They all FLOAT DOWN HERE!!

Internal engineer at land development firm keep getting on my ass about stuff being staked out incorrectly. Water bends to close to curb, catch basins not being at correct station on vertical curve, pipes not having the right grade.

The thing is I am staking it all per the signed plans. Yes they are the latest ones each time.

I find it ironic that engineers can have wrong plans and say make it work. While if I leave a call off a curve table I am before the board on hands and knees.

sorry just a hump day rant.

Did some survey work today on St. John USVI and had to brag about the view at the benchmarks we checked into.

As the title says I'm having trouble finding a surveyor to survey my property. Had half a dozen different guys take a look at the legal description and either ghost me or say they're to busy. Finally had one guy tell me the description was poorly written and wouldn't be able to do it without a previous survey or one from an adjoining property. Nobody can find any record of either. For context the property is in the country but a couple hundred feet from the city limits of a 15k population town. Also very close to the main state highway that runs through the area. Any advice on where to go from here? When I had the title search done the guy there didn't seem like anything was majorly wrong, however he did say one of the lots seemed to overlap part of another. Any advice on where to go from here? Picture of legal descriptions for the three lots for reference.

Just wanted to congratulate those that passed the PS this last week. 25 years in the business, and decided to go back to school (half time)10 years ago. If anyone is back and forth on the school and license idea, do it.

To those that didn't pass, next time is your time to shine, and those of you taking it soon, best of luck.

BLUF: How do you all process field data for CAD before handing off to office staff? I’m looking for help convincing my employer to move away from .fbk files.

Background: I’m relatively new to the industry, but my first employer used a better workflow than my current one, and I want to pitch a change without much leverage yet. My coworkers are comfortable with our current process since it’s simple and mistakes are easy to fix, but I’m not sure they know what they’re missing. 

Right now we export a .fbk file daily from our Trimble collectors, clean it up in office, and then office staff use it for final CAD drawings.

My problem: .fbk files can’t handle multiple codes at once. So in the field I’m constantly stopping to manually enter commands for line/curve starts, ends, and connections (without being able to see how points connect on the collector). Some of this can be fixed in office, but that means relying on memory and risking missed or inaccurate connections.

Typically I can’t alternate codes while shooting something like curb and gutter either, so I end up walking the same stretch multiple times instead of capturing it in one pass.

Am I missing something, or would a .csv-based workflow that supports multiple codes work just as easily as .fbks for editing? Seems like any short-term transition pain would be worth it for the long-term speed and accuracy gains.

EDIT: I appreciate the responses so far and just want to clarify that my employer is open to change and it’s openly discussed that we can improve, I’m just looking for ideas because no one is working on it currently.

Hi all,

I work at a small firm whose drone/lidar program is in its infancy. Well anyway our would be drone guy just left and I offered to step up and try to be the one to process our data because we are in a pinch. I can fly the drone and process it through DJI terra, the problem is, I don't have a clue with what to do with it after that. I'm just looking to see if someone could point me toward some good educational resources to help with that.

We have a DJI matrice 350rtk drone with an L2 camera. Our thought process was we would go from Terra>TBC>civil3d>to final deliverables. I have extensive field experience but only about a year of civil3d experience and hardly any TBC experience.

Any help would be appreciated!

Hey all!

Looking to hear opinions and recommendations on belt setups.
Vests aren’t common where I’m from, and I’m not a fan of the standard survey belts that dig into your side after a while.

I’m looking for something to be used for extended time away from the vehicle, often by myself trekking through the bush and hopping fences with a GNSS unit.

I’ve tried backpacks but they’re often inconvenient and leave my back drenched in the summer heat haha.
I’m not usually carrying a large amount.
Things like spare batteries, tape measure, flagging tape, Nalgene, snake bite kit, paint, nails and hammer, etc.
This changes on the task but if I’m out setting pegs I have a separate bag for pegs and a larger hammer, unfortunately the above doesn’t fair to well in the same bag when I toss it over a fence haha.

I was digging through the sub and someone recommended a duty/battle belt a few years ago, something else not common where I’m from but I like the idea of adding and removing pouches as I need as well as being comfortable and secure for extended use.
Finding equipment to make (work)life a little more convenient and enjoyable is part of the fun for me!

Keen to hear your ideas and suggestions, thanks in advance!

Noticed they just posted a couple of survey manager positions down in FL. I'm licensed there, but being on the other side of the country I don't deal with east coast projects that often.

A couple of years back I got a chance to see their geomatics team present on their customized project management system using GIS tools linked with Trimble systems, and was very impressed. Even allowing for the pump-up factor that is always in conference presentations, it was clear they had put a lot of thought and effort into streamlining processes that 99% of firms are still using paper and spreadsheets for.

So, anyone have any experience working with/for them?

(I know that they are "corporate"; that's not necessarily a negative for me.)

Are you going into the garage of every one you do?

I'm a Surveying Engineering student trying to decide which specialization to focus on. I'm interested in both GIS and Land Surveying, but I'm not sure which offers better long-term career opportunities, salary, growth, and flexibility. For those who have worked in either field, which would you recommend and why?

Anyone happen to use one of these? We're still using hooks. I purchased a T-Lift with my own money since my employer ignores requests for better equipment. Theres 2 of us that lift 30-50 lids per week in Pittsburgh, Im the youngest at 47. Pulled the hell out of my groin couple weeks ago, ready to skip the c.o.c. and message the vp directly. Feelings may get hurt, but guess what, so do my balls.

I just looked out my window at work and I am seeing a guy on the corner across the street with his tripod up and turning every which way. He has skedaddled off to some other location at the moment, but his tripod is still there.

What is he doing? What is he doing? What is he doing? If I seriously didn't need to be in my office right now I would be out there asking him all sorts of questions.

Like this one for example. He is the height he is and I am much shorter (because I am always much shorter than people) so does the height of the person matter when checking whatever it is that he is checking??

I am just soooooooooooooooo curious that it has been a question for like 30 years that I only think of when I see them and never dig into it after!

I am planning to apply for my license in Michigan and since I do not have an ABET accredited degree, I believe I will have to have NCEES do a credit evaluation.

It appears they need official course descriptions for them to evaluate classes and I am really dreading this part. I have been out of college since 2019 and do not have copies of these class descriptions.

Has anyone gone through this? Did it suck as much as it seems like it is going to?

Hi all I have been accepted into an Undergraduate in Surveying in Australia. I would mainly like a career in the field work and or GIS mapping, what units would you recommend studying as part of the course. I need to complete 4 out of the 8 units to pass. I have put a link in below of the units available. Thank you for your input.

https://www.unisq.edu.au/study/degrees-and-courses/undergraduate-certificate-of-surveying

For reference, this is in New York State

Was doing a stakeout today related to a neighbor dispute. 4 rebar points along a 119' side line. First 3 points went in with no issue and then while my co-worker was hammering in the last point, the neighbors came out. The woman was screaming her head off saying "stop!! no!!" and some other stuff in her native language. I told my guy to ignore her and finish putting the point in while I tried to speak with her. As my co-worker continued to hammer, her husband grabbed the co-workers hand to stop him from hammering and attempted to push him back out of the way. The husband was also picking up our prism pole with the data collector on it, threatening to throw it. (I hadn't had the chance to grab it and they were between me and the pole by the time I realized).

I immediately had my guy clear off the site and distanced ourselves from the 2 of them. Our client was already on the phone with the police who came in about 5 min. The woman went on and on for about an hour non stop screaming at the top of her lungs. She tried to pull the half-installed point out of the ground several times. The police spoke to them via their daughter, who spoke English, on the phone and Facetime for about an hour. Eventually the 2 officers helped keep the 2 neighbors away while we finished installing the point.

Afterwards, the 2 officers were collecting information for the incident report and I mentioned that my boss wanted any appropriate charges filed against the couple for putting their hands on my co-worker. The officers explained with great certainty that the physical contact would not be assault or battery because there was no injury, and that it would just be "harassment". I also had them inform the daughter and the couple that its against the law to remove any of our points from the ground and, doing so would have financial penalties for them.

So my question here is directed towards anyone with knowledge of New York State law.

Is this a case of assault even though there was no injury? Are there any specific legal protections for land surveyors in NY? If you have any references to legal texts, I'd appreciate any links.

The client is apparently friendly with one of the police sergeant and offered to contact them tomorrow to look into any further information they can provide.

Did you guys who are licensed actually work under ALL the PLS’s who signed for your work experience, to be able to take the state specific exam. I have all the work experience needed and FS and PS passed. But I only have 3 PLS’s that are able to sign for me that I’ve actually worked under. I don’t want to leave my current job just to get another signature, but if that’s my only option then that’s what I’m willing to do. I’m just wondering what everyone else’s experience was.

Is there an app that lets you store and calculate levelling runs (backsight, foresight, IS, RLs, etc.) the same way you would in a traditional level book? I’m looking for something that handles full levelling workflows, keeps the data organised, and ideally shows the results neatly in like a pdf or something. What are people using in the field?

I haven't been active here for a bit but I stumbled on this listing and figured I'd share. Deadline is 7/27. Its with the State Parks Department.

https://statejobs.ny.gov/public/vacancyDetailsView.cfm?id=219787