|
|
Surveying
|
|
Geographic information systems (GIS) is the technology for acquisition, processing, analysis, presentation, and storage of geographic data. It is the language of geography that integrates disciplines, organizations, information, processes, plans, workflow, and decision making under a common framework.
With the many GIS applications comes ever increasing demand for geographically referenced information. Surveyors are uniquely positioned to provide accurate, timely, and relevant data to support GIS users' applications and decisions.
Surveyors use GIS to store and analyze survey related information including survey measurements, orthorectified imagery (satellite or airborne), GPS raw and processed data, LIDAR (light detection and ranging) raw and processed data, computer aided drafting (CAD) drawings, and survey records.
GIS solutions for land surveyors
The GIS community needs surveyors to define the digital cadastre, to integrate the cadastre with GIS, and to ensure that related data is linked to the cadastre. Surveyors are digital cadastre creators. Beyond the digital cadastre, other opportunities are available to generate new business such as using GIS and digital elevation models for topographic surveys and preliminary road design. ESRI offers ArcGIS Survey Analyst, an ArcGIS extension designed specifically for surveyors. ArcGIS Survey Analyst is used to store and manage survey points, measurements, and computations. Using ArcGIS Survey Analyst, surveyors can easily incorporate their measurements and calculations into GIS databases to serve as a control framework for the various departments and applications within an organization.
Research
Survey plats, land records, and other legal documents are gathered from courthouses and online facilities and used to begin a survey project. |
Field Measurement
To accurately record distances on the ground, surveyors typically utilize total stations, precise levels, GPS, EDMs, and steel tapes.
Data Management
Data management tools can be scaled to meet the your needs, from the individual to workgroups and large, multi-user, enterprises.
Computation/Analysis
Measurements must be adjusted to fit geometric conditions. To achieve this, surveyors analyze errors and redistribute them to an acceptable tolerance.
Mapping/Visualization
Measurements, survey points, and computations are all managed and stored in a GIS system. Raw survey data, COGO measurements, and field sketches can be entered directly into the GIS.
Survey firms assist many organizations including local government, oil & gas firms, and many more with their geographic information management. They can also use GIS technology to manage their own businesses. GIS provides a spatial index to survey records providing proximity searches for jobs. GIS provides surveyors the tools to store, manage, and visualize survey records. It is a cost effective, efficient solution that allows surveyors to benefit from significant savings of time and money.
ESRI Canada has developed a GIS starter kit for land surveyors. For more information, please contact your Local ESRI Canada Regional Office.
|
|
