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2014 September

Volume 1, Issue 9

California Land Surveyors Association

Sacramento Chapter

Focal Point

Many people around the world use Global

Positioning System receivers and applications

in their vehicles and cell phones to guide them

to their destinations. But few people know

much about the GPS signal itself.

Air Force Space Command Airmen of the 2nd

Space Operations Squadron at Schriever Air

(Continued on page 5)

FROM THE NOAA-NOS-NGS-CORS

Weekly Newsletter,

Sep 17 23:19 2014

Airmen Deliver GPS to the World

BY: STAFF SGT. JARROD CHAVANA

Schriever Air Force Base

13 September 2014

Vendor Night, Thursday, October 2nd

5 pm to 8 pm at Original Pete’s, 2023 Vine Street

El Dorado Hills, CA 95762. VISITING VENDORS AND

PIZZA PROVIDED BY CHAPTER

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Calendar ............................. 2

President’s Message ........... 5

Employment………...………..11

Contacts…………..…………...14

SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST

UAS MAPPING 2014

RENO

Page 12

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For detail on calendar items, see page 4.

CLSA Education Foundation is now listed through Amazon.com's

charitable donation program. Log in to: smile.amazon.com and

select the CLSA Education Foundation as your designated charity,

and 1/2 % of your purchases will be donated to support land

surveying education.

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 Vendor

Night/

North

Counties

3 4 Board

Meeting

5 6 7 8 9 10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 Central

Valley

Meeting

23 Gold

Country

Meeting

24 25

26 27 28 29 30 31

October 2014

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Although it seems like the year is beginning to wind down,

our CLSA activities are still in full swing at both the Chapter

and State CLSA levels. There are two CLSA Board of Directors meetings

scheduled this year, as well as three more Chapter meetings, including

the ever-popular Vendor Night on October 2nd. There is a CLSA-CSRC

workshop being held in both Oakland and Ontario during October, and

another workshop was just held also in both north and south locations in

mid-September. There is webinar on at noon October 2nd. To top it all

off, the Sacramento Chapter PLS review series will be starting up again

in December.

Thanks to the Sacramento Chapter members who have volunteered for

the EMITS program. I think that working with the Sacramento County

Office of Education assisting teachers of grades 6 through 12 developing

lesson plans incorporating land surveying and engineering will really

benefit the profession in the long run. While Trig*Star is a fantastic

program, EMITS is expected to introduce land surveying and engineering

concepts to the students of 50 to 60 teachers of grades 6 through 12.

The program has the potential to inform the students about educational

the opportunities such as CSU Fresno, and possibly identify future land

surveyors. This is exactly what the college and university land surveying

programs need as a kick-start.

Speaking of college land surveying programs, there has been some effort

lately to restart the Sacramento City College Surveying program. Ken

Fitzpatrick <fitzpak@scc.losrios.edu> called to ask about my thoughts on

(Continued on page 4)

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Rob McMillan, PLS

For sale: Wild T-16. Purchased in 1965 and used continuously in private

practice until 2011. Call Emerson Smith, PLS 3062, at 530-885-4450.

Comes with top-mount EDM. Best offer.

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CALENDAR DETAILS

October 2nd Sacramento Chapter Meeting 5:00 PM - 8:00 pM

Vendor Night

October 2nd Northern Counties/Gold Chapter Meeting 5:00 PM - 8:00 pM

President-Elect Visit (See Info on Page 9)

restarting the program, so I sent him some

information and talking points on the serious

need for land surveying education in the

Sacramento area. It is an up-hill battle, but if we

are to have success, one of component that

needs to be established is an Industry Advisory

Council (IAC). The IAC would serve to advise,

guide, and support the program, as well as

facilitating communication cooperation, and

interaction between the college administration

and local industry representatives from both private and public sectors.

How would you structure a land surveying education program at a

community college? What would you as a supervisor or employer want

students to learn? What strategies would you suggest to attract students

and increase enrolment? What can you suggest to increase retention in

the program? How would you address the rapid evolution of technology?

If you have answers to these questions, and are interested in helping

shape land surveying education in the Sacramento area in the future, drop

Ken an email.

I hope to see you at the next Chapter meeting!

Rob McMillan, PLS

(Continued from page 3)

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Force Base, Colo., are the sole global providers of the GPS signal through their

command and control operations of the GPS constellation.

Funded by the American people, on any given day, more than 3.5 billion people

around the world have access to GPS signals at no charge. With this access, civilians

are finding more ways to apply GPS technology in their everyday lives. Today, GPS is

used to increase productivity throughout global economies. The signal guides tractors

and planting operations in agriculture and has revolutionized global tracking of

commercial goods. The signal allows faster emergency and disaster response efforts

and has made personal fitness workouts more efficient.

The GPS signal allows many other capabilities beyond

navigation. The GPS constellation uses an atomic clock

accurate within one billionth of a second. The precision of

this clock enables banks, the stock market, and even

traffic lights to perform with complete precision. In fact,

every ATM and debit card transaction relies on the GPS

timing signal.

This timing capability allows military units around the world to conduct coordinated

missions at the exact same time.

The navigation signal is equally critical to defense department innovations.

The JDAM is a guidance tail kit that converts existing unguided free-fall bombs into

accurate, adverse weather smart munitions. The GPS guidance control unit then

navigates the weapon system autonomously to the designated target.

Similar to the guidance kit for munitions, GPS-guided 'smart pallets' allow air-dropped

supplies to land at specified locations, improving humanitarian aid delivery or troop

resupply, day or night, under any conditions.

(Continued from page 1)

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"This program is unique as it started out for military, and military only, and

then it was opened up to civilian users," said Capt. Aaron Blain, 2nd SOPS

chief of navigation. "Many people don't actually understand how GPS works

on a regular basis; they think they are actually contacting the satellite directly

and this isn't true. Essentially, you are just receiving a signal."

When someone activates a GPS receiver or enters an address into a GPS

device, the signal they are receiving triangulates

where they are on Earth and where they want to

go. Software within the device uses that signal

to get travelers from point A to point B.

"Some of the things we do behind the scenes is

try to optimize the signal and make it as

accurate as possible," said Blain. "Satellites

have what we call atomic frequency standards,

which is essentially a clock, a very accurate

clock. Each satellite has its own personality; we

make them more accurate for everyone in the

world."

The system's timing synchronization supports major communication

networks, financial markets, and power grids. In fact, some wireless services

cannot operate without GPS.

"We have a constellation of 39 satellites, so every day is a different type of

scenario, and we have contingency plans for any situation," said Senior

Airmen Trey Barnes, 2nd SOPS space systems operator. "Some of the

(Continued from page 5)

(Continued on page 7)

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situations we contend with are collision avoidance with other satellite

vehicles, orbital debris, or space weather. Space is a rough environment and

it's important to stay calm."

As the Defense Department's largest satellite constellation, GPS has

increasingly exceeded accuracy standards. Today's commercially-available

GPS devices are accurate to within one meter (about three feet). The U.S.

military's GPS capabilities are accurate to within half a meter.

In 2011, the Air Force GPS program was recognized for its "measurable

benefit to humanity." The International Astronautical Federation celebrated

their 60th anniversary with a one-time award for the single space event with

the greatest contribution to humanity presented at the 62nd International

Astronautical Congress in Cape Town, South Africa. Nominated by the

American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics, the GPS program was

awarded for the, "uniqueness of the GPS program and the exemplary role it

has played in building international collaboration for the benefit of humanity,"

according to the IAF website.

"The squadron has been remarkably successful," said Blain. "We're the only

unit that operates GPS; the GPS program has been recognized as the

greatest contribution to humanity. We're humbled that we can help people

every day."

(Continued from page 6)

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The California Department of Transportation

is recruiting for

TRANSPORTATION SURVEYOR

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is responsible for mapping, designing, planning, constructing and maintaining a transportation system of more than 15,000 miles of highways.

Work on world class projects

Opportunities exist throughout California

Receive excellent health, dental, vision and retirement benefits

Enjoy paid vacation and holidays

Take the online exam to be eligible for this exciting career opportunity!

Minimum Qualifications Graduation from a four-year curriculum in surveying, surveying engineering, or surveying geomatics accredited by the Accreditation Board for Engineering Technology. (Registration as a "Senior" in such a curriculum will admit an applicant to the competition, but applicants must produce evidence of graduation before being considered eligible for appointment.)

(Possession of a valid certificate as a Land Surveyor in Training issued or accepted by the California Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors or possession of a valid certificate as an Engineer in Training accepted by the California Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors in lieu of a certificate as a Land Surveyor in Training may be substituted for the required education.)

For more information regarding how to take this online exam, please refer to the link at: https://jobs.ca.gov/Bulletin/Bulletin/Index?examCD=3PB60

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CLSA Northern Counties Chapter & Gold Country Chapter JOINT MEETING NOTICE OCTOBER 2, 2014 - THURSDAY Our September/October meeting is scheduled for Thursday, October 2 , 2014 at Marcello’s Italian Restaurant in Yuba City, California located east of Highway 99 at 1235 Bridge Street in Chico. Google Earth coordinates 39°07’57.2” N, 121°37’57.2” W. Our speaker will be, Jay Kay Seymour, RLS, PLS, LLS, who is our current state President Elect. His presentation will be on CLSA-Past-Present-Future-Come Share the Vision! Having been on the state executive Committee since 2009, he will bring his experiences and exposure at the state level to our meeting. He will take some of the mystery out of the organization and explain how CLSA works, and how we as chapters can contribute to the state organization, and grow our local chapters in the process!

Come join us, bring your questions, concerns, and comments, but most importantly bring your VISION! Guaranteed to be an entertaining and lively exchange of ideas from the southern California Surveyors! Invest an evening in yourself, your chapter, and your profession!

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Thank you to our

Sustaining Members for Your Support!

Interested in surveying jobs?

Check out the following link to the one and only CLSA Forum for

new listings to explore:

http://clsaforum.californiasurveyors.org/forumdisplay.php?f=13

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September 24, 2014

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT PERSON: Becky Morton, UAS MAPPING 2014 RENO, Symposium Chair Becky.morton@towill.com, 510-619-6262

UAS INDUSTRY LEADERS PARTICIPATING IN UAS MAPPING 2014 RENO

Reno, NV – the first UAS technical symposium sponsored by the American Soci-ety for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) announces that industry leaders in the UAS commercial industry are onboard for UAS MAPPING 2014 RENO! The technical program has been designed to provide practical information on sensor types and platforms as well as soup-to-nuts details on planning a mis-sion, controlling the mission, flying the mission, and processing the data. ASPRS is “The Imaging and Geospatial Information Society” and its members will be evaluating issues such as accuracy and data quality. Technical present-ers include David Ward of Silent Falcon, Dr. Bernd Lutz of Multirotor Service Drone, Baptiste Tripard of senseFly, Ruedi Wagner of Leica Geosystems, Wolf-gang Juchmann of Velodyne, Antoine Martin of Pix4D, Heather James of Kit-ware, Dr. Hank Theiss of the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, David Dvorak of Field of View, Vince Ambrosia of NASA, Nazlin Kanji of AeroViron-ment, to name a few. Visionaries such as Chris Anderson of 3D Robotics, Peter Birch of Google, Jonathan Evans of Skyward, Colin Snow of Drone Analysis, and Gerald Kinn of ESRI round out the technical program providing a vision of our UAS future in keeping with the symposium theme of “Change is in the Air”. The speakers listed are a subset of the full list of UAS industry leaders that are part of the technical program. The full list of speaker’s biographies and presentation abstracts are available on the symposium website at http://uasreno/speakers.

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UAS developers, sensor manufacturers, software developers, government agencies, survey/mapping firms, agriculture firms, and companies from UAS-related industries are signing up for exhibit space and sponsorships. Exhibitors and sponsors include Velodyne, GeoCue, ESRI, Airware, Aeryon, DroneDeploy, Pix4D, Simactive, Topcon, and Trimble, to name a few. Exhibit space and sponsorship opportunities are still avail-able.

Attendees at the symposium will not be just sitting in their chairs. The program in-cludes networking events, live demos and opportunities for hands-on experiences. See you in Reno! APSRS thanks the generous sponsors for their contributions and support. Visit the company links for more information: DIAMOND LEVEL Towill Inc: Surveying, Mapping and GIS Services GeoCue: Sensor Workflow Solutions, Small UAS Mapping, Point Cloud Information Ex-traction xyHt: Positioning and Measurement, Elevated PLATINUM LEVEL Altavian: Precisely Different Riegl USA: Building Systems, Delivering Performance GOLD LEVEL Velodyne: High Definition LiDAR Airware: Hardware, Software, and Cloud Services for Drones ESRI: A Comprehensive Platform for all Your Imagery Needs SILVER LEVEL Aeryon Labs: Defining the Standards of sUAS Flight Performance, Reliability and Ease-of-Use To find out more about the symposium, UAS MAPPING 2014 RENO, visit http://uasreno.org. To learn more about ASPRS, visit http://www.asprs.org.

The American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ASPRS) is “The Im-

aging and Geospatial Information Society”, a scientific non-profit association with a

mission to advance knowledge and improve understanding of mapping sciences, to

promote the responsible applications of photogrammetry, remote sensing, geographic

information systems (GIS), and supporting technologies.

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The FOCAL POINT is a publication of the Sacramento Area Chapter of the

California Land Surveyors Association and is pleased to publish letters from

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phone number.

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CLSA SACRAMENTO - 2014 CHAPTER OFFICERS

Rob McMillan (760) 846-4491 President@sac-surveyors.org

Jerry Jones (530) 798-6700 VicePresident@sac-surveyors.org

Matt Stringer (916) 381-9100 Secretary@sac-surveyors.org

Sherrie Zimmerman (707) 592-0465 Treasurer@sac-surveyors.org

Paul Carlson (530) 677-1205 PastPresident@sac-surveyors.org

Jerry Jones (530) 798-6700 BoardReps@sac-surveyors.org

Annette Lockhart (209) 518-9962 BoardReps@sac-surveyors.org

Jill Van Houten (916) 284-1801 BoardReps@sac-surveyors.org

Nick Labedzki (916) 747-5505 BoardReps@sac-surveyors.org

Address: PO BOX 162846, Sacramento, CA 95816-2846

sac-surveyors.org