(Shaking head)
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
All push button devices secretly transmit all information to a deep, dark cave beneath the border common to North Korea and China.?ÿ There specially trained technicians convert the data into signals that are generated by the push button devices that are received by the brain of the operator causing him to love Rice Krispies and soy milk, thus turning his brain to mush.
We still take notes, it's the little Samsung Note app.?ÿ
Are Cheerios any better? I have them with soy milk, dried cranberries, and banana probably 350 days a year. Is that why my brain is turning to mush, or is it age?
My crews take notes and pictures on every job.?ÿ I made that mandatory from the day that I started the department 5 years ago.
Field to Finish, raw data files, and digital photographs mostly do what field notes once did, and do it better.?ÿ What gets my goat is how many surveyors consider the coordinate file "raw data".?ÿ
I have nearly no buttons on my Javad. It??s touch screen. With a few buttons. Yes, I??ve done many surveys, without writing. Acad, still typing on keyboard though.?ÿ
im a button pusher. Unless there are no buttons!
Nate
Electronic collection of data is awesome. It makes modern topo surveying tolerable and eliminates most recording errors. I still require notes that include which equipment was used, who did it and when. All set-ups are noted along with any hand-entered data. It takes very little time in the field and saves time in the office. It also eliminates nearly all return trips.
I also have everything needed to go analog. There are some tasks that can be accomllished in roughly the time it takes to set up a digital file.
Every tool has its place. I don't mind the laughter. My last field job our crew rate was double many firms and we still beat them competing for work. I guess they made up for it by not buying field books...
Field to Finish, raw data files, and digital photographs mostly do what field notes once did, and do it better.?ÿ What gets my goat is how many surveyors consider the coordinate file "raw data".?ÿ
Wholeheartedly agree. It sounds harsh, but if you're just doing coordinate file dumps, you're negligent as a professional land surveyor. If we don't care about, and can't speak to the integrity of our data, we're just not doing our job. I have worked (briefly) for firms that refuse to shell out for data processing software, and cannot fathom how someone can sign/stamp surveys when they perform no quality control of their fieldwork.
Nowadays nearly all industry standard field software allow crews to add notes for each point, so field books filled with angles and distances and every single point code are becoming less critical.
Due to the wide variety of instrument and collection options, I do ask my crews to book all setup details as well as all changes to equipment. If they set up using a -30mm Trimble traverse kit prism, I need that in the book. If they are using the Leica circular prisms that say they're 0mm but are really -34.4mm, that's critical.
When they measure up a total station or GNSS antenna, I better see what rod or tripod they are using (fixed height? Snap-lock rod?), where they are measuring to (notch, bumper, bottom of antenna, etc.), and the measure up in both feet and meters. When there's a rod change that needs to be booked as well.
Other than that, I don't care. If you catch measurement blunders through good notekeeping, the rest of the data can be easily sorted out in post-processing.
When we write we do not think about each letter as we do so.?ÿ Rote practice takes over and simplifies the work.?ÿ Still, we remember things better that we hear or see if we transfer that to a written form.?ÿ That is a proven fact.?ÿ It is the reasoning started many years ago of expecting students to take written notes of lecture material.?ÿ The data is not assimilated as well from simply hearing or seeing the presentation.
Pushing buttons is vastly different from writing and drawing.
Field book, Photos, Data Collector, Field to Finish.?ÿ
How many judges would accept the validity of electronic data (raw data) over field notes?
I guessing all of them. I've used them in court/legal cases. When your field notes are 300 pages from a DC file for a few days work I doubt anyone is going to challenge them. That is my experience.?ÿ
My work flow is basically a page or maybe two of notes for time/date/J# ect. But all of the heavy lifting is electronic. When I look at a section corner monument, I have a note in my phone labeled with the corner description as a record, then I type in what I find. I take pictures which are tagged with a location, point numbers also help keep the pictures and notes tagged to a location. Normally I send those records to my office email as I take a lunch in the field or after picking up my base. My corner record is a copy paste of those notes. "Regular" corner monuments like lot corners get a quick photo and the feature code takes care of the rest.?ÿ
Outside of court cases I've had two lawyers call and demand my field notes, I sent them the electronic files. They didn't ask for more, probably cause it was overwhelming.?ÿ
The two actual cases that went to court got the same downloads, in one case the opposing attorney said it looked like I did a thorough job in the field. However, this wasn't a case about my work, more about an engineering bill.?ÿ
But it's not simply field notes. I had a dispute over the high cost of a never-ending survey. The original bid exploded because of endless changes. The client/clients disputed that they made all the changes. Except I had all the email correspondence printed out detailing all the changes they kept making. It made an impressive pile and that was the end of that. Their lawyer advised them to pay after he read through a small bit of the stack.?ÿ
Times have changed, record keeping is much different now. All our jobs are scanned, I wouldn't hesitate to go to court with those records after what I've been through.?ÿ
I'm not writing down 3 wire level turns in a bench loop anymore, I'm not writing down angle turns with the robot, sketches have become photos, long distance observations with pressure/temp readings are gone. I don't remember the last TS shot I took over 1000', it was probably about 1996.?ÿ
All of them, and none of them. No judge is ever going to look at your field notes.?ÿ
Maybe if the judge had ever been a surveyor.?ÿ You know three out of four good ol' boys who walk by while you are surveying will tell you about their experience as a surveyor.?ÿ Not to say judges are good ol' boys, but it is a possibility.
NOOOOOOOOOO.........