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NSPS
Canadian Surveyors David Marquardt and Patrick Cockrane are long time volunteers with Engineering Ministries International/Canada. Both were part of a team of surveyors, engineers, architects and interns, that in February 2015 visited Guatemala to select a suitable site, which David described as “a very tough project with the hilly mountainous terrain”, where they performed surveying activities related to the design and construction of an Orphanage.
Patrick described the experience as one that, “ truly captures all the aspects of team, ministry, and beneficiaries interacting”.
View a short video showing elements of the trip at http://youtu.be/D3h74X5r2a4.
NSPS
Lisa Isom is the owner of Assurance Risk Managers which operates the NSPS Insurance Program. She will again join host Curt Sumner to provide updates on the latest in insurance issues and coverages.
If you are unable to listen to the show when it is being broadcast, listen to the archive of the show at http://www.radiosandysprings.com/showpages/ACSM.php. Archives for each show are typically available for listening within a few days after the show airs.
Joe Dolan, NSPS Foundation Chair
Since leaving the NSPS meeting in Sandusky, the profession has suffered the loss of another significant and influential leader. Malcom Shaw of New York passed away suddenly; and certainly unexpectedly to all of us who were with him and interacting as usual. Throughout most of the comments I have seen ran a consistent thread; Malcom Shaw above all was a “Gentleman”.
I first met Malcom in the mid-eighties. I found him always to be an articulate spokesman and leader. Malcolm dedicated a good deal of his personal time and energy to the betterment of our profession. Surveying across the country is a stronger profession in part due to his dedication and efforts! I enjoyed debating with him over the years on just about every major issue the profession was engaged in. Malcom had a clear vision on how to better the profession; whether you agreed with his methodology of attaining the end result or not, you would always admire his thorough analysis of each issue. Malcolm knew that without debate, there could be no consensus of value. No matter the topic or the outcome, he was never disagreeable with any of us in reaching that consensus! He was truly a gentleman!
Malcolm was one of the most influential NSPS leaders in attaining the NSPS 100% membership program with the state affiliates. NSPS had been trying to reach that goal since its inception. Before the final plan was agreed too, Malcom and I had very different ideas about some financial details and we both made our case. Malcom’s proposal won the day! After the program was implemented and accepted across the country Malcom and I were discussing the differences we had and Malcom told me “you were right, but if we did what you wanted the program would have failed”. I realized he was correct! That was the way Malcom worked, attain the goal and we will work out the problems as they arise.
Malcolm, I will miss your friendship and the profession will miss your vision!
We ask you also remember John Abenroth, past NSPS Treasurer and Marlow McGowan, past NSPS Area 5 Director in your thoughts and prayers. They are both fighting to overcome health challenges.
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NSPS
On October 30, the White House issued a "Cybersecurity Strategy and Implementation Plan" that directs all agencies to take specific actions to identify and address cybersecurity gaps and priorities, including the "efficient and effective acquisition and deployment of existing and emerging technology." The Plan builds upon proposed Government Accountability Office (GAO) guidance issued in August and calls for several actions, including (i) enhancing personal identity verification credentials for all federal employees and contractors; (ii) exploring contract vehicles for rapid incident response services; (iii) developing recommendations for how agencies can collectively implement commercially available products and services; (iv) improving government-wide incident reporting, response, and recovery practices; and (v) identifying gaps in cyber-talent across agencies and their contractors.
NSPS
NSPS lobbyist John "JB" Byrd recently met with Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. The Texas 13th Congressional District congressman discussed his support for the Bipartisan Budget Agreement that passed Congress, and President Obama signed into law earlier this week. Thornberry stressed the stability and certainty for budget planning within the Defense Department over the next two years as chief rationale in explaining his support for the agreement.
NSPS
NSPS lobbyist John "JB" Byrd provided a presentation to the SmarterSafer coalition on the importance of elevation data collection, and specifically the role professional surveyors undertake as part of FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), while also stressing the importance of the USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) for elevation data utilized in NFIP. As a national coalition representing insurance, environmental and taxpayer-rights interests, SmarterSafer is made up of diverse organizations united in support of environmentally-responsible, fiscally-sound approaches to natural catastrophe policy that promotes public safety. Like NSPS, SmarterSafer supported the creation of the Technical Mapping Advisory Council (TMAC), and has adopted the following policy position on surveying and mapping efforts underway as part of the NFIP: "Flood maps need to be modern, accurate, and based on the best available science, and the NFIP must have accurate maps that reflect true risks."
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NSPS
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) maintains the navigation for thousands of miles of waterways and hundreds of ports and harbors, conducts maintenance dredging primarily under contract with private industry to remove sediment from waterways. Maintenance dredging is often cyclical in nature, with dredging needed annually or every few years. A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that cost data in the USACE dredging database are unreliable and, therefore, the total costs of maintenance dredging contracts during fiscal years 2004 through 2013 are unclear. Without systematic quality controls at the district-office level to regularly verify the completeness and accuracy of their maintenance dredging contract data, the USACE risks undertaking analyses on incomplete information, and drawing conclusions about cost trends based on unreliable information. Factors that USACE officials commonly cited as likely contributing to changes in contract costs over the 10-year period included the costs for transporting dredged material to a placement site, with farther placement sites generally being more costly because of additional time, fuel, and equipment needed to transport the material. USACE districts reported undertaking various approaches to manage maintenance dredging contract costs, largely on a project-by-project basis because of the unique nature of each project. GAO recommended that USACE require that its district offices establish systematic quality controls to regularly verify the completeness and accuracy of maintenance dredging contract data.
National Geodetic Survey
NGS is pleased to announce a number of improvements to the GEOCON and GEOCON11 transformation tools.
The first improvement is the release of both GEOCON v1.1 and GEOCON11 v1.1. Both versions supersede their original product releases. The changes from v1.0 in both cases are as follows:
- Users may now input and/or output free-formatted files, as well as Federal Geodetic Control Subcommittee (FGCS) FGCS Bluebook-formatted files.
- The number of manuals has been reduced from three to two.
- The number of output files has been consolidated from four down to three. (Quality estimates are now returned in the same file as the transformed coordinates.)
- There have been minor bug fixes in the new versions.
The second improvement is that GEOCON v2.0 has been released for beta testing to the public. GEOCON v2.0 represents a major overhaul, and it will eventually replace both GEOCON v1.1 and GEOCON11 v1.1. The extensive changes undertaken in GEOCON v2.0 include:
- Rigid adherence to, and transformational support for, the actual “High Accuracy Reference Network” (HARN) and/or Federal Base Network (FBN) years defined for each state or territory. (This change represents a major shift from all earlier GEOCON releases. Specifically, in all earlier GEOCON releases, the transformation was built from the NSRS007 back to “the coordinates representing the most recent, post-1986, pre-2007 realization of the North American Datum of 1983 (NAD 83) on a point in the state, without regard to whether that coordinate set came from that state’s HARN, that state’s FBN, a mix of both, or neither.” Now, GEOCON v2.0 rigidly adheres to the actual HARN years and, in 19 states or territories where the HARN is different than the FBN, the FBN years as well).
- Support for all realizations of post-1986 realizations of NAD 83 in the six largest populated areas of the United States (CONUS, Alaska, Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam/CNMI and PR/VI). This means (for example), that in Hawaii, where there was no NSRS2007 realization, a transformation exists between NAD 83(1993:HI) and NAD 83(PA11) epoch 2010.00.
- A transformation in Puerto Rico exists between the original HARN, an error-corrected HARN, and the FBN; thus NAD 83(1993:PR), NAD 83(1997:PR) and NAD 83(2002:PR).
- An entirely new Technical Report and User’s Guide have been issued to support this new product release.
- A series of support maps and figures have been provided.
For information about GEOCON v1.1 and GEOCON 11 v1.1, including the Operator/User guides, download instructions, and online computations, visit the NGS website at: http://geodesy.noaa.gov/GEOCON/ and http://geodesy.noaa.gov/GEOCON11/.
For information on GEOCON v2.0 visit the NGS beta website at: http://beta.ngs.noaa.gov/geocon2/.
For more information, contact: ngs.geocon.development@noaa.gov.
FIG
The 2nd FIG Young Surveyors North American Meeting is being held in conjunction with, and generously hosted by, the Minnesota Society of Professional Surveyors (MSPS), on Wednesday, February 10, 2016 at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Minneapolis, MN.
As an added benefit, young surveyors attending the meeting can attend the MSPS Annual Conference (February 11-12) at no charge (non-MSPS members only).
The program is being finalized with these key speakers already confirmed:
- Prof. Mike Barry- Chair, Land Tenure and Cadastral Systems, Department of Geomatics Engineering, University of Calgary
- Terry Bennett- Senior Industry Strategist for Civil Infrastructure, Autodesk
- Don Buhler- Chief Cadastral Surveyor, US Dept. of Interior, Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
- Bryn Fosburgh- Executive Vice President, Trimble Navigation
- Ken Mooyman- President, Leica Geosystems (NAFTA)
- Melissa Robert- Engineer Surveyor, Uruguay Ministry of Transportation and Public Work and FIG Young Surveyors South American Network
- Curt Sumner- Executive Director, National Society of Professional Surveyors
- Jon Warren- President, National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS)
- Dave Zenk- State Geodetic Advisor, NOAA- National Geodetic Survey
IMPORTANT NOTE: REGISTRATION IS LIMITED TO THE FIRST 100 APPLICATIONS RECEIVED! If you want to participate in the meeting, you must register by December 31, 2015 (subject to capacity limit of 100 attendees).
Registration form and more details at: https://goo.gl/IbvayI.
Funding support for attendees provided by The FIG Foundation and Platinum Sponsors Trimble Navigation and Leica Geosystems.
Endorsed by the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS), Canadian Institute of Geomatics (CIG) and Professional Surveyors Canada (PSC)
Media support: The American Surveyor
Employment opportunities
NSPS
Employment opportunities are posted on the NSPS website.
Employers interested in posting job opportunities on the NSPS website should contact John D. Hohol at jhohol@gmail.com.
Upcoming seminars/conferences
NSPS
Due to the volume of requests we received to publish information about State Society conferences, use this link to access the information from the NSPS website.
Space Daily
The Open Geospatial Consortium and the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing have agreed to work together more closely in the application and promotion of standards and best practices for the location and geospatial industries. "The advancement of standards and best practices in areas such as point clouds benefits from the partnership of key organizations," said Mark Reichardt, OGC's president and CEO.
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Inside GNSS
Members of the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing Advisory Board covered some old ground but gained some new insights during its meeting at the University Consortium for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. Among topics discussed on the opening day were the Adjacent Band Compatibility Assessment being led by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of the Secretary for Research and Technology, an "economic impact" study of GPS, and plea to maintain current specifications for the GPS signal "side lobes" to support a substantial space service volume.
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Directions Magazine
The majority of businesses and mapping software programs use distance to define and deliver geographical information. So why is this a bad thing? Because distance-based analysis doesn't reflect the way real people think. Locations are only relevant to a business or consumer when put into context. Distance analysis or location-based search filtering doesn't understand that people use different modes of transportation.
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GPS World
The U.S. Air Force successfully launched its 11th and next-to-last Boeing-built Global Positioning System GPS IIF series satellite aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 launch vehicle from Space Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on Oct. 31 at 12:13 p.m. EDT (9:13 a.m. PDT). GPS IIF satellites provide improved signals to support both the warfighter and the growing civilian needs of a global economy.
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Note: NSPS members may receive calls from MultiView sales associates regarding advertising opportunities in News & Views. MultiView, a partner of NSPS, produces the News & Views newsbrief each week.
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