Surveyors have been at their labors for millennia. It’s commonly understood that the Egyptians were the first surveyors, but new evidence finds that another civilization was using cadastral surveying around the same time – perhaps even earlier. This image of a Babylonian clay tablet depicts a surveyor’s plan of a field – dated at circa 3,700 BC.

What does the term “Public Works” mean? It’s one of those terms that are so broad that it almost defies definition.

The American Public Works Association (APWA) says “Because of the multi-faceted, ever-evolving nature of public works, we may never arrive at a final definition but, for now, the following definition seems appropriate: Public works is the combination of physical assets, management practices, policies, and personnel necessary for government to provide and sustain structures and services essential to the welfare and acceptable quality of life for its citizens.”

811 Day was created to bring attention to a significant but unfamiliar issue – the high cost and safety impacts of underground utility strikes.

Quantifying the cost and safety impacts of utility strikes is difficult. A compilation of various studies estimates that the direct cost of each strike is $4,000 -- but that doesn’t take into consideration the cost to repair and restore the damage. Taken together, the cost of the strike plus the cost of restoration, the total is 29 times the cost of the direct damage itself.

It’s a great time to get out and explore any of our 424 national parks. Did you know that the work of surveyors was instrumental in the establishment of these parks?

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.

“Across 2 expansive wars and 2 transformative peace treaties, the surveyors eye changed the image of America in the British Atlantic world.” - Max Edelson is a professor of history at the University of Virginia.

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.

There’s probably never been a better time to be a surveyor, especially with the many new infrastructure projects in the works. For surveyors who want the freedom to take advantage of the boom, it may be a good time to start a surveying business. For others, it’s a great time to pick up new skills, recognition and pay within their survey/engineering firm.

Surveyors were key to the birth of our country, serving in the Revolutionary War and signing the Declaration of Independence. Since that time, surveyors have continued to serve our country, both in peacetime and in conflict.

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?

Surveying was critical to the development of our nation – in fact all four of the presidents on Mount Rushmore were surveyors or map-makers and many of those who fought for our independence were surveyors. Thomas Jefferson was the author U.S. Public Land Survey System which bases land divisions on a rectangular grid. This system became law in 1785 and continues to provide the backbone of economic development to this day.

Hi, this is Tim Burch, Executive Director of NSPS, and I’m teaming up with Berntsen to share why we’re so excited about this year’s FIG Working Week.

Surveyors know a lot more about the earth than most professions. Many people choose the profession because of the opportunity to get out and enjoy the great outdoors while earning a good living.

Saturday, April 22nd is Earth Day, a time to celebrate the beautiful planet we inhabit and take steps to keep it healthy.

It’s common knowledge that Henry David Thoreau wrote Walden about his two years living at Walden Pond (1845-1847). The book had an enormous impact at the time and its effects are still felt today.

April is Safe Digging Month ‒ for good reason. As the construction season ramps up, the number of utility strikes increases. According to the Common Ground Alliance (CGA), damages to underground utilities cost the U.S. an estimated $30 billion ‒ most caused by unintended strikes to utilities during excavation for construction projects. Unfortunately, few people are aware of this on-going problem until they lose power or internet when a backhoe strikes a cable – or when a gas line is struck, and the area is evacuated.

Surveyor’s Week is a great time to recognize the work of surveyors and their contributions, not only within the United States, but around the world. In our many blogs about surveying and famous surveyors, we’ve mainly focused on this country, but surveying is just as important around the world as it is here.

Surveying is one of the few professions where practitioners truly leave their mark, both physically, with survey markers, as well as in recorded history. Sometimes this work is truly monumental, as is the case with Alice Cunningham Fletcher.

Fletcher was born into wealth – her father was a prominent New York attorney, and her mother came from a wealthy Bostonian family. Unfortunately, her father’s health was poor and the family moved to Havana, Cuba shortly before Fletcher was born in the hopes the climate there would improve his health. However, the climate change didn’t work, and her father passed away in 1939 when Fletcher was only a year old.

Surveyors have special reason to celebrate President’s Day, since Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and even Teddy Roosevelt all had surveying and map-making in their backgrounds. Jefferson’s surveying experience informed his acts as president, including the establishment of the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) and the Louisiana Purchase that added 827,000 square miles of land to the United States.

By the 1800s, the westward expansion was continuing unabated, despite land being inhabited by indigenous peoples as well as claimed by other countries.

Did you know that the highest mountain in the world is named for a surveyor who never laid eyes on it?

George Everest was the Surveyor General of India from 1830-1843, during the time when Great Britain was consolidating its control over the country in order to have full access to its vast resources. His work was so important to the fulfillment of that goal that the mountain was eventually named after him – despite his protests.

The dizzying pace of technological change is overwhelming at times. But no matter what changes, surveyors keep us grounded, because they know precisely where we stand, X, Y and Z. Surveyors have been setting the markers for progress since ancient times – the early Egyptian and Roman architectural wonders were based on the work of early surveyors. Colonial surveyors were key to the founding of the United States, not only by parsing out boundary lines for European settlers, but by nation-building – helping to author the Declaration of Independence, then helping to create a new kind of government for the new nation.