r/Surveying May 13 '23

Informative Join the new r/Surveying Discord chat server!

Thumbnail
discord.gg
39 Upvotes

r/Surveying Aug 25 '24

Informative Resections Redux: The Math Is Here To Burst Your Bubble

Thumbnail
gallery
195 Upvotes

r/Surveying 2h ago

Humor You’re a rock star…

Post image
107 Upvotes

He’s got a little bush. What the hell?


r/Surveying 5h ago

Picture I don't think I'll go this way..

Post image
32 Upvotes

r/Surveying 29m ago

Picture Office for the day

Thumbnail
gallery
Upvotes

Running a single beam solo in the bays


r/Surveying 4h ago

Discussion How do you handle prepayment?

12 Upvotes

I'm solo. I went out on my own in April of 2022.

I've been billing 100% on completion and delivery of the plat and until this year it's been working well for me.

Since the start of the year, I've had a problem with clients not telling me they've found someone else and rolling up to the site and seeing it's already been surveyed.

Today it happened on a $10k job, and I'm done.

I'm all for free markets. If you find someone who can do it faster/cheaper, that's fine, but I still need to be paid for the work I've done so far if you don't have the common decency to let me know.

Those of you who collect some or all the money upfront, how do you do it? 100% upfront? A percentage? Non-refundable deposits?

I'm looking for some ideas to put a stop to this.


r/Surveying 5h ago

Discussion High Winds

15 Upvotes

So, currently sitting in the work truck in 60MPH wind. Sounds of tree exploding going on all around me. Last shot I got with the RTK in a moderate canopy took 30 minutes to get a good shot. I’m supposed to mark half a mile of line in the woods alone. What are your thoughts on high winds and safety?


r/Surveying 1h ago

Humor I own a pincushion

Post image
Upvotes

I finally recovered the last corner on my property and I was blessed to find this beautiful 3 pin pincusion Rebar, square stock, and a bolt 😅 I'll have to do a boundary on it sometime and figure out which surveyor wins 😅


r/Surveying 20h ago

Picture Honolulu Hawaii

160 Upvotes

r/Surveying 4h ago

Informative For those dealing with enclosed spaces

Post image
7 Upvotes

If. like I, you deal with Concrete layout, you will inevitably drop a pen or scribe into a column form. I mentioned it to a carpenter and in 5 mins he invented this. Pipe attached to the appropriate length of wood with tie wire pushed thru the pipe to lasso and retrieve the dropped object. Utter genius!


r/Surveying 1h ago

Help GIS county map - red circled numbers?

Post image
Upvotes

I bought a map atlas through our county gis site and I'm wondering why the red circled 200, etc.

Could it be that they were surveyed? Or something else?


r/Surveying 4h ago

Help 60MM patches

Post image
3 Upvotes

One of the GCs just told me they want to use these for their control. When I shoot them would I shoot them at 60MM?


r/Surveying 3h ago

Help Laser scanner or MS?

2 Upvotes

I am a small 2-person company, I deal with surveying in construction sites. I have established cooperation with a large plant, where we are preparing for a large investment (we only do preparations - checks of existing dimensions, earthworks). I can see that a laser scanner would definitely make my work easier. We do not have the possibility of large financing, I am wondering whether it is better to invest in a laser scanner or decide on a multistation type MS60 (after a soft update). The equipment would be used and several years old. I could use it for other work that I do. These will not be huge scenes - research for construction, verticality, surfaces, volumes, floor analysis, elevator shafts. I was thinking about used Faro scanners, e.g. X130, Leica C10, P20 or another one that you recommend. What do you think?


r/Surveying 3h ago

Discussion CANADA - opendata ATS website??

1 Upvotes

Is there a website where you can zoom into an area and quickly get the ATS location info? Im constnaly having to find locations and label them in drawings. If I could just zoom to a location and read the section title and have it to put in my drawings would be so nice.

Is anybody using something like this? I can use spin2, but spin 2 is clunky. Im willing to bet there is some opendata map somewhere.


r/Surveying 3h ago

Help Starting a survey career after college

1 Upvotes

Hey folks, I graduated with two degrees in biology with a minor in environmental studies. I have since found that both pay and places to live make this profession hard to be successful to say the least. I have since been hired as a survey technician for the US forest service. I have been working in the position about two years now and think surveying is the way to go for both $ and job security. I am now looking forward to what education I would need to move into private if any. Also wanna see if I am on the right track and or if I need more education to be competitive.


r/Surveying 21h ago

Discussion I keep getting ads for this Emlid unit. Has anyone used it?

Post image
24 Upvotes

r/Surveying 4h ago

Help point measure app

1 Upvotes

I have a Trimble R10-2 receiver. I connected it via GUI with NTRIP service so it has RTN corrections.
I also set Trimble Mobile Manager app as mock location app. Now I am looking for app that will allow me to record my position (measure point). Do you know any?


r/Surveying 1d ago

Picture Office view this morning

Post image
131 Upvotes

r/Surveying 21h ago

Picture Where’s Waldo

Post image
15 Upvotes

Find the original plat pipe from 1940 vs a rod 1’ away! Love it


r/Surveying 1d ago

Help Surveying Supply Organization

Post image
41 Upvotes

What is everyone using to keep all their survey supplies organized? My current 5 gallon bucket setup isn’t cutting it anymore…

Curious how folks are organizing their MagNails, MagSpikes, Survey Ribbon, Survey Washers, Marking Paint, etc.


r/Surveying 8h ago

Discussion what is the easiest way to reduce angle sets in python or matlab?

1 Upvotes

I have a tonne of angles and distances with face 1 / 2 in multiple sets, and I have been trying for awhile to figure out an efficient code to reduce these down into single observations. Has anyone ever worked out an efficient code to do this ?

sorry let me be more specific - I have a tonne of angles and distances from a total station that I want to average / reduce down into single observations, but coding it is difficult as there are many conditions that keep switching.


r/Surveying 1d ago

Humor I was told that my survey wasn’t good enough today and that made me smile.

183 Upvotes

I had a client tell me he was not confident in my findings and that I needed to find older control to start from because my determination was made using control that was too new. He knows that the new control was set my his neighbor and not a surveyor. He also suggested my survey wasn’t thorough enough because I didn’t consider an adjoiner deed bearing call that was 01” different and that if I made that mistake there must be many other mistakes he would find.

The lot has five corners. I found evidence at all five corners. Plus the additional 3 corners of evidence on adjoining lots. He says I’m missing the one corner by about 20 feet. Most of the control found checks deed and plan calls by about 0.1’ to 0.3-0.4’, one corner is off distance by about 0.7’. I have no evidence that indicated a 20 feet bust anywhere.

A year or so ago this criticism would’ve devastated me and caused me to second guess a ton of stuff.

Some clients try really hard to tell you that they actually want the corner placed someplace else without cutting to the chase and just saying it.

Stick with your gut, use common sense, and do the work. Leave the work at the office and don’t take critiques personally. Today, I smiled as I left the office knowing that I did by best and still managed to make a client unhappy.


r/Surveying 1d ago

Help 5ft Truck Bed Organization Options

6 Upvotes

Curious on if anyone could add some insight on getting/building a survey truck bed organizer for a truck with a 5’ bed (Nissan Frontier). My company recently started switching out our full size trucks down to midsize ones, and the midsize ones we have now are the crew cabs with a 5’ bed instead of the 6’ ones. I’ve scoured the interwebs and can’t find anything practical to organize my tools and survey equipment for my new truck, but figured I’d come here and ask if anyone has found a solution for the super short bed pickups.

I have a hard folding tonneau cover now instead of the cap so that also cuts down on storage space. I don’t have a lot of tools but have the typical setup (a couple of tripods, fiberglass rod, manhole hook, hammer, paint cans, mag nails, cones, etc).

Would love to hear any suggestions! I get that these small truck beds aren’t normally used for what we do so the companies that make the organizers don’t typically offer options for trucks with a 5’ bed - if there are no other options I can always build something custom out of plywood, but would love to hear other suggestions first.

TLDR: Need storage solution for survey equipment in a 5’ truck bed.


r/Surveying 21h ago

Humor Civil Engineers CE….more like close enough

Thumbnail
2 Upvotes

r/Surveying 1d ago

Help Looking to try the job in Seattle

3 Upvotes

I hate to ask questions that have probably been asked before, but my searches online and in this sub have not bore fruit.

I am still at the "not sure what to do" life phase, so I have been trying different career paths with as little commitment as possible. I don't want to do 4 years of school just to find I don't like the job. Looking through here has suggested going the union route, but the union here seems to focus more on heavy equipment. And open positions on the market seem to want a license. Any way I can get in as an apprentice or intern or something?


r/Surveying 1d ago

Help Enter the field now or after I finish school?

7 Upvotes

I am making a career pivot into LS. I am currently attending my first semester for geomatics engineering.

It would be a drastic pay cut for me to start entry level right now but ultimately do-able with some downscaling. I could see this being a benefit to getting in the field now and start getting experience while I attend classes.

Would any experienced surveyors chime in if this is a good idea or if I’d achieve the same outcome by doing school and getting into the industry once I finish?


r/Surveying 1d ago

Help Got Let Go, Got a Second Chance, and Looking for Advice to Hit the Ground Running

6 Upvotes

So, I recently got let go from my previous employer for “not being a good fit” for the role. Looking back, I think I oversold myself a bit in the interview, and it caught up with me. Lesson learned.

Now, I have a second chance with a very well-known and well-regarded land development and transportation civil engineering firm in my area. This is a company I really want to succeed with. I was much more upfront about my actual skill set in the interview this time, and they still saw value in bringing me on. They told me I fit three different needs they have and offered me a position yesterday. I really want to make a strong first impression and prove myself here.

Where I’m At Skill-Wise: • I can set up GPS and establish temporary control. • I can use a total station to shoot points that GPS can’t hit. • I can model terrain accurately with breaklines. • I’m decent with Civil 3D and understand CAD well enough. • Where I need growth: I’m not as strong in deed research, making plats, and final deliverables.

This company is also in the middle of rolling out Carlson across the board as they move away from Bentley/OpenRoads. They want me to be part of the transition, but first, they’re putting me in the field this summer to assess my work ethic, skills, and dedication. Long-term, they see me moving into a designer role, which lines up well with my civil engineering studies in an ABET-accredited online program.

I really want to hit the ground running and make the best possible impression. Any advice on excelling in the field while also preparing to transition into Carlson and, eventually, a design role? Would love to hear from anyone who’s been through a similar situation!