On a construction site.?ÿ 811 locates and a vac truck and you'll know what it is, where it is and the elevation of the top.?ÿ Nothing like putting eyes on a utility.
Except when you're finding the locates they said didn't even exist and now there's a scandal brewing because they've been located by dead reckoning for the past 20 years and being paid to locate things that aren't even there.....true story....
The ins and outs of what happens to a survey upon completion vary dramatically by jurisdiction and market. All the States I've been active in as a licensee have some common threads. One is there are no mortgage reports. We don't have 'levels' of boundary surveys. Title companies don't require owners to sign off on a survey as being good (when most cannot read it).
We do answer foia requests, but it's easier in many counties to download all the scans for free. Farmer Brown or surveyor Joe can't hide his results from the neighbors or hold others hostage for information about the surveying infrastructure in a given area. That protects the public, and I regret working half may career in places where recording is either not required or not done.?ÿ
Title companies already have access to recorded surveys. Why should we get worked up if they want to pay someone to make their access more convenient? This practice doesn't?ÿ ?ÿput the surveyor at any additional risk, the survey would be part of the title package regardless. That protects the public.?ÿ?ÿ
Before long it??ll be: ??that??s not like your dad??s GPR??ÿ
Ground penetrating radar will someday be commonplace. Maybe even an additional certification of proficiency will be available.
I dream of the ability to "see into the ground" in 3d color. Even mini apps, with Bluetooth, to check for water lines. And subsurface tel lines etc will someday be available.?ÿ
To scan and find GLO stones, under pavement, pipes, and rebar, and such.?ÿ
Electronic interactive plats will also become possible. With embedded pictures, video, and voice clips. Surveyor finds encroachment. Sets his gps up, turns on video, property line shows electronicly in the image, surveyor walks out and shows the roof corner, or such like, for review by users of the plat.?ÿ
Pictures of monuments, pincushion, and all.?ÿ
I expect our profession to grow. I expect our range of professional tools to grow. There is a broad range of more technological stuff coming.?ÿ
Electric vehicles. Drones. Interactive tools. Its all coming.?ÿ
Nate
You want the good news or the bad news.
Apps that can "see into the ground" are already here. There's numerous augmented reality tools that can display buried services and other features over the top of the existing surface. The problem is that they need data, and in general underground service data ranges from poor to very, very poor.
GPR and other geophysical methods are good, but aren't going to be a substitute for accurate spatial data of underground services any time soon, likely not even in our lifetimes. That's all down to the physics. Deeper penetration means longer wavelengths, means lower resolution. Likewise, in many scenarios the ground conditions can negate various geophysical approaches. E.g., GPR relies on the dielectric properties of the soil, which means highly conductive soils like clays can effectively blind GPR.
?ÿ
That's true. Very easy to find a trace with a GPR that isn't real. A nice example someone recently mentioned to me was a very nice return about where you'd expect a water pipe, just off the edge of the bitumen road....................right where the road foundation abutted the natural soil.
The problem is that they need data, and in general underground service data ranges from poor to very, very poor.
GPR and other geophysical methods are good, but aren't going to be a substitute for accurate spatial data of underground services any time soon, likely not even in our lifetimes.
Considering how much it costs to place and maintain critical infrastructure, vs. how inexpensive it is to position it as it is placed (sole operator with survey gear), my question is how long before someone figures out that it is a good investment to do so?
In most cases, it will never happen.?ÿ People will save money today versus possible greater savings in the future.
@paden-cash?ÿ You can get close to this with minimal effort (at least for in house purposes) with a smartphone and google mymaps.?ÿ Just create points on the map and create a link to the PDF of the plat in google drive.?ÿ When you are out and find a pin, pull out the smartphone, open the map you created and zoom to where you are standing, click the pin and select the link to download the PDF to your phone (as long as there is cell coverage).
Well that is happening now. Unfortunately that doesn??t help with the millions of kilometres of services that are already buried.?ÿ
@jitterboogie You know what your up against when the locator shows up on site and uses a pair of divining rods to locate their cables. I kept thinking to myself I'm probably tracing a water line.
Like when your metal detector screams like never before so you dig down and find a manhole lid, then miraculously get it open, then see fresh brown trout swimming downstream.?ÿ Meanwhile the sewer line markings miss that manhole by fifty feet.
Only 50?
I lost 4 drop inlets and the pipe swapped sides of the street.
They showed me the drawing.
I showed them the truth.
?ÿI'm not super popular with certain groups I work with.
And I Iike that.
I lost 4 drop inlets and the pipe swapped sides of the street.
They showed me the drawing.
I showed them the truth.
?ÿI'm not super popular with certain groups I work with.
And I Iike that.
I sometimes call myself ??deal killer.?
