Point of Beginning articles from March 2008

Point of Beginning archives from March 2008

Surveying connections.(editor'spoints)
March 1, 2008... Once again, in the course of my daily life, I've come across another personal link to surveying. With all the connections I find, I often think I was destined to be a part of this profession. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Rather, I think...

NRC report provides research focus for The National Map.(newsline)(National Research Council)(Report)
March 1, 2008... In response to the USGS' request to assess current and future needs for geographic information science capabilities related to The National Map, the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies published its research...

National Geospatial Advisory Committee established.(newsline)
March 1, 2008... In January, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne announced 28 appointees to the National Geospatial Advisory Committee (NGAC), a new advisory board for federal geospatial programs, which was formed in May 2007. "This committee will help...

Topcon acquires Sokkia.(newsline)
March 1, 2008... After almost 11 months of negotiations, Topcon Corporation and Sokkia Co. Ltd. combined effective Feb. 5. Sokkia will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Topcon Corporation. The announcement follows a tender offer and agreement between the two...

Calendar of events.(Calendar)
March 1, 2008... calendarofevents MARCH 3-5 SPAR 2008 Houston 978/774-1102 conference@sparllc.com sparllc.com/index.php 4-9 2008 ACSM/LSAW Conference Spokane, Wash. 703/964-1240 Ext. 16 ...

Tunnel vision: experienced civil engineering firm applies laser scanning expertise on Dallas Area Rapid Transit tunnel.
March 1, 2008... Texas-based Laser Geomatics, a division of civil engineering firm Bohannan Huston Inc. (BHI), is a pioneer of laser scanner use. The firm was one of the first companies in the world to use laser scanners when it purchased the 20th Cyrax laser...

Updating the Lady in Black: 3D scanning infuses new life into NASCAR's first superspeedway.
March 1, 2008... NASCAR is rich in tradition, and no NASCAR track is home to more legends than South Carolina's Darlington Raceway. Known as the track that's "too tough to tame," Harold Brasington began its construction in 1949, making Darlington the first...

The long & short of it (and the fast and gradual): a look at phase-based and time-of-flight scanners.
March 1, 2008... The advantages of using 3D laser scanning technology are being seen more often in the surveying and engineering world than even just a couple of years ago. More clients are specifically requesting laser scanning services for a variety of...

Geospatially connected: highlights of surveying associations that make a difference in state GIS activities.
March 1, 2008... The use of GIS in local government is a reality that can no longer be denied. Parcel-based information systems are being compiled and stored in GIS formats for many in-house and public uses. The development of GIS benefits local government most...

Looking for closure: surveyors and utility contractors can improve construction safety and damage prevention measures.
March 1, 2008... Surveyors, for the most part, are an analytical and systematic bunch, perhaps more so than other professions. I, on the other hand, work in an industry that is comprised of a smorgasbord of professionals ranging from scientists, geophysicists,...

Developing a new GIS, part 4: the first tome of this series (developing a new GIS, August 2007) stressed the importance of the data model. Remember the data model?(surveyinggis)(Geographic information systems)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The logical data model describes a complex version of the real world in a database. Physically, a data model appears as a list of fields and descriptors in layout form. But the data model ultimately drives the bus....

The one-minute, one-person peg test: one of the main activities in surveying is determining or setting elevations on the jobsite. To establish accurate elevations, the equipment used must be in calibration.(backtobasics)
March 1, 2008... For leveling, this requires that the instruments have a horizontal line of sight. This applies to any type of leveling instrument be it a simple hand level, an old dumpy level, an automatic level, a laser level or a digital level. It is true...

Zoning in the United States, part 4: as we've seen in this series, zoning has far-reaching ramifications and must be planned and executed with the entire community in mind.(onthelevel)
March 1, 2008... In the September 2007 issue, we discussed some of the history of land use control through zoning in the United States. We saw that zoning was found to be constitutionally acceptable by the Supreme Court in the case Euclid v. Ambler but that...

Tool tips for optical plummet tribrach errors, part 2: in the previous column (September 2007), we began a discussion of errors inherent in optical plummet tribrachs. We conclude that discussion with this column.(giaamailbag)
March 1, 2008... Q. What types of errors can I have with optical plummet tribrachs, and how can I mitigate them? A. We've already discussed the topics of tribrach circular bubble vial sensitivity, determining average leveling error when using the circular...

Does a mistake constitute negligence?(traversingthelaw)
March 1, 2008... I receive my fair share of criticism for writing about recent cases that involve surveyors who are still alive and kicking, for naming names and for pointing out the errors made by the surveyor. My reasons for doing this are manifold. ...

The new high-visibility apparel regulation: on April 24, 2006, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding high-visibility safety apparel.(safetysense)
March 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This action was a result of the required implementation of Section 1402 (Worker Injury Prevention and Free Flow of Vehicular Traffic) of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy...

Hexagon AB.(turningpoints)
March 1, 2008... HEXAGON AB, Nacka Strand, Sweden, entered into separate agreements to acquire SURVEYORS SERVICE COMPANY and HASELBACH SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS, both of California, providers of precision measurement products, repair services, training and...

Trimble.(turningpoints)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... TRIMBLE, Sunnyvale, Calif., acquired privately held HHK DATENTECHNIK GMBH, of Braunschweig, Germany, a provider of customized office and field software solutions for the cadastral survey market in Germany. Financial terms were not disclosed....

Bentley Systems Incorporated.(turningpoints)
March 1, 2008... BENTLEY SYSTEMS INCORPORATED, Exton, Pa., acquired LEAP SOFTWARE INC., a provider of analysis and design products for concrete bridges. Associate editor Wendy Lyons compiles "Turning Points." Contact her at lyonsw@bnpmedia.com or...

Measurement Devices Ltd.(turningpoints)
March 1, 2008... MEASUREMENT DEVICES LTD., Houston, awarded the Handheld Laser Products U.S. Master Distributorship to WESTERN DATA SYSTEMS of Houston. Associate editor Wendy Lyons compiles "Turning Points." Contact her at lyonsw@bnpmedia.com or...

Allen Precision Equipment.(turningpoints)(Wendy Watson appointed)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... ALLEN PRECISION EQUIPMENT promoted Wendy Watson to director of geospatial solutions. Watson has more than 22 years of experience in the surveying industry. She has a degree in geomatics engineering from the University of New Brunswick in...

BHC Rhodes.(turningpoints)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... BHC RHODES civil engineering and surveying firm acquired assets from CAMPBELL, BARBER, LAMBETH & ASSOCIATES, P.A., Merriam, Kan., following the firm's closure. Records acquired include 50 years of engineering design and land surveying data for...

BHC Rhodes.(turningpoints)(Jim Lambeth appointed)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Also, Jim Lambeth, a founder of CAMPBELL, BARBER, LAMBETH & ASSOCIATES, P.A., joined the BHC RHODES development services team to continue serving its current customer base. Lambeth brings 50 years of highly regarded experience and knowledge to...

Spalding Dedecker Associates Inc.(turningpoints)
March 1, 2008... SPALDING DEDECKER ASSOCIATES INC., Detroit, opened a Brighton, Mich., branch office. The Brighton office will provide transportation, municipal, construction engineering, land development, SCADA and survey services. Associate editor Wendy...

Lochrane Engineering Inc.(turningpoints)(John Campbell promoted)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... LOCHRANE ENGINEERING INC. promoted John Campbell, PSM, to assistant division manager in the Orlando Survey Division. Campbell has worked for Lochrane for more than 21 years and is recognized by both the Florida Department of Transportation...

Lochrane Engineering.(turningpoints)(Chris Leftakis promoted)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Also, LOCHRANE ENGINEERING promoted Chris Leftakis, PSM, to project manager for transportation projects in the Orlando Survey Division. Leftakis has worked for Lochrane for five years and has worked on numerous transportation projects for...

Lochrane Engineering.(turningpoints)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Additionally, LOCHRANE ENGINEERING promoted Bill Dees, PSM, to survey manager in the Gainesville Survey Division. Dees works closely with Dianne Jones, assistant division manager, and focuses on managing all survey projects completed out of the...

Chas. H. Sells Inc. (Sells).(turningpoints)
March 1, 2008... CHAS. H. SELLS INC. (SELLS) announced that Stephen J. Morse joined SELLS as geographic information systems (GIS) manager in the Charlton, Mass., office. Morse is a GIS manager/analyst with 17 years of experience in data research and analysis,...

Sells.(turningpoints)(Brian Dehler appointed)(Chas. H. Sells Inc.)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... Also, SELLS announced that Brian Dehler, PE, joined its Mooresville, N.C., office as transportation group leader. Dehler has more than 21 years of experience managing various transportation projects ranging from feasibility and traffic studies...

PCI Geomatics.(turningpoints)
March 1, 2008... PCI GEOMATICS, Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, named John T. Werle as president and CEO of PCI GEOMATICS CORPORATION USA. Werle focuses on building business in the U.S. marketplace and leads PCI Geomatics' global business development operation,...

Clary & Associates Inc.(turningpoints)
March 1, 2008... CLARY & ASSOCIATES INC., Jacksonville, Fla., hired Derreck Fields as a survey technician. Fields passed the Surveyor-in-Training Exam and obtained field experience working as a surveyor in training, a draftsman, and as a rodman and...

POB Magazine.(turningpoints)
March 1, 2008... POB MAGAZINE announced the addition of Wendy Lyons as associate editor. Lyons holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Oakland University, Rochester, Mich. She compiles POB's biweekly eNewsletter, oversees the Web site content, product...

Woolpert Inc.(turningpoints)(Michael R. Flannery appointed)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... WOOLPERT INC., Cincinnati, announced Michael R. Flannery, PE, as CEO and president. Flannery has been with Woolpert for nearly 18 years and has served many roles, including manager of the firm's site and civil design group in Cincinnati....

James W. Sewall Company.(turningpoints)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... JAMES W. SEWALL COMPANY, Old Town, Maine, announced its reorganization. David T. Edson, LPF, was promoted to president to drive high-level strategic client development. During his 34 years at Sewall, Edson has played major roles as vice...

American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.(turningpoints)
March 1, 2008... Dr. Russell G. Congalton was named editor-in-chief of Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing (PE & RS), the journal of the AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND REMOTE SENSING. Congalton is professor of remote sensing and GIS,...

Leica Geosystems.(new&notable)
March 1, 2008... LEICA GEOSYSTEMS announced Leica Cyclone II TOPO software for quickly creating accurate topographic maps from laser scan data. With a simplified CAD-like interface and familiar office automation displays, Leica Cyclone II TOPO features a...

Leica Geosystems Geospatial Imaging.(new&notable)
March 1, 2008... Also, LEICA GEOSYSTEMS GEOSPATIAL IMAGING announced the beta release of the TerraSAR-X processing capability for ERDAS IMAGINE Radar Mapping Suite 9.1. Available in a downloadable service pack update, this feature will be included in ERDAS...

Topcon Positioning Systems.(new&notable)
March 1, 2008... TOPCON POSITIONING SYSTEMS introduced the RL-100 series slope lasers. The lasers feature a new encoding system that provides repeatability of 5 arc seconds. Available in single-slope (RL-100S1) and dual-slope (RL-100S2) models, both instruments...

Sokkia.(new&notable)
March 1, 2008... SOKKIA released Mobile Reference Station. The scalable GNSS solution combines the GSR2700 RSX GNSS Reference Station with one or more GSR2700 ISX receivers to leverage on-the-fly, adaptable RTK coverage. Key features include: push-button start...

Carlson Software.(new&notable)
March 1, 2008... CARLSON SOFTWARE introduced Carlson Layout designed to ease and speed layout calculations for foundations, columns and utilities of architectural buildings. Using conventional or robotic total stations, Carlson Layout quickly sets out corners,...

PCI Geomatics.(new&notable)
March 1, 2008... PCI GEOMATICS announced release and free availability of Geomatica GeoRaster Loader, a desktop product used to load image data and associated metadata into Oracle 10g and 11g. Geomatica GeoRaster Loader is a scaled-down version of GeoRaster...

LizardTech.(new&notable)
March 1, 2008... LIZARDTECH launched GeoExpress 7 for compressing and manipulating complex geospatial imagery. GeoExpress 7 enables all of the LizardTech Express Suite applications to interoperate with one another and includes a powerful set of tools for...

Getac Inc.(new&notable)
March 1, 2008... GETAC INC. introduced the GETAC B300 notebook PC.. GETAC's patent-pending micro-controller technology meets the U.S. Army's MIL-STD-3009 night vision standards. The technology uses an advanced software and hardware combination to auto-adjust...

Getac.(new&notable)
March 1, 2008... Also, GETAC added the GETAC E100 slate-style tablet PC. The 3-pound E100 meets MIL-STD-810F and IP54 standards for durability and protection against dirt, dust, water, motion, vibration, temperature and other factors. The E100 offers an...

Blue Marble Geographics.(new&notable)
March 1, 2008... BLUE MARBLE GEOGRAPHICS added USB Dongle keys that allow users to leverage the power of the Geographic Calculator 7.0.1 anywhere at any time. Users insert the hardware key into the USB port of a desktop or laptop workstation to begin using the...

Dotsoft.(new&notable)
March 1, 2008... DOTSOFT released MapWorks Suite 2.0, a collection of civil/survey productivity tools for Autodesk products including Civil3D, Land Desktop and AutoCAD. An adaptive engine interface detects the platform it's running on and uses its objects. When...

Maptek.(new&notable)(Brief article)
March 1, 2008... MAPTEK announced that its North American I-Site Service Center is fully operational. Hardware issues can be diagnosed promptly and the majority of scanner repairs can be handled locally. Turnaround time for standard annual service and...

Avenza Systems Inc.(new&notable)
March 1, 2008... AVENZA SYSTEMS INC. released MAPublisher 7.6 for Adobe Illustrator full product update. New features include: the ability for GPS data to be automatically drawn, joined, attributed, styled or symbolized on any projected plane in Adobe...

Surveying solutions.(funandgames)
March 1, 2008... 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...

Surveying shots.(funandgames)
March 1, 2008... Millard T. Owen III, a land surveyor in Clinton, N.C., requested that this photo be taken of his grandchildren. His daughter answered his wish. Photo courtesy of Wendy Dixon. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Have a photo to share? Send it to...