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Friday Webinar Series
Friday W ebinar Series Surveying: It’s a Wonder
By Eric Gladhill, PLS

Surveying is a fascinating and wonderful time I was shown how to read a Vernier When I met with the young couple who
profession – just think about the great on a transit. Yes, of course, I’m aging had just bought the property, I learned
things that we have the opportunity myself now, but that was the main type of that they moved into the old farmhouse
to accomplish from day-to-day. We instrument being used for turning angles because the wife had fallen in love with
may create a new tract of land through on basic surveys in the late 1970s. We also the setting and they had moved into the
subdivision which allows a young person used scale-reading theodolites at the firm local, rural area from a more urban setting.
to have a new home on their own piece where I worked, but I wasn’t allowed to They were raising a young daughter and
of property, or we may settle a property touch them until later. they wanted to raise her in an idyllic
dispute between two parties that will My father had been a machinist, and he setting of a farm.
allow for peaceful existence into the taught me how to read a micrometer, When they had their discussion over the
future. Not only those types of cadastral which used a similar type of scale to cost of the land, the wife had suggested
surveys, but what about the large aerial measure the thickness of machine steel. that they could sell some lots along the
mapping projects that require ground So when I first saw a Vernier, I wasn’t road frontage and still have their piece
control? Those projects often lead to completely confused on the method of of paradise in the middle of the farm,
the design of major land improvements, finding the etched lines which coincided where the house and barn were located.
including highways, buildings, parks, etc. to read a value on a scale. I was amazed The husband told her that he had been
The list goes on and on. that there was a method to measure angles involved in land development before and
I think it’s always good to remember the to a finer gradation than the nearest half- didn’t want any part of it, but invited her to
wonder and awe that we all had when we degree, like we did with a protractor in manage the project and get the lots created.
first realized how awesome the profession high school geometry. I was the project manager and surveyor
of surveying is. Do you remember your Perhaps in your career, you remember for the subdivision and it was a difficult
first introduction to the science and the first time you saw a total station and one, with various permits needed and
math of surveying? I remember the first data collector being used to collect data; several hurdles to clear in order to get the
literally at the speed of light. Can you final approvals for the lots. In the end,
remember the amazement and wonder everything worked out and they made
you had when you realized how this their dreams come true.
system worked and what it meant to have The main reason for telling that story is
that data translated into coordinates? Or, not to brag about my accomplishments;
maybe your first introduction to surveying any surveyor could have completed the
was with GPS, before everyone had one in process. It’s only to point out that what we
their car or hand-held device. I think that do is extremely important and can make a
was the most mind-boggling thing for all world of difference for the clients that we
of us to experience and imagine what had serve. Not only should we be reminded of
to go into the inception and development how great the technology is, but how about
of such technology. Of course, now with what our work provides for others? As
network GPS, we can push a few buttons stated in the opening paragraph, the work
and (theoretically) obtain centimeter-level we do makes a major impact in people’s
coordinates in a matter of minutes. lives and the world in which we live.
I think it behooves us to remember the
fascination and wonder that got us About the Author:
hooked on the profession of surveying in Eric Gladhill, PLS, serves
the beginning of our careers. Sometimes as a Senior Client Manager
we may just take a lot of these things for at C. S. Davidson, Inc., in
granted and allow ourselves to become the Gettysburg office. He is
disenchanted and maybe even disgruntled licensed as a Property Line
with the hum-drum routine of our work. Surveyor in Maryland and a Professional
Land Surveyor in Pennsylvania. Eric B.
Some years ago, the firm where I work Gladhill, PLS, is a senior client manager
was asked to do a subdivision to create at C. S. Davidson, Inc. in Gettysburg,
some residential building lots on a farm. Pennsylvania. His book, Finding My
This farm property had frontage on two Boundaries (Interesting People I’ve Met
roads. It was a long and narrow piece of While Surveying) is available on Amazon,
property with the old farm house and Barnes & Nobel, and Kobo
outbuildings in the middle, near a creek
that traversed the land. Reprinted with permission from xyHt.
EMPIRE STATE SURVEYOR / VOL. 59 • NO 3/ 2023 • MAY/JUNE 23