-
Why GIS Will Prevail
There is a discussion going on about whether GIS will be the mapping system of the future and whether it will be the go to place for boundary information. I don’t think there is any doubt about, it’s the way to go and I’m fully for it. This GIS way of mapping just didn’t fall out of nowhere. There has been a lot going on for over 30 years to develop it. The need for it was recognized long ago.
Many surveyors didn’t get on board, many are still strictly against it. The is no end to the horror stories when it comes to GIS and boundaries. I think everyone in the survey business knows why, the parcels are just not shown where an accurate boundary map would put them. So the real issue is getting the coordinates of the parcel corners input so that the map shows where the boundaries are on the ground and the coordinates take you to the legal monument. I think maybe some don’t think the GIS can handle this but it can. I’m no expert but I have messed with ARCMAP enough to know that it is plenty capable of handling the data just fine. It can even handle LDP’s. Even custom small LDP’s, I’ve done it. So once the data is entered in the proper and accurate manor you can switch around to what ever projection you want, no problem.
GIS is all developed and going or ready to go, the brave new world is here. If we want it correct all that needs be done is seed the coordinates to the legal positions of the corners. So this gets us down to the real issues here. First who pays, and second after they pay boundary surveying is not going be what it has been in the past. Some say, and I realize, that the law just can’t be accommodated here, that it can’t ever be resolved because of the law. I don’t believe that.
One of the issues is our land tenure system. The way that the whole history of conveyances and boundaries have developed, the need for total research back to day one to properly get the boundary in its original location where by law, it never moves from. I understand this, I’ve had my nose in the old books at the court house plenty of time. Some may think we may never escape from this or that it’s a great system, they make their money from it, its just the law. I don’t think so, it’s expensive and its backward, something from our past that doesn’t need to continue. Our nation can’t afford it. Landowners want to be able to get on their computers and see where their boundaries are (they already do, its just not correct). We live in the great information age, it’s just natural to expect that.
So I believe surveyors should get on board, help convince the public why it needs to be done right, why they should pay. Ah, but we got the law of the land, this Rube-Goldberg contraption that’s developed over our history, folks with firmly entrench power that live off the complex contraption. This isn’t going down easy, but it must.
So how do we go forth into a new day, a simpler faster and more efficient way. We seed the GIS with the legal positions of the corners, that’s how, and it is a lot of surveyors work leading to retirement. But the law, and 400 years of records that must be researched by the nerds before they will say where the corner is. Well, I’m for getting it right as much as possible but 99.9% is far to high a goal. And besides, many forget that boundaries are a landowner thing. It’s the nerds with all their attention to every detail that get in the way. Landowners can agree and landowners can have all the due process they want to pursue, but in the end either by agreement or by adjudication, the position of the corners can be finalized, seeded into the GIS and a new day, new way, begin. We survey the boundaries and present our solutions to the landowners to accept or reject. For all the corners they accept (most by my prediction), or agree to with their neighbors, the courts simply adjudicate, it’s done. All others they litigate, give the landowners their day in court until the judgment is rendered. This will be the final original survey, sanctioned by the landowners. After that the Rube-Goldberg contraption is dumped into the landfill of history. Simplicity, through the use of technology will rule the day. After that the past is history and not some mess of paper to continually wade through, resurvey, tweak or continually break down.
This IS going to happen. The surveyors choice is to be part of the steamroller or part of the road. I want to end my journey in the drivers seat, not mashed into the pavement.
If you don’t want the work, they’ll easily find someone who does.
Log in to reply.