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My biggest single complaint about my career in Land Surveying has been
Compromise.
Our profession is rife with compromise.
The GLO surveys were often done with compromise.
I have seen the diagrams, done up to REDUCE the miles traveled, and yet to set most corners in a township.I have seen the subsequent surveyors come in, doing 1320′ squares.
And, finally we come down to today.
Today, the GENUINE originals are being lost day by day.
The surveys of today, are being based on the markers set by compromise methods.
I’d even dare say, over 1/2 the title in the nation, is marked with improperly set markers.
Yet, they have been out there for 40-50-75-100 yrs.
They have gained the respect of time.
Now, we have to disciple, and mentor the new guys, coming into our profession, in comprehending, and following the compromise markers!
And, we have pincushions.
And, we have “Virtual pincushions”.
And, we have “Improperly set markers, that have been there for a long time, yet, are now being removed, but their ‘used to be’ location has been preserved in somebodies database.” So, we can reset the wrongly set monument…
This makes surveying interesting!I have SEEN a number of young folks come into our profession, all excited to “Get to the bottom of all this, and perform NO COMPROMISE SURVEYING.
Then, begins their “Education”. Um, better YIELD to that monument… ’cause it’s been there for 30 yrs… and Mr. Clients barn was built based on it…
And, so on, and so forth. And, THEN a few have “Turned to the dark side”, ACCEPTED the compromise PRINCIPLE, and began taking us toward FURTHER compromise. Basically, fast, dirty, cheap, wrong, and sometimes plain silly.I take the posit that we often must yield to compromise monuments… WHILE KNOWING where they were supposed to be.
NOT yielding to them, WITHOUT KNOWING where they are supposed to be.
IF we yield, without knowing, then it is not possible to STOP the drift, toward MORE compromise.
IF we yield, while KNOWING, then we can make a MORE PROFESSIONAL judgement call.
That’s what I endeavor to do, and encourage others to do.Happy Friday to all. I hope your batteries are hot. Because, it’s hard to survey without batteries!
Nate
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