SaLIS vol. 65, no.3

September 2005

20^th Surveying and Mapping Educators Conference

Hosted by Geographic Information Program, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi

 

Surveying Education and Technology:
Who’s Zooming Who

Robert Burtch

ABSTRACT: It is clear that technological changes are making a significant impact on the surveying and mapping profession.  What is now common practice becomes outdated in only a few years. The impact of technology and instrumentation on surveying and mapping education will be explored. This paper will begin by defining the role of higher education in the surveying and mapping profession. The assertion here is that the historical role of higher education is on the brink of being compromised.  This happens when technology becomes paramount and theoretical concepts become subservient to the tools. What we are experiencing is a nudge away from education towards training. In our stampede to get the newest and brightest, programs have embraced unique “partnerships.” The fear here is the “small print” in the agreement and the quid-pro-quo that may be implied. A decade ago, attending a workshop on how to use a total station was deemed to be technician training. In some circles today it is referred to as continuing education. Moreover, the din against the necessity for a degree to become licensed is often based, in part, on the perception of a lack of technical skills graduates may exhibit in the workplace. There is also an inclination within the profession to provide education to “the masses.” The result may be one where education programs become diluted and even devoid of theory; where tools and techniques replace conceptual issues. Education has been under fire for a number of years. There are those who call for a return to the basics—the three R’s.  Surveying educators should not abandon the new and go back to what we did in the past. But, they have to be careful about how to embrace this new technology.  Understanding how a laser scanner works, its limitations and advantages, and its production capabilities is important.  Knowing what button to push to begin the measurement process or icon to click in order to process the data is less important, especially since this technology has a shorter life cycle than the typical college student’s tenure in a baccalaureate surveying program.

 

Off-shoring the Geomatics Industry
and Geomatics Education

N.W.J. Hazelton

Abstract: A recent trend in the U.S. has been the off-shoring of various components of business organization operations, usually in the interest of saving money. One may think that this is unlikely to happen to the surveying/geomatics industry, but that would be wishful thinking; the industry is actually set up to make off-shoring very simple, and the economic and practical arguments in favor of off-shoring are compelling. The “small firm” nature of the profession is not a barrier. The main driver for off-shoring is the growing separation between data collection skills and information handling and management skills in the U.S. industry. This allows basic data collection to be undertaken locally by low-paid technicians, while the information-handling part of the work is moved off-shore. It is becoming more widely recognized that surveying and geomatics skills outside the U.S. are far more comprehensive and advanced than inside, and that it is far easier to recruit skilled and educated young professionals there than it is within the U.S. While there may not be a significant economic advantage in terms of the amount paid to a surveyor outside the U.S., the advantages lie in the level of skills readily available and the potential for greater efficiency in operations. The consequences of off-shoring are fairly easy to see. In the short term, the recruitment problem of the profession in the U.S. is overcome, and there may also be some significant economic advantages. In the long term, however, the consequences are rather dire, including continued deterioration of the cadastre and local skills, but would not provide any significant hindrance to the development of off-shoring. With the move of the information-handling and management part of the industry off-shore, the demand for highly skilled professionals within the U.S. can be expected to decline. There will still be a need for local technician-level people. It is suggested that the education sector consider splitting into three segments: technical, basic professional, and advanced professional. The advanced professional education segment could then be moved off-shore to where the advanced professionals are located. Most off-shore education programs in developed countries are already at the advanced professional level, so the easiest step would be to close that segment in the U.S. The paper will consider scenarios for the surveying industry and surveying education in 2020 and beyond on the basis of this analysis of off-shoring. The role of ABET in assisting off-shoring will also be discussed.

 

Geomatics Curriculum Design Issues

Earl F. Burkholder

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to identify some of the factors that affect the practice of surveying and to look at the underlying issues, especially as related to surveying (geomatics) education.¹ As witnessed by this author, the surveying profession has undergone a dramatic revolution during the past 30 years, and modern surveying practice involves the use of technology only dreamed of a generation ago. As the role of surveying continues to evolve, surveying educators, perhaps more than any other, have both the opportunity and an obligation to insure the continued viability of our profession. Learning from the past, acknowledging the present, and looking to the future, the importance of a college education and curriculum design issues are considered in terms of: 

·          The historical interaction of surveying with engineering and other disciplines;

·          The range of surveying activities including both technical and professional;

·          The evolution of equipment and methods from transit/tape to GPS and computers.

·          The transition from analog to digital and from 2-D to 3-D;

·          Challenges and accomplishments with regard to ABET accreditation;

·          The NCEES exams and the 4-year degree requirement for licensure;

·          The broad scope of spatial data (geomatics) disciplines; and

·         The role of geomatics and the focus of education.

 

 

Andragogy in Survey Education

Kurt B. Wurm

Abstract: Societal changes will likely result in larger numbers of adults returning to school for improved job and career opportunities. Universities categorize these students as “non-traditional.”  Non-traditional students may not be best served through traditional pedagogies. Surveying attracts adults as students perhaps in larger numbers than it does the younger, recent high school graduates. Additional challenges have emerged in the classroom including gender and cultural differences. Providing an equitable learning environment is just as important as providing an effective learning environment This paper examines issues related specifically to reaching diverse adult learners. Surveying and engineering education faces significant challenges as we seek to meet the demands of the twenty-first century. Educators, researchers, and policy makers have advocated student involvement as an essential aspect of meaningful learning. Technological advances have increased our capabilities, and increased the amount of information now considered fundamental. Adult learners tend to be more self-directed and autonomous, thus the role of the teacher has shifted to that of facilitating learning.  Andragogy, the education of adults, is a theory of education worthy of inspection. Through a humanist concept of adults as learners we can develop greater understanding of students’ needs.  Responding to these needs fosters higher learning.  This presentation explores characteristics of adult learners and provides insight to the interpretation of these characteristics to enhance teaching practice.

 

Revving Up an Introductory Surveying Lab

Brian J. Naberezny and Charles Ghilani

ABSTRACT: The introductory course in surveying/geomatics education typically introduces students to the basic computations, equipment, and field procedures used in traditional surveying. While this basic information is extremely important to an undergraduate’s education, it lacks the pizzazz needed to attract to, or retain students in, our profession. This paper looks at the changes made to the introductory surveying course at Penn State, where both data collectors and GPS are now used in the first-semester, freshman course. It discusses how traditional topics such as field-book usage were maintained, while introducing the newer technologies. Additionally, it presents how the complexities of GPS were introduced into the freshman course to enhance traversing, while avoiding more complicated details such as coordinate systems.

 

GIS and Surveying: Future Opportunities

 

Gary Jeffress

 

Abstract: The demand for accurate spatial data with known error budgets is increasing with the increased use of GIS throughout all sectors of the economy. GIS users are beginning to see that with increased reliance on GIS data and information there is a corresponding increase in the risk and liability if the data are of unknown or dubious accuracy. This paper argues that the surveying profession has the education, skills, legal understanding, and experience to minimize these risks and liabilities. But are there enough surveyors to take on the extra demand for these new uses of spatial data? Evidence is emerging that the number of surveying professionals is declining while demand for surveying services is increasing. The shortage of professional surveyors presents challenges and opportunities for both GIS and surveying professionals.

 

A New Hand-held Calculator
for Surveying, Mapping and Geomatics

 

Jon B. Purnell

Abstract: Even though students have access to a dedicated computer lab equipped with CAD, least squares, GPS, and coordinate geometry and mapping software, hand-held calculators continue to play a central role in the Surveying-Geomatics program at Peninsula College. For many years, Hewlett-Packard’s HP-48 series calculators were used at the college and throughout the surveying and allied disciplines, but when HP-48s became scarce in 2002, the college chose Texas Instruments’ TI-89 graphing calculator to fulfill the program’s hand-held computational needs. Many in the surveying and allied disciplines have mourned the demise of the HP-48, but the TI-89 is a powerful, and perhaps most importantly, economical and available alternative to HP-48s or Personal Data Assistants, which can be easily integrated into college-level surveying curricula. This paper explores the TI-89’s suitability for use as an instructional tool in the classroom and describes SurvAid, a set of coordinate geometry (COGO) and other discipline-specific software applications designed for surveying students’ use written especially for the TI-89.

 

Ez-Adjust: A Comprehensive Least Squares
Adjustment Tool

Sayed R. Hashimi

Introduction

z-Adjust is a comprehensive least squares adjustment package for the surveying professional. The main components of the package are: adjustment of GPS and terrestrial observations, 2D horizontal control network adjustment with the option of reducing the observations to grid using a plane coordinate system such as State Plane Coordinates, level network adjustment, four-parameter coordinate transformation, and a geodetic calculator. The adjustment modules have data entry features using the keyboard. Each module contains context-sensitive on-line help, several tutorials, example data sets, and a complete printable manual in pdf format. The software is available free of charge to all academic institutions in the U.S. and can be downloaded from http://www.srh-leastsquares.com.

 

A New Bachelor Degree Curriculum
at East Tennessee State University

 

Tarig A. Ali, Jerry W. Nave, and Marian M. Clark

Abstract: East Tennessee State University (ETSU) offers a unique Bachelor of Science degree in Surveying and Mapping Science that covers a wide range of topics within geomatics. The ETSU Surveying and Mapping Science (SAMS) program’s location allows the university to serve not only the State of Tennessee, but also more than seven of the nearby states through a reciprocal tuition agreement. This program existed as a concentration in Engineering Technology since the 1960s and as a SAMS program since 1987. The program has been accredited through the Applied Science Accreditation Commission of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ASAC) of ABET since 1994. Recently, three new professional sequences within the SAMS curriculum have been developed, including Surveying/Cadastral, GIS/Photogrammetry, and Surveying Business. Every student in the program must take core courses that can lead to professional licensure, and there are specific classes for each sequence. Taking the new and emerging disciplines and technologies into consideration, the new curriculum has been designed to meet a challenging workplace. By doing so, SAMS program graduates are expected to have a much broader background to meet the requirements of an ever expanding job market. This paper discusses the new curriculum of the SAMS program at ETSU.

Geomatics:  Model for a Profession inTransition

James A. Elithorp

Abstract: Business owners, managers, educators, and the leaders of the geomatics profession make decisions and mentor new members into the profession in the face of constant and unrelenting professional and social change.  The scope of this change is bewildering as one realizes that adaptation is not only necessary in applying new technology to the workplace, but that the workplace is constantly in flux due to changes in the expectation of clients which are due to technological innovations. It is useful to construct a model of Geomatics as a profession in transition in order to explain observed phenomena in practice and in education. The model incorporates the dynamic of change in the Geomatics profession, and it is indexed to the responses of Alabama surveyors to a three-year series of annual questionnaires on recruitment, current challenges in the workplace, and the ten-year future of the profession. This model is used to provide the structure upon which to respond to common questions posed by members of the profession.  One of these questions expresses concern that the four-year degree requirement for licensure will fail to provide the number of new members necessary to maintain the profession.  In this paper I use the model to suggest the ideal objectives and structure of the four-year undergraduate degree curriculum in Geomatics.

 

Surveying, Geomatics, and Engineering:
A “Structure” for a Rapidly Evolving Profession

N.W.J. Hazelton

Abstract: A recent letter in P.O.B. magazine suggested that there needs to be a greater separation between Engineering and Surveying/Geomatics in the U.S. Simultaneously, surveying/geomatics education programs are moving more towards engineering in terms of accreditation. Surveying has been tied closely to civil engineering in the U.S., and most registration boards deal with both surveyors and engineers. Where should the profession and the education sector head in this situation? While basic surveying is often focused on data collection, the more advanced areas are focused on information engineering. As the data collection process becomes simpler, we have concentrated on abstraction and symbols. We deal with co-ordinates in GPS and COGO packages, rather than measurements between marks. We deal with GIS databases rather than real-world objects. We deal with abstract land records, rather than actual parcels. We are registered on the basis of the appearance of competence, rather than actual competence. We are not sure if we should move with the model of engineering advanced by ABET, or the diametrically opposite model advanced by NCEES. We risk losing touch with the reality that it is our professional obligation to determine our ultimate raison d’être. Surveying/geomatics has always struggled to decide if it is an information industry, a service industry, or both. In the U.S., it has also struggled to decide if it is a profession and, if so, how should it behave as a profession. It has existed in the thrall of engineering, convinced of its own mediocrity, believing what it was told about itself, never growing to true self-awareness. At the same time, change is sweeping through the industry at an accelerating rate, already far faster than the profession can handle. Something new is needed, before the profession and industry is largely moved off-shore, or shrinks into irrelevance or small enclaves. Models of organizational structures are largely irrelevant. What is needed is a new state of mind. In this paper, some outlines of a state of mind for 21st century geomatics are provided, with some connections back to the role of the education sector in helping to foster this.

 

A Capstone Course
in a Two-Year Geomatics Program

Martin D. Paquette

Abstract: The Land Surveying program at Renton Technical College has run a Survey Research course, with minor variations, since 1991. This course has naturally taken on the characteristics of a capstone course, having been placed in the final quarter of the program, thus allowing students to demonstrate many of the skills they have gained throughout the two-year curriculum. The project portfolio created by the students during this course demonstrates their accomplishments at the time of graduation. In 2005, the course was re-defined as the capstone Survey Research and Project Planning course of the two-year Land Surveying program at Renton Technical College.