Eric D. Colburn, PLS

Professional Land Surveyor News

Professional Land Surveyor News Trimble Introduces New Desktop and GPS Handheld Solution for Utility and  Smart Grid Asset Maintenance and Inspection

SAN DIEGO, July 12, 2010 — Trimble (NASDAQ:TRMB) introduced today a new version of its Trimble® Field Inspector solution for utility infrastructure and smart grid asset maintenance and inspection. The solution is comprised of the Trimble Field Inspector software for handheld computers and Trimble Field Inspector Desktop software. Scalable and easy to deploy, the solution leverages Trimble Global Positioning System (GPS) and handheld computing technology to automate a wide variety of field applications for electric, gas, water, and wastewater utilities—from smart meter deployments to routine asset maintenance inspections.

The announcement was made today at the ESRI International User Conference.

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Professional Land Surveyor News

Professional Land Surveyor News: Pöyry Awarded EUR 2.1 million Surveying Project for Pumped Storage Hydropower Plant in Switzerland

Pöyry, a global consulting and engineering company dedicated to balanced sustainability, has been awarded the owner’s surveying contract for the new Linth-Limmern pumped storage hydropower plant by Axpo, Switzerland. With services comprising all geodetic surveying tasks during the construction period lasting until 2015, the value of Pöyry’s assignment is about EUR 2.1 million.

About Pöyry PLC

Pöyry, in addition to being a global consulting and engineering company dedicated to balanced sustainability, as mentioned above, also offers their clients:

• Integrated management consulting.
• Total solutions for complex projects and efficient.
• Best-in-class design and supervision.

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Professional Land Surveyor News

March 9, 2010

Applanix Introduces Shoreline Mapping Solution

LONDON, – OCEANOLOGY INTERNATIONAL 2010 – Applanix introduced today the latest LANDMark™ Marine mobile mapping solution. LANDMark Marine enables the creation of seamless models of near shore environments by providing a highly accurate georeferenced point cloud which integrates with equivalent multibeam sonar data.

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Professional Land Surveyor News

Trimble Acquires LET Systems to Expand its Utilities
Solutions for Smart Grid Outage and Incident Management

SUNNYVALE, Calif., March 5, 2010 — Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB) announced today it has acquired privately-held LET Systems based in Cork, Ireland. LET Systems is an internationally recognized leader in incident and outage management system (OMS) solutions for utilities. The acquisition is part of Trimble’s strategic utilities and smart grid initiative to bring productivity solutions to the global utilities industry. Financial terms were not disclosed.

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Professional Land Surveyor News

Sokkia Releases the Series 50RX Reflectorless Total Stations Featuring Enhanced Environmental Durability, Increased Speed and Expanded Functionality

OLATHE, Kan. – Sokkia Corporation releases the new Series 50RX reflectorless total stations with a breakthrough environmental durability, increased measurement speed and an array of new features.

Expanded Operating Temperature Range
The high-temperature models are newly added for use in the heat of up to +60°C (+140°F) without compromising the lowest operating temperature of -20°C (-4°F).

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Professional Land Surveyor News

18 February 2010

Leveraging Its Leadership in Information Modeling, Bentley Advances GIS for 3D Cities by Releasing V8i (SELECTseries 1) Versions of Bentley Map, Bentley Descartes, Bentley Geospatial Server, and Bentley Geo Web Publisher

EXTON, Pa. – Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading company dedicated to providing comprehensive software solutions for the infrastructure that sustains our world, today announced breakthroughs in 3D geospatial information systems (GIS) software to support the design and operation of intelligent cities. Intelligent cities, and the intelligent infrastructure they incorporate, take full advantage of information modeling best practices. As a result, they are able to provide better performance with respect to safety, energy, lifecycle costing, and operational efficiency. Bentley’s intra-operable portfolio of software features lifecycle support across all classes of intelligent infrastructure, including land management, power generation and energy delivery, water and wastewater networks, roads, bridges, rail, communications networks, and buildings. The just-released V8i(SELECTseries 1) versions of Bentley Map, Bentley Descartes, Bentley Geospatial Server, and Bentley Geo Web Publisher further extend this portfolio to include new 3D City GIS capabilities.

Commenting on Bentley’s new software, Richard Zambuni, Bentley global marketing director, said, “All around the world, city governments are looking for ways to improve the sustainability of their intelligent city infrastructure to deliver a better quality of life to their citizens. Bentley’s newly released 3D City GIS products enable them to adopt information modeling best practices that enhance their ability to perform urban planning, noise simulation, shadow analysis, natural disaster mitigation, public relationship management, and 3D analysis and design.

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT

President Proposes $1.1 Billion for BLM in Fiscal Year 2011 to Protect Resources and Manage Uses of Public Lands

With a focus on renewable energy development, climate change adaptation, and other key priorities, President Obama today requested $1.1 billion in appropriations for the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management in Fiscal Year 2011. This represents an $8.0 million increase from the BLM’s FY 2010 enacted funding level.  The President’s request reflects his continuing commitment to be prudent with taxpayer dollars while setting priorities for spending.

“Today’s budget proposal will advance the BLM’s mission of protecting the land’s resources while facilitating environmentally sound use of America’s public lands,” said BLM Director Bob Abbey. “Under this proposal, we can and will meet the challenges facing our agency in today’s fast-growing West.” Under the President’s proposed budget, the BLM will focus on the following priorities:

New Energy Frontier

The New Energy Frontier initiative recognizes the value of environmentally sound, scientifically grounded development of both renewable and conventional energy resources on the Nation’s public lands. To encourage and facilitate renewable energy development, the President’s FY 2011 BLM budget proposes a $3.0 million increase that builds on the $16.1 million increase for renewable energy provided in FY 2010. The funds would be used to complete environmental studies for solar energy projects in Nevada and potential wind energy zones in Oregon and Nevada. In the conventional energy program, the BLM will focus on implementing oil and gas leasing reforms put forward by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar while placing continued emphasis on oil and gas inspections, environmental enforcement, and production monitoring activities.  The budget includes a $2.0 million increase in BLM’s Soil, Water, and Air Management program for air quality monitoring that will be targeted to areas with current or anticipated intensive oil and gas development to help BLM ensure that the energy development complies with environmental requirements and minimizes or addresses potential litigation issues.
The Budget maintains BLM’s oil and gas management program capacity at current levels, with a $3.0 million decrease to reflect the completion of specific Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) studies. In addition, the Budget proposes new fees – estimated to generated $10 million annually – to help offset the cost of BLM’s oil and gas inspection and enforcement activities.

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Professional Land Surveyor News

Professional Land Surveyor News: Sokkia Introduces the GRX1, Highly Versatile GNSS System

Incorporates fully scalable GNSS receiver, new data collector and software.
Olathe, Kansas – Sokkia Corporation announces the new GRX1 GNSS system that includes the new SHC250 data collector, as well as a new controller and post-processing software.
Denny Welch, senior vice president and general manager, Survey Business Unit, said, “These new products further strengthen the entire Sokkia product lineup.”

He said the new GRX1 GNSS receiver has an integrated antenna, digital UHF radio, GSM module, Bluetooth® module and detachable battery in a “compact, rugged, magnesium-alloy body.” Its fully upgradeable features “allow users to start with an entry model for L1 GPS that can be upgraded to L1 GPS+GLONASS, to L1/L2 GPS, up to 72-channel L1/L2 GPS+GLONASS receiver.”

The new SHC250 data collector incorporates the latest Windows Mobile® 6.5 OS, built-in Bluetooth modem and the new Spectrum Survey Field software “that fully controls the GRX1 receiver with unsurpassed ease and speed,” Welch said.

“This new GNSS system provides unmatched versatility and usability in RTK, network RTK and static applications that require millimeter or centimeter positioning accuracy,” he said.

The GRX1 GNSS receiver features:
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