Exploring The Mystery of Famed Surveyor Thomas Freeman
There is great confusion in the American surveyor historical literature about Thomas Freeman, a prominent surveyor in the United States from 1792 until his death in 1821, regarding whether he served as...
View ArticleSo, Just What is The Sign Telling The Intrepid Surveyor?
The email requested a survey that really shouldn’t cost much. The client didn’t spell out the “not cost much” part. They never do.
View ArticleUnmistakable Marks: When a Monument is Not a Monument
It is a familiar rule of construction that generally allows natural or artificial monuments to control measurements where the two come into conflict in a deed description.
View ArticleSurveyor's Footsteps: Making the Case for Field Run Topography
Over several years, I subcontracted topographic survey work from a large engineering firm.
View ArticleTraversing The Law: Why Can’t Surveyors Offer Insurance?
I have been doing a lot of thinking here recently about the many problems facing the land surveying profession. If you haven’t noticed, most of my columns over the past several years have focused on...
View ArticleSolo Notes: Veteran Surveyor Appreciates Client Interaction
George Nyfeler III, LS LEED-AP, president of Nyfeler Associates in Richmond, Va., started surveying in 1978 in Houston during the summer before his junior year in high school.
View ArticleHistorical Marker Pays Fitting Tribute to Brave Surveyors in Ohio
A new historical marker placed at the intersection of the Michigan Meridian and the Ohio-Michigan State Line commemorates the surveyors whose hard work and hardships defined this important survey, says...
View ArticleSurveyor's Footsteps: An Old Adage Still Has Meaning
A potential source of good employees may be your local Vo-Tech school. Mine had an AutoCAD class taught over two years.
View ArticleTraversing The Law: Legal Opinion Aside, Surveyors Have The Facts
How do you know when you’ve got it right?
View ArticlePOB Columnist Pens Book on Riparian Boundaries
To build a true understanding of the rights associated with watercourses, it is essential to dispel three erroneous concepts often associated with riparian boundary problems.
View ArticleSurveyor's Footsteps: Yes, Kids, That's a Pencil Mark You See
On a recent topographic survey project, I had been recommended to the homeowner by an engineer.
View ArticleGuest Column: Making Sure We've Got It Just Right
In a recent evidence-collecting adventure, I came across a plat of the property adjacent to the one I was surveying. I was amazed at the detail, precision of all measurements and the overall “look” of...
View ArticleSurveyor's Footsteps: Our Forefathers Keep Us 'Entertained'
Question: How does the stone called for in the deed disappear? Answer: A surveyor turns it into a pipe.
View ArticleReader Feedback: If 'One Man' Quits, What Then?
In recent years, we have been faced with the fact that the number of licensed Professional Land Surveyors is declining rapidly.
View ArticleA Survey Marker With a Story
In March 2011, a 9.0-magnitude undersea earthquake occurred off the east coast of Japan and triggered a powerful tsunami.
View ArticleSurveyor's Footsteps: How Close Should Survey Measurement Be?
Recently, my apprentice asked me "How close is close enough?" That question has many answers, which depend on the specific object we are locating and why it is being located.
View ArticleTraversing the Law: Keg Island Is Example of the Island Rule in Surveying
Present-day Keg Island exists in the Mississippi River where the river flows between the states of Iowa and Illinois. It is over a mile long, maybe a quarter of a mile wide at its widest point,...
View ArticleSurveyor's Footsteps: Surveyors Provide On-Site Facts
The survey party chief is the engineer’s on-the-scene reporter. They will spend a half-day to a month surveying a tract of land and gathering information to be used in the planning process.
View ArticleChoose the Right Boundary Marker
Five years ago, I surveyed a large shopping center. Previously, another firm had prepared an ALTA survey, but that plan had no elevations.
View ArticleInside Pennslyvania's Controversial 1737 Land Transfer
In the nearly three centuries since Pennsylvania’s 1737 “Walking Purchase,” the events have become shrouded in myth and legend until it is difficult to separate fact from fiction.
View ArticleUnderground Laser Scans Preserve WWI Tunnel Heritage
Dr. Pascal Sirguey had waited two years for this day and he was taking a few final minutes to savor the moment.
View ArticleLong-Life Survey Marker
Berntsen drive-in pipe monuments provide solutions for many different situations.
View ArticleSurveying Using Least Squares
Most surveyors know, from study and training if not personal experience, that "least squares" are important. That might be the extent of what they know though.
View ArticleMeasurements Are the Evidence in Retracement Surveys
Finding where a property boundary line has become established on the ground requires gathering the best available evidence that the reasonably prudent surveyor would find, evaluating that evidence, and...
View ArticleNew Survey Methods Employed for Restoration Project
New surveying methodologies generate reams of data and information to enable engineers, architects and planners to do their work more efficiently and accurately and to better communicate the city’s...
View ArticleA Construction Stakeout at Devils National Monument Tower
A land survey photo at Devils National Monument Tower submitted by Aaron Bicknese of Land Surveyor Incorporated.
View ArticleRFID Helps Map Below the Surface
A tremendous amount of effort is focused on collecting data about the Earth’s surface using satellites, airplanes, terrestrial mobile mapping units, total stations and many other devices. Even land...
View ArticleSurveyors can grow by planting their own marks like MAG nails
The story goes that Johnny Appleseed gathered the apple seeds from the cider press and traveled America planting apple trees along the way. While taking family walks, my wife and I might turn to the...
View ArticleUnmistakable Marks: How Much Research For Boundary Survey?
Despite its designation in court records, Roll v. Bacon: 160 Ohio Misc. 2d 23; 938 N.E.2d 85 (2010) is not a dispute about what to have for breakfast.
View ArticleWhy Survey Remonumentation Is Good for Land Surveyors
Land surveyor Emily Pierce explains why remonumenting is the physical verification that sets the land surveying apart from other professions.
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