LSU-a great networking site

I wanted to share with any of the surveyors or related industries out there a website called Land Surveyors United. It's essentially a ning social networking site, but unlike other ning sites, the owners have really done alot with it. I would definitely say it's on par with the more well known sites like a myspace or facebook.
So I would definitely suggest you check it out. I've added the link to my profile on there, so you can check it out and see what it's all about.
Take care and Happy Fourth of July!
W.Dwight Hatfield

SurvTech Solutions Surveying and Mapping Tampa, Florida Surveyors

I wanted to share with any of the surveyors or related industries out there a website called Land Surveyors United. It's essentially a ning social networking site, but unlike other ning sites, the owners have really done alot with it. ...

Fall Studio: Sea Level Rise

While I am still unprepared to reveal all of the final details, I wanted to share the basic outline of our fall studio project for Intermediate Landscape Architecture I (11:550:331). The entire semester will be spent exploring design interventions and implications of sea level rise and global warming in Cape May County, New Jersey with funding assistance form the New Jersey Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.

The project will be building on the results of the Spring 2009 Advanced Environmental Geomatics class. CRSSA has already created some great research on the Vulnerability of New Jersey's Coastal Habitats to Sea Level Rise that will give you a sense for both the seriousness of the threat and the diversity of issues wrapped up in this seemingly simple problem. SEBS researchers and Rutgers alums are all looking into the problem.

Cape May County has become the high profile location of an ecological decline that is represented in the falling populations of the interconnected populations of red knots and horseshoe crabs. This got some national attention when PBS aired an entire episode looking at the problem, but has been the focus of research here at Rutgers and at the NJ DEP for some time. It is also a great spot for ecotourism, which would presumably decline quickly as the natural landscapes are degraded.


One of the clear challenges would be to start building an infrastructure now that will better support the future residents of Cape May County. What would high performance infrastructure guidelines tell us about where we should be looking? We aren't the first people to explore these topics, so we need to learn from past studies if we are going to accomplish something new.

The certain threat and the uncertain details make sea level rise, and the larger patterns of climate change, an interesting problem for designers. In the San Francisco Bay Area, concerns about sea level rise (as shown in their local paper) led to the Rising Tides Competition this summer. Hopefully we'll get to see some results this fall before we are too far along in our project. I strongly encourage our students to look back at the IFLA 2008 Student Competition, which gives some great ideas about both the imaginative and serious aspects of this as a design issue.

You should also take a little time to peruse both popular portrayals and serious discussions of climate change and sea level rise. Keep an eye on regular news accounts about the science. How are going to communicate the complexity of the issue? How are we, as a class and a team, going to resolve uncertainties? Do we need to educate the public or are they fairly aware? We'll be sifting through countless agency reports, like the recent EPA report on Adaptation Planning for the National Estuary Program, and trying to organize the things we learn from them. We are also going to start paying attention to more and more mundane things like maps of sidewalks. Keep your eyes (and browser) open for these and keep careful records of what you see.

If you can get out and explore, it would be great. But if you can only get to Trenton, that would work too. The New Jersey State Museum in Trenton also has an exhibit called Rising Tide: Climate Change & Sea Level Rise in New Jersey.

But take some time to get to know Cape May County. Think about the landmarks and people. What is it known for? What is it like for tourists? But what is it like for year-round residents?

Finally, Places and Spaces will now be an active focused source with at least 3 tags for this project: cape may, JrStudio, sea level rise. Use them to keep up.

Quote of the Week

"It’s extremely gratifying. I can’t wait for this to show up on Google Earth for the first time."

Entrix Inc. senior project scientist Chris Pfeifer on Slough’s Gut Marsh which his company helped rebuild on Cape Cod in the Cape Gazette.

SuperGIS Image Server

SuperGeo announces that SuperGIS Image Server is about to be released in Q3. SuperGIS Image Server, the image server software, allows enterprises to centrally manage, maintain and publish large quantities of image data and providing high speed streaming and On-the-fly Image.

SeaZone mapping wins over UK government

UK government departments and organisations have renewed licences for the latest marine mapping from SeaZone, a company in marine geographic information data, software and services.

SuperPad selected for teaching and research

SuperGeo announces that SuperPad has been selected by Shinshu University, Japan, to be as a complete mobile GIS solution for teaching and research in the field.

Magellan Professional ProFlex for the Canadian Armed Forces

The Canadian Armed Forces Mapping and Charting Establishment has selected the recently introduced Magellan Professional ProFlex 500, a dual-frequency GNSS receiver, to perform a variety of survey missions.

NAVTEQ: "The phone will not replace the sat-nav"

Not a new sentiment, though I've mostly heard it from sat-nav providers, not data providers. That comment comes from NAVTEQ vice president, Serge Bussat. He goes on to say, in an interview from Pocket-Link, "It's not about building the map, it's about building the layers on top of it." That says the article means not data layers, but apps. The future for NAVTEQ in sat-nav? In-car solutions. As the article points out, most folks commenting suggest phones will indeed push stand alone sat navs aside.

I'm not sure why it matters to NAVTEQ where its data end up. And, I'm not sure why a spokesperson would say, "it's not about building the map" unless it plans to get out of the data business and into the app biz. And, of course, the company is getting into the app biz, at least a bit, with its online and mobile phone directions/traffic apps.

Discussions in an MSNBC article that highlighted missing information in a satnav highlight the importance of the added layer. This was official NAVTEQ response from Navteq spokesman Bob Richter:

“The information for travelling on the I-66 is correctly referenced in the Navteq [sic] map and is made available to our customers. We regret we cannot comment on the actual system performance, as it is our policy not to speak on behalf of our customers who make other necessary decisions in the final system development once we deliver our data.”

- Pocket-Lint

In other NAVTEQ news:

NAVTEQ Vice Chairman (and former CEO) Judson Green is joining the board of human resources consulting and outsourcing company Hewitt Associates Inc.

- press release

Everyblock Source Code Now Available

Just as we vote on some of the most influential people in geospatial, one on our list has a big announcement: Adrian Holovaty explains on his blog that as his Knight News Challenge Grant comes to an end, the code behind his project, Everyblog is now being released under an open source (GPL) license. The two year grant has ended, but Holovaty assures the world the site will continue, under the direction of a private company.

via @timoreiily and Brady Forrest

3 USED Sokkia Stratus L1 Static GPS Units on Special

US $6,000.00 End Date: Sunday Jul-12-2009 16:38:28 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $6,000.00 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Surveyor's Backsite and Prism Combo Prism, Target, more

US $350.00 End Date: Sunday Jul-12-2009 16:39:18 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $350.00 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Sokkia GSR2700ISX High Performance GPS GNSS System

US $14,250.00 End Date: Sunday Jul-12-2009 16:39:07 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $14,250.00 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Sokkia SET310 3"Conventional Total Station Pre-Loved

US $3,995.00 End Date: Sunday Jul-12-2009 16:38:55 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $3,995.00 Buy it now | Add to watch list

New Sokkia Axis 3 GPS System with Data Collector

US $5,295.00 End Date: Sunday Jul-12-2009 16:37:24 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $5,295.00 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Carlson Explorer I Data Collector Surveying Package

US $3,295.00 End Date: Sunday Jul-12-2009 16:37:10 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $3,295.00 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Crain USL/ SVR Level Rod for Surveying

US $145.00 End Date: Sunday Jul-12-2009 16:36:55 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $145.00 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Sokkia GSR2700ISX High Performance GNSS System

US $28,500.00 End Date: Sunday Jul-12-2009 16:36:49 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $28,500.00 Buy it now | Add to watch list

Pipe Alignment Transit Targetec LM-2000 DEMO model

US $850.00 End Date: Sunday Jul-12-2009 16:35:57 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $850.00 Buy it now | Add to watch list