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.?ÿ 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.?ÿ If the plans contain egregious errors I'll pressure the engineer to issue revisions so I can stake the damn thing so it works.?ÿ Usually they cooperate and we become buddies watching each other's back.?ÿ 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.?ÿ
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.?ÿ Yah, let's go to court and see who wins concerning a records challenge fight.?ÿ I'll win because my records are impeccable and the civil plans are rife with errors.?ÿ
?ÿif 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.?ÿ Yah, let's go to court and see who wins concerning a records challenge fight.?ÿ I'll win because my records are impeccable and the civil plans are rife with errors.?ÿ
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. ?????ÿ
@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.?ÿ
Seldom do I look at old field books.?ÿ
you will get my field books when you pry them from my dead cold hands
If my business model was exclusively control & boundary I could see going without a field book. I don't think I would want to, but it could be done. For topo, I could maybe go with some manhole data sheets and eliminate the field book.?ÿ Same caveat.
But for construction staking I consider the field notebook essential.
I work in a recording state. Future surveyors will have my Records of Survey, as I have theirs. It is a an extremely rare circumstance were I give anybody else's notebooks the slightest thought for surveys done during the recording era.?ÿ
The only possible reason I can see for keeping fieldbooks after they are scanned, other than nostalgia, is as backup during the 10 year statutory period. After that, pitch 'em if you like.?ÿ ?ÿ?ÿ
@jaccen only the final plan matters here. It is expected to be correct. Coordinates on the plans and to be used by other people. Only if something goes to court is there additional info asjed but if you're got paper notes or not is not of any relevance. It's all about defining the line. How it was measured doesn't interest anybody but the surveyor himself.
