By Kevin Franklin, PLS, Owner of Franklin Surveys Franklin Surveys is committed to the safety and well-being of our employees and clients. This past year has been challenging on so many levels with several types of businesses unable to open and many people out of work. We’d like to take a moment to thank our loyal clients and … Read more
Once completed, a map should speak for itself. If done properly, there should be no reason for the map user to have to call the preparer after the fact to get clarification on something. Everything should be laid out on the table, including the map metadata (facts describing the making of the map). That is … Read more
Drafting a map is all about making choices. The ability to make the best choices to meet the client’s needs is “what separates the wheat from the chaff”, to borrow an oft-used expression from one of my mentors. To begin with, Earth is round, and the map is flat. Picture the act of gift wrapping … Read more
Importing Field Data In the past, surveyors used special bound notebooks for recording observations in the field. Thus, the task of turning all of those observations into feature coordinates was time consuming and laborious. Modern surveying instruments have on-board data recording capabilities; alternatively, a separate (wired or wireless) data collector minicomputer may be used. These … Read more
Once control points have been established, surveyors use their instrumentation to measure the positions of existing site features. As we move around the site, we place a prism pole at each feature for the observation. A survey prism is a retroreflector designed to precisely refract laser beams such that they reflect backwards and return directly … Read more
Reconnaissance After reviewing the research records, the field crew mobilizes to your property to start examining the site and setting up instruments. Modern survey crews carry magnetic locators (commonly, metal detectors) to help in the search for evidence which may be located underground. In some cases, old metal fences are eventually consumed by trees, but … Read more