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Friday Webinar Series

Join us on a Friday of every month as we present lectures
on a variety of business, project management and surveying TECH
subjects. All from the convenience of your office! And most TALK
courses have been approved for NY CE credit! Register on our
website, www.nysapls.org.
Hunting Apps and Boundary Lines
Featured February Program… By Keith R. Burley

Young Professionals Committee Member
Professional Ethics for the Land Surveyor In recent years there have been a significant amount of
Presented by Milton Denny, PLS hunting apps hitting the market that allow hunters to view
February 4, 2022 “boundary lines” in the palm of their hand using cell phones.
Registration Fees: $49 Members; $60 Non-Members From a hunter’s perspective this is a great new technology
Approved for 1.0 NY LS/PE CE Hour that allows them to set tree stands, blinds, and drives on

This course covers not only the history of ethics, but gives the designated parcel or area to which they have permission
guidance on all professional issues dealing with responsibility to hunt. However, from the surveyor’s perspective this
and standard of care. It provides answers to everyday problems presents a true boundary nightmare. Over the past three
that arise in the day to day functioning of all land surveyors. years with the influx of hunting apps, I have heard this
The course’s coverage of ethics as it relates to those in the field famous line from clients and neighbors, “according to my
and the real-life examples of ethical issues are covered. A special hunting app, the property corner is right over there”. I then
issue we will address is water boundaries for state of New York. have to explain to the hunting app user that the property
We will also highlight some of the rules of the New York Board lines shown on their app often only represent tax map parcel
of Regents: Unprofessional Conduct. lines and not true boundary lines. Oftentimes this opens a
can of worms and confusion to the user.
Seminar Goals and Objectives
By the end of this webinar, attendees will be able to: One story comes to mind when a property owner hired a
1. Define when an ethics issue is involved in a survey job. sign company to install posted signs every hundred feet along
2. Be equipped with information on how to deal with their boundary line. Our company was then hired by the
the issue neighbor to survey their property and stake the line where
the new posted signs were set. In the field we found that
3. Determine whether or not you want to take a job if nearly every posted sign was approximately thirty feet off the
there is an ethics issue. boundary line onto our client’s property. Come to find out,
About our Speaker: the property owner had the posted signs set per the hunting
Milton E. Denny is a registered surveyor in six states, app on his phone and was extremely upset that he spent
and a veteran of surveying, mapping and GIS. His thousands of dollars and every single sign was off his land.
special interest has always been in project development
and management of firms. He is a past president of the Evolving technology with phones and associated apps can
Alabama Society of Professional Land Surveyors, a be a great asset to make our lives easier, simple, and more
Fellow in the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping and served efficient, but grave mistakes can be made when depending
for many years on the Board of Direction. Mr. Denny is the author of on an app to show boundary lines. So, the question is,
many manuals dealing with surveying, mapping and GIS. He is a how can we combat this problem in the field and office
nationally known speaker and lecturer on these subjects and writes a with landowners, hunters, and clients. The answer may
column called “The Business Side” for a trade magazine. Mr. Denny be through education and outreach programs. In addition,
recently finished publishing a book on the history of surveying measurement it may be helpful to reach out to companies that create
call “Surveying the Land: Survey Measurement Devices 1620 to 1920”. such apps and recommend that disclaimers be made to the
He is currently serving on the Board of the Surveyor’s Historical Society
and teaches part time for Auburn University. accuracy of the parcel boundaries their app shows.
The rapidly evolving technology we see every day in cell
phones could be a great asset to land surveying. However,

egister
Visit our website to register I firmly believe that great care must be taken to ensure
Visit our w
ebsite to r
that new phone technology is being implemented and
today! www
today! www.nysapls.org used correctly and conforms to the accuracy and precision
.nysapls.org
standards we expect as professional land surveyors.
20 EMPIRE STATE SURVEYOR / VOL. 58 • NO 1 / 2022 • JANUARY/FEBRUARY