I can read script // cursive!
Some of the younger surveyors cannot
I can read script // cursive!
Some of the younger surveyors cannot
I usually can, but I'm a geezer.?ÿ
Depends on the cursive.?ÿ We've seen examples posted that we could not reach a consensus on what was intended.?ÿ I've spent hours on a particular court document of genealogical interest and would say I got 90% of it.
So what? I've met plenty of old timers that can't google a simple question, create surfaces in civil 3d, or fill out their time sheets in excel.
We've all got different talents. Just cause something's old don't make it better. And Vice-Versa.
Stop with the ageism.
I can read script // cursive!
Some of the younger surveyors cannot
I can recall my grandfather, back when I was a 4th grader (1969), lamenting that "penmanship" was no longer being taught.?ÿ
Hand lettering helped pay my way thru college and was much faster and looked just as good as LeRoy style.
Do not expect to be able to read my writing today, either printed or script, write it down yourself as I speak and judge your own writing skills.
I can not understand the crew that can not finish out a day at work without batteries.
Keeping this going I have never Instagramed or Tweeted and I despise the very existence of Facebook & I have no clue what Reddit is and I have never twerked or Snapchatted.
And as someone a few threads up said, so what! There are numerous surveyors who cannot hand draft a topo either but I will not hold it against them.
Do you use the rubber band trick for your hand drafted topos?
I can run modern equipment: total stations, GPS, laser scanning, mobile mapper, drone, google, least squares, CAD, GIS, point cloud software, etc.
I can read script, cursive (usually with expletives) and I know the methods of many of the ancient techniques of surveying.?ÿ Even the recent ancient methods like taping...
I can drive stick if needed.
I am a doer and not a manager.?ÿ I loathe administrative tasks and hate talking about money.
I've hand drawn contour maps, but I don't know about the rubber band trick. Care to share?
N
Yes I know how to use the rubber band "trick" but actually any material that stretches can be used. Elastic waist bands work.
Nate, the "rubber band" trick is used when you are hand-drawing contour lines.?ÿ You mark even intervals on the rubber band.?ÿ Then instead of scaling between two plotted points on your rough and doing the math to divide the distance to come up with the even foot intervals between the points, simply hold the rubber band on one point, approximately accounting for the decimal fractional feet at each point and stretching the rubber band so that the number of marks on the rubber band = the elevation interval between that pair of points.?ÿ Your stretched rubber band will have automagically scaled the even foot elevation marks between that pair of points for you.?ÿ Place your elevation contour marks where the marks you made and the rubber band fall and there you go.
I'm nominating this thread as a top ten thread for the site thus far.?ÿ :)?ÿ
I am part of that batch of which you speak...other than the plumb bob and stick shift....
I came to surveying much later in life than most of you.?ÿ
My Father-in-law needed a field guy and I needed a job at 36 with another baby on the way and a 10 year career in retail floor covering coming to an end.
Almost 20 years later, I still never dread getting up and going to work.
If I had started in June rather than September here in the deep south, it might have been different.
Anyway...my education in college was centered around history and literature...very little math.?ÿ I am thankful for the classes I had to take to get my Georgia license.?ÿ It required an understanding of most everything that was listed in the original post with a good dose of the history of surveying (I had to bust my butt to get through all of the math).?ÿ?ÿ?ÿ I was hooked from the beginning!
Don't count Modern's out too quickly.?ÿ We might have much to offer in a different way to look at things.
One of my mentor's?ÿ favorite sayings was "Just because there is a pin there, doesn't make it right"...I liked to respond..."Just because the math didn't check, doesn't make it wrong."
..If I had started in June rather than September here in the deep south, it might have been different...
?ÿ
That gave me a chuckle because I've thought the same thing over the years.
When I quit high school in the?ÿlate '60s?ÿmy father (a surveyor) intervened.?ÿ No son of his was going to "sit around the house and listen to his hair grow".?ÿ He procured me a spot on a field crew.?ÿ?ÿ Within days I was packing a lunch and riding to work to work with him.
I wasn't a stranger to surveying.?ÿ I had been a Saturday indentured tail-chainman since I was 10.?ÿ I was extremely familiar with the instruments and the process.?ÿ At the time I didn't care much for surveying as I had always been forced.?ÿ But my new job was the first time I had ever 'surveyed' outside of the piercing glare and admonishment of my father.?ÿ It was different.
This was late in the year, and cold.?ÿ We were construction staking a new WWTP.?ÿ Within days the weather turned foul with sleet and snow.?ÿ For the best part of a week we sat in a 1959 GMC carry-all and played cards.....for pay.?ÿ I realized I had found?ÿthat "special purpose" in life?ÿthat Curly told us about in "City Slickers".?ÿ 😉
If it had been in July or August I would probably?ÿnow be an accountant or something.....
For the best part of a week we sat in a 1959 GMC carry-all and played cards.....for pay.?ÿ I realized I had found?ÿthat "special purpose" in life?ÿthat Curly told us about in "City Slickers".?ÿ 😉
If it had been in July or August I would probably?ÿnow be an accountant or something.....
?ÿ
Wow, that reminded me. I asked for a job with a survey crew one day ~'80-'81 .. ? and got hired on for several weeks, 'til it interfered with being irresponsible.
That was what went on, sat in the gmc until a call came over the radio to stake things out. Crash course on how to play spades, and first or second hand I drew was nothing but 2s, 5s, or 7s .. except for the ace of spades. I decided to go no books with my partner the PC - hard boiled old dude was mad for the rest of the day. ?ÿ ?????ÿ
I know it's not quite the country you would prefer, but you might be interested in this video? About Ordnance Survey in England (UK):
I am extremely thankful for the path my life took.
The education I received at Ranger School covers everything (and more) in the first post. Tape was pulled, comps were done by hand, lat/dep tables, sun shots, hand drafting, Reinhardt....everything. All done by hand before a battery powered anything was introduced. This was in 2002. I think courses are quite a bit different now.
Then of course, there was the subsequent employment and mentorship that followed. Like I said, I'm extremely thankful. Learning and being aware of the old ways while integrating modern technologies...the combination has been very good to me. I ain't no button pushing monkey (well...most of the time at least 😉 )
..If I had started in June rather than September here in the deep south, it might have been different...
?ÿ
That gave me a chuckle because I've thought the same thing over the years.
When I quit high school in the?ÿlate '60s?ÿmy father (a surveyor) intervened.?ÿ No son of his was going to "sit around the house and listen to his hair grow".?ÿ He procured me a spot on a field crew.?ÿ?ÿ Within days I was packing a lunch and riding to work to work with him.
I wasn't a stranger to surveying.?ÿ I had been a Saturday indentured tail-chainman since I was 10.?ÿ I was extremely familiar with the instruments and the process.?ÿ At the time I didn't care much for surveying as I had always been forced.?ÿ But my new job was the first time I had ever 'surveyed' outside of the piercing glare and admonishment of my father.?ÿ It was different.
This was late in the year, and cold.?ÿ We were construction staking a new WWTP.?ÿ Within days the weather turned foul with sleet and snow.?ÿ For the best part of a week we sat in a 1959 GMC carry-all and played cards.....for pay.?ÿ I realized I had found?ÿthat "special purpose" in life?ÿthat Curly told us about in "City Slickers".?ÿ 😉
If it had been in July or August I would probably?ÿnow be an accountant or something.....
I used to see the Wyoming Highway Department sitting in the vehicle, motor running and playing cards when out on their job site in the winter. I never was that lucky with the empoyers I had, we had to get out and go to work. When I worked for the USBR, that was no exception, we had to get out and get busy no matter what the weather was like, 100?ø in the shade or 40?ø+ below zero. When working authorized overtime, usually 10 hour days, we had to drive to and from the project site on our own time and work the 10 hours.