When I first started surveying in 1972, we all carried a hand level, and a plumb bob, a pocket of nails, for chaining or inst pts. And, some flagging. (Did you ever insert a nail into the brass loop on your 200' tape, and pull 'er tight?)
We always had to think of setting inst pts in locations were we could chain between them, without obstruction. We even triangulated across rivers, or other obstructions.
Hacking out miles of traverse lines, and THEN coming back, and hacking out TRUE line, and painting it was standard.
Calcs were done in Latitude, and Departures, brgs, distances.
Then came TI 59, and printer. Then HP 41, and printer. Then various computing devices. HP 48 48SX 48GX etc.
Then, fantastic Cad stuff.
And total stations. No longer did we care about anything, except seeing across the valley. Point to Point.
Then, electronic Total stations.
Then, Static GPS, in the 1980's, and that came to life good in the 1990's.
Then, RTK began to be more feasible. Now, all my fine traversing skills are going to pot. GPS it. Get er done. GPS in the woods? yeah, move over 4', and shoot it again, if it is within a tenth, well, thats as good or better than traversing 1/4 mile through the woods.
Now, my kids wonder what is going on in my head. Intellectual traversing. Not actual.
Life has changed. 2 questions. What is the RMS, and how well did the 2 shots, 15 mins apart fit each other?
How's the batteries?
Did a cow get the base?
Will we be done by 4:00?
What is surveying any more?
We have so much MORE data to consider. The entire shape of the section, as well as that big kink in the NS C1/4 line. And, the kink in the west side of the section. And the shortage .... the list is bigger, and more complex than ever.
Where will we be in 20 yrs?
RTK in an ipad, or ipad type device, as data collector?
Instead of actual surveying, will we actually rent our equipment out, give the client the coordinates of his boundary, and turn them loose? No longer need a base station. Real time network. The client then gets a worksheet, with pt numbers, and stakes his own corners, and marks his own line.
I have done finished "Plats", where I NEVER printed a hard copy. It was a PDF to the client, PDF to the State Surveyor's office, and I finally decided to print a final for my folder.
Time marches on.
What about these little drone helicopters, with cameras? Aerial recon, and virtual surveying and recon.
Send the drone, to the 1/4 corner, and snap a photo from 100' up, in high resolution, with image stabilization, and actually be able to read the PLS number on top of the aluminum marker.
What are we gonna tell our grand kids, and will they believe us?
Time marches on! Are we working ourselves out of a job? Or into a BIGGER and more intellectual job?
Will we ever agree on NORTH?
Wow.
Nate
"Where will we be in 20 yrs?"
due to wars, electronic hacking, etc. there won't be any electricity for charging all of the batteries that run the stuff that you mention...and you'll be back to square one. better keep the knife sharp, buy a spare theodolite that you can run, and keep the chain oiled.
hope that doesn't sound to bleak.
look at the good side, you already know how to grow your own food and skin critters for meat.
"Will we ever agree on NORTH?"
Nice closing. And very true!
That notion does give me pause from time to time, Frank. And the cause could be a lot less nefarious, such as one good Earth directed solar flare. Things would change for us drastically in an instant.
I started in 1977, so I have seen roughly the same evolution. However, I don't consider the things you mention to be what actually constitutes surveying. They are all simply the measurement/data collection and drafting tools used while performing land surveying. The research, recon, knowledge and experience required to know where to look, what to look for, what to accept, what laws apply to the decision, what the best "tool" is for the job to be performed, etc.. are the things that define the practice of land surveying, not the tools used.
I know you meant the evolution of how we do are work (tools of the trade) and that evolution has been beyond amazing in the 35 years I've been part of the profession. Where will we be in 20 years? I'm not sure what the tools will be, but my bet is we will still be the ones making the decisions that professional land surveyors are the only ones legally entrusted to make today. If that isn't the case, we will have done a poor job of defending our noble profession, IMO.
I started on 11 August 1975; so you have a few years on me...;-)
But things weren't all that much different. In fact, things weren't all that much different when George Washington surveyed. He wasn't doing things much different than the Egyptians. Our tools didn't start using batteries until just before I started. I remember 7 crews fighting over who got to take out the HP-3800..o.O
If you draw a timeline of technology and start at the Egyptians; draw it to George Washington; then draw it to 1975; it's a fairly striaght line. Now draw it to today......
If you draw a line from 1 January 2011 to 1 January 2012, it's steeper than all the others combined.
You can't say the skies the limit anymore; because it's not. I don't think there is a limit.....
You will have to grab on with both hands; hang on and enjoy the ride. Because if you don't, you will be stuck using some archaic method that worked 5 years ago and everyone else will be drafting on hologram computers.
Have a Great day everybody, I know I will.
Dugger
Started learning about computers and statistics in 1966 (U.S. Air Force, statistical analysis of maintenance) and surveying in 1971. Have been learning more about both and watched the computers and surveying fields merge. Ended up teaching surveying at a community college part time 1991-1996 & full time 1996 until this spring.
The last few years my one of my introductory lectures pointed to the "three surveyors & the other guy (land use planner) carved in a mountain" stated that with 15 minutes of orientation a surveyor from 1770 could work on a 1971 survey crew.
The lecture continued with the changes 1971 to today. More change in 40 years than the past 200. Then warned the students that the rate of change is increasing. The point of this NEVER STOP LEARNING or you will be out of a job.
We still traverse and as close to the line as possible.
The purpose is to blaze and paint the lines.
:good:
I left out the hand crank calculators. Kurta, and others. And, the slide rules, and the books of natural tables.
I'm just addressing the parts of surveying that change... the LEGAL parts are essentially the same.
That's why I did not mention them.
N
What?
You are saying from hand-calculating with sine and cosine tables to, calculators and computers, to edm's, to GPS; theodolites to total stations, to robotics, was nothing, and the last year was much steeper? Not to argue, but I don't quite get that one.:-S
When the drones have ground penetrating radar that can see the few shards of the called for post 2 feet in the ground under the canapy, then boundary surveying will take a step perhaps beyond many generations. Until you make the spade obsolete, the proof of best evidence remains in the old school skills.
> What?
I suppose it was a little over the top; but you get my point?:-/
Maybe if you drew the line from 2700 BC to 1 January 2011 then to 1 January 2012...:snarky:
My point is: Technology is growing every day. You are not going to stop it, so you need to lead, follow, or get out of the way...
Maybe the rebar will have a plate around the top, about 6" down from the top, to keep them from going too deep, when they are shot from the drone, at 50' altitude, into the ground!
(Wink)
N
The Ted would still be faster..... "Get that dang chopper out of my way...."
🙂
So many things to be better at, and so few to appreciate it!
Technology has made our profession more “accessible” to the general public. Almost anyone can run a GPS unit and get coordinates. Tools like Google Earth & GIS give the average Joe insights into just how cool being a surveyor really is.
At first blush one might think that this is the demise of the Land Surveyor; I say not so. Our society is based on the “rule of law”, we are a nation of laws and regulations; it is in these rules/regulation that we butter our bread. The average Joe will get themselves into lots of trouble trying to play surveyor, and then end up paying big bucks to have a real surveyor show up and fix things. I use the term average Joe, but read contractors…..ect…
RADAR is absolutely correct in his post above, we have been doing the same thing for generations; and we will continue to do so. We are like the man behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz, never in the lime light - but always necessary.
:good: :good:
I remember visiting my Father at his office when I was 5 or 6 years old. He had the big Marchand electric calculator and the book of Baker's Tables.
A few years later he the company had bought one of the first hp desktop calculators. I would say it was about the size of a tablet computer, maybe a little bigger.
