Product Review GIS & Surveyors The Humble Rebar

CREW SAFETY

Product ReviewLeica Zeno 20

GIS & SurveyorsLong and winding road

The Humble RebarWorld-changing invention

AUGUST 2016

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AUGUST 2016

ON THE COVER

contents

410

14features4 One Man Crews

Even though this article was written for a California audience, surveyor safety is a national issue.MICAH PAULK

10 A Caffeinated Pick-Me-Up for a Surveying CareerApplying technology for a coffee-growers cooperative in Nicaragua.VIVIENNE WALLACE

14 How San Francisco Paid the RansomeEverything you didn’t know about a critical construction and boundary component.CHAD & LINDA ERICKSON

18 GIS & Surveyors—The Long and Winding RoadThis company has been profitably using GIS for its clients for decades. J. ROBERT KEATING

34 Total Station Upgrade Sparks EfficienciesFirm finds an extra 100 annual billable hours it didn’t have in the past.LARRY TROJAK

40 The Final Voyage—Part 11The bad weather had exacted its toll: six weeks to accomplish three weeks of surveying.ERIC STAHLKE, PS

departments

in this issue2 Editorial: In This Issue

A recap of the articles in this issue.MARC CHEVES, PS

44 MarketPlace

48 Vantage Point: Doing Right ProfessionallySometimes, clients seem only a pesky side matter on the way to bottom line profit.WENDY LATHROP, PS, CFM

30 Product Review: Leica Zeno 20If used creatively, the Zeno is far more than just a GIS device.PATRICK C. GARNER, PS

46 Test Yourself 32: Three AreasExercising geometry and trigonometry skills.DAVE LINDELL, PS

AmeriSurv To Go! Get the most from this magazine on your tablet or laptop.

For safety’s sake, should two-man crews be required?

1August 2016 / The American Surveyor

MARC CHEVES / PS

August 2016 / Vol. 13 No. 7© Cheves Media LLC

PUBLISHER Allen E. [email protected]

EDITOR Marc S. Cheves, [email protected]

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Joel Leininger, PSASSISTANT EDITOR Jacalyn Cheves

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Shawn Billings, PSC. Barton Crattie, PS

James J. Demma, PS, Esq.Dr. Richard L. Elgin, PS, PE

Chad Erickson, PSLinda Erickson

Jason E. Foose, PSGary Kent, PS

Wendy Lathrop, PSJohn Matonich, PS

Michael J. Pallamary, PSJerry Penry, PS

Walt Robillard, Esq., PSFred Roeder, PS

Angus W. Stocking, PS

The staff and contributing writers may be reached via the online Message Center at amerisurv.com

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editorial

In This Issueur lead cover feature pertains to a subject that should interest all surveyors. How many times have you narrowly avoided injury or death while working close to a roadway? The article was written for the California Society newsletter, and as a result primarily refers to the situation in California, but the topic is germane wherever

surveyors are working. And with the advent of robotic total stations, having someone to “watch your back” is not an option. The possibility that both the surveyor and the driver are looking down, either working or texting, is a sure recipe for disaster.

As I detailed in my 2012 article about the company that gave me my start in surveying, Topographic in Oklahoma City, the son of the founder, Robert Keating, has been working with asset location and management for the oil & gas industry for decades, both for client and in-house purposes. Bottom line for Topographic: they serve their clients with a product they need, and make money doing so. In his article Robert details the long and winding—and successful—road.

Chad & Linda Erickson have written a fascinating article about how rebar came to be. Even though we surveyors mostly see rebar as just a common boundary marker, before reinforced concrete came into being, concrete was a less-than-reliable building material, especially in areas prone to ground shaking. And even today, if moisture—especially salt-laden moisture—penetrates the concrete to the rebar, structural failure can be the result. Just take a look at our crumbling infrastructure as proof. And speaking of that, it sure would be nice if we could put surveyors to work on said infrastructure.

Massachusetts surveyor Pat Garner reviews a GNSS receiver that the manufacturer has been marketing to the GIS crowd. Pat has found that the unit is well-suited to medium and large scale as-builts, natural resource delineations or asset collection. As he says, “If used creatively the Zeno is far more than a GIS device.” And this is a great example of what I always liked about implementing survey technology: Looking at a piece of gear and wondering if I could do “this with that.”

Frequent contributor Larry Trojak details a Detroit-area firm that upgraded its total station and found that the time saved resulted in an extra 100 billable hours per year, an amount that cannot be ignored. And is that not what implementing the survey technology is all about? Moving on, Eric Stahlke regales us with more Alaska tales in Part 11 of The Final Voyage. Part 12 next month will mark the end of the series. Due to ad space requirements, the Curt Brown installment is not in this issue, but rest assured his words of wisdom from long ago will once again appear in future issues.

Continuing with the ethics theme started last issue with Bob Foster’s Globalized Ethics, Wendy Lathrop opines about everyday professional behavior as she provides a voice of reason and sage advice for running a survey business. In a time where our country is tearing itself apart, I’m reminded of the line—according to Wikipedia—from the character Thumper in the film Bambi, watching as Bambi is first presented as the young prince to the creatures of the forest. He remarks that Bambi is “kinda wobbly” but is reproved by his mother who makes him repeat what his father had impressed upon him that morning, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.” This, and the things Wendy discusses, should be our marching orders, both as an industry and as a country. ◾

2 The American Surveyor / August 2016

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» MICAH PAULK

Safety, safety, safety. With advances in technology and the tightening of purse strings, it can be tempting, at times, for companies to adopt one man crews. However, this practice can lead to some serious safety issues. While one man crews can be easily justifiable in certain

environments, it is truly dangerous to operate a one man crew when working on roadways.

The One Man Crew and the Distracted Driver.The biggest safety problem associated with operating a

one man crew may be the distracted driving epidemic currently happening nationwide. Even with laws being enacted against using cell phones while driving, there are people that continue to use their phones while operating a moving vehicle. How many times have you been sitting at a light and continued waiting after the light turned green because the person in front of you was checking their phone? It happens all the time.

“Motorists engage in secondary behavior during more than half of their time spent driving—an action that is a factor in more

than one million national car crashes and 16% of fatal accidents annually. And texting is the number one distracted driving activity by a long-shot. With technology at drivers’ fingertips, drivers are becoming more and more tempted to send and read quick text messages that they by-and-large assume to be harmless. The truth is, texting while driving takes a driver’s eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds and increases the chances of a crash by 23 percent. To put that into perspective, if a vehicle is traveling at 55mph, the average driver doesn’t look at the road for about the length of an entire football field while sending a text.”

—Kiernan Hopkins: distracteddriveraccidents.com

So, a driver is looking down at their phone wheeling around town on the streets that they have driven for years. They assume they know what is around every corner and where every straight away is located. What they do not count on, however, is that a land surveyor might be in the middle of the road with his head down looking at a data collector. Maybe not even looking at a data collector, but looking down at a monument or in a manhole. Sometimes making eye contact with every driver is impossible and, even when a surveyor attempts

ONE MAN CREWS


http://distracteddriveraccidents.com/

trimble_dimensions2016_printad-American Surveyor_8.125x10.75in_0616.indd 1 1/07/2016 12:58:18 p.m.

to make eye contact, the approaching driver might have their head down looking at their cell phone. In that case, the surveyor may have a chance to move out of the way of potential calamity. But when both the driver and the surveyor are looking down, it is a recipe for disaster. This is why it is imperative that the survey profession begin using two man crews whenever working in the street.

Cell Phones and Drunk Drivers.In preparing to write this article, I

found several pieces of research detailing the similarities between drunk driving and cell phone use while driving. The first research I found was from the following site detailing the similarities between the two: http://goo.gl/yZMEfQ

It is important to keep in mind that this research was done in 2006, long before the advent of our modern smart phones, which can be even more of a distraction with their

ease of access to the internet, social media, email and other applications.

As the charts above indicate, drunk drivers were applying greater force to their vehicles’ brakes, when necessary, as compared to cell phone users (slower to apply their brakes). Based on the research conducted, cell phone drivers showed delayed responses to events while driving and were more likely to be involved in an accident than drunk drivers. This is a dis-turbing fact, especially considering the fact that there are far more people driving while using a cell phone than people driving while drunk during the day, when a surveyor is more likely to be in the street. This research also indicated that drivers using cell phones had slower reaction times and were involved in more accidents than drunk drivers. As I indicated previously, this research was performed in 2006 when cell phones were primarily used for phone calls and text messaging wasn’t nearly as prevalent.

This same 2006 study also indicated that hands-free devices were not any less dangerous than regular cell phone usage.

“Between 2005 and 2012, the number of drunk driving fatalities per person decreased 28%. In the same time period, the percentage of people observed “visibly manipulating” their phones while driving increased a staggering 650%. The number of fatalities caused by distracted driving increased 28% between 2005 and 2008 alone. In 2012, 3,328 Americans died in crashes involving a distracted driver, while 10,322 people were killed in alcohol-related crashes.”

As you can see from the quote above, instances of distracted driving that contribute to fatalities have increased at the same rate that drunken driving fatalities have decreased.

Braking Profile Speed Profile

Fatal Occupational Injuries by Event or Exposure California 2012–2013


http://goo.gl/yZMEfQ

http://responsibility.org/sites/default/files/files/AIDF%20Rates%20-%201991-2012%20trend.gif

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811884.pdf

http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/Pubs/811884.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20864709

http://www.distraction.gov/content/get-the-facts/facts-and-statistics.html

http://www.distraction.gov/content/get-the-facts/facts-and-statistics.html

http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html

http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html

California Fines for Using a Cell Phone While Driving.

While fines and other penalties for driving while using a cell phone have increased over the years, it does not appear that is has stemmed their actual usage with drivers. California fines for using a cell phone while driving are relatively low with $20 for the first offense and $50 for each subsequent offense. These fines don’t do much to stem the use of cell phones while driving.

California also allows for GPS usage while driving, as long as the driver does not have the cell phone in hand while doing so. Blue tooth or hands-free cell phones usage is also permitted while driving. There are also statutory loopholes stating that if you read,

enter, or select a phone number or the name of a contact on your phone with the intent to (a) communicate with this person through a hands-free device, or (b) deactivate your device, you are not violating California law.

The disturbing part about these exemptions is that, even when using these functions, the driver is still distracted. An unintended consequence of these laws is that drivers will now hide their cell phones in their laps while texting and driving to avoid detection from authorities, causing their eyes to focus even further away from the road ahead.

Land Surveyors Are Already In Danger.In this Newsletter https://goo.

gl/7yn61C, I included an article about a

driver involved in a hit and run in Houston, Texas. In that case, the land surveyor wasn’t even in the road, he was on the sidewalk. Unfortunately, the surveyor died from the accident and the details have not come to light about the exact cause. Nevertheless, I would not be surprised if a cell phone played a part in the surveyor’s death. Even if a cell phone was not involved in this instance, it brings to light the fact that, had the surveyor not been working alone, he may have had warning from another party member that a recklessly driven car was approaching.

In that instance, there were witnesses around that reported the event. What would happen if a surveyor was working alone, without bystanders nearby, and was hit by a car and then the driver decided to run? This is

Fatal Occupational Injuries by Selected Event California and the United States, 2013


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0ByZPpC12H--xdUc0OXhVdlRPbG8/view?pref=2&pli=1

https://goo.gl/7yn61C

https://goo.gl/7yn61C

Do you believe a 1-man crew is essential to be competitive in today’s market?

Would you support or oppose regulations that for safety purposes required a minimum of 2-man crew size on certain types of projects, namely public works, if applied to all firms performing that work?

Do you field 1-man crews on Construction Sites?

YES

NO

Do you field 1-man crews on Remote Sites?

YES

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NO62%

YES38%

1 - Would Not Support 10 - Would Support

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1-2 (48%)

3-5 (26%)

6-10 (19%)

10+ (7%)


another reason why it is so important to have a two party crew whenever working in streets.

Another instance involved a lone surveyor in Orlando kneeling to mark a spot on the street. The surveyor was subsequently hit by a utility truck. http://goo.gl/Mc3wd5

The Majority of Fatal Work Injuries Were Caused By

Transportation Incidents.In a news release from February 2015, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (“BLS”) released data on fatal work injuries in California for 2013. By far, the most fatalities were caused by “transportation incidents”. The 2013 number increased by 10% from 2012.

Transportation accidents were the most frequent fatal events in the United States in 2013. Fortunately, California is below the national trend.

Death is not the only thing to be considered. Injuries, from transportation incidents, have steadily risen over the past three (3) years as reported by the BLS. Nationwide, there have been:

◾ 41,140 injuries in 2011 ◾ 42,610 in 2012 ◾ 44,410 in 2013

Even though nonfatal, these cases undoubt-edly led to loss time and OSHA violations the damage done to the worker cannot be discounted. Time away from work can lead to financial stress and, certainly, the health of the worker after the incident could lead to them being unable to return to work at all.

What Can Be Done?The most important thing to do is always be aware of your surround-

ings. You may have surveyed a million streets and been on the very street you are surveying plenty of times, but the behavior of drivers cannot be predicted. Distracted driving can lead to very dangerous situations. Using a two man crew to warn the other members of the survey party is necessary to help abate some of the dangers presented by distracted drivers.

◾ Effective use of radios is also necessary when working in the street. Be sure that your radios are properly charged and that all crew members are on the correct channel.

◾ Hand signals are good but they cannot warn someone while their head is down looking at a data collector. Sometimes the sounds of traffic can become background noise lulling the surveyor into a false sense of security. Remain vigilant and be aware of your surroundings at all times.

◾ Safety vests, cones and signs should all be used in conjunction while perform-ing survey work in the roadway. It is imperative to use these safety measures, especially when working on hills, around curves or other obstacles to warn drivers of the surveyor’s presence in the road.

◾ A job walk before starting each job should be conducted to identify potential hazards in the areas that work will be performed.

◾ Finding safe places to park survey vehicles and set up sites should be decided based on both safety and effective usage. Considering how to safely get into and out of vehicles with equipment should also be a factor.

◾ Consider the weather as well. Is there fog rolling in? Was there rain in the forecast? These factors can be extremely dangerous. ◾

Update:Since publishing this article in January, 2016, I have found three other instances of surveyors being struck and killed in roadways:

Samuel Pagano, 22, of South Wales, NY, was hit and killed by a car that crossed the center line. http://goo.gl/aN2ve4

Russell Scott Atchinson, 58, of Modesto was alone and on his hands and knees over a manhole in Stanislaus, CA when he was hit by a GMC Sierra pickup. http://goo.gl/Wlw27Z

59-year-old Enrique Diaz, was wearing a reflective vest and was in a striped area just on the highway which separates the inside lane from the traffic merging onto 95 when he was struck and killed. http://goo.gl/g9uOxy

Micah Paulk is a Virginia native currently living in Orange County, California where he works in Marketing for D. Woolley & Associates, Inc. Mr. Paulk also serves as Safety Manager, Chainman, IT guy, Notary Public, and is the Newsletter Editor for the Orange County Chapter of California Land Surveyors Association. When not fixing computers, improving worker safety, writing proposals or compiling newsletters, he enjoys volunteering at local hospitals and camping with his girlfriend and their dog, Ruger.

Do you field 1-man crews on streets?

YES28%28%

NO72%72% YES

58%58%NO

42%42%

Do you have policies or practices in place that positively protect the 1-Man Crew should they become injured or find themselves in a dangerous place?

OC-CLSA ONLINE POLL RESULTS REGARDING CREW SIZE AND SAFETY





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http://goo.gl/Mc3wd5

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http://goo.gl/g9uOxy

Gaesing teaches a group of students from Esteli’s university.


U lrich Gaesing has been a surveying manager for Bielefeld, Germany, for 40 years. So when he was asked to help a coffee-growers’ cooperative in Nicaragua, Gaesing jumped at the opportunity. In early

2015 he embarked on a six-week project to survey small-scale coffee plantations in Central America’s cloud forest.

Nestled in the northern highlands of Nicaragua, Esteli is the country’s third largest city; mountains surrounding Esteli reach 1,600 m (5,250 ft) above sea level and are forested in native and exotic trees. Beneath their shade, coffee plants thrive in the region’s rich volcanic soil.

Despite the region’s ideal conditions, Esteli’s small-scale coffee farmers remain poor; in order to command higher prices for their Arabica coffee beans, many apply for organic certification. The certification process requires them to submit maps showing clear farm boundaries; however, surveying costs to obtain these maps are typically out of reach. That’s why in 2014 the Union of Cooperatives of Agriculture (UCA) contacted Esteli’s sister city, Bielefeld, Germany, for help.

Time to Change Things UpIn 2014 Ulrich Gaesing, the longtime surveying manager for Bielefeld City, was ready for a change. Ulrich had visited Esteli earlier; in 1993 he was sent by Bielefeld to create a topical land register for the Central American city. “I felt returning to Nicaragua would be a great adventure and give me the chance to do some good in the world,” Gaesing said. This time he would be travelling independently—with the support of his employer, but using vacation time and paying for his own flights.

At the 2014 Trimble Dimensions User Conference, Gaesing met contacts—including one from ALLTERRA, a geospatial distributor in Germany—who generously provided equipment to the expedition: a Geodimeter 608S Autolock Total Station and two Trimble® GeoXH™ GPS handhelds, as well as supporting software. While in Bielefeld Gaesing uses the Trimble S6 Total Station and a Trimble R10 GNSS System, in Nicaragua he used the Geodimeter Total Station under the thick tree canopy.

» VIVIENNE WALLACE

A Caffeinated Pick-Me-Up for a Surveying Career


A New Daily GrindFrom February to March 2015, Gaesing stayed in Esteli city on weekends; Monday through Friday he lived in the mountains with the coffee growers. “I lived their life,” he said. “We rose with the sun at 5:30 a.m. and started the day with corn tortillas and

coffee.” Gaesing worked in a team of four or five that included a German-born transla-tor, a Nicaraguan worker from the UCA and one or two local students.

Because Esteli coffee trees grow among other larger trees, farm boundaries are not obvious. So on first arriving at each

farm, Gaesing walked the boundaries with the grower. He would then negotiate the forest canopy to capture his first GPS points.

“Imagine surveying in a country where there are no surveying points and no GPS reference system. That’s what Nicaragua is like,” said Gaesing. Knowing this constraint, Ulrich originally planned to use one GPS handheld on a surveying point with known UTM coordinates and use the second handheld for a new point perhaps 30 km (19 mi) away. He would then use simple differential calculations to compute coordinates for the new point. Unfortunately, no known surveying points were available, even in Esteli. Because he needed reference points to create a cadaster, Ulrich simply collected a few GPS posi-tions—a minimum of two per coffee plot. Thereafter he relied on terrestrial surveying with the Geodimeter. In the circumstances, the autonomous 5-m (16-ft) accuracy of the handhelds was sufficient.

“I was so pleased to receive the Geodimeter,” said Gaesing. “I used a newer Trimble CU control unit I was familiar with, and the instrument performed very well. Because there was no electricity in the mountains I used solar panels to recharge the batteries. Unfortunately, the only tripod I could source in Esteli had just two good legs!”

Conditions in the mountains were pleas-ant during the day, but at 1,200 m (3,900 ft) the temperatures plummeted at night, and

L-R: Yoarci González, Ulrich Gaesing, Ramón Garcia and Julio Zeledón. Photo taken by the group’s interpreter, Manuel Jung.

The simple accommodation Gaesing shared with the farmers was comfortable, but provided little insulation

from cold mountain air at nighttime.


the farmhouses had no electricity, phone or Internet. In the evenings, Gaesing recorded his experiences in a journal by torchlight. “I wrote down all of my impressions and everything I saw,” he said. “I knew I wanted to share my story in some way or other when I returned home.”

When he finished work at each farm, Gaesing carried all his gear on foot to the next location. Postprocessing would wait till the weekend in Esteli when he had access to electricity and the Internet; Gaesing could then import data into Trimble Survey Manager software and roughly check his GPS coordinates in Google Earth. He emailed his data to colleagues in Germany, who generated final maps via Trimble’s GEOgraf software and AutoCAD 2000.

How to Leave a Lasting LegacyGaesing didn’t just provide Esteli with farm surveys; he taught local Esteli students how to survey. “For me the most important thing was to survey as much as possible during my time,” he said. “The second-most important thing was to teach other people.”

Gaesing was assisted each week by differ-ent students from Esteli’s public university, Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria (UNI). One weekend, Gaesing taught a surveying class of keen students about GPS basics, coordinate systems and how to use the Geodimeter. Gaesing paid it forward by leaving the Geodimeter and Trimble GeoXH instruments with the university.

A Mutually Beneficial ExperienceDuring his stay, Gaesing surveyed 8 farms totaling 35 hectares (86 acres) of coffee plots; each of the farms received organic certification. While the legacy he left in Esteli was unquestionably significant and successful, his own experiences in Esteli—in 1993 and 2015—also left a great impression on him. And the thanks he received from the UCA gave him enormous satisfaction. Much like a good strong cup of organic mountain-grown coffee. ◾

Vivienne Wallace is a freelance writer specializing in high-tech positioning solutions, including conventional, GNSS and spatial imaging survey systems. Vivienne is based in New Zealand.

Gaesing has turned his journal entries, memories and anecdotes, and photos of each visit into a book,

recently published in Germany.

At home, Gaesing uses the Trimble S6 Total Station and Trimble R10 GNSS System. In Nicaragua, Ulrich stepped back in time, putting a Geodimeter Total Station through its paces under the tree canopy.


» CHAD & LINDA ERICKSON

B efore 1884, and before Ernest L. Ransome’s invention and innovation of the deformed rod, reinforcing steel was typically smooth round steel rods. This practice was not successful because tension within the concrete would break the bond between the round rods and the concrete. Even

bending “J” hooks at the ends of the rods was inadequate. Mr. Ransome’s invention and innovation was to twist square rods,

creating spiraling ridges which prevented tension from pulling the rods loose in the concrete.

During a presentation of his system to the technical society in California, Ransome was literally “laughed down” and out of town. “When you deform the steel you destroy its strength”, they jeered. When he proved that cold deformation actually strengthened the steel, his peers ignored him, one professor accusing him of rigging the results.

Or: “So, You Found A Rebar…”

How San Francisco

Above: This photograph was taken by Arnold Genthe at Sacramento Street and Miller Place in San Francisco hours after the April 18, 1906 earthquake and at the start of the fires that were the greater terror. Many people survived the quake only to perish in the greatest non-war conflagration in history. 3,000 people perished, 200,000 were left homeless and 28,000 buildings were burned. Surviving both quakes and fires, an historical first, the Ransome buildings and their accompanying acclaim ushered in the current era of steel reinforced concrete structures. Ironically, it was the 1880’s opposition by San Francisco’s Engineers, Architects and Professors that prevented the adoption of the Ransome method (deformed rebar embedded in concrete) that might have mitigated the ruin of this Wednesday morning. PHOTO IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

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Mr. Ransome stuck around San Francisco long enough to build a bridge or two, a few exquisite structures at the Stanford campus and then deemed it best to take his show east where his methods were accepted. Some ten years after his departure the San Francisco earthquake and fires of April 18, 1906 destroyed the nay-sayers’ buildings and left the works of Mr. Ransome nearly unscathed. (So much

for peer review, which too often is the squawking of jealous jaybirds.)

Wikipedia reports: “…Ransome’s two experimental buildings at Stanford survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake essen-tially without damage while the university’s newer, conventional brick structures literally crumbled around them. The published analysis of (the Ransome) buildings by fellow

engineer John B. Leonard did much to advance the safety of buildings

in post-1906 San Francisco and nationwide.”

These events also brought on a flood of competition, eventually leading to the improved design of rebar as we know it today. However, Ransome’s twisted rebars were still in use until 1950.

We’ll analyze some other patent dates, but patent dates are like finding an old penny: the only thing that the date tells you is that the strata the object was found in cannot be any older than that date, but the strata most certainly will be newer.

A better way to analyze the dates of rebar is to look at the crumbling highway bridges in your area. According to the plaque attached to it, the Chief Timothy Bridge, about 5 miles west of Clarkston, Washington, was built in 1923. The enlarged photos of a rebar exposed due to spalling apparently show a Corrugated Rebar patented in 1911. The Corrugated Rebar obviously was available in this area in 1923.

Not that you can jump up and down and declare that the Corrugated rebar you found marking a property corner was placed there in 1911 or 1923, but when the

The Chief Timothy Bridge, built in 1923 and showing Corrugated rebar in its spalling. Photos by authors.

The un-Ransomed Stanford Library didn’t survive the 1906 quake so well. PHOTO IN PUBLIC DOMAIN.

Patent No. 305,226, Sept. 16, 1884 by E.L. Ransome

Stanford 1891 Museum, ca 1900. Building on the cheap, Mrs. Stanford chose Ransome’s design because it was quick and half the price of conventional masonry structures. The irony is that it is one of the few pre-1906 quake buildings still in use today.PHOTO IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN


original plat of 1953 says that the surveyor set ½” iron rebars at all lot corners and the few rebars that you find are of the Corrugated brand, you can more intel-ligently, and convincingly assert that what you have found is the original monument. This would especially be true, as in our area, where the corrugated style, with its broad lengthwise rib, is quite rare.

Once the present becomes the past, reality often becomes a work of perception, and this is most applicable in the workings of a jury.

Following are vintage designs that surveyors might encounter. (These are detailed in Chapter 2 of Vintage Steel Reinforcement in Concrete Structures by CRSI):

▲ Diamond Bar, also called the Mueser Bar because it was patented by William Mueser March 20, 1906, Pat. #816,618. Manufactured by the Concrete Steel Engineering Co. in New York, New York. Bethlehem Steel rolled this pattern until they went out of business in the 1970s.

▲ Corrugated Bars, also known as Johnson Bars after Albert L. Johnson who patented his invention on January 24, 1911, receiving Pat. #982,682. It was manufactured in St. Louis Missouri and Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Notice the thick length-wise rib.

▲ American Deformed Bar manufactured in Chicago Illinois by Concrete Construction.

▲ Rib Bars. These were produced in Detroit Michigan and Youngstown Ohio by the Trussed Concrete Steel Company, also called the Truscon Steel Company.

How can the foregoing affect our perspective about surveying? The small print of a local 1928 subdivision plat reads

Once the present becomes the past, perception is often reality.Or: “So Much for Public Opinion”

T he story is repeated on pages 104-106 in a 2011 Doctrinal thesis by Finnian O’Cionnaith*, of a 1750’s dispute between two Irish surveyors, a Mr. K__y and a Mr. Joshua Wright. Mr. K__y’s work is being disputed by Mr.

Wright because Mr. K__y used “inflexible numbers” to determine the acreage of a field. Mr. K__y acknowledged that he used DMD (double meridian distance) to determine the acreage but Mr. Wright expounds that DMD was inappropriate because everyone knows that paper is flat but the ground is “ruff”.

We modern surveyors know that DMD is the appropriate method of determining area because all measure-ments for that method are to be taken on the level. DMD is probably the formula used in all our current Survey Pro programs (how would we know). Mr. Wright, who was really Mr. Wrong, convinced his clients (rent-ers) that his slope-distance methods were correct. Even the Landlord came around and asked Mr. Wrong to use his methods in settling the boundary disputes. In their eyes, Mr. Wrong’s slope methods represented reality.

So much for review by Public Opinion. By what standard should a surveyor measure himself? We propose Daniel Boone’s “Make sure that you are right, and then go ahead,” combined with Mr. Ernest L. Ransome’s undaunted courage.

* LAND SURVEYING IN EIGHTEENTH AND EARLY NINETEENTH-CENTRUY DUBLIN, by Finnian O’Cionnaith wherein is quoted the Diary of Joshua Wright, Surveyor of Cork, Ireland, Sept. 25, 1754. Thesis for the degree of Ph.D., Dept. of History, National University of Ireland Maynooth.

that the original surveyor set “½ iron pins”. Some surveyors would declare that those pins could not possibly be rebars; “therefore any found rebars are not original monuments”. Wrong!

Incidentally, the locks of the 1911-1914 Panama Canal were built using Mr. Ransome’s twisted rebar and methods, and those locks are considered by many the greatest and most enduring concrete structures in history, rivaling and surpassing current efforts.

So, you found a rebar. Hold it fast, it is more than just a trinket of the industrial world, it may very well represent a survey effort from the early 1900’s. ◾

So many years surveying! So for us four-wheelers are now a necessity, not an option. After 46 years of surveying we are the standard of practice, at least in our area, but every young gun-slinger who comes to town wants to shoot us down with their new definition of surveying.

Image #theb1644, NOAA’s Historic Coast & Geodetic Survey Collection. 1850 ca.


» J. ROBERT KEATING

M y father loved talking to people about land surveying. Among other things, he would often say, “When I started in this business, I used the same instruments as George Washington.” He would further explain that

over the years everything changed. He would then click down the list: calculators, theodolites, USGS topographic maps, aerial photos, EDM’s, total stations, GPS receivers, computers, etc. He would then switch to the office side of the business and talk about drawing plats by hand and how that is now done on computers.

In discussing the changes he had seen in land surveying, I don’t think he ever included geographic information systems in that list. In fact, I don’t think he ever figured out where GIS fit into a Land Surveyor’s toolbox—or if it really did.

Who are we?I came into management of my father’s company at a time when responsible management practices required business executives to think more broadly about the businesses they were in. As an example, it was said that the managers of the railroad companies

SurveyorsGIS&

The Long and Winding Road

GIS continues to be important to Topographic’s clients. Its impact on internal staff has been the surprise.


The Long and Winding Road

of the early twentieth century thought of themselves as “being in the railroad business.” We were told that these managers should have thought of themselves as being in the transportation business. It was said that if they had done so, they might have transi-tioned to become aviation companies as well.

Encouraged by these management theories, we took a broader view of our company and our work. After a lot of meet-ings and soul searching, we decided that we were a geographic information company. We even developed a mission statement that said so:

“In order to be a leader in the geographic information industry, we must be committed to constantly improving our

services and our expertise. We must provide accurate information in many forms to a diverse customer base at a fair price…”

Looking back, I think it’s reasonable to ask: Was the soul searching and subsequent mission statement a worthwhile exercise?

From the reflection of decades of hindsight, we can easily say that the answer is: Definitely yes. The exercise was worthwhile, because it required us to think about our products. It required us to take a fresh look at the plats we were sending out. It caused us to think about providing data to our clients in new ways. It required us to work at being compatible with the computer systems of our clients.

GISAs was reflected by our mission statement, we thought of ourselves as a geographic information company. As such, when intelligent mapping systems came along, they fit into our view of who we were. We wanted desperately to learn more about these systems, but we just couldn’t justify a pricey workstation and the expensive software that went with it.

From their desktop computers or mobile devices, clients can view maps of their facilities and drill down for more information as needed.

LandScape provides an easy-to-use visualization tool for large datasets. Technical expertise and expensive hardware are not required.

August 2016 / The American Surveyor 19

When GIS for PC’s became available, we jumped in with both feet. We became zealots. We hosted seminars and offered GIS training. We sold GIS systems. We were a dealer for a time for both Autodesk and ESRI. We assisted several clients with their GIS implementations. We were enthusiastic missionaries for this new technology. We had enough vision to see the benefits that our customers could expect from GIS. We worked hard and were dedicated, but that didn’t mean all was well.

As with many others of that era who sold GIS, our track record with installations was mostly a string of disappointments. Most of the time our clients got what they were promised, but all too often the technology was too complicated for their end users. It became a running commentary within our group that the people who were supposed to benefit from GIS didn’t want anything to do with it.

After banging our heads against the wall for a number of years, we dialed back our GIS zealotry. We decided to let the market and our clients show us where to go.

Like fine wine…While we weren’t watching, GIS was matur-ing. The systems were becoming easier to use, and their costs were coming down. Digital maps were becoming an important part of nearly everyone’s life—even coming to our cell phones.

Regarding our internal GIS…We can’t help but look at all the new uses for computer maps through the prism of our GIS experience. Taking something as complicated and huge as maps of the world and making them simple to use for even the most non-technical person is amazing. I have to tip my hat to the developers and

geographic data specialists who made that possible. They have provided a wonderful service to mankind.

We had to think smaller. We had to figure out how this technology made sense for us. Maybe not surprisingly, we think the most significant benefit we’ve gotten from GIS is the use of it internally.

One example is our database of survey control. Keeping track of all the surveys we’ve done over the years has been a never-ending challenge. As our footprint has grown, the problem has gotten significantly worse. For the first few decades of our existence, “found” corners were plotted on USGS quads. That worked and was actually fairly innovative. But over time, the maps became overcrowded with information. At a point we started using AutoCAD drawings to catalog our control, but that has limitations as well.

Now we use an Internet-based, internally-developed program called LandScape. This GIS is the brainchild of our on-staff lead GIS professional. Contract programmers under his direction for the

past several years have created and refined its capabilities.

Once a land surveying project has been completed, its CAD files, GPS data, and related project information are added to LandScape. Once added, it can be instan-taneously accessed by those who need it. Whether it’s a year later, two years later, or ten years later, we’ll know where we’ve previously worked.

LandScape is also used by some of our clients. At times, it has been a good way to interface with them and better manage their projects. We have found that different size clients have different needs. Landscape has proven to be flexible enough to be used by big and small clients alike. We have found that small clients cannot justify the expense of maintaining their own GIS. Landscape can be a viable solution for them.

Landscape is also scalable. Clients with highly advanced GIS systems of their own can communicate and consume GIS data directly. Most of our advanced clients never log into Landscape but still consume its data through their own mapping applications.

“ GIS has become a product in its own right, not just something we convert our real product into.”

LandScape is not an off-the-shelf product. The form, function, and content are completely customizable to meet a client’s specific needs.


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The new GIS paradigm for us…GIS has become a core competency for us. Significantly, somewhere between a quarter and a third of our land surveying work comes to us because we are good at GIS. Since we are knowledgeable and experi-enced with GIS, we can be responsive to our customer’s GIS needs. We have learned to provide our products in digital, GIS friendly formats.

(I don’t really like the word “formats”. I don’t think it describes well enough the robustness of what is needed by our clients.)

For us, GIS is a wide variety of deliv-erables. GIS has become a product in its own right, not just something we convert our real product into. As an example, we have plat/alignment sheet products. These are the deliverables the clients are buying. They aren’t going away, but fewer clients actually receive a piece of paper from us. They want PDF’s.

We have had to remain nimble and flexible. We are constantly redesigning our work processes for the GIS era. The time is coming—and for some clients is already

here—when PDFs are not enough. They don’t want just a picture; they want the geography and the intelligence behind the picture. They want it all, and they want it to be easy.

Conclusion…With my qualification for Social Security well-earned and my Medicare card safely stashed in my billfold, I feel like I might have earned a soapbox. And my opinion is this: It’s time for surveyors to grab the brass ring of professionalism and understand where we fit into the information society. As land surveyors, we need to stake out our territory as the undisputed champions of geographic accuracy. We must ever promote the benefits of accurate, on-the-ground measurements.

We need to see ourselves as the land surveying component of the geomatics discipline—sharing that space with GIS and geodetic professionals. If there are remnants of that time when land surveyors were fighting GIS professional, we need to get over it. If there are lingering doubts about GIS, it’s time to get past them.

Surveyors can’t be GIS professionals. GIS professionals can’t be surveyors. Each discipline is too broad and too deep. Mechanical engineers are seldom chemical engineers. Chemical engineers are seldom mechanical engineers. Do they overlap? Yes. Do they understand the difference? Yes. Are they both professionals? Yes.

Let’s make sure that we appreciate the professionalism that a GIS expert brings to our projects. Working together, we can continue to be relevant in an ever evolving high-tech world. ◾

J. Robert Keating has been CEO of Topographic, Inc. since 1990. Founded by his father in 1958, Topographic has become one of the largest land surveying firms in the nation. Headquartered in Oklahoma City, it offers land surveying and GIS services to energy companies and currently has active projects in 11 states.

Mr. Keating has recently written, along with co-author Ralph O. Heatly, a novel called Bag of Tricks—Power of the Pen. The book is available at amazon.com and other retail outlets. It is a cyber-thriller that includes romance, intrigue, and excursions to the dark web. The plot is based upon an all-too-real Internet security vulnerability. The central character of the book is a journalist who tries to expose a plot to crash the world’s financial markets. For more information about the book, go to jrobertkeating.com.

GIS effectively ties the “work” and the “product” together. Clients track the progress of their projects, from planning to completion.


PATRICK C. GARNER

F or the last month I have had the opportunity to exten-sively test the Leica Zeno 20, described by Leica as GIS device, but as I suspected and

quickly confirmed, capable of performing as a rugged survey grade GNSS asset col-lecting tool. The more I have used the Zeno, the more I am convinced that Leica has

mis-marketed this new device. I’ll explain my analysis further in this review, but first let’s get down to technical specifications.

Leica Zeno 20

reviewproduct

Technical DataAt 4” x 10” the Zeno 20 is the size of a large data collector. It features a crisp, color display (easily visible outside), an Android or Windows operating system, and an OEM version of ArcPad that is customizable. Because of the Windows option, a user can install third party collection software. I opted for the pre-installed Leica version of Esri’s ArcPad running within Android OS, and that option will be my focus in this article.

Depending on the configuration—which is set up by the dealer—the Zeno can function as a sub-meter machine (GPS-only L1 ver-sion) or with an accuracy up to ±1-centimeter (cm) (GPS and GLONASS L1/L2 version). Users also have the option to toggle on

BeiDou and Galileo channels. I purchased the 1-cm L1/L2 version with antenna,

and consequently regularly collect data at between a 1 and 4 cm accuracy. The centimeter version uses RTK, and when the Zeno

is coupled with a Leica antenna (described below), Leica rates overall accuracy at 2 cm + 1 ppm. I regularly collect data at 1 cm, although accuracy and speed of acquisition depends on the number of satellites visible.

Primary features? The device has an IP67 dust and waterproof rating. Essentially, that means it can be dropped accidentally into a pond or river to a depth of three feet or more and retrieved quickly without effect. Or used without interruption in light rain. Although I hope to never test the waterproofing, I work in and around a lot of wetlands and found Leica’s attention to quality a major attraction. The Zeno also has the ability to couple with the Leica DISTO S910, which allows a user to capture distant or inaccessible objects.

As a background orientation, the device displays either Open Street Maps or Leica’s Hexagon Imagery Program. Either or both can be toggled on at file creation. I found both of these mapping overlays to be very

accurate. The display has capacitive multi-touch, meaning that

it works just like a smartphone—

The Zeno attaches precisely to the Leica carbon fiber pole. It has a sun-friendly display, and is protected in a typical Leica hardshell case.


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and with the same finger actions. Objects can be blown up in display quickly; the overall area or even town can be viewed quickly by reducing the scale. Very neat.

In addition to functioning as a handheld unit, the Zeno can be equipped with an optional GNSS antenna, the AS10. The antenna is mounted on a slick Leica-made carbon-fiber pole. I opted for that setup as well, as accuracy increases by 3-4 cm, and the pole allows the user to precisely center the Zeno on whatever object is being collected.

Other features? There is an 8 Megapixel camera (each point collected can be pho-tographed), WiFi, and Bluetooth. Either OS allows the Zeno to access the internet and send/receive email via cell service. Finished files can be emailed to your office. Files can also be uploaded via DropBox, which is the option I regularly use. The internal battery is a hot-swappable Li-ion. A fully charged unit lasts six hours; the Zeno has an external car battery charger, for a quick top up at lunch.

File output options are robust. The Zeno saves files as ArcGIS gdb, shapefiles (shp), dxf, dgn and dwg. At the date of this writing the dxf, dgn and dwg options are pending. A Leica national representative wrote me in June that Leica expected to implement those latter options in late summer of 2016. Consequently, I have not been able to test those standard CAD formats. Instead, I have imported shp files into QGIS and exported the files as a dxf. QGIS is free, and the process quick.

For this review I have relied on the pre-installed software Leica offers. This Android-based software is called Zeno Field. As noted earlier, it is an OEM version of ArcPad, with a number of impressive Leica modifications. Attribute collection—Leica calls attributes Layers—is highly

customizable. Symbology, object color and size, alpha numeric designation, attributes which include photographs, accuracy and object number, are all easily modified, added and edited. Editing can be done

either before a job or on the fly. Encounter an unexpected object in the field? It takes seconds to add it to the standard attribute list. A nice touch is that a user can set a master file before

any jobs are begun that may include every imaginable attribute to be collected. That master file can be attached to any subse-quent project so that attributes do not have to be recreated with each new job.

Single points can be collected, as well as continuous, linked points that might be encountered, for instance, when locating a sinuous road centerline. The implementation of survey-related options is ingenious. As a point is collected, it’s a breeze to delete it, rename it, edit the attributes and double-check its accuracy.

The Zeno can also be set to do multiple readings of the same point. For instance, want to average accuracy over 10 readings of the same point? That’s an option. I have my own Zeno set to do five readings per point. Add an extra half second per extra reading to determine how much longer this increased accuracy will cost you in time.

Here the Zeno displays a couple hours work within the proprietary Zeno Field software. Touch-sensitive collection options and control toggles are nicely arranged on the top.

The internal GNSS antenna is housed in the upper Zeno body. The waterproof socket for an external antenna is shown on the side.


Field UseSince purchasing the Zeno, I have used it on almost a dozen jobs, several quite large. My firm performs typical land surveys, including topographical surveys, as-builts, boundaries and resource area locations. Because we are also wetland scientists and hydrologists, we frequently delineate wetland edges, ponds and rivers. Some of the parcels we survey are large, and in the past, survey location of hundreds of points on heavily wooded sites has been complex, challenging and time consuming. The Zeno simplifies these efforts.

After weeks of trial, I have found the Zeno to be an effective tool for both subdivision as-built work and resource area surveys. The device initializes in well under a minute. Once a file is opened, the

time to first satellite fix is about 40 seconds. Acquisition thereafter is fast, in many cases taking mere seconds. In one of my first jobs with the Leica I located four catch basins and two manholes in less than two minutes at an accuracy of about 2 cm per object. A skilled instrument person using a standard total station and data collector would have been dismayed at the speed. I collected another 15 points in under 10 minutes.

On another job I located over 150 wetland points in less than 10 hours, over two short days. Average accuracy was about 4-6 cm, far better than we normally performed using

a prism and total station. We had estimated survey time at more than four days.

I should note that, like with any GPS/GIS device, the Zeno’s speed is determined by whether there are overhead obstructions, and by the number of visible satellites. Needless to say, acquisition is slower with eight satellites then fourteen. Similarly, acquisition is slower under heavy tree cover. That said, I have been pleasantly surprised at how easily the Zeno functions under dense deciduous tree cover. One of my first jobs entailed location of a small river that meandered through a dense wooded

swamp—the Zeno picked up point after point within seconds. I was using the Leica optional antenna with the L1/L2 option, which aided acquisition. Relying solely on L1 GPS—the least expensive option available—would not have been as effective under similar harsh conditions as the numbers of visible satellites would have been reduced, and triangulation far more difficult. Leica is emphatic that the L1-only option is sub-meter. It is the added GLONASS L2 option that elevates this device to survey grade.

Collection speed using the L1/L2 option, in addition to surprising accuracy, has genuinely impressed us. Because traversing is eliminated using any GPS/GIS survey grade device, acquisition is as rapid as you can walk or drive to a point. Line cutting and multiple traverses are unnecessary. We completed a subdivision as-built—locating roads, sidewalks, catch basins, manholes, utility poles, CATV boxes, water valves and gas meters—with the Zeno in far less time than we had initially estimated. This pattern of overestimation of field time, versus actual time incurred with the Zeno, has played out repeatedly.

Another plus is that post-processing is eliminated using RTK under the L1/L2 ver-sion. My firm is based in Massachusetts where we connect to the MassDOT CORS network, which is free and similar to state networks available throughout the country. The RTK option requires a machine-to-machine cell connection. Cost is roughly $50 a month. We opted for AT&T as a provider, although other major carriers offer the same service. Our dealer included setup in the overall package.

As land surveyors we tend to become attached to tools that perform beyond our expectations. The Zeno 20 has certainly found advocates within my firm. Its initial expense has been quickly recouped. Its speed and accuracy have exceeded Leica’s marketing promises. Take a look at it if your firm frequently performs medium and large scale as-builts, natural resource delinea-tions or asset collection. If used creatively the Zeno is far more than a GIS device. ◾

Patrick C. Garner is a Professional Land Surveyor in Massachusetts who has been in private practice for over 35 years. A Principal of Patrick C. Garner Company Inc., he frequently conducts technical seminars, does peer reviews for cities and towns, and works as an expert witness in Massachusetts’ courts. He also provides 15 active on-line continuing education courses through RedVector, many of which focus on legal issues in land surveying.

The Leica GNSS antenna is compact, having a diameter measuring less than 7-inches. It fits neatly into the hardshell case.

The 8 MG internal camera lens is on the rear of the Zeno to the upper left. The package includes a soft carrying handle with a built-in pouch for the stylus.

“ After weeks of trial, I have found the Zeno to be an effective tool for both subdivision as-built work and resource area surveys.”


» LARRY TROJAK

D espite excelling in an industry in which planning and accuracy are paramount, Sal D’Anna’s profes-sional career recently took a major turn for the better based solely on a ride to work. Because of that fortu-itous trip, D’Anna, president of his own engineering

and architecture firm, discovered a new equipment supplier, trimmed his onsite supply inventory and upgraded an aging total station, field controller and support software. As a result of that last point, not only is the Detroit-area firm more productive and efficient than ever, they are poised to take their newfound technology to the next level when circumstances warrant it. Not a bad ride to work at all.

Turn for the BetterEstablished in 2000 by his father, Frank (who already had decades of engineering experience as co-owner of another firm), D’Anna Associates specializes in a range of architectural and engineering-related services, according to Sal D’Anna, company president.

“On the engineering side, we do a good deal of construction staking, topographic surveys, house staking—that type of work,” he said. “We are not licensed land surveyors but do work hand in hand with several survey firms for times when certification by a PLS is needed. However, for the work we do, we’ve been using survey-type equipment, specifically a Nikon DTM-352 total station, for nearly 15

Total Station Upgrade Sparks Efficiencies

A solid working relationship between D’Anna Associates and Benchmark Precision Instruments’ Ashraf “Ash” Putris (shown here servicing a Topcon total station) has changed the way the engineering firm approaches house and construction staking, topographic surveys, etc.

“ With this technology, we are probably

saving, at minimum, an hour per job.

Since we do better than 100 jobs a year,

we are looking at 100 billable hours we

didn’t have in the past.”


years. I was very much aware of the fact that my equipment and the software that supported it had become outdated over the years but—largely because of our heavy workload—kept putting off replacing it.”

All that changed one morning when, while driving to the office on one of the busiest thoroughfares in nearby Utica, Mich., D’Anna’s eye caught a glimpse of a sign for Benchmark Precision Instruments, Inc., a new business in the area. That he even spotted it amidst the sea of other business signage was in itself, remarkable; that it was so well-suited to his needs was even more so.

“At that time, I’d been thinking about the lack of good work-related customer service I had available to me,” he said. “If I needed work done on my old total station, I was told it would be a week and a half to two weeks before I could get it back—and I had no recourse but to accept that. Same thing with wood stakes or spray paint: I had no choice but to order them from area suppliers in large quantities and store the excess under a stairwell in our building. So, intrigued, I pulled into Benchmark’s lot and it turns out to have been one of the best business moves I’ve ever made.”

Ideal FitD’Anna said he immediately hit it off with Ashraf “Ash” Putris, the president and owner of Benchmark Precision who showed him a full inventory of relevant site supplies, as well as a range of survey and positioning instruments from Sokkia.

“Ash has a background in engineering, so we got along well right from the start,” said D’Anna. “I made a few purchases of some stakes and paint which was decently priced and available in the quantities I needed, and eventually got to talking about a replacement for my total station. I was impressed, not just with his knowledge of the equipment but, more importantly, how willing he was to take time to lead me through the workings of each different unit.”

Not long after those first couple visits, D’Anna purchased a Sokkia DX-205A, 5” motorized total station package, as well as MAGNET Office software from Topcon Positioning Systems, and a Sokkia Archer2 data collector.

“We discussed his business, the type of work he does, what results he was looking for, etc., then Iooked at the best equipment

Company president Sal D’Anna says their Sokkia DX-205AC total station fits well with the company’s philosophy to ”assure operations utilize cutting edge technologies and methods to support clients at every stage of the development process.”


to make that happen,” said Putris. “Based on all that, the Sokkia DX Series seemed the best fit, and from what Sal has told me since the purchase, we really got it right.”

Options When NeededOne of the biggest immediate benefits D’Anna has enjoyed since purchasing the DX-205 is the robotic capability made pos-sible through a purchased upgrade. Though he still frequently takes another man along to the job site, he admits that the luxury of no longer being tethered to the instrument is, well, liberating.

“Coming from a work situation in which a team of two was needed to operate our previous total station, it’s nice to be able to go it alone if I have to,” he says.

“However, I often still take a crew member along with me, but only because I’ve got a system which I’ve found to be really efficient. For any kind of staking, I find my first point, I mark it, and my colleague pounds a stake as I move to the next point. Doing so can shave as much as an hour off of a job and, given that we easily do 100 jobs of this type a year, the savings from just doing that can be substantial.”

D’Anna’s system upgradeability doesn’t stop with the move to a robotic system either. He said he is already considering an additional upgrade that would turn his DX unit into a hybrid total station.

“It’s rare when one of our jobs is in a wide open area,” he said. “Having a GNSS capability for work between trees or between existing buildings would eliminate having to do multiple set ups in the field. If I have two setups, I have two drawings; if I have three, I have three drawings—all of which has to be put together back in the office. So again, saving an hour here, an hour there, it’s easy to see how that upgrade could pay for itself in no time.”

Control and ManagementRounding out the package that brought D’Anna’s survey/staking function into the 21st century is an Archer2 field controller as well as MAGNET Field and MAGNET Office software to help manage the transfer of data.

“As it was with the DX, the difference between the Archer2 and our old controller is literally like night and day,” said D’Anna. “For one thing, it is far more compact but still offers a large 4 ½-inch color screen which has already made my job so much better. Now, for example, once I upload a drawing of a house for stakeout, I can see the lot and the house onscreen and easily identify where I’m at. Also, if I want to take shots along a property line with terrain changes but I only know the start and end of that line, this model has a built-in sub-meter GPS that will get me close enough to take a shot which will then be corrected when it’s input. It’s a very cool controller.”

Similarly, the manner in which data can be now input and output has been something of a revelation to D’Anna. With his 2002-vintage controller, importing drawings, entering data, and exporting work files all seemed slow and cumbersome. With the addition of the Archer2 and Topcon MAGNET packages, D’Anna said data transfers of all types are fast and seamless.

“I’ve quickly discovered how well the Topcon MAGNET software bridges the gap between our office and the field,” he said. “For staking projects, we are able to

Benchmark Precision Instruments’ “Ash” Putris helped D’Anna secure the financing for his equipment, which, he says, made the purchase very manageable.


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create a layout in MAGNET Office then seamlessly access it in the field on my Archer2 collector which, in turn, controls the Sokkia total station. For performing topographic surveys, data can be collected in the field using MAGNET Field software then sent back to the office where MAGNET Office can be used to make design changes and organize the data to best fit the needs of the project. This too has been a nice time-saver for us.”

Smoothing the TransitionWhat could have been a major adjustment period while transitioning to the new equipment was instead made relatively smooth, both because of the help he received from Sokkia and Benchmark as well from as additional resources he was able to draw upon.

“Initially, two representatives from Sokkia came to my office and worked with me on the DX out in our parking lot—so that really helped me gain some familiarity with the instrument,” said D’Anna. “In addition, Sokkia, in conjunction with Topcon’s Total Care program, offers a very comprehensive website with a range of training videos and practice manuals.”

He added, however, that the bulk of the help he’s gotten has been from “Ash” Putris at Benchmark. He feels his newfound equipment supplier goes the extra step to answer his questions and for those he can’t handle himself, he finds an answer.

“In addition, the fact that he was also able to help me finance my purchases through Topcon, rather than pay for them outright, not only fit with my financial needs, it also

made the deal come together more quickly,” said D’Anna. “Because I’ve worked with so many companies over the years, I know that the help he’s provided—and continues to provide—has been ‘over and above’ what is typical. It’s all been a very positive experi-ence and the savings we are seeing from the new equipment reflects that.” ◾

Larry Trojak of Minnesota-based Trojak Communications, is a freelance marketing content specialist. He writes extensively for the geopositioning, utility, aggregate processing, recycling, construction, and demolition markets.

Though he has developed a workflow that effectively uses two-man crews, D’Anna says the robotic capability of their total station — and the luxury ofno longer being tethered to the instrument — is liberating.


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PART 11

VoyageThe

» ERIC STAHLKE, PS

ERIC

STA

HLKE

The engines used independent hydraulic lifts for shallow water


ERIC

STA

HLKE

A s far as dreams go, this one was memorable. It involved perilous adventures at sea and a shipwreck. Waking usually provides safe haven from dreams like this. Not this time. The wind was louder and the rocks were less forgiving.

Across the Yukon big waves were rolling towards the shore. Once every four seconds the Seloohge rose up on the crest and then it plunged downward. The bottom was marked by a loud crack and shudder that was felt in every corner of the boat.

Part of me wanted to cling to that warm secure bed but the situation demanded more than that. I emerged into the hallway and bumped into Albert, Todd and Charlie, all groping their way out. The upper deck was being pitched back and forth like an amusement ride, to reach the exit we had to claw our way though the gauntlet of soggy clothes swaying from the ceiling above the wood stove.

The Seloohge was pinned against a windward shore, on a rocky beach of generous sized cobbles. This was not a good place to be tied up and we knew it, but it was the best moorage we could find. On this portion of the Yukon rocky beach or mudflat is about all there is.

Rocks are best avoided. If you do the math it is something to consider, how the kinetic energy increases as the area of impact decreases. When a twenty ton boat comes down on rock a wooden hull is no match; it’s just a matter of time before the hull is pulverized.

So when camping along a rocky beach we use outriggers, long spruce poles, to push the boat out into the river and off the bank. The heavy end of the pole is augured into the bank cobbles and the skinny end is attached to a cleat on the main deck with rope or webbing. Since the boat rocks in the waves something has to give, so the pole is allowed to slide back and forth with the tension maintained by bungee cords.

Once down on main deck we quickly registered that the force of the wind had disengaged our outriggers from the port side, creating slack in the mooring lines. This was why the Seloohge was grinding up and down the shore. We also noticed that the gang plank was missing, presumably drowned. It had been tied to the deck with a piece of 3/8” nylon rope. On the starboard side was the angry Yukon, a sea of turbulent whitecaps that faded into the mist and gloom of sunrise. The wind was blowing 40 to 50 mph, flattening the willows along the bank.

We fired up the Seloohge’s engines and maneuvered in the waves to pin the bow against the bank, then tightened the mooring lines. Albert and Todd fished out our spruce poles, and Peter, up to his waist in the water, found our gangplank. The poles were laid back in position but the force of the wind


ALBE

RT M

ACIC

A

broadside against the Seloohge made it nearly impossible to push ourselves off the rocks. Under the circumstances it was also obvious that we needed something longer and stouter.

Without delay everyone headed out in search of larger poles. Frank and Charlie spotted a couple of impressive drift logs up the beach and everyone joined together to drag them back to the boat. Anyone who wasn’t soaked by then certainly was after the group effort needed to put the logs in place and anchor them into the cobbles. With a little trial and error we found that the rocking motion of the boat could be used to jack the boat off the shore, using a ratchet to reel in slack webbing during the ebbs of the waves.

Things were just starting to look good when the storm grew in strength and regained the upper hand. Some of the ratchet straps, rated for 1500 lbs., snapped like kite strings. The poles broke free and the wind pushed us back onto the shore. Every four seconds, like the heartbeat of doom, the port side of the Seloohge slammed down against the rocks. The crews went out on a search for additional drift logs. Everyone pitched in, even the pilot, and three more outriggers were put in place along the length of the boat.

Finally, after much effort, the Seloohge was off the rocks, safe and secure. As far as we could tell the hulls had survived the pounding. Take that, storm god! We declared victory and returned to the warmth and shelter of the galley for lunch and hot coffee.

Given a choice, most of us would probably have preferred spending the morning doing something other than wrestling six hundred pound drift logs and standing in the river getting whacked by cold waves. But, from the perspective of our lives at the moment, this was a good day, there had been excitement and something to do, a commodity in very short supply since leaving Holy Cross.

That hopeful departure now seemed like a lifetime ago. The rain had returned and it never stopped. On most days fog and low clouds grounded our helicopter. For every day we worked there were two days we couldn’t. Here and there the crews could get out in the riverboat to access some of the surveying, but that didn’t amount to much. There were times when we thought life was grinding to a standstill. We were pinned down, stuck on the boat, unable to put a dent in the 80 mile long stretch of survey work that was scheduled to be completed by the 5th of August, which was yesterday.

Like it or not, we were weathered in. Surveyors are used to dealing with many challenges but this was a challenge of a different sort. There were some long days. Considering that a month passed by like this the surveyors remained surprisingly upbeat. The positive mood was due in large part to the quality of the crews the Seloohge was blessed with; they never let anything get them down. But there was something else helping to keep spirits up, something unforeseen.

On a typical weather day at camp there is not much to do. We tended to gather in

the galley, to soak up the warmth of the wood stove, listen to music and engage in conversation. That was pleasant by itself, but Bethi liked to keep busy and one afternoon she starting combing through the pantry in search of ingredients. The Seloohge was well stocked, a floating grocery store. She cleared a space, got out mixing bowls and spatulas and a rolling pin and baking sheets and went to work. Soon the galley was filled with the overpowering and irresistible aroma of baking. We watched in awe. Bethi was a blur of enthusiasm, resourcefulness and skill. From that moment onward the crew of the Seloohge indulged in endless delights: cinnamon rolls, cookies, cakes, brownies, pies of all sorts, tarts of one sort or another, even éclairs. Who knew we had Betty Crocker on board?

There was one person on board who was not enjoying the cinnamon rolls and the éclairs, or the bad weather, and that was our cook, Jeff. He’d been a little down since Holy Cross. The summer wasn’t going like he had imagined when he signed up. Jeff was a new hire, he replaced our usual cook who canceled out with illness. Jeff had experience in a lot of restaurants around Fairbanks but had never cooked in a camp situation before. Things started out well, he could whip up a full breakfast faster than anyone and his dinners were always cooked to perfection, no matter how late the helicopter returned at night. Nothing fancy, but good basic truck stop fare and there was a lot of it and we had no complaints.

But, humans that we are, nobody is perfect. Soups, steaks, salads, casseroles, Jeff was the master. Baking, not so much. As a general rule surveyors like desserts. You can imagine, every time Bethi got a compliment, which happened a lot, it must have hurt. Meanwhile there was extra mess and dishes to deal with. Those of us who indulged in the tarts and pies inwardly knew this wasn’t going to end well, but on the other hand nobody dared suggest to Bethi that she dial back on the goodies.

But that wasn’t even the main issue. You see, Jeff was also trying to quit a lifelong tobacco habit. His MO was not packing any cigarettes for the journey. With no cigarettes, it’s not possible to smoke, right? Trust me, this never works.

One morning after the crews were out and things had quieted down I heard Jeff’s boots climbing the metal stairs that led to the upper deck, to the office. He didn’t have to say a thing; the look on his face was enough.

Bethi and Albert, waiting for the helicopter


MAT

T BR

OCKA

MP

He was done. Of course, it’s one thing to give notice and another to find a way off the Seloohge when we were tied up in the middle of nowhere. So Jeff agreed to continue on as cook until we reached Kaltag, where a plane could be found back to civilization.

Anyone who has run a camp in the Alaska bush will tell you that the most important person is the cook. Food is everything. Lose a cook, or hire a poor cook and things go south in a hurry. Decent, dependable and talented cooks are hard to find, especially in mid summer, and we were in no position to recruit. Another dollop of bad fortune to add to our burden. Could things get any worse?

Of course, our state of affairs was partially our own fault. Jeff wanted off the boat but we didn’t make it any easier for him. Perhaps Bethi felt more directly complicit because she was the one that remedied the situation with what turned out to be a terrific idea. I thought she was joking at first. She proposed that we hire her mother, April, who, in

addition to raising a houseful of kids, had years of experience cooking at fish camps on the Yukon. Given Bethi’s baking skills I had no doubt that her mom would be even better, and the Yukon camp experience was invaluable, but, realistically, our Human Resources (HR) department would have a cow. You can’t just hire your mom to cook on a survey crew, not in a big corporation laden with volumes of hiring regulations.

Never underestimate the creative skills of surveyors. Bethi had it figured out. We bypassed the usual paperwork by classify-ing the job opening as an emergency hire, which allowed us to take the first qualified applicant. Since April was currently a TCC employee, working part time in Tanana, we could switch her job classification with a PCN hand-delivered to the payroll depart-ment (we had a co-conspirator to help in Fairbanks). HR bypass surgery.

We all breathed a collective sigh of relief. I felt ten years younger. But this plan could still backfire. I called April on the satellite phone

to check things out a little. She was upbeat, had no qualms whatsoever and agreed to meet us when the Seloohge arrived at Ruby.

Another taste of good fortune followed. At our final camp on the lower Yukon the rain stopped and the clouds retreated. The good weather continued for a second day, and then a third; we couldn’t believe it. The crews put in long hours and soon that marvelous day arrived when it was time to move on, to Ruby, hundreds of miles upriver and far, far away from this fog shrouded shoreline. The bad weather had exacted its toll: six weeks of our time to accomplish three weeks of surveying. We were now seriously behind schedule and unlikely to complete the river portion of the project before freeze up. ◾

Eric Stahlke, PS, was survey manager of Tanana Chiefs Conference Cadastral Survey Program from 1993 to 2014. He is now retired and living in eastern Oregon.

Bethi taking notes


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DAVE LINDELL / PS

F Both circles have the same radius. What are distances X and Y in relation to the radii if the areas of all three lunes are equal? ◾

For the solution to this problem (and much more), please visit our website at: www.amerisurv.com. Good luck!

Dave Lindell, PS, retired after 36 1/2 years with the City of Los Angeles. He keeps surveying part time to stay busy and keep out of trouble.

Three Areas

A

B

C

Both circles have the same radius. What aredistances X and Y in relation to the radii if theareas of all three lunes are equal?

X

Y


Doing Right Professionallyn experience I’ve just had has me shaking my head and wondering why it is rare rather than usual. My phone had

been acting up, disregarding my touch to change settings (frustrating but not killer) and either locking up or ignoring certain letters on the keypad when responding to emails, leaving me to the wiles of the voice recognition software with the usual grim experiences of unintended transcriptions and auto-correct. So after going through all the steps for resetting and restoring my phone, both solo and with the aid of online technicians via Apple’s website chat, I finally took my phone in to see if a “hands on” diagnostician could figure out a cure. After a few minutes he did. His message: Since I was nine days away from my warranty’s expiration, he was giving me a new phone so I would not be stuck just out of warranty if his fix attempts didn’t work. Wow. (And it’s a newer model.)

Contrast this to an experience my hus-band had with his low mileage recent model car a few years ago. It began an unnerving habit of suddenly and inexplicably dying, sometimes in inopportune locations like ramps onto highways. He took it in to the dealer each time (when he could get it started again), and they charged him many dollars to do whatever, but the problem persisted. The fourth time it happened he had the car towed in and was told that he was experienc-ing a known problem with this model car, and—surprise!—it was just out of the special warranty for that particular expensive issue. He sold the car for parts. That Stealth Warranty is still a topic of heated discussion in our household because he later bought another BMW, from the same dealer.

Is this second scenario any way to run a business? It is far too common.

Customers and clients seem only a pesky side matter on the way to bottom line profit. In a brief YouTube outline, Richard Shreve of Dartmouth’s Center for Business and Society integrates the two factions in the Center’s name to identify four basic and universal ethical considerations. (youtube.com/watch?v=R7sPDHrHj8c)

◾ Consequences: This utilitarian approach considers not just direct but further ripple effects. In seeking the greatest good for the greatest number, who are all the stakeholders (both clients and employees)? Who is affected, and how? If outsourcing CAD work overseas to save money and get things done overnight (due to time zone differences), what is the effect not just on the ledger books, but on staff and the overall local economy?

◾ Duty: Whose rights are at risk, and what are our responsibilities to protect them? Every interaction in which we are involved represents a relationship, whether with a group or an individual, a client base or a business partner, a “good” employee or a “difficult” one. Do we treat everyone equally and with the same respect? Do we fulfill contracts and promises?

◾ Values: Who am I as a person? Who are we as an organization? Can we separate the two? (But remember that our reputations will linger long after we may have had a change of heart and changed our values.)

◾ Caring: What is the caring thing to do in respect to the others involved? This requires paying attention to the particular others involved, and not making presumptions about what is best for others or what they want based on our own beliefs and values.

If you want to know what is right for me, talk to me.

Let’s apply these principles: Years ago we had Internet service provided by a company that also sold cable television subscriptions, but we did not subscribe to the bundle, only Internet service. When we called to complain about frequently dropped connections and sluggish data transfer, the customer service person looked at our account and immediately told us we weren’t paying enough for our service because it was not bundled—even before trying (or not) to figure out how to actually help us. We switched as soon as Comcast’s monopoly was broken; our new provider is significantly better.

◾ Consequences: We departed angrily. The company lost our business and enabled my further vocal tarnishing of its already infamously poor reputation.

◾ Duty: The company had a responsibility to provide the service promised in our contract for the stated fee. It didn’t.

◾ Values: The company clearly indicated its profit line was more important than our satisfaction. Stockholders rated higher than customers.

◾ Caring: Printable words fail me here. After various highly publicized incidents of employees insulting customers (even changing names printed on bills to derogatory nouns), Comcast says it is working on better employee training. We won’t be going back to check progress.◾

Wendy Lathrop is licensed as a Professional Land Surveyor in NJ, PA, DE, and MD, and has been involved since 1974 in surveying projects ranging from construction to boundary to environmental land use disputes. She is a Professional Planner in NJ, and a Certified Floodplain Manager through ASFPM.

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WENDY LATHROP / PS / CFM


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7sPDHrHj8c

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Pure, uninterrupted surveying.

Trimble R10 GNSS System.With seamless correction options including Trimble® SurePoint™, xFill®, and CenterPoint RTX—you can survey in previously inaccessible places with full measurement traceability. Safeguard your data and time in the field with the Trimble R10 GNSS Receiver.

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Product Review GIS & Surveyors The Humble Rebar