Iphone Mapping

[mpallamary]

Well there it is. Iphone mapping.

Measurement is Dead.

https://www.moasure.com/

Upon contemplating all of this, one of the
things I find most amazing about the
profession is the debate I often witness
between surveyors who pound their chest
to brag about the “accuracy” of their work,
i.e., their role as a Master of
Measurement. Years ago I was involved in
a contentious boundary dispute between
two warring neighbors. When we
eventually ended up in litigation, I
remember the criticism that was hurled at
me regarding my work. This occurred
because the other surveyor had based his
boundary procedure on state plane
coordinates and I did not. The neighbor’s
attorney had boasted that his client’s
survey was far more accurate than mine
because the basis of bearings was
displayed to a decimal degree and mine
was not. His, of course was a GPS derived
value. After the opposing surveyor did his
best to impress everyone with his tools
and technology, I pointed out that he had
used the wrong monument to establish his
client’s boundary lines and he was off by
five‐feet. So much for the wonders of
modern science. As a curious follow up to
this incident, several years later, I was
embroiled in another dispute with this
same surveyor. In that case, he had
prepared a detailed survey wherein he
concluded that one of my monuments was
out of location by 0.01’. Somewhat
amazingly, he presented a neatly drawn
exhibit for the court documenting his
findings. He was once again, the
quintessential, Master of Measurement,
sitting at the right hand of God, handing
the ten commandments to Moses. I
pointed out to the court that his survey did
not close by 0.05’. His misapplication of
significant figures proved fatal. The chest
thumping quickly subsided and our side
prevailed but not after my client had to
spend an additional $15,000 to defend a
hundredth! This was an embarrassing day
for the land surveying profession.

[hellsangle]

Gotta admit - that's some kewl technology!

However, J.Q. Public will hear about this thing and start building fences without a survey. Let's hope some contractor lays out a foundation with this thing! That'll teach 'em. LOL

How many times have we heard "can't you use GPS" to stake out my new house"? Now this will be another gizmo they'll tell us we should employ.

If I had $500 to piss away, it would be fun to "play" with it . . .

Thanks for the heads-up, Mike!

Crazy Phil - Surveyor to Recorder

[mpallamary]

Yes, it looks interesting! Reminds me of the time a university professor called me up to tell me there was a three foot error in the survey I did for him. I ran out to meet him (this was 25 years ago) when the first generation of handheld GPS devices came out. He showed my the readings and did a geodetic inverse to support his analysis. It took me an hour to explain to him what the problems were! He believed because the readings were so precise, he was right. I told him that the measurements were not accurate! That was a minor nightmare arguing with a professor with a million titles after his name!

[CBarrett]

Sometimes I tell people, sure, I will be using GPS, but I have to make sure that the rest of the boat is seaworthy too before we go crossing the ocean.

or, GPS alone without a car to ride in doesn't get you from A to B.