RTN expert Gavin Schrock provides everything you need to know about network-corrected real-time GNSS observations.
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The 2007 Surveyors Rendezvous at George Washington's birthplace in Northern Neck, Virginia was a fabulous first stop that kicked off a three-week, 6,500-mile road trip of meetings and interviews (and seeds of future articles!) Adding to the spirit of the Rendezvous was my rustic cabin in the woods and loads of behind-the-scenes facts about the Father of our Nation, and a field trip to the new Washington exhibit at Mt. Vernon. Check out our photos by clicking on the flickr link at www.amerisurv.com.
Under pleasant blue skies I left the meeting and headed south for a visit with longtime acquaintances Lew Lapine and Matt Wellslager at the South Carolina Geodetic Survey. I have been hearing great things about the South Carolina RTN and the success they are having with GNSS verticals.
From there it was on to Florida, where I visited Traverse PC user Donald Todd in West Palm Beach. Don's been working on a large GLO problem along the shore of Lake Okechobee for the past five years. According to Don, it all goes back to a 10-chain bust along the meander line.
Next I met with Marilyn Evers, executive secretary of the Florida Society of Mapping and Surveying (FSMS) in Tallahassee. Marilyn had read my editorial about the demise of math in surveying students and called to inform me that Florida is on top of the game. It will also make a great story about one state's successful efforts to attract young people into the profession.
Next stop was Fort Worth, Texas for CGSIC. For anyone who wants to know where GNSS is headed, it's all at this meeting. Here's a teaser: Think we could benefit from having ±124 GNSS satellites in the sky? Much of the meeting buzz surrounded the pending demise of NDGPS. While High Accuracy NDGPS provides the accuracy the precise crowd needs, NDGPS does not, but HA-NDGPS depends on NDGPS, so it's a Catch-22.
A Special Announcement
Aside from all the good meetings and interviews, the trip came with a small and precious bonus Cheves Media has a new branch on the family tree! Our son (and publisher) Allen and his wife Jennifer were blessed to give birth to a beautiful daughter, Jessica Nicole. She is a precious reminder that nothing compares to the miracle of new life. Thank you for allowing me to brag just a bit.
As always, we sincerely appreciate the many comments and e-mails we receive from readers who continually tell us how much you enjoy our magazine and how you read it cover to cover. My long road trip left this first-time Grandpa pleasantly weary, knowing that we have many more good articles in store!
A 230Kb PDF of this article as it appeared in the magazine—complete with images—is available by clicking HERE
Editorial: CGSIC in Savannah
The 48th meeting of the Civil GPS Service Interface Committee (CGSIC) was held September 15-16, 2008 in Savannah, Georgia. Of particular note was the announcement that NDGPS will continue. Funding is still a challenge, but the powers that be have decided that NDGPS, like GPS, is .... Read the Article
Point to Point: Relatively Speaking
Sooner or later it happens: one of your friends or relatives asks you to survey their property, or otherwise act professionally on their behalf. Is that all right or do we have a higher obligation to the public concerning impartiality? Although I have not conducted an exhaustive examination of the .... Read the Article
More Than a Simulation
When work such as land surveying requires precision and gets impacted by changing technology, it makes sense to be introduced to high-tech equipment on an actual project rather than on a simulation exercise or in a classroom setting. That runs counter to ... Read the Article
Optech Incorporated: The Lidar Company
In the early 70s, Dr. Allan Carswell, a physics professor at York University in Toronto, developed a pulsed laser system used in the world's first lidar bathymetric mapping system. Based on his research, Carswell founded Optech Incorporated in ... Read the Article
The Wow Factor: SmartWorx from Leica Geosystems
Every version of Leica Geosystems software contains user requested features. The latest product request that made the final cut was a "Field to Office" application. This full-featured FTP and transfer software is now built into the operating system of all System 1200 sensors, making it possible for .... Read the Article
Visualizing N G S Control Stations in Google Earth
Google Earth is rapidly becoming the land surveyor's tool-of-choice for preliminary job site reconnaissance and survey planning (see "Topography is Dead," by Joel Leininger, March 2007). Survey projects often begin with the investigation and .... Read the Article
Surv-Fi, Part 2: Boomer's Hearing
Stand back from the cradle Hector!" Vel warned her colleague. "You could receive a rather nasty static shock as it spins up!" Hector Fontecilla stood shivering in the still Chilean Patagonia morning awaiting instructions from Vel Kawashima. Ten thousand ... Read the Article
Tips & Tricks: Hidden Point Offset
Let's say it's 5:30 Friday afternoon and you're past ready to call it a week. You've just calculated the angle and distance to look for one of the last monuments you need to tie in. You turn the instrument to the angle and shoot a distance that measures just behind a tall tree. After a few minutes' search ... Read the Article
FeedBack
Wendy, quite possibly the best article ever written in a surveyor's journal ["If Not Now, When? Sept. 2008]. It matters not how technically proficient we are, how much money we make or how well "esteemed" we seem to be in our profession when we face serious illness or death. What do our friends and ... Read the Article
Vantage Point: Diversions in the Park
There is not a lot of unused land in our urban and increasingly suburban areas. It disappears under shopping centers and houses and roadways at a rate unimaginable a century ago. So it may not be unusual to start eyeing land that was set aside for parks and open space at ... Read the Article
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