California Surveyors Forums

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technolog ... &ocid=iehp


todays news regarding the commercial use of drones.

And while it appears the guy in the link below has FAA approval, he is not a Licensed Land Surveyor.....he advertises 3D land mapping and photogrammetry....go figure.....$million fines for operating a drone...$0 fines for practicing without a license. Good Grief.

http://www.airvisus.com/home.html

And once again, this is the type of issue CLSA should be involved with. We continue to lose more ground, day by day...

This is a national issue, and one the NSPS should, and hopefully is involved in. If someone were doing this in CA without a license, then whether it's done by drone or any other technology, it's something that any licensee who is aware of it should report to BPELSG and if it becomes more widespread than one or two operators, the CLSA should move on.

Mike:

I agree completely!

Look what happened in the past with GIS and GPS.

As a group, we are either lazy or stupid!

If CLSA developed a better alliance with NSPS, perhaps we could focus our resources. In my opinion, CLSA lacks direction, unity, incentive, political sophistication, and an overall lack of direction relative to this and other issues of concern to the profession. Rome is burning.

There are a large number of people who have offered to work on these topics and to protect the profession. Unfortunately, with all the petty distractions over the last few years, our resources have been wasted on personality conflicts. The state licensing board has been more interested in prosecuting surveyors than protecting the profession from this kind of encroachment. Clearly, both CLSA and the state board should be out in front of this issue. We should be in the middle of a massive public relations campaign and an educational endeavor regarding the use of drones and the products derived from this mapping technology.

If CLSA is not going to look out for the surveying profession and if these areas are not going to be protected and defended, who will?

We have the ability; we don't have the will.

Mike,

I agree that CLSA and NSPS could work together better. I'm vaguely aware but not fully informed on what the stumbling blocks to that are. I also agree with you about petty distractions getting in the way of setting a clear direction in the CLSA. Hopefully, there are enough people in CLSA who are willing to get past the politics of personality and get the organization back on track over the next year or two. That dynamic has led to several who were good contributors to quit or pull back and be member/observers rather than member/participants. I'd really like to see that trend (and it does seem to be becoming a trend) reverse.