RJ Leaver submitted a new blog post
An Open Letter to the President of the Wisconsin Society of Land Surveyors
Thanks to the efforts of the state cartographer? office, an informative forum was held in March 2015 at UW Stevens Point. You were in attendance. The major announcement heard at that event concerned the misalignment of county boundaries.
For those of us outside the USA this is a really informative article on how your system works, or doesn't work. I've learnt more from this than I have since i joined the forum.
chris mills, post: 386539, member: 6244 wrote: For those of us outside the USA this is a really informative article on how your system works, or doesn't work. I've learnt more from this than I have since i joined the forum.
I am glad you understood the main point. The current system, at least in my state, does not work. Thus my reasons for becoming a change agent.
A quick review of our County GIS will reveal numerous glaring errors. Given sufficient budget many could be 'corrected' to match a current Surveyors opinion. The resulting map would have better apparent harmony. The question is, what would that accomplish. If the intent is to tax closer to reality or manage resources better, great. Run the cost-benefit and do it when it makes sense. If the idea is to impose solutions on owners and elevate public domain coordinates over a few hundred years of law count me out. The State doesn't have that authority and I'm not inclined to follow along if they seek it..
RJ Leaver, post: 386560, member: 11815 wrote: I am glad you understood the main point. The current system, at least in my state, does not work. Thus my reasons for becoming a change agent.
Yes change is hard. So it was when Henry Ford developed the first automobile. And when he placed the first automobile beside the horse and buggy for comparison, do you think they did a cost/benefit study?
thebionicman, post: 386591, member: 8136 wrote: A quick review of our County GIS will reveal numerous glaring errors. Given sufficient budget many could be 'corrected' to match a current Surveyors opinion. The resulting map would have better apparent harmony. The question is, what would that accomplish. If the intent is to tax closer to reality or manage resources better, great. Run the cost-benefit and do it when it makes sense. If the idea is to impose solutions on owners and elevate public domain coordinates over a few hundred years of law count me out. The State doesn't have that authority and I'm not inclined to follow along if they seek it..
Yes change is hard. So it was when Henry Ford developed the first automobile. And when he placed the first automobile beside the horse and buggy for comparison, do you think they did a cost/benefit study?
RJ Leaver, post: 386598, member: 11815 wrote: Yes change is hard. So it was when Henry Ford developed the first automobile. And when he placed the first automobile beside the horse and buggy for comparison, do you think they did a cost/benefit study?
Henry Ford never did anything that wouldn't make money. That's beside the point.
We have hundreds of years of Boundary and Title law in this Country. You don't replace that without some thought.
I have spent most of my career on the bleeding edge in this business. We have great tools and we should use them. At the same time we need to examine the fitness of a particular tool for a given job.
Coordinates and public information need to be worked into the order of calls. You can't do it overnight and you can't ignore the rights of owners in the process. If you want to fix the GIS up a little, great. I am simply pushing back against the grotesque over steps I see happening. Owners have rights...
thebionicman, post: 386591, member: 8136 wrote: A quick review of our County GIS will reveal numerous glaring errors. Given sufficient budget many could be 'corrected' to match a current Surveyors opinion. The resulting map would have better apparent harmony. The question is, what would that accomplish. If the intent is to tax closer to reality or manage resources better, great. Run the cost-benefit and do it when it makes sense. If the idea is to impose solutions on owners and elevate public domain coordinates over a few hundred years of law count me out. The State doesn't have that authority and I'm not inclined to follow along if they seek it..
"If the intent is to tax closer to reality... " If your County is assessing taxes based on a GIS the onlu question is when the lawsuit is coming...
RJ Leaver, post: 386598, member: 11815 wrote: Yes change is hard. So it was when Henry Ford developed the first automobile. And when he placed the first automobile beside the horse and buggy for comparison, do you think they did a cost/benefit study?
Probably not, but in today's world they may be required to perform one by law
Once again you produced excellent article. Thank you, Jp
I would offer one solution to the vexing issue of poor locations for parcels in GIS mapping:
Use two different layers, one for certified locations (new subdivisions, data from something like an SID that has good locations for the property lines) and lines on a layer for parcels that don't meet an accuracy standard, when photos, house layouts, ect are turned on make the layer with the less accurate data disappear.
No reason to show it from what I've seen.
