Activity Feed › Discussion Forums › Strictly Surveying › Field Note Retension
There, their, they’re Moe. Just how high did they “raise” that shed? 😛
We keep everything digitally and only digitally.
I wonder why I should keep notes of setups and backsights and pointnrs. We doublecheck in the field before we start collecting points. Our Trimble Access gives us the hor & vert deltas between setup and backsight, if they match we start collecting, if not we check what’s wrong.
My datacollector won’t make mistakes when keeping track of pointnrs, I will when I write them down. And our Field To Finish no longer needs pointnrs.
We still have sketches with notes of manhole. We scan them, then open the scans to verify if everything is on it, sometimes crews write on the very edge of the paper and you have to make 2 scans. If you don’t verify you will loose data. Scanning is done immediatily when at the office, or on the road by taking pictures with the Ipad.
Give your files a clear name, you do not want to open 30 scans to find what you need.
Once all is verified get rid of your paperwork, and access all your notes from the cloud, where ever you are.
I never had to explain something to court, but the electronic fieldbook keeps very good track of when and where something was measured.
I am sitting on 345 Rite in the Rain books neatly filed in a bookcase that I look at everyday. They remind me of those who I’ve worked with, worked for and the trials and tribulations associated with this profession. For instance May 19, 1980 the day after Mt. St. Helens blew her top I was in Section 18-26-3 working a control traverse with a Zeiss TH-43 and an Auto Ranger. It was cloudy and 60 degrees that day. Book 116.
I’ve only been a courtroom professionally twice. Once on the stand I was asked a question that I asked to look in my field book for reference and was granted that permission. The Judge, I forget his name, asked if he could look at said field book so I handed it to him. I will never forget that he held that book like it was a Bible, closed his eyes for a moment and handed it back without any words or even opening it.
Our profession is steeped in tradition, I will keep the yellow books and probably line my casket with them.
The Engineer/Attorney that told me; The least amount of information (on a plan), the better. Also told me; The guy with the biggest file, wins. He was also in charge of the legal department.
I hope everyone has a great day; I know I will!Years ago in a different lifetime I witnessed a brawl at the back of a pub we were staying at when we were doing a month’s survey and geotech field work. Anyway, the Police arrived, and faced with 2 against about 30, one of them fired a warning shot over the crowd, then the crowd swarmed the police and gave them beating and stole their pistols. A year later I’m in court as a Crown witness, and after giving my name and profession etc the prosecution is showing photos of this and that, including a view of the carpark where the brawl took place. They asked me if that was the view I had, and I replied “yes, but from the other direction” which threw the prosecution, and the Judge intervened and said “You have to remember, he’s an engineer”. Everyone, except me and the defendant, had a good chuckle.
@dougie
I’ve heard those many times over the years, and the pinnacle would be to produce a drawing, blank, with one note: “All details omitted for clarity”.
My favorite excuse: The plans were approved by (insert scapegoat here), it’s their problem, not mine.
I hope everyone has a great day; I know I will!- Posted by: @daniel-ralph
I will keep the yellow books
Good
probably line my casket with them.
Wouldn’t they do someone else more good?
. - Posted by: @dougie
The Engineer/Attorney that told me; The least amount of information (on a plan), the better. Also told me; The guy with the biggest file, wins. He was also in charge of the legal department.
That is golden. No redundancy, reasonably inaccurate significant figures, field fit in place during construction for finicky appliances. Owners want the cheapest civil plans they can buy, and gold plating plans jacks up the price.
OTOH surveying has to be spot on concerning boundary issues and within margin of error for construction staking depending on the work. If the plans contain egregious errors I’ll pressure the engineer to issue revisions so I can stake the damn thing so it works. Usually they cooperate and we become buddies watching each other’s back. But I’ve been in situations where the civil plans are horrible and the engineer refuses to cooperate so I have to abandon the contract and let some jackleg suffer the consequences.
Concerning file records if my records show I perfectly staked the civil plans I’m immune, but I’ll alert the civil engineer if things are wrong as a courtesy. Yah, let’s go to court and see who wins concerning a records challenge fight. I’ll win because my records are impeccable and the civil plans are rife with errors.
- Posted by: @mike-marks
if my records show I perfectly staked the civil plans I’m immune, but I’ll alert the civil engineer if things are wrong as a courtesy. Yah, let’s go to court and see who wins concerning a records challenge fight. I’ll win because my records are impeccable and the civil plans are rife with errors.
Nobody is immune from the hassle of defending a suit, including the hot dog vendor who visits the site, and your win will come at a cost.
. Anything over 7 years old gets shredded. Everything – plats, field notes, invoices, accounting records etc. If it’s over 7 it’s gone. ????
@bill93 I find that the market for a firm like mine is minimal these days. Its probably easy to get into this business and with survey data available on-line there is less need for someone else records. I could be wrong. Reality is that my state has a program whereby I will send most of my survey records and they archive them for future generations.
@flga
good planning.
These notebooks seem to be a US thing. Besides the odd sketch everything is in the fieldbook. If a note is drawn, a picture is taken and filed.
Never ever would field notes have to be shown in court, everyone can change values.
or post them on ebay, some old surveyor waxing nostalgic about his younger days as a surveyor might bid on it.
It’s also a Canada thing. We even have websites where you can buy other surveyor’s field notes from:
https://www.pimarc.com/land-surveyor/products/pimarc-sri
Just one example. Our statues require us to take paper field notes. I feel they need to be updated (ie. show more info on the plan rather than *paaaaaages* of field notes that will never be referenced, etc.), but it is what it is.
Paper field notes are supposed to be kept so another firm can request them for when they are doing a survey in the area. Most firms charge for notes. That’s an added cost. Most want to be cost-competitive so they do not request the field notes. So the notes are never referenced. Thus, the question of………why am I drawing these notes? I get that it’s supposed to be for keeping track of yourself, but there are a multitude of digital options today. It seems, to me, to be a traditional throwback.
@christ-lambrecht For the most part the setup info and point number range is just for an added check in the office. It helped out a lot when I had employees and the tech working in the office was not on site. The point range is sometimes handy to figure out when something was shot without going back to the processing software. I also use the the field book to note detailed feature descriptions that are later entered into CAD. Even with a coding system with extensive attribute fields it is hard to describe everything in the DC.
The most important resource I have are the computer files, particularly drawing files, then GPS job files, then scan job files.
Seldom do I look at old field books.
you will get my field books when you pry them from my dead cold hands
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