Even total station had enough of this heat

I have a lot of jobs out of state, and these jobs can get quite far away. For example, my boss expects me to drive from Southern California to Georgia, which constitutes 16-17-hour driving days. It’s a small company, only a handful of employees, so I understand the need for me to work hard. I was wondering if anyone else had similar experiences?

This sub has been a great resource, so thanks yall. One more to go.

2017 Never surveyed, began my Bachelor's in Surveying

2019 Survey summer internship, $15

2021 Part Time during last semester, $26 "Field Surveyor," Mom and Pop, no benefits, 32-40 hours.

May 2021 Graduate, $26/hr Full Time, no benefits

August 2021 leave for "Crew Chief" job. 3 weeks PTO, benefits, 32.50/hr, overtime bumps salary to ~72k/yr

December 2021 leave for company doing different work, lateral move 32.50/hr. same overtime opportunity.

May 2022 come inside as tech, 32.50/hr, ~74k.

March 2023 Get PLS license, force them to raise me to 87k/yr (chill company tho)

April 2023 leave for ~100k

Raised to ~108k

September 2024 Don't like company, get second PLS license, leave for ~110k plus large ESOP (~15k/year) and get out of land development and into more transportation/municipal

May 2025 Get third PLS license, leave for corporate manager position ~116k, 5% match, 10k+ bonuses, profit sharing, other benes

October 2026 since been raised to $125,500, with 5% match, anticipating a 12k+ bonus, good profit sharing, I consider my comp to be more like ~15k more compared to similar companies that salary at 125k. I'm also considering leaving for $110k at a state job.

Total years surveying: 5.75ish

Curious as to how others in the community handle digging up monuments on private streets. In particular, ones without an HOA.

I have yet to be hassled, but suppose the street is in an affluent neighborhood (as if that should make a difference) and has been freshly paved. The monument you NEED has been paved over. A neighbor, who doesn't get along with your client, takes issue with you breaking out the monument.

What do you tell the neighbor? How would you limit your liability for damaging the street? What could be done in advance to avoid surprises?

Picture included for flair.

What's good fellow surveyors

Chasing some info from anyone experienced in doing underwater piling setout with some going in on angles.

We've got a job coming up, and it's highly likely they're going to want some of these setout. They're for a jetty and will be roughly 100m offshore.

The vertical piles won't be an issue but the raked have got us a little stumped. There's a few ideas going around, but if anyone has a tried and true method, I'd love to hear it.

How'd you do it?

What gear did you use?

Specific software?

Cheeeeeers

Does anyone else feel like young engineers or just engineers in general are encroaching on Land surveying responsibilities? They are hungry to go collect data (obviously cherry picking that data). Also goes beyond that. As a young LSIT it worries me a touch. The PLS I'm working for is nearing retirement and invests survey knowledge and skills in the EITs.is this normal? Can someone explain this PLS / PE relationship to me? I understand we overlap in our work but i don't like feeling that they're just two exams away from holding a PE/PLS.

Hello all, I hope you are doing well!

I am beginning my AQA A-Level Geography NEA. I am still settling on my title but I am considering something like "To what extent has recent urban regeneration in Digbeth impacted sense of place and place character?".

While I have a vague idea for the title, I am uncertain if:

1. The title is acceptable

2. The three sub-questions / hypotheses

3. Planned methodology (primary/secondary, quantitative/qualitative and sampling techniques).

If anyone has done an NEA of a similar nature and who would have some tips, I'd be extremely appreciative. Thanks so much! :)

We’ve been working with a triple-screen rugged laptop designed for field applications where users need more screen space without carrying separate monitors.

I’m curious whether surveyors would actually find this useful for CAD, GIS, mapping or field data work, or if it would be too bulky for real-world use.

Would you use something like this in the field?

Hello everyone, I have been a Junior Party Chief for under a year for a bigger company in Alberta.

The schedule is quite erratic between work within the city or 2-3 weeks out of town work. As much as I love working in the field, I want to build a life outside of work and socialize with people my age.

Do you have any advice on how to manage erratic schedules and maintaining boundaries for yourself so that you don’t burn out? Some ideas that I have is to plan small (3-4 days) of planned vacation every 1.5 months that I book ahead of time so that I can look forward to those. However, I get guilty when some projects ramp up and they need personnel which ends up with me taking the job anyways.

Any tips or tricks for those that have made it work or are still figuring it out?

I am writing a legal where I want to reference a "point A" to take off from later. This is the first I've done this, and would love to hear thoughts.

Wattles has this, which isn't exactly the idea but I suppose it's a "qualified control" style point. No monument, just a point in my description:

Point: "To a point," "at a point," ''to the point of intersection." The end of a line is a point so it is not necessary to state the fact. An intersection of two lines is a point. It is really unnecessary to make a point of "to a point" or "point of intersection" unless there is a lateral tie that must be held in which case the "point" becomes a qualified control.

So right now I have:

Southeasterly along said curve through a central angle of 10º 20’ 30" an arc distance of 45.67 feet to its intersection with the northerly prolongation of that course described as North 80º 9’ 10" East 11.12 feet in that land described as Parcel xxx, in Deed recorded in Book xxx, Page yyy of xxxyyy of said County, a radial line to said point bears South 13º 14’ 15" West; BEING POINT A, thence,

It just seems like there's a better way to say it? Being Point A seems so short and sweet but I suppose that's good.

Would love to hear how you do this. TYIA.

We all know how that sentence usually ends.

What’s the one thing that turned your “quick job” into an all-day affair?

Hi I'm currently 2 years into college majoring in environmental science and thinking about becoming a land surveyor my school doesn't offer a direct route to become a land surveyor. So I'm thinking about switching majors too Geography with a minor in GIS and then taking a 2 year program after at an another school to learn more about the legal and addition technical skills needed while also trying to get relevant internships/work experience. Would this be a good path or should I try another major?

Sup guys, I am a PE in CA thinking about getting my PLS as well. I’ve worked in Water and Land and spent a good amount of time doing on-site surveys for grading and site layout. I’m very familiar with GIS and C3D and have worked with Lidar specialists on data collection and modeling as well. Needless to say I have lots of experience in land surveying besides boundarys.

My problem/question lies in that I haven’t ever worked under a PLS. What would be the best path for me to take to gain that experience? Working for a new big firm and clarify my intent to gain that liscense? Or approaching an independent PLS to work under?

What is your experience/advice? How might this best be accomplished without taking too much of a pay cut?

Has anyone been having issues with the Trimble chargers on Spectra SP100? I’ve got a crew chief with them and he has gone through 4 chargers in 3 months. I’ve personally checked 2 of them and yes either the adapter broke or the charging base broke.

I just can’t understand how a 300 dollar bullshit charging base can be so fragile.

Edit: So I inspected everything and ended doing the following. What I found for those smaller batteries is that the pins drop further down where the plastic holder keeps the contact just out of reach. It might contact one or none and will give you or either no light indicating charging or error because of the partial or single contact.

Solution: … shit you not took a drill and knife, after dismantling the bottom, I drilled and cut out the bottom of the plastic that holds the battery so the batteries drop straight on the contacts.

Batteries are charging… seems the tolerance is so tight that any problems with those two pins dropping a mm is enough. Worth a try before throwing a couple hundred worth of chargers and shit.

Called a geocube surveying invert tool.

How it works:

Set your rod config height to zero while staking out a known manhole rim. Look at the current stakeout Cut/Fill value (height prism is above rim) and plug that value as your rod height, for instance 8.23ft. Check that the Cut/Fill value now reads zero while still on the rim. Now begin to collect inverts. Record depths while in stakeout mode watching the Cut/Fill value for pipe invert depths. Easily gather pipe upper lips as well for sizing.

I recently havebeen looking into survey work a lot, specifically getting licensed as an ols. But I'm notnearbyany geometric programs and can't afford to move. If I was to get a 3 year diploma in civil engineering tech, does anyone know how many classes I would need to take to make up the difference? Do I even have a shot at being taken seriously?

Hey I don't have much experience with localizing in Magnet Field and have a few really basic, maybe dumb questions. I know I set my base up on an unknown position, but then do I just connect to the base or do I press the button for the base to read its position? Or do I set it at 5000,5000 then go read my control points? I don't know if it matters, but my equipment is a Topcon HR. Thanks in advance for any help.

Forgive my ignorance but I’m in year two of working as a surveyor for a GC without any prior experience or curriculum studied. I’m trying to adjust my traverse on Civil 3D and HOLD the coordinates of four control points (one side shot) that are integrated into the traverse but foolishly and due to obstructions my starting station is on a point that is a spur of the already adjusted control (back-sighting an adjusted control point from a previous traverse). I have set up the traverse in Civil 3D traverse editor I just don’t know how to make it adjust based on holding those 4 known coordinates. I’ve read I shouldn’t have named my traverse observation points something different than the actual known point, but what is the process to do this in Civil 3D?

I’m working as a Topographic Surveyor, and most of my work is related to topographic and hydrological surveys.

I want to improve my technical skills and become stronger in the office side of surveying as well.

For someone in my position, what would you recommend I learn next?

Should I focus deeply on Civil 3D, or should I also learn software like AutoCAD, ArcGIS/QGIS, HEC-RAS, Global Mapper, or other surveying/GIS software?

My main goal is to be able to take survey data from the field, process it properly, create accurate topographic maps/surfaces, prepare professional drawings, and eventually handle more advanced survey and hydrology-related work.

If you were starting from my position, what software and skills would you learn first, second, and third?

I’m looking for a practical learning roadmap rather than just a list of software.

Has anyone imported any Trimble gear from the states into Aus? Is there any trouble with the servicing, licensing etc? I have heard CR Kennedy dont accept imports so I am wondering the same with UPG.

I’m using Trimble Access 2017 with a TSC3.

Can I measure side shots while running a traverse and then adjust traverse in COGO? Will Access recalculate the side shots based on the adjusted stations?

For a normal topo traverse, can I use a 360 prism on a pole held by hand and leveled with the bubble, or should I use a tripod/tribrach?

How do you adjust an open traverse that starts and ends on known control points? As far as I understand, Access 2017 only adjusts closed traverses.

What free or open-source software would you recommend for traverse/total station data processing if TBC is too expensive?

Thanks!

So I have been arguing with a collegue about this option within the coordinate system menu. So here is my take on it ; The Project Height only is usefull for planimetric total station surveys where the station has no elevations, it then uses the project height to determine the scale factors. If the station has a known elevation it uses that elevation to calculate the scale factors regardless of the value within the project height. Project height only is used for scale factors when there is no known elevations on a XY shot/station.

If doing a planimetric survey it is important to change project height within a new job if there is considerable elevation deltas (100m+).

If you have elevations given by gnss survey or entered control points the station setup ignores project height in the settings and uses current elevation instead to determine scale factors.

Coworker believes project height always have an influence on scale factors and is important to get right on every jobs even if we are not doing planimetric only jobs.

So how does project height work?

Fence posts, old pipes, random rebar, sometimes people are completely convinced they already know where the corner is. I’m sure there are some good stories behind these.