Point of Beginning articles from January 2004

Point of Beginning archives from January 2004

What is a sirvayur?(Editor's Note)
January 1, 2004... "A sirvayur is some[one] [who] grubs around in the woods looking for little sticks and stones. When he finds them, he does some kind of weerd dance around them with a funny looking 3-leg crutch which he leans on and looks at. When he don't find...

A reader's inquiry: regarding impact of continental drift on present longitude.(Letters to the Editor)(Letter to the Editor)
January 1, 2004... I am an amateur astronomer. [Because] the stars are moving slowly, the charts of the sky are redrawn each 50 years (called an Epoch). The maps do not really look different, but the associated catalog that precisely lists the position of each...

GIS Day turns five.(The Latest News)
January 1, 2004... Somewhere in small town America, kindergarten students are engrossed using a map to help Katy, a character from the children's book Katy and the Big Snow, navigate throughout Geoppolis to plow out the streets after a big snowstorm. Down the...

3D laser scanning techniques help downtown Dallas highway improvement project grow wings.(Project Pegasus Flies)
January 1, 2004... Anyone who lives or works in or near a major city in the United States knows that traffic problems are a part of downtown life. It is no different in Dallas, Texas, where "rush-hour" traffic often occurs for up to six hours a day during the...

A case of give and take.
January 1, 2004... Adverse possession is an old but extremely useful concept of law. the machination of claiming adverse possession is a complex legal issue that requires the engaging of attorneys. However, it is an area of law with which land surveyors...

2004 3D laser scanner hardware survey.(products by Cyra, iQVolution, MAPTEK, MENSI, Optech, 3rdTech, Zoller+ Froehlich, Innovmetric, I-SiTE, Leica/Cyra, MDL, )
January 1, 2004... 2004 3D Laser Scanner Survey Notes POB does not assume responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be contained within the survey. HARDWARE: Cyra 1. Fully operational between bright sunlight and complete darkness. ...

Tool tips.(GIAA Mailbag)
January 1, 2004... Q: I have a total station with a dual-axis compensator. As I understand it, it corrects for errors in the vertical and horizontal angles due to tilt of the vertical axis. But what about centering errors? Does the total station account for the...

Advanced Graphics Technology: new technology in DTM opens new business opportunities for surveyors.(2004 Editorial Spotlight)(Cover Story)
January 1, 2004... The 2004 Editorial Spotlight features news about manufacturers, dealers and service providers who serve the geomatics profession, including corporate activities, breakthroughs, company histories, and new products and services. All of the...

Allen Precision equipment.(2004 Editorial Spotlight)
January 1, 2004... More than 30 years ago, surveyors typically had to buy products from local blueprint companies who carried limited inventory and charged retail prices. The most popular brands of that time were K & E, Kern, Wild, Lietz, Post and Dietzgen. In...

Carlson Software: industry leaders look to Carlson for solutions.(2004 Editorial Spotlight)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Carlson Software would like to thank all of our partners, the industry leaders who produce the finest products available to the land surveying marketplace. They trust Carlson Software to provide key technological components needed to...

Cyra Technologies Inc., a division of Leica Geosystems; new laser scanners and more.(2004 Editorial Spotlight)
January 1, 2004... Cyra/Leica Geosystems has reinforced its position as the laser scanning industry's first-choice supplier with the announcement of its third-generation, time-of-flight laser scanner and point cloud processing software, plus a new,...

Eagle point: there's nothing flashy about results.(2004 Editorial Spotlight)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... When it comes to your bottom line, all the marketing babble in the world doesn't make one bit of difference. So rather than spewing out a bunch of gobbledy-gook about how great we are, we'll let one of our clients talk about real results. ...

Hayes Instrument Company: sales, service and financial solutions for surveyors.(2004 Editorial Spotlight)
January 1, 2004... Home of the Hayes "Worry-Free" Lease We are located in Shelbyville, Tenn., approximately 55 miles southeast of Nashville. This centralized location allows us to be only two to three days' ground shipping for a majority of surveyors and...

Leica Geosystems: innovation at work.(2004 Editorial Spotlight)
January 1, 2004... Leica Geosystems offers an unbeatable combination of advanced technology, dependable performance, user-oriented application software and technical support in GPS and terrestrial systems for surveying, engineering and GIS. The result is SMARTER...

LISCAD surveying and engineering software: North America's best kept secret.(2004 Editorial Spotlight)
January 1, 2004... "I remember when I first advanced to a Leica TC1700 with the PCMCIA card with TDS software on board... man, I needed some real CAD software now! And I could see that this LISCAD product was just what I was looking for in a great digital...

I-SiTE Pty Ltd: 4400 Laser Imaging System integrates scanning, surveying and photography.(2004 Editorial Spotlight)
January 1, 2004... A new generation of surveying tools has emerged. The days of manually mapping color textures to complex surfaces to reproduce real world scenes are over. Australian-based I-SiTE Pty Ltd has released the I-SiTE 4400 Laser Imaging system. It...

MicroSurvey Software: MicroSurvey breaks thousand dollar barrier with MSCAD 2004.(2004 Editorial Spotlight, drafting and calculating software)
January 1, 2004... A full-featured drafting and calculating package has been well beyond the $1,000 mark until this month's release of MicroSurvey CAD2004 Standard edition. Included are a full-featured calculating program and a powerful drafting engine that works...

OmniSTAR Inc.
January 1, 2004... Over the last 20 years the development and introduction of the satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) has revolutionized navigation and positioning practices worldwide. Differential GPS (DGPS) techniques can provide worldwide real-time...

Optech: ILRIS-3D: 3D imaging for today's demanding applications.(2004 Editorial Spotlight)
January 1, 2004... Optech's ILRIS-3D is a complete, fully portable, laser-based imaging and digitizing system for the commercial survey and industrial market. ILRIS-3D is compact and highly-integrated, with an integrated digital camera and sophisticated software...

Sokkia Corporation: a solution to your product, service and support needs.(2004 Editorial Spotlight)
January 1, 2004... When customers buy Sokkia, they're buying value. Around the world, Sokkia products are known for their ruggedness, quality and dependability. Sokkia products range from the high-tech (total stations, GPS systems, data collection and software)...

Riegl USA.(Riegl's LMS Z360 3D scanning equipment, RiScan Pro software)
January 1, 2004... Riegl's innovative approach to 3D scanning enables firms to do everything associated with 3D scanning more effectively. * Acquisition point cloud analysis is done faster, better and more clearly. * Post-processing steps and analysis...

Silver Shield: do we measure up to the expectations of our raving fans? You be the judge ...(2004 Editorial Spotlight)
January 1, 2004... There are few products that enjoy the fanatic customer loyalty of Mercedes Benz, Harley-Davidson... or Silver Shield. Today, the company counts hundreds of thousands of end users in its ranks of raving fans. More than 90 percent of the people...

South Surveying & Mapping Instrument Co., Ltd.: South to take off.(2004 Editorial Spotlight)
January 1, 2004... South Surveying & Mapping Instrument Co., Ltd. is a professional and leading enterprise in the surveying industry in Mainland China whose five affiliated factories specialize in R&D and manufacturing. We sell nine kinds of surveying products,...

SubSurface Instruments: SubSurface Instruments announces another first: lifetime warranty on the ML magnetic locators (ML- 1 and ML- 1M).(2004 Editorial Spotlight)
January 1, 2004... * First and only lifetime warranty on the ML locators: "Lasts a lifetime, and then some." * First five-year warranty on metered units (April 1998, now replaced by lifetime warranty). * First one-hand operation locator (April 1998). ...

Topcon Positioning Systems Inc.: delivering more cutting-edge positioning technology.(2004 Editorial Spotlight)
January 1, 2004... It's been just a little more than two years since Topcon merged its three separate companies for surveying, construction and GPS products to form one unified organization, Topcon Positioning Systems. This move has proven to be one of the most...

Trimble: a new era in surveying is coming: are you ready for 2004?(2004 Editorial Spotlight)
January 1, 2004... Over the last 10 years, advancements in GPS and total station surveying technology have helped surveyors everywhere to increase their efficiency, productivity and profitability. Now we're at the beginning of a new era with more exciting...

Tripod Data Systems: TDS now offers Nikon total stations what does it mean for you?(2004 Editorial Spotlight)(Interview)
January 1, 2004... Last summer, through a joint venture between Trimble (TDS' parent company) and Nikon, TDS became the U.S. distributor of Nikon surveying products. That means TDS now handles sales, support and service for Nikon total stations, including both...

Tides and their relationship to vertical datums.(The GPS Observer)
January 1, 2004... With some exceptions, everybody in our country and Canada has seen an ocean. If you were to spend a few hours on the beach, you would see the water level rise and fall. Depending on your location, the rise and fall can vary from less than 3...

How to exculpate.(On the Level)
January 1, 2004... Exculpate: to declare or prove guiltless. The September/October newsletter of Victor O. Schinnerer & Co. Inc., underwriting manager of professional liability lines based in Chevy Chase, Md., called Guidelines for Improving Practice, carries...

Tripod Data Systems (TDS).(New & Notable, new handheld computers)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... 401 Tripod Data Systems (TDS) announced two new modules for the TDS Recon rugged handheld computer. The AA PowerBoot Module allows users to run the Recon with two AA alkaline or lithium batteries. The Extended CF-Cap provides room for large...

Leica Geosystems.(New & Notable, surveying instruments)
January 1, 2004... 402 Leica Geosystems introduced a new family of surveying total stations optimized for construction and building applications. The TPS110C has a keypad with six function keys. The high-end TPS410C features a high-resolution LCD with graphical...

Haestad Methods.(New & Notable)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... 403 Haestad Methods released GISConnect for AutoCAD, an enterprise-wide software solution that integrates independent CAD and GIS software systems. GISConnect is an add-on to AutoCAD and ESRI's ArcGIS products, and ties both environments...

ESRI began shipping the Production Line Tool Set (PLTS) Mapping Agency Solution.(New & Notable)(Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc.)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... 404 ESRI began shipping the Production Line Tool Set (PLTS) Mapping Agency Solution. PLTS Mapping Agency Solution is built on top of ArcGIS for high-volume database production, maintenance, quality control and high-quality cartographic output....

IDEAL Industries introduced the AUTO-LOCK, a 25-foot tape measure that automatically locks its blade into place when pulled out.(New & Notable)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... 405 IDEAL Industries introduced the AUTO-LOCK, a 25-foot tape measure that automatically locks its blade into place when pulled out. Its high-visibility yellow casing is safeguarded from damaging knocks and falls by a thick, non-slip rubber...

MENSI launched the new 3D laser scanner GS200.(New & Notable)
January 1, 2004... 406 MENSI launched the new 3D laser scanner GS200. The scanner offers uninterrupted panoramic captures both indoors and outdoors, a motorized 360[degrees] field of view, accuracy optimized to 200 meters, 350 meter OverScan capability, 700 meter...

Applanix released POSPac 4.1 post-processing software.(New & Notable)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... 407 Applanix released POSPac 4.1 post-processing software. The new release allows the user to control the output data (units, coordinate type etc.) with the introduction of a conversion option that automatically translates post-processed...

Turning points.(Bill Martin new president of Tripod Data Systems, TDS)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Trimble, Sunnyvale, Calif., announced that Bill Martin will assume the role of president of Tripod Data Systems (TDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Trimble. Martin will succeed Dave Scribner, who is retiring after serving as president for 12...

Turning points.(Jim Grummon joined Allen Instruments & Supplies, Anaheim, Calif., as GIS Specialist for Southern California.)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Jim Grummon joined Allen Instruments & Supplies, Anaheim, Calif., as GIS Specialist for Southern California. Grummon is a 29-year veteran of GIS, GPS, mapping and navigation, and is an expert on ESRI products. Grummon holds a bachelor's degree...

Turning points.
January 1, 2004... The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) installed its newly elected officers, including the first woman president in the Society's 150-year history. Patricia D. Galloway, PE, FASCE, PMP, chief executive officer and president of The...

Turning points.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... Advance Precision Products, Atlanta, Ga., a full-line Trimble dealer, appointed Robert Stribling as survey sales specialist for the state of Georgia. Stribling earned a bachelor's degree from Georgia Institute of Technology. Since 1995 he has...

Surveying solutions.(Book Review)
January 1, 2004... 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 beside the problem, in a shaded box. We hope you enjoy...

Meet Sam the Surveyor; this month's candidate: Jan Van Sickle, PLS.(Sam the Surveyor)
January 1, 2004... Name: Jan Van Sickle, PLS Director of Survey and GIS, V3 Consultants, Lakewood, Colorado Registered/licensed in: Oregon, California, Colorado Other professional credits: SAG, AFTRA, Equity (film, TV, radio, theater) ...

POB song: sung to the tune of "Cover of the Rolling Stone" by Dr. Hook.(Point of Beginning)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2004... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "The POB" Well we're big Land 'Veyors We got golden tripods And we're loved everywhere we go We measure the land and we draw the plats At ten thousand dollars a job...