Eric D. Colburn, PLS

Professional Land Surveyor Links This Week:

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  Surveying: It’s official: Mt. Rainier is still as tall as we thought | KOMO News |

  komonews.com — An expedition used new GPS technology to fine-tune measurements of our area’s largest mountain and confirmed Mt. Rainier is indeed 14,411 feet tall. more…

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  Surveying: High cost in land survey to blame for farmers’ poverty

  thecitizen.co.tz — Tanzania News: By Anthony Kayanda, Kigoma High cost in land survey has been termed as an impediment to farmers’ economic development in the country. Speaking during a meeting with agricultural stakeholders in Kigoma on Thursday, the chairman of Kanyovu Cooperative Union of coffee farmers from Kigoma and Kasulu districts, Mr Yahaya Mahwisa, said most farmers in the country could not afford the cost and are therefore left out from the current means of raising capital. more…

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  Other: GIS, RPLS, geospatial, land surveying, profession | GPS World

  gpsworld.com — This is a question that has been tossed around a lot in the past few years. I hear it both from GIS folks and from land surveyors. Are you a professional? What constitutes a professional? Do you refer to yourself as a professional? If so, why? more…

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  AutoCAD: AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 for Land Surveyors: Curve Calculator

  youtube.com — This video shows how to find and use the Curve Calculator in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010 and is brought to you by http://www.EricColburn.com Professional Land Surveyor Source. more…

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  News: The Government’s New Right to Track Your Every Move With GPS – TIME

  time.com — A controversial ruling could turn America into the sort of totalitarian state imagined by George Orwell more…

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Eagle Point Surveyors' Companion For Civil 3D Overview Professional Land Surveyor Video

Here’s a quick video overview of the features, functions, and command set for Eagle Point Surveyors’ Companion For Civil 3D.

At this point I don’t know too much about Eagle Point Surveyors’ Companion For Civil 3D, so this video is sort of an unpacking and peek into this software package.

Already, I’ve quickly used the List Points and Unused Points reports, which are very handy. This, and everything else I’ve seen, makes me very excited to put Eagle Point Surveyors’ Companion For Civil 3D into action.

Watch the video after the jump Read the rest of this entry →

Professional Land Surveyor News

Professional Land Surveyor News-Leica Geosystems Introduces SpiderWeb v4.0–Value Added Web Services for GNSS Networks

(Heerbrugg, 18. August 2010) Leica Geosystems is pleased to announce Leica SpiderWeb v4.0 as part of the new reference station software update that also includes Leica GNSS Spider v4.0 and Leica SpiderQC v4.0. SpiderWeb v4.0 features an all-new Business Center web portal combined for SpiderWeb and GNSS Spider Network RTK Services and the unique Coordinate Computation Service has been further enhanced.

Leica SpiderWeb is a software solution for the convenient presentation of GNSS network and data over the internet. It provides efficient and secure access to data for post processing. Value added services assist with the convenient distribution and use of GNSS data sets from individual stations or networks to users through standard web browsers.

New Spider Business Center – Innovative GNSS service web portal Read the rest of this entry →

Survey Database Point Groups-AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 Professional Land Surveyor Video

In this installment of my Professional Land Surveyor Video series, AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 for Land Surveyors: Survey Database Point Groups, I will show you how to:

1. Create Survey Database Point Groups.
2. Select Survey Database Points to populate your Survey Database Point Groups.
3. Use Survey Database Point Groups to filter points you insert into and remove from your AutoCAD Civil 3D drawings.

Watch the video after the jump Read the rest of this entry →

Professional Land Surveyor News

Professional Land Surveyor News-Leica Geosystems Updates its GNSS Quality Control and Data Analysis Software

(Heerbrugg, 16 August 2010) Leica Geosystems is pleased to announce Leica SpiderQC v4.0 as part of the new reference station software update that also includes Leica GNSS Spider and Leica SpiderWeb. SpiderQC (previously known as GNSS QC) adds a range of advanced features for multi-frequency, multi-GNSS data analysis, visualization, and numerous other new features, improvements, and optimizations.

SpiderQC provides a suite of tools to help select the best location for reference stations, perform quality control of the reference station data, detect site movements and visualize and monitor the integrity of single base and network RTK corrections in real time.

Galileo and multi-frequency data processing Read the rest of this entry →

Here’s a cool video of the Vienna City Hall (Rathaus) based on LIDAR data, Orthophoto, Terrestial images and Cadastral map. Nice music, too! Read the rest of this entry →

Professional Land Surveyor Links This Week:

Surveying: New surveying business finds perfect niche near courthouse

wpcva.com – The Aaron A. Dooley Land Surveying office in Rustburg has found the perfect home in the old drugstore building across from Campbell County Court House. “I thought it would do well in Rustburg since it’s close to where everybody comes for building permits or looking for plats at the court house. It seemed like a good location for a surveyor,” Dooley explained about his decision to set up in the county seat in February 2010 more…

Surveying: In the Know: Many Naples area roads named for land surveyors » Naples Daily News

naplesnews.com – Q: Who is Thomasson Drive named after? I was told that it was named after Ed Thomasson, a surveyor, from whom I bought the house I used to live in. more…

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The Professional Land Surveyor Podcast (PLSP)

Shownotes – Episode 3
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Professional Land Surveyor News

Professional Land Surveyor News-Hemisphere GPS Announces New Earthworks(R) Dealers

Yesterday, in Scottsdale, AZ,  Hemisphere GPS (TSX: HEM) announced the addition of three new Earthworks dealers to the company’s distribution network. These three channel partners cover the territory including mid-Atlantic and Western States and represent the Hemisphere GPS Earthworks product portfolio, including the X200 excavator machine guidance system.

John Bohlke, General Manager of Earthworks at Hemisphere GPS said:

“We are excited to partner with these successful and very capable dealers and look forward to expanding our business,” and “The new dealers will provide added value to our customers through the installation, support, service and sale of our Earthworks products.”

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AutoCAD Civil 3D With Two Drawings Open

In today’s AutoCAD Civil 3D Surveying Quick Tips and Tricks I will show you Using Layer Source From Other DWGs When Creating Styles. This technique helps you speed up the creation of AutoCAD Civil 3D Styles by using already created layers from your other AutoCAD Civil 3D drawings and templates.

The Problem:

You are creating new styles in an AutoCAD Civil 3D drawing or template and in doing so you want to speed up the process of assigning Layers to the new point style; let’s say for display, for example. If the layer is not already in your AutoCAD Civil 3D drawing or template you have to create that layer (and its settings), which is either cumbersome through the Style Editor, or you need to exit the Style Editor to do it using the Layer Manager.

Either way, it requires a certain amount of manual input and risks inconsistencies between drawings and templates.

Two things we’re trying to accomplish are:

1. Work faster by select an existing Layer from another AutoCAD Civil 3D drawing or template to use in creating Styles.
2. Maintain Layer consistency.

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