A recent survey revealed that many people believe that natural disasters are more frequent and severe than in the past. It turns out that this observation is backed up by facts. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the frequency of natural disasters is increasing year-over-year. There were 28 weather and climate disasters in 2023, surpassing the previous record of 22 in 2020, tallying a price tag of at least $92.9 billion.

This 8/11 is a beautiful Sunday and many homeowners will be using the day to tackle some home improvement projects, such as building a deck, installing a new mailbox or installing a fence. In fact, 74% of homeowners have or will dig on their property on their property this summer. Unfortunately, nearly 40% of these won’t call 811 ahead of time to mark buried utilities.[1]

More than 90% of organizations use cloud computing to run enterprise applications[1]. That means that everything from hospitals and first responders to Fortune 500 companies and governments rely on the cloud. Soon, air traffic control and police departments will be cloud-based as well. Society won’t be able to function without the cloud.

AEC is the acronym for Architecture, Engineering and Construction, which is a collection of services engaged in the planning and execution of all types of construction projects. It’s essentially the term for a deep and intricate collaboration between partners in order to bring any project to fruition.

Before paleontologists began scouring indigenous lands for proof of evolution in the fossil record, Native Americans had long since incorporated these “new discoveries” into their cultures. Centuries before Europeans arrived, native inhabitants of the Americas understood that the land had once been teeming with massive creatures that ruled the earth, water and sky.

A recent article highlighting the 25 Technologies that have changed the world lists the usual blockbuster inventions, such as the Apple iPhone, Wi-Fi, AI, facial recognition, drones, DNA testing, social platforms, quantum computing and bitcoin. However, not all of these world-changing technologies are so famous. Who knew that Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a world-changing technology?

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has been around for a long time. The precursor technology to RFID was originally developed as a musical instrument by the Russian physicist Leon Theremin, patented in 1928. The Theremin produces music by manipulation of electromagnetic fields around two antennae to produce sound.

The “Fourth Industrial Revolution” is well underway. Back in 2011, economist Klaus Schwab coined the term to refer to the rapid digitization and accessibility of technologies that spark a global shift in processes – in everything from how we communicate to how businesses and governments are managed.

Berntsen International, a leading manufacturer of infrastructure marking products, announces that its InfraMarker RFID App now supports Near Field Communication (NFC) and is available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Berntsen International, a leading manufacturer of infrastructure marking products, announces that its InfraMarker RFID app is now fully integrated with Esri’s ArcGIS Survey123 and ArcGIS Field Maps mobile applications.

Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE) that leverages Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) deliver substantial benefits in the management and protection of underground assets.

We’ve all heard of RFID, a technology that’s been around since the 1930s. Did you know that it’s now one of the fastest-growing technologies in the world?

Madison, Wisconsin – March 7, 2022: Berntsen International, Inc., was recognized with the High Potential Award at the 2022 Esri Partner Conference (EPC) held in Palm Springs, California March 5–7, 2022. This award was presented to Berntsen International Inc., for the substantial opportunity for growth represented by its InfraMarker® Connected RFID™ solution that links the power of ArcGIS with RFID asset marking to deliver more accurate and efficient field operations.

It’s spring and construction is booming . . . hopefully with fewer actual “booms”, caused by utility strikes. Safe digging is something that’s near and dear to surveyors and any profession that involves excavation. As I mentioned in my last blog, preventable utility strikes cost at least $60 billion annually, not to mention the loss of life and life-altering injuries that can occur.

As surveyors intimately understand, it’s very important to know what’s below. Your life could depend on it. National Safe Digging Month was created in 2008 by the Common Ground Alliance (CGA) to bring visibility to protecting workers, utilities and the public by working to prevent utility strikes during excavation. This group is comprised of companies and individuals in every facet of the underground utility industry, including Berntsen.

Madison, Wisconsin – March 7, 2022: Berntsen International, Inc., was recognized with the High Potential Award at the 2022 Esri Partner Conference (EPC) held in Palm Springs, California March 5–7, 2022. This award was presented to Berntsen International Inc., for the substantial opportunity for growth represented by its InfraMarker® Connected RFID™ solution that links the power of ArcGIS with RFID asset marking to deliver more accurate and efficient field operations.

2022 marks Berntsen’s 50th anniversary. Thank you, surveyors for your support over the past half-century. Berntsen has been supporting surveyors for longer that I’ve been surveying.

It’s been an interesting road, and I’ve really enjoyed digging into Berntsen’s storied past. I’ve come up with a few gems I’ll share with you throughout 2022. Here’s a quick overview of our history.

Most people don’t really think about how geographic information provides the framework for our entire existence. We exist as living organisms in time and space. Our minds may be occupied with far-way thoughts, but our memories are inextricably tied to the place where they were created. As long as we live and breathe, we always have a location. Shakespeare’s Hamlet said “To be or not to be, that is the question.” Surveyors say, “To be is to occupy a position relative to two axes.”

Berntsen International, maker of InfraMarker® Connected RFID™, announces a new release of the InfraMarker Mobile App, the field data collection component of the popular InfraMarker Connected RFID solution.

The United Nations passed a resolution creating this day to celebrate the creative economy, which actually makes a lot of sense, considering the entire world is just beginning to come out of a pandemic that really forced us all to get creative just to do our jobs.

Fortunately, surveyors have made creativity a way of life. It seems like we have a pretty straightforward job – use our tools to verify property lines, monitor structures for movement over time, lay out the lines for construction, etc.