Saturday, March 19, 2016

Day-in-the-life of a land surveyor

My name is Anthony and I study Geomatics engineering in Ahuntsic College. This College is in Canada, more accurately in Montreal. Geomatics engineering is mathematics applied to Earth measurment. Geomatics engineering  is my field of study, so this is why I decided to do a summarize about a day in the life of a land surveyor.

                           The schedule and the place

A land surveyor work in general 8 hours a day and 5 days each week. The place you work when you're a land surveyor vary a lot. He works in an office and outside, when he's outside, he will face the temperature. Sometimes the temperature is really hard to face, for example its possible that the surveyor work even in a snow storm or in a heat wave. They're is several landscapes where you will work too, like in a forest or in a city.

                                      The beginning of the day


First, the land surveyor goes to his office and drink a coffee, the he receives some papers about the field his going to work on. He goes to his truck and go to the field with 2 other peoples. When the squad arrive at the field, they start deploying the gear they will need for the expedition and to help them to collect the survey data. The gear involved chainsaw, squad or ski-doo, the latest survey equipment and all the other tools.

                                     The middle of the day


After the squad is done installing the gear, the land surveyor goes to the proposed well sites, then he collect their point using his gadgets. After this, he will still need more information so he continue to shoot topography, and one of the other people in the squad will send the information to the office.

                                       The end of the day


At the end of the day the land surveyor go to the points with a colleague and put the base station. Then, they mark up the well site as an access road, this will help with the environment reclamation. After this, the squad go back to the office with the truck and the gear. The day is now over.

Source:https://youtu.be/V_X3dqDRXhM
References:
Checked and revised with the help of the Virtual Writing Tutor grammar checker

20 terms and definitions for Geomatics engineering

Hi, this is some useful terms and definitions for the sudent who study the same field of study than me. I study Geomatics engineering in Ahuntsic College and I really love this. Those 20 terms will help you with the commun language used in class and on your working environment.

Geographic Coordinate System (GCS)
A 2D coordinate system defined by latitude and longitude, based on a reference ellipsoid approximation of the earth. Latitude and longitude are based on the angle from the equator and prime meridian respectively.
Benchmark
A brass or bronze disk set in a concrete base or other permanent structure, inscribed with a mark showing its elevation above or below an adopted vertical datum.
Datum
In geomatics, a mathematical model used to approximate the size and shape of the earth. Different datums might be more appropriate (better approximations) for different locations on the earth. WGS84 is the datum currently used by GPS satellites to determine their position. NAD83 is the most commonly used datum in North America.
Digital Elevation Model (DEM)
Digital Elevation Model. The representation of continuous elevation values over a topographic surface by a regular array of z-values, referenced to a common datum; typically used to represent terrain relief.
Draping
A 2D image superimposed on a 3D surface. For example, an aerial photograph might be draped over a DEM to create a realistic terrain visualisation.
Geocentric datum
A horizontal geodetic datum based on an ellipsoid that has its origin at the earth's centre of mass (e.g., WGS84, NAD83)
Geodetic datum
A datum that is the basis for calculating positions on the earth's surface or heights above and below the earth's surface.
Geoid
The equipotential surface that coincides with the mean ocean surface of the earth. A smooth but highly irregular surface, known by gravitational measurements, to which the force of gravity is everywhere perpendicular.
Interpolation
The estimation of surface values at un-sampled points base on known surface values of surrounding points.
Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) interpolation
An interpolation technique that estimates cell values in a raster from a set of sample points that have been weighted so that the farther a sampled point is from the cell being evaluated, the less weight it has in the calculation of the cell's value.
NAD83
North American Datum 1983. A horizontal datum based on different spheroid definitions (mathematical model) than WGS84. Although WGS84 and NAD83 often give similar location estimates, NAD83 is a better approximation of true locations in North America.
Nadir
The point that falls directly below (-90°) an observer; a line drawn directly through an observer to the centre of the earth
Photogrammetry
One of the earliest remote sensing techniques, which derives information about the earth from aerial photographs. 3D coordinates of earth features can be determined via stereoscopy (triangulation from two offset images of a similar location).
Projected Coordinate System
A method used to represent the curved, 3D surface of the earth on a 2D plane. Essentially, the conversion of location data from a sphere approximation to a planar surface (e.g., UTM).
Reference Ellipsoid
Since the earth is not a perfect sphere, this is a 3D ellipse used to approximate the shape of the earth. GPS satellites currently reference their position (height) to the reference ellipsoid WGS84. One result of using a reference ellipsoid is that at sea level elevation might not always be recorded as 0.
Registration
To align two or more maps so that equivalent geographic coordinates coincide. Or, to link map coordinates to ground control points.
Survey monument
An object, such as a metal disk, permanently mounted in the landscape to denote a survey station.
Zenith
The point that falls directly above an observer; opposite the nadir and pointing directly away from the centre of the earth.
WGS84
World Geodetic System 1984. The most commonly used geocentric datum and geographic coordinate system today. GPS measurements are based on the WGS84 reference ellipsoid.
GPS
Global Positioning System. A system of radio-emitting and -receiving satellites used to determine positions on the earth. Orbiting satellites transmit signals that allow a GPS receiver to calculate its own location through trilateration (determining position with respect to two other points by measuring the distance between all three points).

                                                            Sources

If, you want more terms and definition click here source.

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