Surveying is one of the world’s most enduring professions – since ancient times, it has been key to establishing international boundaries, marking property boundaries, and ensuring that engineering and architectural structures and precisely aligned and properly constructed.

With this long history, it might follow that surveying itself is a dated profession, but the opposite is true. As advancements in astronomy and mathematics were achieved, these advancements were immediately applied to surveying.

There’s probably never been a better time to be a surveyor, especially with the many new infrastructure projects in the works. For surveyors who want the freedom to take advantage of the boom, it may be a good time to start a surveying business. For others, it’s a great time to pick up new skills, recognition and pay within their survey/engineering firm.

Did you know that the highest mountain in the world is named for a surveyor who never laid eyes on it?

George Everest was the Surveyor General of India from 1830-1843, during the time when Great Britain was consolidating its control over the country in order to have full access to its vast resources. His work was so important to the fulfillment of that goal that the mountain was eventually named after him – despite his protests.

Money, Money, Money

Infrastructure is no longer an ignored necessity in the United States. Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed in 2021, our country is making a once-in-a-lifetime investment in its economic backbone to the tune of $1.2 trillion over five years. In 2022, 6,900 specific projects have been launched in 4,000 communities in all 50 states.

What a half-century it has been! Back in 1972, when Berntsen was founded, the world was a different place. There was no internet (it wouldn’t be available until 1983) ; social media wouldn’t show up for another 25 years. People had to communicate by landline telephone, snail mail, telex – or even talk face-to-face!

Technology was beginning to change surveying as well – Berntsen introduced the first lightweight aluminum alloy monument, making surveying less arduous; at the same time, Electronic Distance Measurement (EDMs), were being used in conjunction with theodolites, speeding up surveying. By the 1980s, surveying was becoming increasingly digitized, and by 1990, the digital total station was introduced.

Seventy-eight years ago today, Operation Overlord was launched – known as D-day, one of the greatest combined military operations ever undertaken. It was ambitious on a size and scale that is unparalleled to this day. What isn’t often remembered is what it took to plan the invasion. Everything about the landing sites had to be known – a tall order because the entire coast was enemy territory. That’s where surveyors and reconnaissance experts came in.

2022 marks Berntsen’s 50th anniversary. Thank you, surveyors for your support over the past half-century. Berntsen has been supporting surveyors for longer that I’ve been surveying.

It’s been an interesting road, and I’ve really enjoyed digging into Berntsen’s storied past. I’ve come up with a few gems I’ll share with you throughout 2022. Here’s a quick overview of our history.

Roger Sherman He was descended from the Shermans of Yaxley, in the county of Suffolk, England, who were landed gentry who had helped to frame the British Constitution. Born in 1721, the second of seven children of William and Mehatabel Sherman, Roger became farmer and a cordwainer (a person who makes shoes and other items from leather) like his Puritan father.

I’m a real history buff and I will use almost any excuse to dig into the past and learn something new. So guess what? Earlier this month we celebrated Columbus Day, which is increasingly being celebrated as Native American Day, which leads me to a related surveying question – How are Indian Trust Lands surveyed?

As promised in my National Parks Month blog, I said I’d be posting from my vacation to tour just a few of our national treasures. We finished a great time at Mount Rushmore, and then we visited Zion National Park.

The Oxford Dictionary defines "breathtaking" as: astonishing or awe-inspiring in quality, so as to take one's breath away.

To say Zion National Park is breathtaking is an understatement. Words just cannot describe and pictures just don't do it justice. I’ll try with a few, though – sublime, magnificent, glorious, mind-blowing , splendid, and my favorite – divine!

In the US, everybody knows a little bit about the Declaration of Independence. This document was the formal announcement of the split between the Colonies and the British Crown – ultimately creating the United States of America.

Berntsen International, the leader in infrastructure marking solutions, announces that it has earned the Esri Release Ready Specialty status. This designation recognizes companies, products and solutions that integrate with Esri technology and are created by partners with expertise in leveraging Esri solutions and software.

It’s well-known that a number of our presidents were surveyors – Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and even Roosevelt (kind of).

Did you ever wonder how the early surveyors learned how to survey? Many biographies say these men were “self-taught” . . . for Washington and Jefferson, this means they got a copy of “Geodaesia,” the first surveying book created for the New World surveyor.

Little did I know that dusty old geography would become the one of the most interesting (and explosively-growing) fields in science. Today Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is shaking up the world of geography – and statistics, data analysis, spatial data, modeling, geostatistics, cartography, data integration, GPS – and on and on.­

As any surveyor knows, our nation was built on surveying, with many of our early leaders getting their start as surveyors (Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson, to name a few). Early surveyors laid the essential groundwork for land records that have served us well for many years. Unfortunately, land records in many states are based on original surveys done in the 1800s or even earlier. That’s fine when land remains unchanged for decades . . .

As a member of the Point of Beginning (POB) Advisory Board, I have a unique opportunity to reach out to a larger audience about surveying and geomatics subjects that are of great importance.

One of the most important subjects to me (and to the surveying profession) is letting young people know about our exciting and fulfilling profession.

I was chatting the other day with a colleague from my surveying days, Bob Beilfuss, a surveyor from Germantown, Wisconsin. Since I’m now working for Berntsen, Bob shared some of his favorite stories about the Berntsen products he uses. It was an interesting and informative chat, so I asked him to share his stories with you.

More than anyone, surveyors understand the importance of location. We master many types of tools to generate the specific data required for boundary lines, construction grids, laying out developments, creating 3D models of buildings and topography and more.