An old man’s ramblings after 40 yrs surveying
I was surveying from 4 yrs old, but I quit school, when I was 15, to work with my dad. So, I’ve pretty well got 40 yrs in.
Tools. Don’t skimp your tools. Quality tools help you do a good job.
Run that tie line. Don’t get caught not knowing what’s going on.
Learn new systems. New cogo.
A few of my favorite tools:
A tire tool. Its around 30′ long. Has a flat tip. And, it’s forged hard metal. With a good sledge hammer, and a tuna can, and a metal detector, you can know what’s down there, 2 feet deep in the road.
A can of spray paint. If you find or set a plastic cap, you can mist it, not super thick, and the paint will block uv light, and extend the life of plastic caps, by a great deal.
Set a nail under your base station. If anything goes wrong, you can solve it alot easier. Also, your base station, equals unity. Or, one. That is 1.000000000. Since you took all your shots radially, from that point, it is potentially one of the more important points on that job, and in that area. I’m finding more and more surveyors that don’t put nails under their base. Implicit trust in gps is not philosophically sound.
Also, before you load up all your gear at the end of the day, set your rover on an extra nail, or such, so you can get on your control easy, if there is a cattle trailer parked on your base, or a bulldozer has gouged the dirt, just right, and now your base is funked.
And, don’t dehydrate! A little salt in your water helps you retain water. It can make a difference.
Sometimes the difference in the mind of a client, between a good survey, and a bad one, is that they can find stuff, when you leave. Flagging can solve this.
A really good survey, that the client cannot see, is like a picture of a glass of ice tea, to a dehydrated man!
Nate
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