Surveyors Notebook

March 11, 2008

  • GPS Makes Everyone a Surveyor

    That's the claim made by John Boney, a retired engineer and city councilman in Butler Alabama, who surveyed a cemetery in Butler  after the city was quoted a price of $30000 by a licensed Land Surveyor.  Boney, who is not a professional surveyor received a letter of reprimand from the Alabama State Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and land Surveyors.  He made the statement that::

    "PVC pipe made everyone a plumber," he said. (…)

January 19, 2008

  • Proposals and Invoices and Your Professional Image

    Nothing looks worse than a hand scrawled proposal written on a piece of notebook paper and mailed to a client in anticipation of winning over a prospective client.  Not much better, but certainly more acceptable is a typed up form outlining the work with the charges and a total amount due. (…)

January 9, 2008

  • The Perception of the Quality of Land Surveying Services

     I was just completing my dental appointment when the conversation turned to technology.  I was amazed that the tools and technology in dentistry are somewhat similar to those used in surveying, although at a much smaller scale. (…)

December 6, 2007

  • Land Surveying as a Profession

    I remember well when I first received my license to practice Land Surveying. It was 1968, and I , at age 28 was the youngest Land Surveyor in St. Joseph County, Indiana. (…)

September 14, 2007

  • GPS Vehicle Tracking for Record Purposes

    When you use a motor vehicle for business, the IRS requires you to keep a written record of personal and business use.  In the past, I have kept daily records showing business use, but not always showing detailed information regarding destination and any intermediate stops. (…)

August 31, 2007

July 14, 2007

June 30, 2007

  • U.S. Border Fence Protrudes Into Mexico

    Boundary disputes aren't limited to disagreements between neighbors living in residential subdivisions.  Apparently, part of the border fence built by the United States in 2000 was built along an existing farm fence and was discovered to be over the border by 1 to 6 feet.  The fence is in New Mexico and the problem is explained as follows:

    James Johnson, whose onion farm is in the disputed area, said he thinks his forefathers may have started the confusion in the 19th century by placing a barbed-wire fence south of the border. (…)

June 2, 2007

  • ALTA / ACSM Long-form Certifications

    I was reading posts on the POB-rpls message board today when I came upon this excellent post by Peter Lazio, a land surveyor from New York.  Peter gave his permission for readers to copy, and I have re-posted it here so that it can be easily found. (…)

  • Employee Non-Compete Contracts

    Many employers use a non-compete contract to restrict or limit employees and former employees from working for a competitor, or from divulging trade secrets or other proprietary data. (…)

May 6, 2007

  • Website Revisions and Additions

    If you haven't been around Land Surveyors Notebook for awhile you may not be aware of some of the new things on the website.  If you have been a regular visitor you have probably already noticed some of the changes which hopefully make this a more valuable tool for your use.. 
    Many additional references have been added to the links page, including some links to patents of some interesting survey related inventions. (…)

November 6, 2006

October 31, 2006

  • Title Work on the ALTA Survey

    I have arrived in Indiana, visited the site and began looking for evidence. I also asked for a copy o the title policy. (…)

October 7, 2006

  • Another ALTA Survey

    I will be going back north to Indiana to undertake an Alta survey on the North half of a 12 unit apartment complex. (…)

September 16, 2006

  • Africanized Bees in Florida

    Africanized honey bees, also known as "killer bees", have been seen in limited areas in Southern Florida for several years. (…)

September 6, 2006

  • Continuing Education Cruise - Revisited

    Previously, I wrote about taking a Western Caribbean cruise aboard the Carnival Glory in order to get my continuing education credits for my 2008 license renewal as a Registered Land Surveyor in Indiana. (…)

September 1, 2006

  • Survey Fees - Hourly Rate or Value

    In a discussion with one of my peers the other day, we came upon the topic of cut rate surveyors. We agreed that some will always do the work for less. (…)

August 28, 2006

  • Last Squares Adjusment - Revisited

    I received an email today stating that they had run across my post on least squares adjustment while looking for a practical example and found none. (Not even at my site). (…)

June 24, 2006

  • Cruise to Continuing Education

    The previous post about continuing education induced me to do some research on the possibility of getting continuing education in any other way besides driving north in the middle of winter to get credits. (…)

June 20, 2006

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