Since people have owned land, surveying has been an essential profession. The earliest evidence of surveying, potentially going back to 11,000 years ago, is found at the Nabta Playa site in southern Egypt, related to the construction of large megalithic structures. 

Happy Pi Day! We hope you have the chance to enjoy the tasty kind of pie today – in the meantime, here’s a pi “appetizer”.

To a surveyor, pi is a key concept that undergirds everything, because surveying occurs on a sphere. Specifically, all boundaries must take into consideration the curve of the earth (and any distortions of that curve, as well as elevation).

Terminalia (February 23) has been observed since 753 BC when legend says that Romulus established the celebration of the god of boundaries: Terminus. From the beginning, it’s clear that Romans understood the importance of boundaries – and the art of surveying.

After the Revolutionary War in 1789, the constitution established a 10 square mile district as the site of the new capitol for the United States.  Subsequently, after much haggling in Congress, the “Residence Act” was passed and set the site of the new city on the northern and southern shores of the Potomac River at a location to be determined by President Washington.

This year, Americans will be spending an average of $2,000 per person over the holidays – with more than $600 on travel, and the rest on decorations, celebrations and gifts.  For most of us, this translates to a lot of running around and spending money – and enjoying the holidays.

It’s good to know that in the background, little RFID elves have been busy keeping everything running smoothly to help make the holidays truly magical.

Human history has been shaped by colonialism, and one wave of colonialism resulted in the founding of the United States. In fact, most countries were colonized by European powers from the late fifteenth century until just after World War II. At its height, the British Empire controlled nearly a quarter of the world’s nations.

GIS was first developed in 1963 by Roger Tomlinson who used computers to handle map information for the Canadian government.  Since that time, the use of Geographic Information System technology has exploded. According to MarketsandMarkets, the GIS market is expected to reach $14.5 billion by 2025. By 2032, the market is projected to reach about $43.8 billion.

Christopher Gist came to the surveying profession naturally.  In 1736, his father, Richard surveyed the western shore of Maryland and the town of Baltimore. Though there is little information about Christopher’s childhood, it is thought that Christopher learned surveying profession from his father.

This 8/11 is a beautiful Sunday and many homeowners will be using the day to tackle some home improvement projects, such as building a deck, installing a new mailbox or installing a fence. In fact, 74% of homeowners have or will dig on their property on their property this summer. Unfortunately, nearly 40% of these won’t call 811 ahead of time to mark buried utilities.[1]

Surveyors including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, were key to establishing the United States as a nation. Surveying in the 1700s and 1800s was both arduous and perilous. For example, one of Washington’s contemporaries, William Crawford, met a tragic end at the forefront of western expansion of European settlers in lands controlled by Native Americans.

Today is the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year (in the Northern Hemisphere). Because Earth’s axis of rotation is tilted about 23.4 degrees relative to its orbit around the sun, this means that the different parts of the Earth receive the amount of light based on the position of the earth in its orbit around the sun. This tilt causes the earth’s seasons - From March to September, the Northern Hemisphere tilts more toward the sun, creating spring and summer, while in the Southern Hemisphere it’s fall and winter.

Did you know that the term “geodesy” was coined by Aristotle in about 350 BC? The term is derived from the Greek word ge, which means earth, and deo, which means to divide land. He created that name to differentiate it from the field of mathematics, called geometry in ancient Greek, (ge for “earth” and metry, meaning “to measure”). Essentially, geodesy means applied math.

AEC is the acronym for Architecture, Engineering and Construction, which is a collection of services engaged in the planning and execution of all types of construction projects. It’s essentially the term for a deep and intricate collaboration between partners in order to bring any project to fruition.

This Memorial Day, thousands of tourists will be visiting the Grand Canyon, which became a national park in 1919. As with many other national parks, surveyors played a vital role in preserving this spectacular landscape for everyone to enjoy.

Before the arrival of European immigrants in the United States, forests totaled about 1.05 billion acres, or about 43 percent of the country. Clearing of forest land in the East between 1850 and 1900 averaged 13 square miles every day for 50 years.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) has been around for a long time. The precursor technology to RFID was originally developed as a musical instrument by the Russian physicist Leon Theremin, patented in 1928. The Theremin produces music by manipulation of electromagnetic fields around two antennae to produce sound.

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.

Today has been officially known as π (Pi) day since 2009 when the US House of Representatives passed a non-binding resolution recognizing March 14 as National Pi Day. Aside from being a great day to eat pie, it’s a great day to celebrate how mathematics, and one specific concept, has shaped our world.

Since 45 B.C., leap years have been used to reconcile calendars with the actual time it takes for the earth to circle the sun. It takes the earth 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 45 seconds to revolve around the sun, not 365 days. If left uncorrected, calendar dates and important events, such as the vernal and autumnal equinoxes and the solstices, will slowly shift until they don’t match their prescribed calendar dates. After a century, our calendar would be off by about 24 days.

James Cook was born in the Yorkshire town of East Marton in 1728. Although his father was a farm laborer who hadn’t traveled far from his native Scotland, James’s life took a radically different path. When Cook was eight years old, he attended a local charity school where he got a good foundation in mathematics. By the time he was 17, Cook was on his own and began an apprenticeship at a coal shipping company transporting coal by sea between Newcastle and London in a four-week round trip.