re: *Not a Licensed Surveyor

quote:

---

Id bet an MD is easier to achieve than a PLS in La, baw. The barrier to entry is the other surveyor baws on the “board.” And who wants to chop fricking lines through a saw briar patch in August anyhow?

---

This is the case for all professional licensing in every state of the United States. The only thing it accomplishes, and in fact its only goal, is to limit competition. There is no liability on the part of the state, there is no risk mitigation to the public....the state is the least qualified entity on the planet to license professionals - if you doubt this consider that the state also licenses drivers. I have electrical contractors licenses in 7 states (not journeyman licenses, contractor licenses that allow me to stamp designs and pull permits), Conditioned air licenses in North and South Carolina and a reciprocal conditioned air license in Georgia, and a Georgia GC license. I have had EC licenses in Texas, New Mexico, Washington, Oregon and Colorado but I have not kept those up because I don't plan to use them in those states again. In every instance, except one, it was a board of licensed individuals who determined my qualifications to sit the exam. The lone exception was the SC Conditioned Air licensing exam which was, at the time I sat it, open to the public and the test itself weeded out potential licensees. Anyone who fails to see a conflict of interest in a group of business owners or high level employees of a business in an industry picking and choosing who can compete with them is blind to the possibility of conflict of interest.


SO what is the alternative? Exactly what takes place right now WITH licensing. Due diligence and litigation. That is all a consumer has with state licensing in place to protect their interests, the only thing state licensing does is drive up costs by eliminating competition. The other thing that state licensing does is create an atmosphere where less than knowledgeable consumers fail to do their due diligence...thinking that surely, if the person is licensed and insured they know what they are doing. They do not, they have a license because the industry decided they could compete in the industry and they have insurance because anyone can buy an insurance policy or a bond....either one being worth more than the paper its written on is a whole 'nother can of worms....

quote:

---

Totally and completely false.

Don’t believe me?

Survey your property yourself and try to register it at your local court house as a legal description.

Good luck.

---

Thats not the point. Yes, licensing is required to register the results with the AHJ. Licensing does nothing to ensure that the results are correct. Licensing does not protect the consumer....there is no liability on the part of the AHJ and the only liability on the part of the licensee is that which can be captured in litigation. Licensing and the requirement of the AHJ that a license is required is part and parcel of the same design to limit competition while doing nothing to protect consumers. If the licensed professional makes a mistake the consumer is the one who pays, The licensed professional may lose their license BUT the consumer is still not whole....that would require litigation and even when the consumer wins a judgement collecting on it will require further litigation....due diligence is the ONLY assurance the consumer has....professional licensing provides a false sense of security in consumers. It is meaningless and actually damaging...it limits competition and drives up costs and provides NO assurance or protection to consumers.

I have to have a code compliance bond to pull most permits in most jurisdictions. That bond is worth about what the paper it is written on in many instances. The only protection consumers have is their own due diligence.

quote:

---

It's a matter of liability. If they build a shop based on your map and it's 3 ft. over the line, it's your arse.

---

At the end of the day it is always the individuals arse on the line.

We have a combination total station/laser scanner. Thing is awesome.

But yeah, total stations are still widely used.

quote:

---

With today’s technology. Who still uses total stations?

---

all the time. just recently used a couple that were retrofitted to measure deflection of the vertical

quote:

---

Same in Louisiana

---

What part and what kind of survey

quote:

---

Question for you (and anyone else who has surveyed land):

Do you take into account the "curvature" of the earth?

OR

Do you assume the land is flat?

---

Depends on the technique being used and the end geodetic datum desired.

Survey grade GPS requires a datum shift from satellite datum, WGS-84 to local flat earth datum, normally expressed in State Plane or UTM coordinates. There’s a few intermediate calcs required to convert from satellite datum to the desired local datum, going from a curved sphere to local based flat earth coordinates.

“Flat Earth” survey datums can usually be done starting from a survey grade benchmark using a Total Station instrument in lieu of GPS.

Part of the surveyor’s skill set is knowing the science of Geodesy, which in some cases can be very complex. The earth is flattened at the poles, technically not a perfectly round sphere but egg shaped. It’s called an oblate spheroid.

That’s a simplified explanation of a complex subject known as Geodesy.

quote:

---

And who wants to chop fricking lines through a saw briar patch in August anyhow?

---

If you have a survey license, you aren't doing this.