Boundary Survey Methodology

[mpallamary]

Does anyone have any comments on the attached? I am updating my procedure sheet with a focus on QA/QC.

Does anyone else use something like this and is willing to share?

Thanks for your time and consideration.

Be safe out there.

[Jim Frame]

As a solo operator, I do most of those things without needing to reference a checklist. However, on all but the simplest of boundaries I create a narrative text file that describes, step by step (I actually number the steps), the methods I used in establishing the boundary. This file describes monuments held for position, those held for line, those not held and why, and map or deed elements used to control the boundary. It makes it a lot easier to go back and figure out how I arrived at the boundary location later. Sometimes a more user-friendly version of that file (or a portion thereof) appears on the face of my Record of Survey as a Surveyor's Report or other notes.

[mpallamary]

Brilliant!

Thanks for replying.

[mpallamary]

I always prepare a working synopsis. As soon as I start a job I create the file and keep it open while working. I document every major decision and past and import and hyperlink to the data files and calculations, maps, and I import work orders, emails, etc. I always tell folks if, ten years from now, if they cannot explain what they did in ten minutes, they didn't properly document their work. I have seen this happen in court many times. I survey is asked to explain what he/she did and they can't. I like adding the data to a ROS!

[mpallamary]

I always prepare a working synopsis. As soon as I start a job I create the file and keep it open while working. I document every major decision and past and import and hyperlink to the data files and calculations, maps, and I import work orders, emails, etc. I always tell folks if, ten years from now, if they cannot explain what they did in ten minutes, they didn't properly document their work. I have seen this happen in court many times. A surveyor is asked to explain what he/she did and they can't. I like adding the data to a ROS!

[David Kendall]

This is very helpful for me to know that you guys are doing this as you go. I will begin this practice now!!

As a solo operator, I do most of those things without needing to reference a checklist. However, on all but the simplest of boundaries I create a narrative text file that describes, step by step (I actually number the steps), the methods I used in establishing the boundary. This file describes monuments held for position, those held for line, those not held and why, and map or deed elements used to control the boundary. It makes it a lot easier to go back and figure out how I arrived at the boundary location later. Sometimes a more user-friendly version of that file (or a portion thereof) appears on the face of my Record of Survey as a Surveyor's Report or other notes.

I always prepare a working synopsis. As soon as I start a job I create the file and keep it open while working. I document every major decision and past and import and hyperlink to the data files and calculations, maps, and I import work orders, emails, etc. I always tell folks if, ten years from now, if they cannot explain what they did in ten minutes, they didn't properly document their work. I have seen this happen in court many times. I survey is asked to explain what he/she did and they can't. I like adding the data to a ROS!

[mpallamary]

It works out great! Years ago when I had a bunch of employees, several people would work on a job. It made it easier trying to follow everyone's decisions along the way.

[Lee Hixson]

I prefer a more visual approach to keeping track of my resolution decisions, especially on larger projects. As my CAD drawing progresses I will do a quick screen shot plot on 8.5 x 11 paper (not to scale), centered around a particular angle point or property line that I'm working on. Then, for example, I will hand draw a red pencil line between two found monuments and write down distances between them, comparing them with distances per other record maps. Detailed descriptions of the found monuments will be added. I'll also write short, pertinent notes about what I've decided and why with a date at the top and number the pages that I will keep in my project binder.

I like to "visualize" what I'm documenting--my notes correlate directly with these incremental map plots as the drawing progresses. When it's time to write a Surveyor's Narrative I just flip back through the pages, turning my raw notes into more formal comments for the final map.

[mpallamary]

Excellent! I do the same. I take a screen shot and insert it in the synopsis.

When I create sketches and handwritten notes, I scan them and place them in the file. I am trying to cut down on paper archival. I also take a picture of notes and save them in the electronic file.

No paper!

[polaris]

We do somewhat the same thing. In AutoCAD, we have a no-plot layer that we write notes on. The field note annotations go on that layer and the boundary resolution notes go on it too. The boundary resolution notes are out in space, away from the drawing. If there are notes about the origin of the coordinate system, these are out there with those notes. That way everything is in the CAD file. The record maps and deeds are blocks either in the CAD file or in the drawing folder. That way it is clear what maps/deeds were used as references. When we send out the file for others' use, we only send out the data, not the extra notes.
The electronic project folder has all record map images, deed images, photographs of the site/monuments, title reports, review comments by agency, field files, everything generated during the life of the project.
This makes it so much easier to go back 2, 5, or 10 years later and still understand what happened and what it looked like.

[Lee Hixson]

Congratulations, polaris, that sounds like an excellent set of standards.