During a boundary survey for a new housing development, a closed‑loop traverse was required to ensure positional accuracy.

Establish the total station setup and execute the traverse with minimal error.

I selected a stable tripod location, performed a 2‑point centering, entered known coordinates, calibrated the instrument, set up a backsight to a known control point, and then measured each forward and backsight leg, applying reciprocal observations and closing the loop with a bow‑tie adjustment.

The traverse closed with a misclosure of less than 5 mm, meeting the project tolerance and providing reliable coordinates for the subdivision layout.

A county requested that our historic land parcel surveys be digitized for integration into their GIS portal.

Convert paper maps and field notes into accurate GIS layers while preserving legal integrity.

I scanned the maps at high resolution, georeferenced them using known control points, digitized parcel boundaries, attached attribute data from the field books, performed topology checks, and validated the dataset against the county’s cadastral database.

The GIS database was accepted without revisions, improving public access to parcel information and reducing future manual lookup times.

A client approached us for a mixed‑use development requiring both elevation data and precise horizontal control.

Select the most efficient and accurate combination of surveying techniques.

I evaluated the project’s tolerance requirements, site accessibility, and budget. For large‑scale horizontal control I chose RTK GPS, for detailed elevation I used a digital level, and for critical alignment points I employed a total station for high‑precision measurements.

The combined approach met all tolerances, stayed within budget, and reduced field time by 20% compared to a single‑method approach.