Monday, May 11. 2009

Texas Bill to Require Disclaimer on Geospatial Data

A bill before the Texas legislature will require a disclaimer to accompany geospatial data products created or hosted by a government body if the data "was not produced using information from an on-the-ground survey conducted by or under the supervision of a registered professional land surveyor." The disclaimer must be posted for data on a paper map or Internet-hosted and will be in the following form:

This product is for informational purposes and may not have been prepared for or be suitable for legal, engineering, or surveying purposes. It does not represent an on-the-ground survey and represents only the approximate relative location of property boundaries.

Analysis of the bill explains the details in less legal terminology. The bill has passed the Texas Senate and is due to be voted on by the House soon with the law to take affect on September 1^st. According to GITA, bills exist before other state legislatures that have "expanded the definition of land survey to include photogrammetry GIS and remote sensing."

Posted by Joe Francica in Surveying, Data at 06:03 | Comments (8) | Trackbacks (0) |

Saturday, March 14. 2009

MAPPS Reaches out to MO State Senator Regarding New Bill Making GIS for Surveyors Only

The Missouri State Senator (this is a state issue, not a federal one) is Brad Lager; he wrote SB 384 (pdf), "AN ACT
To repeal section 327.272, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections relating to geographical information systems."

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Surveying at 11:51 | Comments (10) | Trackbacks (0) |

Thursday, January 15. 2009

URISA Offers Strongly Worded Feedback on ASPRS Draft Procurement Guidelines

URISA posted its comments to ASPRS' draft Guidelines for Procurement of Professional Aerial Imagery, Photogrammetry, Lidar, and Related Remote Sensor-based Geospatial Mapping Services on its website. Comments are due today, Jan 15.

URISA makes five points in its comments, highlighting areas of disagreement with the draft.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Surveying, Geospatial Business at 06:00 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0) |

Thursday, December 11. 2008

More on Land Surveyors United

Got a bit more insight from network founder Justin Farrow on the surveying networking site Land Surveyors United:

What is Land Survey United? How would a surveyor use the site?

From the site:

Land Surveyors United is the first social network in the world exclusively geared for land surveying professionals and the GPS, mapping and geomatics community. This group creates a virtual space for surveyors to post their technology related questions, experiences, tips, tricks and advise for the field. Members are surveyors, of course, most of which spend the majority of their day in the woods or along the side of the road measuring and creating the landscapes of our cities and towns. As an online community comprised entirely of like minded individuals, LSU provides a place to find equipment, collaborate and troubleshoot problems in the field and find reference materials related to surveying. All content is subscription friendly and can be read via RSS feed reader. Small surveying firms can promote their business and jobs can be sought and found. This is truly the first community of its kind, ever!

...
There are many ways in which a professional land surveyors could benefit from being a member of Land Surveyors United. One of the most immediate ways is by providing a free space to host a company website, for those who do not have one. And for those who do, it is a terrific place to link back to your site in order to drive traffic there. Not only that, but by merely being a member of a social network exclusively for professional land surveyors, you have already said to the world "Hey, Look at my company and see how reputable we are! Hire us!" LSU is a place for your voice to be heard and unlike other surveying forums, your voice has a face and a name, with attached media such as video and photos that showcase exactly what you do best-and where you do it. We have members from all over the world, working in all geographical regions. Those projects by others provide insight into many things about the industry that you may not already know...as well with yours.

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Surveying at 08:54 | Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0) |

Tuesday, December 9. 2008

A Social Network for Surveyors

Update: Justin shared further information in an interview 12/10/08.

---------- original post 12/9/08 --------

Justin Farrow who created a social network for surveyors, Land Surveyors United, shared some details about it. It's not new - it originally launched in March of last year. It reached 100 members as of November. [Update from Justin: "We now have a little over 160 now [12/10]"]

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Surveying at 06:03 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) |

Thursday, July 31. 2008

Is a combined survey/GIS department in your county's future?

It may be in Hall County, Nebraska.

Hall County Surveyor Casey Sherlock proposed to combine his existing Surveyor Department with the existing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Department (which is currently under the county's information technology director) at a total cost of $200,648. The "deal?" Separately the two departments had a budge of $204,000 for the past fiscal year. The proposal also included a $20 raise for Sherlock.

- Grand Isle Indepedent

Posted by Adena Schutzberg in Surveying at 06:37 | Comment (1) | Trackbacks (0) |