Point of Beginning articles from April 2007

Point of Beginning archives from April 2007

Appreciation: appreciation in any sense of the word is good. When you appreciate something or someone, it's good. When someone appreciates you, it's good.(editor'spoints)(Editorial)
April 1, 2007... When one of your possessions gains value, it's good. And with enough bad in today's world (watch any morning or evening newscast), we could all use some good. This is why I was surprised with a recent finding. The results of our February...

The technology benchmark.(letters)(Letter to the editor)
April 1, 2007... December 2006 Just finished reading the long awaited sequel to your December 2005 dowsing article. The doubters don't know what they are missing. We were surprised, however, that your paraphernalia photo omitted the earliest witching rod,...

Errata.(Correction notice)
April 1, 2007... On page 38 of the Advanced Total Station Technologies in the February issue, the angle accuracies for the Pentax R Series total stations were inaccurately reported. The correct angle accuracies for the Pentax R-300DNX and R-800 total stations...

Proposed Bill reduces educational requirements for New Jersey surveyors.(State Legislative Updates.)
April 1, 2007... In December 2006, New Jersey Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo introduced Bill A-3753, proposing revisions to the minimum qualifications land surveyors and surveyors-in-training need to receive licensure and certificates of registration. The...

Arkansas Bill sets term limits for state surveyors.(State Legislative Updates.)
April 1, 2007... Arkansas Senator Jerry Taylor introduced Senate Bill 190 on January 30 to limit the term of office for the Arkansas State Surveyor. Under the current Arkansas law, the State Surveyor is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the...

China launches new satellite.(State Legislative Updates.)(Xichang Satellite Launch Center)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... On February 3, China launched its fourth Beidou navigation satellite from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China's Sichuan province. The Xinhua News Agency reports that the fourth satellite in orbit serves as a backup satellite for the...

Tulsa Community College offers new degree program.(State Legislative Updates.)
April 1, 2007... In preparation for the 2006-2007 school year, Oklahoma's Tulsa Community College (TCC) combined its Civil Engineering Technology and Surveying Technology programs into a new Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree in Civil Engineering/...

Calendar of events.(newsline)(Calendar)
April 1, 2007... Calendar of events APRIL 11-13 URBAN 2007- Urban Remote Sensing Joint Event 2007 International Society for Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing and Geoscience & Remote Sensing Society Paris ...

ILMF 2007: A review of the annual conference focused on airborne laser scanning.(Conference notes)
April 1, 2007... Baltimore hosted the 2007 International LiDAR Mapping Forum (ILMF) on February 12 and 13. The ILMF is the industry group committed to the advancement of education and knowledge of LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) mapping technology and...

Dangerous landscape: An urban safety training program transforms one firm's approach to working in the field.
April 1, 2007... Studying the ground as he walked along listening to his Schonstedt magnetic locator, George Sadler Jr. stepped around a corner in urban Durham, N.C., into a nightmare. Looking up, Sadler stared into the barrel of a gun held by a suspected drug...

A revitalizing spark: newly launched Geomatics Certificate Program in New Mexico provides foundation for future professional surveyors.
April 1, 2007... The strength of this great nation is not measured in its monetary wealth but by the education and character of its people." This statement, from David Cooper, current president of the New Mexico Professional Surveyors (NMPS), speaks volumes. It...

Peer review for quality: insight into ABET accreditation for surveying and geomatics programs.(Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology)
April 1, 2007... The academic discipline known as "geomatics," "surveying and mapping" or just simply "sur veying" has gradually emerged during the past 40 years as a distinct, free-standing area of study at U.S. universities. This academic identity matches...

Diverse instruction: continuing education provider Geomatics Workshops offers nontraditional courses for the geomatics professional.
April 1, 2007... Surveying courses aren't all about the introduc-S tion to GPS, the proper use of total stations or the reading of legal descriptions. In 2002, Bill Tingle, founder of continuing education provider Geomatics Workshops (GW), saw a need for...

Extreme serveying: ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" television show challenges a Wisconsin surveying crew to perform rapid surveying.
April 1, 2007... As vice president of LandCraft Survey and Engineering in Milwaukee, Wis., Bill Henrichs, RLS, is accustomed to going the extra mile for his clients. So when he got the call from builder Larry Gruber of Monarch Homes asking for help on a project...

From the field.
April 1, 2007... Many professional surveyors have an appreciation for their early counterparts, but Des Rasch, OLS, takes it to the extreme. Rasch is the founder and owner of Rasch & Chambers Ltd. (www.raschandchambers.ca), a full-service land surveying firm...

Trimble unveils the trimble VX spatial station.(productprofile)
April 1, 2007... Addressing the need for more geospatial data by busi-nesses, organizations and government entities across the globe, coupled with the need for accurate terres-trial information, Trimble launched its new spatial imaging solution at the end of...

Surveyor job satisfaction.(onthelevel)
April 1, 2007... Not only is surveying a small business occupation, it is one in which there is a migration of employees from firm to firm. Some surveyor/proprietors are well aware of this fact as they continue to search for qualified personnel. The...

Plant a tree now!(continuing education for surveyors)
April 1, 2007... This is an interesting title for an article on surveying basics, isn't it? The title is part of a saying I use in the seminars I present. The entire saying is: The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago and the next best time to plant a...

Riparian boundaries.; With spring in the air and the temperature rising, it's time to think about going to the beach. We are going to take our traverse of the law down to the seashore and other bodies of water.(traversingthelaw)
April 1, 2007... Our first stop is a consideration of the projection of the upland owner's boundary lines into the navigable waters. These "projections" are called by various names: "partition lines," "projection lines," "division lines," "littoral...

The importance of safety basics; Our company is in the field of adult education/ training, an area that I love. I have always believed that if each of us could learn just one thing each day we would greatly add to our relevance in society and our value as workers.(safetysense)
April 1, 2007... There are several definitions for the word "educate," but one that applies to our case is: to train by formal instruction and supervised practice especially in a skill, trade or profession. Since training and education are used synonymously in...

RTK networks: changing the way we work; Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) GPS technology provides a productive and accurate method of establishing three-dimensional positioning in a wide variety of surveying and mapping applications.(fromthegroundup)
April 1, 2007... First, a few basics. The conventional approach to RTK requires a base station as well as a rover to accurately determine new positions. A base station is set up at the project site over a known point. This base station includes a radio link...

The Michigan society of professional surveyors (MSPS).(turingpoints)
April 1, 2007... The MICHIGAN SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL SURVEYORS (MSPS), Lansing, Mich., announced the death of Charles Hein, PS, a retired faculty member from Michigan Technological University. Hein was a professional surveyor and forester in Michigan and...

Trimble.(turningpoints)(acquisitions)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... TRIMBLE, Sunnyvale, Calif, acquired privately owned INPHO GMBH of Stuttgart, Germany. INPHO is a supplier of photogram-metry and digital surface modeling for aerial surveying, map-ping and remote sensing applications. The acquisition expands...

Leica Geosystems Inc.(turningpoints)
April 1, 2007... LEICA GEOSYSTEMS INC., Norcross, Ga., promoted Ken Mooyman to vice president of geomatics for the USA. Mooyman is responsible for sales, support and product marketing for the surveying, engineering and scanning businesses in the United States,...

FARO Technologies Inc.(turningpoints)
April 1, 2007... FARO TECHNOLOGIES INC., Lake Mary, Fla, promoted James West to senior vice president of integrated engineering and David Morse to senior vice president and managing director for the Americas. West was formerly senior vice president and general...

Precision Measurements Inc.(turningpoints)(appointments)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... PRECISION MEASUREMENTS INC. (PMI), Virginia Beach, Va., announced the following promotions: Kenneth Leitz to director of special projects; Stephen Pearce to director of surveys; Angelica Ceron Harris to vice president of business develop-ment;...

CST/Berger.(turningpoints)
April 1, 2007... CST/BERGER, Watseka, I11., announced a distribution agreement with PENTAX INSTRUMENTS of Toyko. CST/berger is now an authorized U.S. distributor for Pentax Evolution Series Reflectorless Total Stations, theodolites and auto-focus automatic...

Woolpert Inc.(turningpoints)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... WOOLPERT INC., relocated its Orlando, Fla. office and announced new employees. The new location includes services in photogrammetry, survey and GIS. New to the Orlando office are Fei Ma, John Kelly, Frances Tolentino and Mariless Tolentino in...

Wilsonmiller.(turningpoints)(appointment of Michael H. Maxwell)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... WILSONMILLER, Naples, Fla., promoted Vice President and Principal Michael H. Maxwell, PSM, to corporate business unit leader of survey and mapping. Maxwell previously served as lower southwest Florida regional manager of the business unit. He...

RBF consulting.(turningpoints)
April 1, 2007... RBF CONSULTING (RBF), Sacramento, Calif, appointed Pat Tami, PLS, and William Conyers, PE, as vice presidents to its top management group in the northern California region. Tami has more than 27 years of surveying experience and has served as a...

GEO-3D Inc.(turningpoints)
April 1, 2007... GEO-3D INC., Montreal, appointed Daniel Desgagne as presi-dent of the company. Desgagne joined Geo-3D last year as vice president and has spent more than 25 years in key senior management and executive level positions within the financial...

Cuoco & Cormier Engineering Associates Inc.(turningpoints)
April 1, 2007... CUOCO & CORMIER ENGINEERING ASSOCIATES INC., Nashua, N.H., promoted Cynthia Boisvert to vice president of survey. Boisvert has been with Cuoco & Cormier since its formation in 1983 and is responsible for all survey operations and services.

Alpha Associates Inc.(turningpoints)(appointments)
April 1, 2007... ALPHA ASSOCIATES INC., Morgantown, W.V., announced sev-eral new employees. Brad Miller joined the Morgantown office as party survey chief; Gary Kuroski, PS, joined the Morgantown and Martinsburg offices as survey manager; and Suresh Verma...

CHAS. H. SELLS Inc.(turningpoints)
April 1, 2007... Andrew Browne, PLS, joined CHAS. H. SELLS INC. (SELLS), Mass., as project surveyor. Browne has more than 30 years of surveying experience and is a lincensed surveyor in Massachusetts and New York. He is responsible for managing SELLS' new...

Chas. H. SELLS Inc.(turningpoints)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Also, CHAS. H. SELLS INC. (SELLS), Newark, N.J., hired David Althaver, PE, as project engineer. Althaver manages SELLS' new office, located at One Gateway Center, Suite 2600 in Newark. He has more than 16 years of experience in the design and...

Multivision USA.(turningpoints)
April 1, 2007... MULTIVISION USA, Orlando, Fla., announced Brian Bobich as regional director for the Northeast United States. Bobich is responsible for directing the sales and imple-mentation of MultiVision USA oblique imagery solutions to federal, state and...

Spalding Dedecker Associates.(turningpoints)
April 1, 2007... SPALDING DEDECKER ASSOCIATES (SDA), Detroit, hired Bill Lambdin, PE, as senior project manager of its Transportation Department. Lambdin has 30 years of experience in bridge design and engineering.

Dewberry.(turningpoints)(appointments)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... DEWBERRY, Fairfax, Va., promoted David Maune, PhD, CP, CFM, and Jeffrey Poplin to senior associate positions. Muane has more than 45 years of experience and is a remote sensing technical leader with Dewberry's Fairfax office. Poplin has more...

Topcon positioning systems.(new&notable)(Topcon Pocket Layout software)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... TOPCON POSITIONING SYSTEMS intro-duced Green Label total stations and Topcon Pocket Layout software to simplify construction layout. The initial Topcon Green Label products are the GTS-100N total station series, with models GTS-102N and...

Leica geosystems.(new&notable)(Leica TruView and Cyclone Publisher)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... LEICA GEOSYSTEMS released Leica TruView and Cyclone Publisher. Used in conjunction with Cyclone Publisher to generate point clouds, Leica TruView is freeware for professionals who want to easily view and measure detailed laser scan point clouds...

SiteSmart-Translator.(new&notable)(SiteSmart-Translator)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Also, LEICA GEOSYSTEMS released SiteSmart-Translator, a new software that converts various types of GPS and total station files for machine automation applications. The software is designed to import and convert design data from virtually any...

Autodesk Inc.(new&notable)
April 1, 2007... AUTODESK INC. unveiled updates to AutoCAD Civil 3D, Autodesk Map 3D, AutoCAD Raster Design 2008 and Autodesk Design Review 2008. AutoCAD Civil 3D updates feature an enhanced multi-user environment for work on larger, more complex projects;...

Autodesk Impression 2008.(new&notable)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Also, AUTODESK introduced AutoCAD 2008, AutoCAD LT 2008 and Autodesk Impression 2008. Key enhancements to AutoCAD 2008 and AutoCAD LT 2008 software include simple editing and management of annotation scales, tables, text and leaders; and...

Pentax.(new&notable)(CST-225N reflectorless)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... PENTAX released the CST-225N reflectorless total station for CST/BERGER. The CST-225N has a reflectorless range of 4.9 ft to 295 ft (1.5 m to 90 m), angular accuracy of 5 seconds, EDM accuracy of [+ or -]3 mm +2 ppm, and an internal memory with...

CST/Berger.(new&notable)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... Also, CST/BERGER released the new CTS-02 and CTS-05 electronic total stations. The CTS-Series provides precise measurement up to 5,249 ft (1,600 m) with single prism, and easily focuses on small objects with a 30-power magnification telescope....

Seco Manufacturing Company Inc.(new&notable)
April 1, 2007... SECO MANUFACTURING COMPANY INC. introduced a new cross-line laser and accessories. The new laser projects bright horizontal and vertical lines for instant, accurate reference marks. The Class 2M laser features a diode with a 635 nm wavelength,...

Blue marble geographics.(new&notable)(GeoCalc 6.3.)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... BLUE MARBLE GEOGRAPHICS released GeoCalc 6.3. This fully object-oriented, cross platform coordinate conversion library is now completely interoperable with most major GIS software tools available today. GeoCalc 6.3 supports a direct match to...

Applied Technologies Group (ATG).(new&notable)
April 1, 2007... PBS&J formed a new service line, the Applied Technologies Group (ATG). The new service applies existing and emerging technologies to advance and automate decision and management tools for a diverse customer base. The ATG provides ser-vices and...

ER Mapper.(new&notable)(Brief article)
April 1, 2007... ER MAPPER released Image Compressor, a cost-effective desktop application for high-speed JPEG 2000 or ECW image compression. Image compression is used to make large data sets more accessible and easier to use in GIS and other desktop...

Qcoherent software.(new&notable)
April 1, 2007... QCOHERENT SOFTWARE released LP360 1.4, the LiDAR exten-sion for ArcGIS. LP360 employs a specially designed ArcMap data layer to access LiDAR points directly from LAS files. LP360 supports large quantities of point cloud data and effortlessly...

DVP-GS.(new&notable)
April 1, 2007... DVP-GS released Version 6.2 of its professional photogrammetry software. Version 6.2 includes a revamped orthomosaic module and features one-step mosaic creation from the aerial image, negating the need for creating an intermediary orthophoto...

Survyeing solution.(funandgames)(Reprint)
April 1, 2007... Each month we present a surveying problem from the second edition of 1001 Solved Surveying Fundamentals Problems by Jan Van Sickle, PLS. As in the following example, the answer will appear below the problem, in a shaded box. We hope you enjoy...

Remember when.(funandgames)
April 1, 2007... Surveying Memories "Any of you remember typing your data into a teletype to punch a paper tape? Proofread the printout, correct the paper tape. Then dial the 800 number, log on the 300 baud modem and read in the paper tape. Have your...