to the last post on attracting students to the industry (see the numerous comments that have been sent) I wanted to call attention to Trimble’s Survey Student Paper Competition. This is being held in connection with Trimble’s user conference – Dimensions 2012.
The winner of the contest will receive 4 nights’ accommodation at the Mirage Hotel, Las Vegas, and round trip airfare or ground transportation to Las Vegas to attend Dimensions 2012 and present their paper. The approximate value of the prize is $4,500.
Now here’s the really impressive part.Trimble will also donate a Trimble R8 GNSS product to the winner’s educational institution, and the winner agrees to provide all relevant details to Trimble in connection with such activity. The approximate value of the donation is $30,000.
US PLSS Data Projection Oops from BLM With ArcGIS.com
An interesting result when you attempt to add the BLM US public land survey system data into an ArcGIS.com map… these PLSS data are available from a KML file at www.geocommunicator.gov. I haven’t run into any projection issues within ArcGIS.com yet to date so I found it a little ironic that this issue crept up when working with official PLSS data! Any tips?
The KML format PLSS data layer can be accessed here (KML link)
US PLSS Data Oops from BLM
Originally uploaded by @gletham GIS, Social, Mobile Tech Images
Washington Monument Damage Surveyed by WJE of Chicago
You may have heard or seen on the news that the Washington Monument, the most visible and prominent monument in Washington D.C., is currently being surveyed for damage that resulted from the earthquake that rocked the US Capital in August, 2011. What you may not be aware of is that the surveying is being conducted by a team of structural engineers from Chicago, Il based Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc (WJE) – http://www.wje.com a firm of structural engineers, architects, and materials scientists specializing in the investigation, testing, and design of repairs for buildings, bridges, etc… From the firm’s website… Engineering experts from WJE’s Difficult Access Team (DAT) began rappelling the Washington Monument on Tuesday, September 27, 2011, on behalf of the U.S. National Park Service to help assess any impact from the August earthquake in central Virginia.
Work on surveying teh structural damage started today. This from NPR… For several hours, engineer Dave Megerle was perched atop the 555-foot monument, setting up a rope system and other equipment that will allow the rappelling team to traverse the exterior of the monument looking for cracks, chips and other damage. To get there, he climbed through a hatch that hadn’t been opened in 11 years.
Some interesting facts about the Monument (via NPS):
- Washington Monument was built between 1848 and 1884 as a tribute to George Washington’s military leadership from 1775-1783 during the American Revolution
- The winning architect was Robert Mills, whose design called for a neoclassical plan which provided for a nearly-flat-topped obelisk surrounded by a circular colonnade on which would stand a statue of Washington in a chariot
- In an elaborate Fourth of July ceremony in 1848, the cornerstone was laid
- Weighing 81,120 tons, the Washington Monument stands 555′ 5-1/8″ tall
- A slight color change is perceptible at the 150′ level near where construction slowed in 1854
- Inserted into the interior walls are 193 memorial stones presented by individuals, societies, cities, States, and nations of the world
- flights of 896 steps surround an elevator which takes visitors to the observation level
Image Credit: National Park Service
esriuc / ACSM Video Looks At The Convergence of Surveying and GIS
This video shot on location at the ACSM Esri Survey Summit in San Diego features Randy Noland and Colleagues Joe Sass, and Marco Cecala as they discuss the convergence of GIS and surveying and get into the topics of data accuracy, evolution of software, and Esri’s perceived view of these topics. This is part 1 of a 3 Part video series and all 3 videos can be found online HERE
Trimble Supports Surveying Workflows with Trimble Business Center
Today Trimble announced the latest update to the Trimble Business Center, now at Version 2.5 – a desktop complement to Trimble’s full range of survey solutions. Trimble Business Center is an office desktop solution that integrates common survey office processing tasks for GNSS and optical terrestrial surveying data into a single, unified package. The new Trimble Business Center 2.50 and the Data Processing Service provide surveyors with substantial new capabilities for processing, enhancing and customizing their survey data and collaborating with the field survey team. New features include:
- Start processing integrated survey projects in Trimble Business Center
- Readily export/import more reduced-point and observed-point information to/from other applications
- Easily compute weighted averages for point coordinates; create and deliver stunning panoramic displays
- Perform complicated tasks easily with step-by-step Workflow Guides;
- Easily create custom, geo-referenced images to use in the field with Trimble Access;
- media files can now be easily displayed, edited, and exported to GIS and Google Earth.
See more details HERE or Like the Business Center on facebook