Central Valley Chapter - California Land Surveyors Association www.californiacentralvalleysurveyors.org
Central Valley Chapter THE PRISM Volume 4, Issue 4 July 2014
2014 Chapter Officers Up President: Kevin Genasci Coming Date: July 23, 2014 Vice President: Landon Blake Meetings! Time: 6:00 p.m. Secretary: Rich Brown
Treasurer: Tom Price Location: Perko’s @ 901 North Carpenter Road, Modesto Chapter Rep: Keith Spencer Speaker: Rob McMillan, PLS, E.I.T. - CalTrans Chapter Rep: Bill Koch Topic: 3D Mobile Scanning: The Bay Bridge Alt. Chapter Rep: Landon Blake Alt. Chapter Rep: Kevin Genasci
2014 Chapter Committees Date: August 27, 2014
By-Laws Committee: Time: 6:00 p.m. Keith Spencer (Chairman) Location: Perko’s @ 901 North Carpenter Road, Modesto Construction Committee: Landon Blake (Chairman) Speaker: TBA
Education Committee: Topic: TBA Kevin Genasci (Chairman)
Membership Committee: Keith Spencer (Chairman)
Monument Preservation Committee: Mike Quartaroli (Chairman) Announcements
Newsletter: Fresno State University announces Rich Brown (Editor) It’s 54th Annual Geomatics Engineering Conference is February 20 & 21, 2015 in Professional Practices Committee: Mike Quartaroli (Chairman) Clovis. Contact Marco Castaneda at [email protected] for more in-
San Joaquin County Liaison Committee: formation.
Kevin Genasci (Chairman) CLSA/NALS Annual Conference Stanislaus County Liaison Committee: Rich Fultz (Chairman) Is set for March 21-25, 2015, at the Silver Legacy Resort and Casino in Reno, Nevada
Website: Check State CLSA for more information Keith Spencer (Web Master) NCEES 2014 PS Exam is set for October 24, 2014 2014 Chapter Programs Registration for the October PS Exam will be open from June 16, and closes at 3:00 Boy Scout Merit Badge: p.m. eastern time on August 28, 2014. Click here for more information Zachary Wong (Coordinator)
TrigStar: Bill Koch (Coordinator) Still not too late to support your Chapter
Workshops: It is not too late to help support your local Chapter. If you have not sent in your Rich Brown (Coordinator) 2014 Chapter dues please do so. You can bring a check to the next Chapter meet- ing. You can also pay online through the chapter website. Please support Table of Contents your local Chapter. Page 2 Classes, Training & Education Page 2 Thoughts from the Editor Chapter Waives 2014 Dues for Unemployed Members Page 3 State News At the October, 2012 meeting the Central Valley Chapter voted to waive chapter Page 4 CAD Tips & Tweaks dues for any members (or new members) who have become victims of the current Page 5 National News economic downturn and are unemployed. Please fill out the Membership Applica- Page 7 It’s In There tion, enter “Unemployed" on Line 7 for the Name of Firm, Agency or College, sub- Page 8 Just for Laughs mit your application, and your 2014 chapter dues are waived. Page 10 Pictures of the Issue Page 11 Classifieds Click here for the 2014 Membership Application PAGE 2 THE PRISM Classes, Training, and Continuing Education
CAD Masters - AutoCAD Level I (3-Day Course) July 21-23, 2014, Sacramento August 4-6, 2014, Walnut Creek August 18-20, 2014, Sacramento ESRI - Introduction to GIS (2-Day Course) September 3-5, 2014 Walnut Creek Multiple Dates, Online Register here September 15-17, 2014, Sacramento Sept. 29-Oct. 1, Walnut Creek Register here Lorman Education Services -
Plat and Subdivision Law in California CAD Masters - AutoCAD Level II (2-Day Course) August 26, 2014, San Francisco Register here July 28-29, 2014, Walnut Creek August 18-19, 2014, Sacramento CLSA Workshop September 8-9, 2014, Walnut Creek The Evolution of the North American Datum of 1983 in September 29-30, 2014, Sacramento Register here the USA—Coping with Changing Positional Coordi- nates Due to Crustal Motion CAD Masters - AutoCAD Level III Sept 19, 2014, Northern California August 28, 2014, Sacramento Register here Check State CLSA for more information
CAD Masters - Civil 3D for Surveyors Fresno State University September 14, 2014, Walnut Creek Register here 54th Annual Geomatics Engineering Conference
CAD Masters - AutoCAD Civil 3D Intro (3-Day Course) February 20-21, 2015, Clovis July 30-Aug 1, 2014, Walnut Creek Contact Marco Castaneda @ [email protected] for more information August 11-13, 2014, Sacramento August 25-27, 2014, Walnut Creek CLSA/NALS Annual Conference September 8-10, 2014, Sacramento March 21-25, 2015, Silver Legacy, Reno, Nevada Sept. 22-24, 2014, Walnut Creek Register here Check State CLSA for more information
If you have information about a training or class, please submit to: [email protected] Thoughts from the Editor As we celebrate our Nation’s 238th birthday I want to take a moment and reflect on how prestigious the surveying profession is. Many of our Founding Fathers were at one time in their lives land surveyors. In fact, the Father of our Country, George Washington, among many other things, was a Surveyor. Then there was Thomas Jefferson, who was responsi- ble for the Lewis and Clark Expeditions. Then don’t forget about Abraham Lincoln, though his surveying career only lasted a few years. So there are three of the four figures from Mount Rushmore. Pretty prestigious if you ask me. Another famous American that performed the duties of a land surveying is Daniel Boone. He work performing the duties of a Surveyor in Virginia and Kentucky for many years. So, as we watch the fireworks, and bar-b-que those hamburgers & hotdogs, and eat that fresh apple pie, remember that there are a lot of professions that have aided in the creation of this GREAT NATION. First and foremost, the profession that comes to mind would be the military soldier. They risk everything, with very lit- tle rewards. Then there is law enforcement and even teachers. But let’s not forget the Land Surveyor. If he hadn’t done his job at the start of this Country, we might not be celebrating with 50 States. If you would like to comment on this topic or suggest another, please submit it to: [email protected] PAGE 3 THE PRISM State News Conference Wrap Up—CLSA/NALS Conference 2014 by Carl C. de Baca, PLS
The image on the program for the 2014 CLSA/NALS conference of palm trees in the foreground and a city sky- line in the background was apt for this year’s get-together. It felt a little like paradise on the grounds of the Town and Country resort, where the conference was held. A constant 70 degree temperature punctuated by a sea breeze made the event the perfect way to say hello to spring and goodbye to winter. The Town and Country Resort Hotel was an outstanding choice for the site of our annual conference; the confer- ence committee and the CLSA central office should be warmly complimented for finding and securing this out- standing location. Spread over 32 acres of lush landscaping, the hotel complex featured multiple eating estab- lishments, terrific conference facilities, great accommodations and a friendly bar for late evening discussions. It was also next door to the Riverwalk golf course, where the CLSA Education Foundation kicked off this year’s activities with a charity golf tournament on Friday, April 11th. Educational activities started on Saturday, April 12 with all day workshops featuring John Stahl and Ryan Hunsicker and concluded with a busload of participants heading to Kearny Mesa for the annual CLSA Educa- tion Foundation bowling tournament where some ten ad-hoc teams got together for bowling merriment. Gutter- ball tickets were flying around all evening and much money was raised for the foundation through the competi- tive nature of the bowlers. Past President Armand Marois’ team won for the second straight year and his son Ian won the high score for the night. During the post-bowling raffle, the past-presidents of CLSA once again made out like bandits, at one point winning 5 raffle prizes in a row. Hmm… the raffle was run by a past- president, curious indeed. The CSU Fresno students did well at the raffle also - a little poetic justice perhaps. Each year this event gets bigger and better. It’s a lot of fun, an opportunity to hang out with some friends and Continued on page 9 PAGE 4 THE PRISM CAD Tips & Tweaks Working With Station/Offset Pairs - Part 2 By Landon Blake, PLS Introduction In the last installment of CAD Tips and Tweaks we created an AutoLISP function to define a station/offset pair in a drawing. Then we saw how to create simple functions to access the data elements of a station/offset pair. In this arti- cle we will write a function that return a text value that indicates what side of the alignment a station offset pair is on. This function is a little more complex than the function we looked at in the last article. A Function to Return Alignment Side We store the alignment side of our station offset pair using a simple int value of 0 or 1. This allows us to do easy comparisons and some other simple operations. But that isn’t a user friendly value. When we obtain the alignment side from a station/offset pair, we really want to return a text value of “left” or “right”. This requires a function with an “if” statement or conditional statement. Let’s take a look at the code for this function: (defun surveyos_station_offset_pair_get_offset_direction_as_string (entity_list / offset_direction_int return_value ) (setq off- set_direction_int (nth 3 entity_list ))(if (= offset_direction_int 0)(setq return_value "Right")(setq return_value "Left") )) You can see in this function we use an if statement. The if statement returns a text value of “Right” if the int value for offset direction is “0”. As a result, if the int value is “1” a text value of “Left” will be returned from the function. Thinking About Alignments Now that we’ve written some basic functions for a station/offset pair, we want to think about how to handle the creation of route align- ments in our code. This will be important because each station/offset pair needs to be associated with an alignment. Once we get some basic code for the definition of route alignments written, we can work on some more functions to work with station/offset pairs. For the sake of simplicity, we can use 2D polylines (or lightweight polylines) to represent route alignments in our drawings. However, a 2D polyline doesn’t store enough information. Although it stores the geometry of the route alignment, we also need to store information about the alignment identification and the start station of the first node in the polyline. What we really need is a new data structure that can store information about each route alignment in our drawing. This data structure should have at least the following elements: A unique identifier. A station value for the first node in the polyline that represents the alignment geometry. A handle for the polyline entity that represents the alignment geometry. That third element in our list needs a little more explanation. Every entity in a CAD drawing is assigned a unique identifier known as a handle. This handle persists between drawing sessions. (Handles have value every time the drawing is opened.) This persistence allows us to use handles to uniquely identify and retrieve drawing entities in our AutoLISP code. We store the handle for the polyline entity as our third element because this is easier than trying to store the polyline geometry information itself. It also means our handle will always return up-to-date alignment geometry. If we stored the alignment geometry independently of the polyline, the two could be come out-of- synch. We could deal with this problem in our code, but it is simpler to store the entity handle instead. It would also be handy to store two (2) additional elements in our route alignment data structure. One is a user friendly name for the alignment, and the other is a short description of the alignment. So our final data structure would have the following elements. A unique identifier. A user friendly alignment name. A station value for the first node in the polyline that represents the alignment geometry. A short description of the alignment. A handle for the polyline entity that represents the alignment geometry. Sneak Peek In our next installment of CAD Tips and Tweaks we will look more closely at the code we need to define our route alignment data struc- ture. PAGE 5 THE PRISM National News The Early Vertical Datums of the U.S. Geological Survey By Jerry Penry, PS
During the 1896 field season, the surveying crews of the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) engaged in higher quality and more precise topographic mapping and spirit leveling than had been previously attempted. This change was largely prompted by an act issued by the Fifty-Fourth Congress on June 11, 1896. For USGS, the most significant result of the act was that permanent bench marks on an approximate sea-level based datum were to be placed in each area of the new surveys. These bench marks were to be marked on the ground with at least two monuments established per township, except in forested and mountainous areas where at least one per township was required. Although USGS had already performed topographic mapping in many regions of the country for 30-minute quad sheets, permanent bench marks had not been placed in those areas.
The framers of the act knew it would be impossible for USGS to accurately record the monuments to their exact height above sea level. Attempting to do so would have required running thousands of miles of precise levels from points already known to be accurate. This would not have been financially feasible and it would have tak- en years to accomplish, greatly delaying the mapping program.
Therefore, a plan was designed to permit the acceptance of one fixed monument within each region of a particu- lar topographic mapping area to be used as a central datum only for that area. The elevation of each initial bench mark, regardless of its relationship to the true sea-level datum, was usually derived from an outside source such as a railroad company, a river commission, or a local city datum. The elevations of these starting bench marks were of uncertain precision, but the assumption was made that they were very close to sea-level datum. All subsequent bench marks placed from the initial bench mark were then directly related to that mon- ument, but they could not be interchanged with bench marks established from other datums. It was anticipated that through the course of the work, connections would eventually be made with precise monuments estab- lished by an agency such as the U. S. Coast & Geodetic Survey (USC&GS). Thus, adjustments in elevation could later be made to the USGS monuments without having to delay the mapping program.
Initially, the plan did not implement a specific code or numbering system for the bench marks. Only the ap- proximate elevation was hand-stamped on the monument to the nearest foot. This stamped number individual- ly identified each bench mark within the datum except in cases where two or more bench marks within the same datum had the same elevation. This system quickly proved insufficient since datums originating from dif- ferent sources began overlapping into common areas which would make it impossible for surveyors and engi- neers to determine from which datum each bench mark originated.
In an improved system during the second year, each datum was assigned a specific code name which was stamped onto the bench mark in addition to the elevation. In theory, if a surveyor leveling between any two bench marks discovered that they did not close, the differing code names on the monuments was supposed to prompt the surveyor to contact USGS to inquire as to the problem.
The exact number of early USGS vertical datums is unknown since a concise list has not been found, but pub- lished records indicate there were hundreds of different datums located across the United States. The coding for the datums was apparently left to the individual party chief of each crew without much communication be- tween crews working in other parts of the country. The same code names, therefore, existed in different states which were based upon entirely different datums. For instance, the letter "A" was a code used for different da- tums originating near Anniston, AL; Alexandria, MO; Asheville, NC; Albany, NY; Athens, OH; and Astoria, OR. The letter "B" was a code used for different datums near Benicia, CA; Bannock County, ID; Bangor, ME; Brockport, NY; Blaine, WA; and Baraboo, WI. The "LA" code was used for datums originating at Lafayette, LA, and Los Angeles, CA. Some datums were designed by a date instead of a letter code. The "1906" datum in Colo- rado had a different origin than the "1906" datums established in Illinois, Kentucky and Oregon. Most codes, however, had some indication of the city name where the datum originated such as "CHYN" for Cheyenne, WY; "GAINV" for Gainesville, TX; "MSLA" for Missoula, MT; "NOGLS" for Nogales, AZ; "VAN HN" for Van Horn, TX; or "YNKTN" for Yankton, SD.
Continued on page 6 PAGE 6 THE PRISM The Early Vertical Datums..., cont. from page 5
There were variations to the codes within the same datum such as "D", "DENV", and "DENVER" in Colorado; "MIL" and "MILWAUKEE" in Wisconsin; "MLT" and "MALTA" in Montana; and "WP", "WILLETS", and "WILLETS POINT" in New York. These variations were likely the result of individual field crews abbreviating the codes within the same datum and not being consistent with the stamping.
The coding is equally confusing when code names such as "GRAFTON", "GRAFTON 1901", "GRAFTON 1902", and "GRAFTON 1903" were stamped upon bench marks located in the same mapping area. This is due to addi- tional data being obtained each year that was closer to true sea level and a distinction needed to be made in the code as new bench marks were established with slightly adjusted elevations within that datum.
The "ADJ 1903" datum code is prolific in over twenty different states because USC&GS performed a major da- tum adjustment during that year. To show that new bench marks reflected that shift, USGS began stamping their new monuments with this code. On mountain peaks where leveling was not easily accomplished, the bench marks were marked with "VA", which means the elevation was obtained by "Vertical Angle" from anoth- er location. Although some datums covered large areas, many were isolated and confined to just one particular mapping ar- ea. North Dakota had two individual datums. The "JMTN" datum at Jamestown established only 25 bench marks in that area, while the "W" datum at Wahpeton established only 20 bench marks. The permanent bench marks were shown on the 30-minute quad sheets as a "X" with the letters "BM" next to the elevation all in black-colored ink. The temporary bench marks were shown with a brown-colored "X" and elevation, but with- out the letters "BM".
Three main types of bench marks were chosen for the early USGS monuments. The first was a flat, circular bronze or aluminum tablet, 3½ inches in diameter and one-fourth of an inch thick. These were placed on walls of public buildings, bridge abutments, large boulders, or on other masonry structures. The second was a slotted copper pin known as a "bolt" measuring one-inch in di- ameter and four inches long. The bolt was used in areas of rock where a drill hole was first made, then a brass wedge was placed into the bottom of the hole, and the slotted bolt was driven down onto it. The third type, and most prolific, was a hollow iron post, 4 feet 6 inches in length, 3½ inches in outside diameter with a 3¾-inch diameter bronze cap riveted to the top. This post had a split bottom that expanded outward to prevent subsid- ence and also to deter malicious theft by pulling it out. The post was coated with asphalt and only the top one foot was exposed above the ground. For temporary points, a 7/8-inch diameter stamped copper washer with a 1-inch copper nail or a common iron nail was used. In certain areas of the Pacific Northwest, aluminum tags were often placed on trees to mark the location of the temporary bench marks. Click for Complete Article
Reprinted with the permission of American Surveyor Magazine — Vol. 11, Issue 5 PAGE 7 THE PRISM It’s In There Black’s Law Dictionary Defines…. boundary A natural or artificial separation that delineates the confines of real property
If there is a section in the Professional Land Surveyors Act or Subdivision Map Act that you would like to have discussed or you have a comment on, please send requests to: [email protected] PAGE 8 THE PRISM JUST FOR LAUGHS
Originally posted on March 28, 2011 Out-of-plumb.com
Again, thank you to Chase Perryman for allowing us to share his great work. PAGE 9 THE PRISM Center of Population…, cont. from page 3 make some new ones; it’s for a good cause and there’s always room for more so make plans to go bowling at the 2015 conference in Reno. Sunday opened three and half days of educational workshops featuring speakers such as Chuck Karayan, Bill Stone, John Stahl, Rob McMillan, Marco Cecala and the LS fundamentals Track instructed by David Paul John- son. During a break in the afternoon, John Palatiello of JMP Consultants gave the keynote address. JMP is the government affairs consultant for the National Society of Professional Surveyors and as such is our profession’s point of contact with many federal agencies and Congress. Among other things Palatiello talked out the Map21 legislation and Congress’s recent decision to repeal a portion of that act’s FEMA regulations. One of the more interesting events and one of the higher purposes for which we exist as professional organiza- tions took place on Sunday as part of the spring meetings of the National Society of Professional Surveyors held concurrently at Town and Country. The NSPS national student competition saw eight teams competing this year with the topic being ALTA/ACSM surveys. Teams from New Mexico State University, Oregon Institute of Technology, Cal State Fresno, Southern Polytechnic State University of Georgia, Michigan Tech, Utah Valley University, New Jersey Institute of Technology and Penn State each gave 20 minute presentations followed by Q&A from the judges and the audience. They also were required to submit a binder containing elements of safe- ty, correspondence, research, field notes, calculations, boundary analysis and a survey report, together with a plat of their survey. All eight of the teams produced exemplary reports and plats which served to put a spotlight on the state of Geomatics education in the United States. The judges had a tough time picking a winner, I as- sure you. The scores were tallied after the event and the results were closely guarded so that they could be an- nounced at our awards luncheon on the following day.
Monday saw workshops and presentations by Steve Parrish, Landon Blake, William Beardslee, Jeff Hobbs and the LS fundamentals track overseen by Mike Hart. The awards luncheon saw NALS and CLSA give out their awards and scholarships for the year. Congratulations to CLSA’s Hal Davis for receiving the Dorothy Calegari Distinguished Service award and to Trent Keenan for receiving the NALS Meritorious Service Award. Congratu- lations as well, to Southern Polytechnic State University of Georgia for winning the student competition. South- ern Poly barely edged out OIT, with Fresno State coming in a close third. All three of these schools put forth a superior effort and generated a superior product. Any of us would be happy to have produced a plat that was as detailed, stylish and complete as the plats these students prepared. Monday wrapped up with the live scholarship auction which saw the return of longtime auctioneer and friend of the conference, Greg Lightnin’ Williams. Lightnin’ was in classic form as he badgered, cajoled and outright conned the willing participants to bid higher and higher on the various items. In some cases he was highly suc- cessful as when he got $500 for a 1940 compass that had been in a Spitfire fighter plane and $800 for a beautiful surfboard made by CLSA’s own Matt Vernon. However, even Lightnin’ was unable to generate interest in a pair of Tellurometers that had seen better days and went for $25, and a Pacific Crest PDL radio that ended up back in the silent auction the next day. Overall, the live auction brought in close to $12,000 in future scholarship funds and everyone had a wonderful time! (And I’m through buying old instruments now - my house is full.) Tuesday’s workshops included speakers Bob Cosburn, ESQ, Landon Blake, William Beardslee, Jan Van Sickle and Mark Meade, with Robert Reese and Frank Maxim instructing the LS Fundamentals track. The luncheon featured humorous motivational speaker Charles Marshall who used unwitting audience members as props throughout his presentation while finding a way to give an uplifting message to us all. Tuesday night a pretty good crowd of conference attendees and some NSPS representatives traveled to downtown San Diego on the light rail trolley and watched the Padres play the Colorado Rockies. The weather was great, the hot dogs were hot, the beer was plentiful and everyone who went had a good time. Again the central office has to be commend- ed for making this happen! I thought the Town and Country resort hotel was a first rate facility, the staff was both helpful and efficient, the workshops were relevant, the special events truly exceptional. All this combined to make a most memorable con- ference and I can’t wait to do it again next year. A special thanks to the conference committee, the central office, the student volunteers, the sponsors and especially you the conference attendees for making the 2014 CLSA/ NALS Conference a resounding success! See you in Reno in 2015! Reprinted with the permission of California Surveyor Magazine — Issue #177, Spring 2015 PAGE 10 THE PRISM Pictures of the Issue
The Bay Bridge, 2014 Pictures supplied by Rob McMillian, Branch Chief, Surveys Coordination, GPS, and New Technology Caltrans, District 4
If you have a historic or interesting photo you would like to see in a future edition of The Prism, please submit to: [email protected] PAGE 11 THE PRISM Classifieds O’Dell Engineering is looking for Party Chief (Modesto and Pleasanton Offices) Applicant will lead a The successful applicant will work under the direction of the survey manager leading a 2 person survey crew and work independently as a single man survey crew using GPS or robotic total stations. Party Chiefs are supplied a company truck and are required to maintain a clean driving record. Our projects are located throughout the Central Valley and Bay Area. Your assignments will include construction staking, boundary surveying, and topographic surveying. Projects include very large scale municipal projects (California High Speed Rail), large scale master planned land development projects, 3D laser scanning, high precision monitoring, on-call surveying for municipalities, and small residential and commercial developments. This position may be staffed from the Modesto or Pleasanton Office. For more information go to www.odellengineering.com/employment.html
Looking for Geodetic Control Volunteer I'm looking for a summer volunteer that would be willing to work with O'Dell Engineering and the CLSA Central Valley Chapter on the California Central Valley Control Network. The volunteer tasks would include: 1) Performing research and planning for geodetic control surveys. 2) Performing static GPS observations on local & NGS control monuments using Opus X90 GPS receivers & fixed hgt. tripods. 3) Processing and adjusting GPS networks in Trimble Business Center. 4) Working with CORS and PBO data. 5) Preparing maps and tables in Inkscape. 6) Implementing and maintaining a survey control GIS using OpenJUMP and PostGIS. The schedule would be very flexible, a lot of the work could be done remotely, and I'd provide a small budget for travel expenses for the field work. A volunteer based in the Central Valley would be best, but I'd consider working with the right volunteer from another part of California. No previous surveying experience is required to volunteer, although it is helpful. I'd train the right high school student looking forward to a career in land surveying. If you have questions or are interested in volunteering, please send your resume to Landon Blake at: [email protected] or [email protected].
Have equipment to sell? Looking for a great deal? Check out the CLSA Forums! CALIFORNIA LAND SURVEYORS ASSOCIATION CENTRAL VALLEY CHAPTER SUSTAINING MEMBERS C/O Hawkins & Associates Engineering, Inc. 436 Mitchell Road Modesto, CA 95354 Dylan Crawford, L.S. 7788 Attn: Rich Brown Keith W. Spencer, L.S. 6406, CFedS 1454
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