Help with a survey!

You need to contact a licensed surveyor in your area. You make reference to TXDOT if you are still in Texas there are several members here that may be in your area or be able to provide contacts in your area. The laws in most states allow property owners to survey their property. The survey licensing laws also prohibit licensed surveyors assisting in the unlicensed practice of surveying. The help you are requesting would be viewed by most state license boards as assisting in the unlicensed practice of surveying. Providing that assistance could result in disciplinary action for the person helping you.

Also remember when recovering corners or establishing your lines you are also surveying the lines of your neighbor. Unless you have enough knowledge to check your deed and all the adjoining deeds for conflicts you are in over your head.

Maybe I missed it but was there something in that post that answered my question?
ok, would any unlicensed surveyors care to spare a few minutes to help me out.. How about instrument men?
I sure hope the owner of my local survey store knows he could get in trouble for helping non licensed surveyors.. He's only been doing it for 45 years..

I am not establishing or setting any permanent points, I am looking for the existing points. The purpose of locating the points is so I can pull lines and clear only my property. This entire tract of land was owned by my father and he gave my brother and myself a portion of it. My brother could care less if I clear his land but I don't want to burn anymore diesel than I have to.

Dallas Morlan, post: 324381, member: 6020 wrote: Also remember when recovering corners or establishing your lines you are also surveying the lines of your neighbor.

Thanks for the reminder, that never crossed my mind.... B-)

Something I would consider, is to hire a surveyor, and be specific, that you would like a lesson in cogo to go with it. It's not rocket science, BUT, as many ERRORS as I find on surveys, it is more complex than many folks realize. I'm a surveyor, and I still wake in the night, and realize I made a wrong decision, or Blew something. As a beginner, (sorta) you know enough to hurt yourself, and others. I have pulled teeth. But I'm no dentist. Went to the dentist the other day, with my son, with a cavity. Do you know that tooth broke into 3 pcs, and finally he had to use a sharp paddle, about 1mm wide, to scrape down the sides of the broken pieces, to detach them? They had little attachments. Kid had lots of dope, and was crying. Sure glad I did not tackle that one at home!
Best of wishes.
N

I am by no means new to staking points, and that is all I am doing. I have just never been in a position where I couldn't see at least 1 point from my occupy point..
if you have ever been through Beaumont TX on ih10 you have crossed several bridged that I was the surveyor on, I was the surveyor for the entire Ford Park complex in Beaumont and about 55 miles of highway in and around Beaumont.. Every job I have been on started out with two points on one end and one on the other, it didn't matter if they were 1 or 15 miles long. We were provided a set of prints and If I got lucky an Autocad file.. I started out running a pentax pcs215 along with a hp48 and finally upgraded to a pcs325 and tds recon. I remember playing with the hp48 (with a cigo card) and figuring out glow to do what I'm trying to do but the 48 was stolen from me in 2001, and I never tried this with the recon or nomad.

What survey program is your nomad running, surveypro?

Yes sir.

I mean no disrespect. However, every licensed surveyor I know be it construction or boundary knows how to do cogo. They know how to run their own control and traverse and locate existing monuments. So I am assuming you were either instrument man or crew chief on the construction projects that you have worked on.

A button pusher does not a surveyor make. I understand wanting to save some money, but your money would be well spent by hiring a professional.

Do a resection if you can see two or more corners from any random spot. Check residuals. If they are good then get your pin finder out and go to staking

go to job new create new job
then go to job....edit points manualy enter your coordinates you have

then go to survey station setup setup type unknown choose correct point number where prism is located check residuals ..then you can shoot the other pts

Pocket compass and 100' tape (200' if you have it). Use the correct magnetic declination (google it).

Kelley350x, post: 324388, member: 10119 wrote: Maybe I missed it but was there something in that post that answered my question?
ok, would any unlicensed surveyors care to spare a few minutes to help me out.. How about instrument men?
I sure hope the owner of my local survey store knows he could get in trouble for helping non licensed surveyors.. He's only been doing it for 45 years..

I am not establishing or setting any permanent points, I am looking for the existing points. The purpose of locating the points is so I can pull lines and clear only my property. This entire tract of land was owned by my father and he gave my brother and myself a portion of it. My brother could care less if I clear his land but I don't want to burn anymore diesel than I have to.

I taught survey courses for a number of years. Many of my students got jobs doing construction layout for contractors. Many others got jobs with professional firms working with property boundaries. From what you originally posted it appeared you could be creating problems for yourself. Helping an unlicensed surveyor working for a construction company with construction layout is not a problem. When that same surveyor starts working with any property boundaries, as you are, it becomes a different situation. If all the adjoining properties are owned by members of your family current problems are less likely. However, if you make a mistake and build improvements in the wrong location it may become a problem in 5 or 10 years. You should contact the surveyor or company that cut out the new tracts.

Kelley350x, post: 324391, member: 10119 wrote: I am by no means new to staking points, and that is all I am doing. I have just never been in a position where I couldn't see at least 1 point from my occupy point..
if you have ever been through Beaumont TX on ih10 you have crossed several bridged that I was the surveyor on, I was the surveyor for the entire Ford Park complex in Beaumont and about 55 miles of highway in and around Beaumont.. Every job I have been on started out with two points on one end and one on the other, it didn't matter if they were 1 or 15 miles long. We were provided a set of prints and If I got lucky an Autocad file.. I started out running a pentax pcs215 along with a hp48 and finally upgraded to a pcs325 and tds recon. I remember playing with the hp48 (with a cigo card) and figuring out glow to do what I'm trying to do but the 48 was stolen from me in 2001, and I never tried this with the recon or nomad.

I was not questioning your construction surveying experience. Property boundaries are a different application and your posts continue to make it apparent that you do not understand the difference. Surveying boundaries requires an understanding of existing legal problems you may encounter and those you may create yourself. Boundary surveys require that the deeds of all adjacent properties be examined for conflicts.

Set two points that you can see between. Assign them assumed coordinates. Use these as the basis for a traverse, ie instrument point and backsite. Traverse and locate your 3 corners. Translate and rotate your field points (in your data collector) to your monuments, which will transform your assumed coordinates to your monuments coord. system. Now stake to your other corners. What could go wrong?

Not trying to be a dick, but seriously, call a pro. Yes you have the right to recover your own corners...but how do you know that what you find is what you think it is? What happens when they aren't there or aren't exactly where you thought.? How will you know if there are any discrepancies with adjoining deed? If u start clearing land that you think is yours and it really is not, you could be in for some costly and lengthy litigation. Cheaper in the long run to hire a licensed surveyor.

Just a wee bit of basic trigonometry and little else will get you there. Forget the fancy/schmancy stuff. Law of cosines will get you started.

However, you really should listen to the deafening roar of sound advice suggesting you involve someone who understands far more than you on boundary surveying. I've done a great deal of surveying over the past 40 years yet I've never laid out a highway bridge or 50 miles of highway. That's not what I want to do. So, there are all sorts of button pushers who can do a far superior job to me in that specific area. But, come to my backyard and try to do a boundary survey and I'll smoke you any day of the week.

mattsib79, post: 324403, member: 1138 wrote: I mean no disrespect. However, every licensed surveyor I know be it construction or boundary knows how to do cogo. They know how to run their own control and traverse and locate existing monuments. So I am assuming you were either instrument man or crew chief on the construction projects that you have worked on.

A button pusher does not a surveyor make. I understand wanting to save some money, but your money would be well spent by hiring a professional.

The last time I used cogo was 14 years ago using a hp48, needless to say the Nomad is a lot different and I was simply trying to find the correct and easiest function.. forgive me for changing instruments and forgetting a few things over the past 14 years.. I was never "professionally" trained and learned everything I know on the go as I needed to know how to do it, from vertical curves to this..

Dallas Morlan, post: 324410, member: 6020 wrote: If all the adjoining properties are owned by members of your family current problems are less likely. However, if you make a mistake and build improvements in the wrong location it may become a problem in 5 or 10 years. You should contact the surveyor or company that cut out the new tracts.

Yes all surrounding land belongs to family, The "new" tracts were cut out over 40 years ago and haven't been surveyed since then, my house is in the middle of the land and I am trying to clear the lines, once I get them cleared I will be able to worm my way around the perimeter and tie in to my starting point, if there is a huge discrepancy then i will most definitely hire a surveyor before building my fence..

Dallas Morlan, post: 324410, member: 6020 wrote: I was not questioning your construction surveying experience. Property boundaries are a different application and your posts continue to make it apparent that you do not understand the difference. Surveying boundaries requires an understanding of existing legal problems you may encounter and those you may create yourself. Boundary surveys require that the deeds of all adjacent properties be examined for conflicts.

i most definitely understand the difference and that is why I had my buddy (a licensed surveyor and engineer) convert all of our old surveys to an autocad file, I know good and well I couldn't go survey land I have never had the need to learn how to. when converting it to a format that I fully understand is pretty simple and works better for mapping everything on the land.

Wahoo35, post: 324412, member: 9760 wrote: Not trying to be a dick, but seriously, call a pro. Yes you have the right to recover your own corners...but how do you know that what you find is what you think it is? .

once I find a few points I will be able to traverse to a few other random points on the section of land and tie everything in.. i can only find 3 of mine, I know where at least 6 other points are but they are all like mine and there is no line of sight between them..

Holy Cow, post: 324429, member: 50 wrote: I've never laid out a highway bridge or 50 miles of highway. That's not what I want to do. So, there are all sorts of button pushers who can do a far superior job to me in that specific area. But, come to my backyard and try to do a boundary survey and I'll smoke you any day of the week.

I would certainly hope so, It only pays if you're good at what you do, I don't draw deeds and you probably cant calculate the deflection of bridge beams.. It is all it what we do everyday..
Thanks agin for all of the "help" guys, I want asking what you all feel would be good for me, I was asking how to perform a function on a particular data collector and after I realized that this forum wasn't going to be as mush help as I hoped I was able to figure it out.

PINOST, post: 324405, member: 8430 wrote: go to job new create new job
then go to job....edit points manualy enter your coordinates you have

then go to survey station setup setup type unknown choose correct point number where prism is located check residuals ..then you can shoot the other pts

Thanks to you and The one guy who sent me a PM.

The first person to reply to your post explained why it would not be appropriate for a professional surveyor to give you the information you asked for. A lot of the members of this forum were surveying before you were born, and they know what they're talking about. You might be surprised to learn that they don't consider bridge layout to be all that difficult.

Show a little respect and you might get more help.

C Billingsley, post: 324437, member: 1965 wrote: The first person to reply to your post explained why it would not be appropriate for a professional surveyor to give you the information you asked for.

Yeah you're right, and i didn't see a poll asking if I should do it or if I should hire someone... I wasn't asking for approval for what I am going to do..

C Billingsley, post: 324437, member: 1965 wrote: A lot of the members of this forum were surveying before you were born, and they know what they're talking about. You might be surprised to learn that they don't consider bridge layout to be all that difficult.
Show a little respect and you might get more help.

I am well aware you catch more flies with honey..
The first reply assumed that I was inept to located a surveyor, assumed that I wasn't aware that a licensed surveyor could get in trouble for helping, assumed that I haven't checked my "neighbors" deeds and on top of it all assumed that I was dumb enough not to realize that a property line belonged to more than one person, forgive me if I was "disrespectful". I never said bridge layout was difficult, however i find building a pile cap 55' in the air on a skew in the middle of a superelevation requires more skill than the average "button pusher" is capable of...

Boy, I sure hope no one on the Texas State Board of Registration is on this site!
If they get wind of it, "Mr. Knowitall" is going to have a real BIG problem.
Before starting this endeavor perhaps reading up on the State Regs as to what constitutes "Surveying without a license" might be VERY enlightening. The simple truth Kelley., the second you start "establishing" a boundar4y line, you are in DEEP dewdew.
Also, don't forget, when it comes to land and property lines, the FIRST one to get their panties in a wad and start making noises about taking you to court over the land "you stole from them", is a family member.