OK - I'll call you pompous, but ....
I agree with you!
And I've been called a lot worse than pompous. If that's the worst you get you're in fine shape.
> Holly Cow, that was much more eloquent than what I said.
>
> I guess I'm just not so professional here in Dullsville, doing ALTA & Mortgage Surveys
6 p.m.
Please don't take this the wrong way, but "how's that working out for ya'?"
From your posts thE ALTA and mortgage surveys business is hurting. I understand that the economy is ruining most of us, but are you going to be able to make it on your ALTA and ILC business? Is there something wrong with understanding GIS and other softwares?
I have seen seminars on having a GIS in your own office to help you look up jobs you have already done. Many large survey firms have this sort of thing, where they can pull up a GIS map and go to a certain area and get a link to the nearest project(s) in that area. If your business does improve, you could still find value and use in a GIS system.
make that 78
Was (is) not the rift between the ACSM & the NSPS (in part) due to differing opinions, direction and focus the profession should take. Thus causing a divorce.
Therefor, is any one side less a profession than the other?
Good post Larry P. Ignorance is way too prevalent and accepted throughout society. There is no excuse for being unaware of even the existance NSPS and GIS/ESRI while claiming to be a surveyor.
Makes one wonder what else those so "professional's" are ignorant of. If they've kept their head in the sand about such basic entities, undoubtably they've kept their head in the sand about many other aspects of this profession.
Pompous is not synonomous with the disdain for ignorance.
My Chapter of CLSA is having one of these seminars and since ESRI headquarters is in our chapter area, the seminar is being held in their campus in Redlands, CA. I'm really looking forward to it.
> Sorry guys, call me pompous if you wish but those who put on horse blinders every morning and go out of their way to live in the past and not learn anything new are not worthy of the title Professional.
>
:good: Wholeheartedly agree.
Larry
I'm in the begining stages of planning an all day workshop for the Oregon GPS User's Group. We have worked very hard to include all users of GPS and in fact one of our past chairman was a GIS professional. Could you give me a contact where I could inquire about this ESRI offer? johnminor@stuntzner.com
Thanks John
Have had several folks express an interest in setting up a day of GIS training for their area. Will get the appropriate information to all who asked as soon as I know myself.
Larry P
just a guess here. was the PLS who didn't know about GIS older than 55?
> ....I was going to post something about the original post having a very condescending tone and maybe even ask Wendell to make a new category labeled POMPOUS, but I decided not to post anything at all....
Everyone who posts here knows Larry's committment to the profession. I hardly think that "pompous" is an apt description. I've never seen him post anything that wasn't directed at informing or helping others. He is merely stating the obvious.
Being a land surveyor and not knowing GIS or NSPS is is like being a football fan and not knowing there's a team in Tennessee and another in Houston. More profession related, it's like being in the topographical survey busines and not knowing about aerial photogrammetry and LIDAR.
No one is asking for a detailed study of GIS, ESRI, LIDAR or anything else, but if you have an interest in what the potential profit sources for your profession are, or if you want to be aware of some of the newer tools that can make your work easier and more accurate, just or if you want to know what type of firm your topographical survey business is going to lose projects to in the future, then you should be aware of the technological advances going on around you.
If you are a surveyor in Texas or Nebraska, and you came across a practicing land surveyor who didn't know what GPS is, wouldn't that make you wonder just a bit?
Finally, there is no excuse for a licensed professional, in this day and age, not knowing about a national organization dedicated to the betterment of the land surveyign profession. One does not have to agree with everything they do, or even be a member, but to not know anything about them indicates the sort of willful ignorance the profession can do without.
Well, that avatar photo with the black tie and smirk does seem a lil pompous.Don't you think?:-)
I agree. GIS has been around much too long for a professional surveyor to be unaware of it.
He may get a pass on the ESRI software but he should know Arcinfo etc.
Some folks are just ignorant and/or arrogant or cursed with xenophobia.
I attended URISA meetings sporaidically from the late 1980's for about 12 years. I was the only surveyor who ever attended. I was an anomaly. Of course, one of the reason that I went was that they conducted their meetings at a very cool old hotel and the good looking GIS gals who attended. 😉
> I hardly think that "pompous" is an apt description.
Fisherman sounds more like it.
> No one is asking for a detailed study of GIS, ESRI, LIDAR or anything else, but if you have an interest in what the potential profit sources for your profession are, or if you want to be aware of some of the newer tools that can make your work easier and more accurate, just or if you want to know what type of firm your topographical survey business is going to lose projects to in the future, then you should be aware of the technological advances going on around you.
>
It is a shame that no one sells a book about it. 😉
Yes Larry, it's sad but true, a very large percentage of licensed land surveyors chronically exhibit attributes that are the very antithesis of "professional". I might even go out on a limb and say they are in the majority. The evidence reveals itself in the facts that we have lost the opportunities to be leaders in GIS and LIDAR, that we are continuously being marginalized in the land development industry, and the prevalence of the precision-obsessed pin cushioners. Anecdotely, everytime I go to the gathering places of LS's, such as exams, annual seminars, and monthly chapter meetings I observe what has been termed the "rugged individualist", the LS who is sitting in an educational event but who has his arms crossed and his mind closed, attending only because the state now requires it. The LS who couldn't take in less information if he were to stick his fingers in his ears and hum to drown out the speaker.
An old mentor of mine, whom I best leave unnamed, recently remarked to me "the main problem with surveying today is that there are just too many d*mb*sses in it!" I hate to say it but I find his remark to be both elegantly simple and possessing of a certain accuracy.
I hasten to add that there is nothing inherently wrong with being a small boundary surveyor only. But you should be aware that your livelyhood is in some ways under attack, and if things continue unabated, you may find that your skill set brings less and less interest from the marketplace.
Stephen
If I mentioned that NRCS is offering to do a class on RUSLE2, would you know what I'm talking about?
I guess it depends on what you think surveyors are or should be.
My biggest complaint is only for those who think they are experts in some area that they actually don't know much about.
But I agree we should keep abreast of developments that might affect the profession. When I mentioned at a meeting that legislation was introduced to include regulation for all wetlands of one acre or more, nobody seemed to realize that maybe surveyors should get the training to identify these things. And yet, way back in 1785 or so Congress instructed surveyors to return information on soils, vegetation, etc..
India can udercut whatever you can do on a computer. What can you do on the ground?
> > I hardly think that "pompous" is an apt description.
>
> Fisherman sounds more like it.
>
Agreed, I see him dragging bait slowly through the water on a regular basis.
:good:
