A 251Kb PDF of this article as it appeared in the magazine—complete with images—is available by clicking HERE
In late 1999 the folks from SECO were clearing out some old imported auto-levels that had been a total disaster due to poor compensator design and manufacturing. But all was not lost. One of the cool features on the auto-level was a circular bubble that was viewed by looking straight into the bubble from the side rather than from above (perhaps an original design from a Kern instrument). Project Manager (and self-avowed pack rat) Mike Copeland hated to have to throw away the useful bubble assemblies, so he stripped them out and set them aside. Some time later he picked up one of the assemblies (second from left below), and when holding it in a comfortable upright position, an idea sparked—the assembly could be used on a survey rod! It didn't take long to work up a sketch and meet with SECO's machinists to make a prototype.
Heads Up!
Not only would the newly-designed survey rod be more comfortable for the user, but a new safety feature was gained as well: the rod person would no longer have to look down as traffic whizzed by. This, in turn, would also benefit the instrument operator, who wouldn't have to wait for the rod person to look up in order to send a signal.
The rest is history. The Heads Up Rod Level has now been on the market for eight years--and is available in several different form factors--but there are still many surveyors out there who are not aware of it. Copeland and his longtime colleague at SECO, Rusty Hartland, always enjoy demonstrating the level at trade shows due to the interest and excitement it generates. They also like hearing the stories surveyors tell about things that happened to them while looking down at bubbles.
So fellow pack rats, take heart! The makings of the world's next great gadget may be just a shelf away.
A 251Kb PDF of this article as it appeared in the magazine—complete with images—is available by clicking HERE
Editorial: Maps as a Metaphor
"I know this world is ruled by infinite intelligence. Everything that surrounds us--everything that exists--proves that there are infinite laws behind it. There can be no denying this fact. It is mathematical in its precision." There are many surveyors and mappers and members of the precision community who concur with these words of Thomas Edison. Economy, too, hangs on immutable laws. One of the .... Read the Article
Measuring a Caribbean Disaster
On January 12, 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck the city of Port-au-Prince, the capital and largest city of Haiti. Tens of thousands of buildings collapsed, and more than 200,000 people died in the disaster. Earthquakes are not unexpected in Haiti. The country sits astride several fault lines, among them the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault .... Read the Article
3D-Laser Scanning and Surveying Collide
LandAir Surveying started business in 1988 performing site surveys and topographic surveys for contractors in Georgia and surrounding states with two survey crews and a total staff of less than 10. By 1998 the firm expanded to surveying cell tower sites for the telecommunications industry (more than 3,000 sites in four years) using ... Read the Article
Another Triumph!
He's done it again. Javad Ashjaee has released an impressive state-of-the-art product that enables surveyors to expand their GNSS capabilities. On June 29, 2010 Javad unveiled the Triumph VS at the company's 40,000 square foot newly designed headquarters and JAVAD EMS boardmanufacturing facility in San Jose, California. Over the decades ... Read the Article
Product Review: Hemisphere GPS R220
One of the recent trends in precision GPS manufacturing is the enclosed, fully integrated receiver. This is no doubt in response to market demands by surveyors in the field for gear that offers more durability and less complexity in setting up and getting to work. This trend has certainly offered surveyors many benefits, however, it has also ushered in a few limitations. For instance, many of these ... Read the Article
Comprehensive Collection
Recording the location, dimensions and physical attributes of every piece of equipment constituting rural utilities throughout the United States might seem like a tall order. But information tools used to build a GIS have advanced so much in recent years that the endeavor is not only possible, but plausible. Great Falls, Montana-based GeoNav Group International, Inc. recently acquired the technology to pull .... Read the Article
Feedback
Doing a Proper Job: I have a better reason for the legal profession insisting on a metes and bounds descriptions for dependent resurveys than clerk mentality or ancient check lists. In his article "Rewriting Legal Descriptions" [Vol. 7, Num. 4], Gary Kent's example of "the most egregious example of description rewriting is the preparation of a metes and bound description for a property that is a lot in ... Read the Comments
Vantage Point: "Just" What?
Several months ago my husband and I were working on a rail to trail conversion in our neighborhood, digging out debris and planting trees. At one point I was separating the junk found in the digging process from the recyclable beer cans and glass bottles when someone walked up and started talking to me. With my head still down, in the midst of trying to subdue a long strand of barbed wire into a ... Read the Article
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