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| GeoCommunity Mailing List |
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| Subject: | Re: GISList: GPS data collection spawns court case! |
| Date: |
03/07/2002 04:38:45 PM |
| From: |
Kevin Murphy |
|
|
What State is this lawsuit happening in ??
>>> "SRobertson" <dog@arkansas.net> 03/07/02 05:29PM >>>
I've started several projects using either a Trimble Pro XR or a Leica Data
Pro to collect data. One of these projects involved locating all the fire
hydrants within a particular city and recording their locations and
attribute data (brand, flow rate, valves etc.). The two questions below
never became an issue because I was not surveying property boundaries but
mapping fire hydrants. I suppose mapping fiber optics (I have) water lines,
gas lines might require a registered surveyor in some states or on federal
property but its my understanding that professional "land" surveyors are not
required for most of the above.
1.) Were we practicing surveying illegally in this particular instance
> (collecting fire hydrant locations)?
2.) Is any GIS or other person using a GPS unit to collect locational
> information to create maps for public use guilty of land surveying?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Anthony Quartararo" <ajq3@spatialnetworks.com>
To: <gislist@geocomm.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2002 3:54 PM
Subject: RE: GISList: GPS data collection spawns court case!
> Wow, what a free for all this could be. I can hear it now..."In this
> corner......".
>
> What, as if a Licensed, bona-fide land surveyor has never made an error,
let
> alone a catastrophic mistake? I can appreciate the concern of some
> official, government or commercial entity, that their data may have some
> error in it and would seek to mitigate any potential or foreseeable
> litigation as a result of that error. But then we all need to freeze in
our
> spot right now, because there is absolutely NO data that is free of error.
>
> In this case, the GPS field data collector does not, and should NOT be
> required to be a licensed surveyor, that's what the GPS is for and if the
> operator is properly trained and qualified to use the equipment, and then
> post-process if needed, then there should be no more error than if a
> licensed surveyor did it. To what end would the requirement of a licensed
> surveyor's involvement be, would it be so that some elected official
doesn't
> get creamed in the next election because a licensed surveyor didn't do the
> work? It certainly would not make any sense (economical, technical or
> common) to require a licensed surveyor to be the GPS data collector by
law,
> because error will still be incorporated and passed along with the
surveyor
> does the work too. What can we possibly be talking about in terms of
> horizontal accuracy with a GPS anyway? 1-2' off ? Guess it depends on
> whether the GPS operator was straddling the fire hydrant, standing at an
> offset, using a laser range finder from 100' away, etc. If a firefighter
> cannot locate a fire hydrant while standing 1-2' away, then no licensed
land
> surveyor with a transit is going to make a difference anyway, sorry.
>
> But this then begs the question right, if it doesn't matter where the
> hydrant is as long as the map records it within a few feet of it's
> "absolute" position (there really is no such thing), then why bother with
> the precision of GPS? Of course there are plenty of useful and needful
> applications of this technology, even for fire hydrant locations, and it
> should be employed anywhere and everywhere, but is it necessary to raise a
> ruckus about a few inches of potential error at the expense of additional
> contracting requirements or service providers?
>
> I do hope this example is RARE rather than commonplace in the future, and
I
> also hope the presiding judicial authorities get an education first, then
> consider the negative precedent they would set if they ruled that GPS
field
> data collection had to be done by licensed surveyors.
>
> Anthony
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Glenn Letham [mailto:editor@geocomm.com\=20
> Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2002 4:13 PM
> To: gislist@geocomm.com=20
> Subject: GISList: GPS data collection spawns court case!
>
>
> An interesting post on another list poses the question, should GIS people
be
> conducting land surveys?
>
> Imagine, a local government has a field crew recording fire hydrant
> locations with a GPS... the problem, the data collectors are not licensed
> land surveyors. What are the issues here? I imagine that every local
> government around will have different issues here to deal with, including
> which department is responsible for getting that data: what are the
accuracy
> requirements: what happens to the data?
>
> I'm sure this will be more common in the future as the use of GPS -
couple
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