PSC April Quarterly Report & Position Paper - Bill S-229
Professional Surveyors Canada 
Read the latest news in our April Quarterly Report including updates on initiatives regarding underground infrastructure, the date of our AGM and our current Board of Directors.

Bill S-229 Underground Infrastructure Safety Enhancement Act has now passed the second reading in the Senate. Read PSC's Position Paper here.

Read more and register

Are you Flood Ready? Est-ce que vous êtes prêt en cas d’inondation?
Government of Canada Gouvernement du Canada

Safety in Canada YouTube Videos:
3 tips to make your home more #FloodReady

3 ways to be #FloodReady
3 façons de se mettre en mode prévention inondation 

Be a part of the solution

Job Opportunity:  Senior Surveyor, Yukon Region
Natural Resources Canada - Surveyor General Branch
Permanent. Salary: $85,808 to $101,151
Closing date: 8 May 2017 - 23:59, Pacific Time
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Vantage Point: Sunset or Sunrise?
The American Surveyor
While we often think of legislated government programs as static, they do change over time. Such evolution and opportunity for transformation are part of the dialogue in reauthorizing these programs. Every so many years there is a sunset on each government program, and this September is the due date for the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). While some may think of the NFIP as an ancient behemoth ready for the scrap pile, I see it as improving the lives of many as it adapts to changing conditions imposed by land development, sea level rise, erosion, and precipitation pattern changes. So I support reauthorizing the program, seeing a sunrise in its current efforts for dramatic changes, as will be described here.  Read more

Texas surveying board expresses concerns over BLM case
Times Record News
A Texas agency charged with overseeing land surveyors and the use of surveying techniques to determine gradient boundaries told a federal district court that should it choose to side with the federal government in a land dispute, it could potentially "disrupt precedent" of the near-century old method used in the state. Read more

Conventions dans la construction échues: les patrons veulent encore négocier
LaPresse
Alors que les conventions collectives de l'industrie de la construction viennent à échéance dimanche et que les médiateurs aux dossiers prévoient faire leurs rapports au cours des prochains jours, les associations patronales insistent pour poursuivre la négociation, même si l'Alliance syndicale, elle, veut plutôt laisser le rapport de forces s'exercer.
L'échéance des conventions collectives le 30 avril était sur toutes les lèvres, vendredi, au sommet de l'Association des professionnels de la construction et de l'habitation du Québec (APCHQ), qui réunit plusieurs acteurs de l'industrie.....
L'Alliance syndicale regroupe les cinq organisations syndicales de l'industrie, à savoir la FTQ-Construction, le Conseil provincial du Québec des métiers de la construction (International), le Syndicat québécois de la construction, la CSD-Construction et la CSN-Construction. Ce sont 175 000 ouvriers dans l'ensemble du Québec. Lire plus

Survey work for phase two of Talbot St. redevelopment starting up
St. Thomas Times-Journal
Surveyors will be laying the groundwork, so-to-speak, for the second phase of the multimillion-dollar – and multi-year – redevelopment in the city’s west end. Over the next few weeks, crews will be stepping outside to do some serious investigative work from Pearl Street to Mary Street.
“At this point we’ll gather all the information about what’s out there, what’s underground, so we can start the design process over the summer,” said David Jackson, capital works manager. Read more

Decided Guidance: Wacker vs. Price—Irony in Sevenfold
The American Surveyor
This month's case takes us to Phoenix, Arizona in 1950. The Arizona Supreme Court went all guns-a-blazin' in Wacker vs. Price (216 P.2d 707 (Ariz. 1950)). Maybe it's just me, but I'm sensing plenty of irony and have taken license to point it out along the way. I like what the Court did with this case because it protects the individual property rights and offers a solution to a problem. Read more

Company mapping, surveying Carteret County's shoreline
WITN News
CARTERET COUNTY, N.C. (WITN) - Every year, thousands of people head to the Crystal Coast to enjoy the sun, surf, and sand, but ensuring that those beautiful beaches stay pristine falls on the shoulders of the Carteret County Shore Protection Office and the work they do to monitor and maintain the coastline.
The Shore Protection Office has contracted out work to Geodynamics; a group that surveys the beaches and maps out exactly what the shoreline and seafloor look like. Read more

Longueuil: plus de 3 milliards investis au centre-ville
LaPresse
Les deux pièces maîtresses de cette série de projets sont assurément « Longueuil centre-ville 2035 », de même que le « Solar Uniquartier ».
La Ville de Longueuil a de grandes ambitions pour la place Charles-Le Moyne, près de la seule station de métro de la Rive-Sud. Elle s'apprête à entreprendre le développement de ce qu'il est convenu d'appeler « Longueuil centre-ville 2035 ». But recherché : favoriser l'ajout de 1,5 million de pieds carrés de nouveaux bureaux, 150 000 pi2 d'espaces commerciaux, de même que 8500 nouveaux logements. Un complexe culturel se greffera au projet. Lire plus

Surveying & Mapping Industry Economics Part 3—Customers and Services
The American Surveyor
This article continues an inquiry into the economic conditions of the Surveying and Mapping industry (NAICS 541370) using data from the U.S. Census Bureau. This time we will look at customers and services. The data comes from the Economic Census conducted every 5 years on American businesses. The American FactFinder was used to extract the 2012, 2007 and 2002 data. The 1997 and 1992 data was transcribed from archived census publications. Read more

Utah’s First Federal Surveyor Fled the Territory Fearing for His Life
And helped start a war between James Buchanan and Brigham Young.
Atlas Obscura
When David H. Burr, the first Surveyor General of Utah Territory, showed up in Salt Lake City in July 1855, Brigham Young, then territorial governor, was almost certain he was a spy for the federal government. “Burr has been watching for evil ever since he has been here,” Brigham Young wrote to Utah’s representative in Congress. Read more

Canada 150: Frank Swannell surveyed B.C.'s remote wilderness
Vancouver Sun
Even today, city folk are irreverently referred to there as the 99-50 Club — that is, 99 per cent of us seldom venture more than 50 paces into the bush from a roadway. Those who do are urged to carry a compass and topographical map.
Those maps rely on work done by Frank Swannell. He travelled by canoe, horseback and on foot, often with snowshoes, skis or climbing crampons, by stagecoach, riverboat and early automobile to survey B.C. when there were few roads, telephones were exotic, and some regions were so remote and difficult to reach that they may not even have been explored by First Nations. Read more

Les ingénieurs de l'État en grève le 10 mai
Radio Canada
Incapables de s'entendre avec le gouvernement après plus de deux ans de négociations, les 1400 ingénieurs de l'État déclencheront une grève générale illimitée le 10 mai prochain.
Le président de l'Association professionnelle des ingénieurs du gouvernement, Marc-André Martin, explique que le syndicat négocie avec le gouvernement depuis 2014 et que la convention collective est échue depuis le 31 mars 2015. Lire plus

Québec s’en remet à l’éthique des ingénieurs dans la gestion des chantiers municipaux
Radio Canada
Questionné sur la suspension du processus habituel d'évaluation et de suivi pour près de 200 projets d'aqueducs et d'égouts, le ministre des Affaires municipales Martin Coiteux a affirmé qu'il comptait sur le professionnalisme des firmes d'ingénieurs pour assurer que les chantiers soient réalisés correctement.
Le ministre répondait aux critiques de l'Association professionnelle des ingénieurs du gouvernement du Québec qui dénonce la décision du gouvernement de suspendre le processus habituel d’évaluation et de contrôle de 200 projets financés par les 660 millions de dollars du Fonds fédéral-provincial pour l'eau potable et le traitement des eaux usées (FEPTEU). Lire plus

Historic shipwrecks surveyed along Connecticut shoreline
New Haven Register
Settled just about 5 feet below the surface of the water in the shadow of the Stratford Avenue Bridge, three ships from the early 20th century lie undisturbed and slowly disintegrating.....
DeLong, along with John Bean, an ocean hydrographer, and Jeff Pydeski, a project scientist, both from Ocean Surveys, based in Southington, have been working to collect data on shipwrecks along the Connecticut coast for about two weeks, and Bridgeport Harbor was a recent stop.....
“My responsibility is to map the object,” Bean said. “I’ve always worked on the water and shipwrecks are interesting in and of themselves.” Read more

Australian Scientists Study the Antarctic
Marine Technology
Australian scientists recently concluded several Antarctic geoscience and geophysical data acquisition surveys in hopes of helping to increase understanding of these precious environments to better manage and protect them.
Geoscience Australia's Antarctic Geoscience program, which carries out marine and onshore research for the Australian government, has completed three Antarctic surveys during the 2016-2017 field season.....
“The highly successful survey collected a range of datasets, including hydrography data, which provide us with a detailed picture of the shape of the seafloor, and seabed characterization information about what material is on the seafloor and also what organisms live there,” Dr. Smith explained. Read more

Plus de 12 M$ pour des projets d'aqueduc et d'égout
Radio Canada
Ottawa et Québec investissent 12,6 millions de dollars dans trois projets d'aqueduc et d'égout en Gaspésie.
Les gouvernements versent près de la moitié de cette somme pour la mise aux normes de l’eau potable de Gaspé. Il y aura aussi deux projets financés à Bonaventure. Lire plus

Mapping the World’s Ocean Ecosystems
U.S. Geological Survey
To meet the need for a consistent, objective, and complete description of open-ocean environments, the Group on Earth Observations charged USGS ecologist Dr. Roger Sayre with a task to map the world’s ocean ecosystems. 
In response, the USGS formed a public-private partnership with ESRI, NOAA, academia, and non-profit organizations to produce the first ever detailed maps that group the entire global ocean into 37 distinct 3D ecosystems. Read more

Survey of India turns 250:

Remembering a British past when mapping was for the sake of conquering
The Indian EXPRESS
The office of the Survey of India completed 250 years on Tuesday. Entrusted with the duty of collection of data, mapping and topographical research, the institute came into existence in 1767, three years after the British East India Company emerged victorious in the Battle of Buxar. At present, the Survey of India holds a very important place in the sector of research and analysis within the country and in fact serves as a reference point for several Southeast Asian countries as well. However, an examination of the institute’s inception would reveal a much darker past, when its establishment was firmly tied with the British ambitions of conquest. Read more

Mapping the country since 1767: Survey General of India completes 250 years today
HindustanTimes
The SGI also undertook the Herculean task of carrying out the Great Trigonometric Survey from 1802. The survey laid a solid foundation for mapping the country in a scientific manner.
The exercise was started from St Thomas Mount, a small hillock in Chennai (then Madras), and extended till Mussorie.
It is estimated that the massive exercise, which lasted for over four decades from 1802 to 1841, claimed more Indian lives than World War I and II combined. Read more

Measuring up to put county on the map
Northumberland Gazette
In this age of satellite navigation systems and Google maps, there is still a quiet pleasure to be had in opening out an Ordnance Survey map and seeing the landscape spread out in fine detail.....
Each pillar has a three-legged metal ‘spider’ at the top, which was used to position the theodolite. The surveyor would then measure the various angles between adjacent pillars.  Read more

A Bike Built for Magnetic Mapping
EOS
Mounting a magnetic sensor on a bicycle offers an efficient, low-cost method of collecting ground magnetic field data over rough terrain where conventional vehicles dare not venture.
A team of researchers from the University of Haifa and the Geological Survey of Israel has designed such a sensor-equipped mountain bike. The setup holds promise to improve ground data collection for regional mapping. Read more

Sweden is Taking a Chance on Blockchain Land Registry
CoinDesk
Could the technology that powers bitcoin be adapted for land titling?
Sweden's land registry authority, the Lantmäteriet, seems to think so, and has emerged as one of the first national agencies to put its faith behind the use case. While there is a steady stream of projects pairing blockchain startups with government agencies, the Lantmäteriet's work is perhaps distinguished by the steady progress it's shown so far.
Working with startup ChromaWay and consultancy Kairos Future, as well as the SBAB and Landshypotek banks, the Lantmäteriet has been testing whether private blockchains can serve as a means of carrying out property transactions since last June. Read more