If you want to get mad, read the first article "Surveyors and the Challenges of Digital Surveying and Mapping Technology"
One quote for your enjoyment; "Clearly the trend is ominous and unless something drastic is done to curb it, surveyors may find one day that it is bizarre and laughable to claim professionalism in an occupation that has become open to anybody with a scanning and mapping device."
Now, not only do we have to educate the public, but also the surveying educators.
Who is the "educator" to whom the quote is attributed?
SaLIS> Arrticle in March 2011 edition>READ THIS!
Cliff, Credit must be given to the authors:
"James B. Olaleye, Oludayo, Joseph O. Olusina, and Alfred S. Alademomi, Department of Surveying and Geoinformatics (hadn't heard that one before), Faculty of Engineering, University of Lagos, Akoka, Nigeria"
SaLIS> Arrticle in March 2011 edition>READ THIS!
Such conditions in a Third World Country are not really that surprising. With a large population that is uneducated and being mostly a tribal society, a little bit of knowledge with computerized gadgets can seemingly make a formal education in GeoInformatics redundant. The only protection a society can have is statutory law that is enforced. Just having laws on the books is no protection from charlatans.
SaLIS> Arrticle in March 2011 edition>READ THIS!
Before we go all "Third World", the references in the article come from places such as POB, Survey Review, and Canadian Surveyor.
Also, some of the quotes date back as far as 1987 and 1988, indicating that this is not just a "new" problem.
Keep in mind that the vast majority of "spacial data collection" being done these days has nothing to do with boundary statutes.
SaLIS> Arrticle in March 2011 edition>Cliff
I wouldn't go classifying Nigeria as "Third World'!!
Not to get into a discussion such as the "Professor" feud taking place, I did look up Nigeria and it's a relatively wealthy country.
I don't know how you classify third world but the Wikki says "The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO (which along with its allies represented the First World), or communism and the Soviet Union (which along with its allies represented the Second World). This definition provided a way of broadly categorizing the nations of the Earth into three groups based on social, political, and economic divisions."
With this simplified definition Nigeria would fall into the non-aligned, or third world. But, if you look at this site third world countries you are going to have a difficult time finding Nigeria, niger, yes, but not Nigeria...
Cowboy, I noticed the dates of some of the comments going back to 1988, and frequently attributed to one of the authors. I didn't think the article said anything 'new' to us, and I was disappointed in it's publication. It is an over simplified discussion with some graphs that don't make sense (such as figure 1).
Although we have witnessed many changes in the Profession as to how data is acquired we have weathered, so far. i do believe that GIS in an important aspect of our profession, but nothing is going to beat the ol' "eyes on the ground" surveyor for site specific information.....
Sure, I can create a preliminary subdivision plan, in conformance with the subdivision regulations in MA, from Google Earth and flown topo information from a towns data base, incorporate the wetland data from the Towns GIS and submit it to the planning board. But, when it's found that wetland wasn't that accurate and the client may lose a lot or two, who's going to be holding the bag? Yup, me....
SaLIS> Arrticle in March 2011 edition>Cliff#2
Cliff was kind enough to NOT school me here online, and he sent a link to an article about Nigeria Geodetic history and current conditions.
I always bow to a higher knowledge! Thank you Cliff...
