So I’ve worked at 2 different private consultant firms that both have offered surveying; with probably a dozen different crew chiefs & half a dozen licensed Surveyors. It seems each person had a different twist on how they wanted to setup & commence their particular survey & I do realize that each survey is different in its particular needs. Some would even go so far as to argue with the other as to why their method was right (I never wanted to pick a side but rather learn from each person). But, as somebody who’s always eager to learn something new, I’m always curious to hear somebody’s perspective on how they choose to tackle a site or begin setting control or whatever it may be. Whether it’s a ton of preliminary research to determine whether they even wish to bother with the survey, a simpler boundary survey, a topo, construction staking, as-builts, ALTA or flood mapping, please feel free to post up your means & methodology. With this COVID-19 thing going on I’m eager to learn in my free time & unfortunately I don’t get to shadow others much in the field right now like I was doing. Thanks in advance guys!
You're right, every site is different.?ÿ And different sites and tasks require varying approaches.?ÿ But there is one thing I always start with; find what's out there.?ÿ The existing control is probably the biggest factor with any survey I attempt.
And..in the words of a wise old surveyor...If you're not finding any existing (pins) you're either not digging in the right place or you're not digging deep enough.
Once you find what's already out there the rest of the job just kind of presents itself around that evidence. 😉
Just make sure your locating it with proper field techniques or the evidence will be meaningless.
I used to love it when I would take long sights and traverse twice to set corners and have some knucklehead set up 5 times with poor field practices come back to the office and tell me the caps I set are out 4 tenths when he did the adjoining lot. Not to mention the fact that he didn't use my existing traverse...
If you don't find pins in my area, 90% of the time in means you're in the neighborhood.?ÿ
(I never wanted to pick a side but rather learn from each person).
This is the correct approach. Who ever you are working with, try to assimilate to their method, if they are the boss. The work flow will be much easier, if you follow their lead.
One of my first mentor's told me; If you can take the best from every party chief you work with, and apply it to your own method, you will be the best party chief around. I took it one step further; I also learned from their mistakes...
Keep fighting the good fight; we'll win this together!
Dougie
Do not automatically discard the apparent location of bent bars that you find.?ÿ Shoot them anyway.?ÿ Put enough good ones and bent ones together and you will probably find a superior solution than merely grabbing those that appear to be original and straight.?ÿ Some of those may have been added by someone other than the first surveyor.
One of my first mentor's told me; If you can take the best from every party chief you work with, and apply it to your own method, you will be the best party chief around. I took it one step further; I also learned from their mistakes...
Good advice. I would also recommend getting into the office (if you can) and discussing pros and cons with the individual who actually processes the data.
I spent a lot of time in the field thinking my methods were the greatest because I had learned them from my field mentors. Eventually I had the opportunity to learn the office side, and process all manner of data, from the good to the bad all the way to the ugly. It is hard to see the pros and cons of the different method unless you have been on both sides of the job.
My field procedures benefited immensely from processing my own data. More than that, I assure you that there is a large percentage of field surveyors who, upon being told that their field methods could be adjusted or tweaked, reject that advice and continue doing the same old thing...while telling their mentees that the office pukes don't know what they are talking about.
So learn from your field boss, but unless the person doing the processing is really trying to pull one over on you, the final numbers don't lie...
I go a little further than most with setting control and tying monuments because I regard that data as mine to keep, forever. I set monuments that are more permanent then most do (typically brass plugs in concrete or iron rods rather that mag nails or wood hubs).?ÿ And I favor places that are less likely to be disturbed for it, like recently poured sidewalks in front of new buildings rather than near dozer bait. I (almost) always reference that to the NSRS.?ÿ So ten years from now, when I get another job adjacent to it, I can tag onto it, avoid redoing work, and take advantage of monuments that have since disappeared.?ÿ ?ÿ?ÿ
This may or may not be good advice, but our product is defined more by how thorough a retracement of existing evidence we produce than by how precision of measurements. Efficiency of measurements take practice, and we don't always make the best plan, so a few extra setups due to poor planning is ok. The worst possible outcome is a lot of perfectly measured pincushions. My goal is all perfectly measured found monuments! Most of us have yet to make a perfect survey.
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Thanks guys so far! I feel there??s a lot of good advice in here to learn/benefit from
The first PLS I worked for hated ATVs and insisted that all members of the fieldcrew be proficient in the use of a compass.?ÿ Although I don??t typically traverse down the boundary, I make sure to walk each and every one, if for no other reason than to inspect for encroachments.
Taking the extra time to walk has helped me find countless objects of interest while performing topos for engineers.?ÿ I took over for another surveyor who had topoed most of a field without getting off his four-wheeler.?ÿ He did it fast, but failed to notice a pair of gravestones obscured by brush.?ÿ Never underestimate the importance of boots on the ground.
@murphy very true. I??ve found that to be the case when walking a site myself long after the field topo was completed. Working in a rush typically doesn??t pay off
The best field practices only follow the absolute best research in all known records that might supply you with aid for your field work.?ÿ This may require researching in several locations and looking at railroad records or highway records or bridge records or road establishment and vacation records or FAS route documentation or whatever the GIS office has done that may or may not be helpful or that stack of surveys over on that dusty table that have never been indexed or that row of field books kept by the County Surveyor between 1910 and 1940 or...........................................?ÿ Never, never, never, never short cut the research end because there seems to be some rush to get into the field.?ÿ When working in PLSSia never take the most recent corner report available as being the gospel.?ÿ It may have been set by a jakeleg from Timbuktu who was already over budget on some job that had nothing to do with property rights but he had to show something on his paperwork.?ÿ Research that corner properly and make a decision based on all the information.?ÿ Not all surveyors do proper work.?ÿ Don't hang your work on those jerks.
My first field mentor was a crusty old guy who was pretty tough to work with, but in contrast to the other crew leaders, he didn't roll up on a new job, jump out of the truck and slam a control point in the ground.
We walked the entire job site at least once, usually twice, before even opening up the truck. Then we would figure out our control/traverse network using temporary lath, making sure we had intervisibility, site coverage and that our CPs and TBMs were protected.
Then after we finished the job we would always walk it again with our field sketches, looking for missing information. I don't recall ever going back to a job site to pick up missing data when I was on that crew.
[?ÿ .?ÿ .?ÿ .?ÿ ] If you're not finding any existing (pins) you're either not digging in the right place or you're not digging deep enough. [?ÿ .?ÿ .?ÿ .?ÿ ]
Assuming a thorough research of the record and calculation of search point coordinates to get a good crew within a few feet for digging/probing purposes and a general lookaround for monuments/evidence 15-50' distant, if you find *no* record monuments my spidey sense tells me the record jackleg surveyor did not set any monuments and it was probably a paper survey, so expensive reconstruction of the record from distant monuments will be required.
Tough surveying, and occupation evidence in repose enters the equation.?ÿ If everything's really messed up and owners are in general agreement, arranging corrective deed exchanges may be the least expensive solution for all which we can facilitate.?ÿ If there's controversy the best we can do is present our survey to the courts and let them sort it out, although when confronted with litigation costs most lot owners will acquiesce and lie in repose with the mess, hoping the problem will not re emerge 'till after they've met their maker.?ÿ?ÿ
