- The ESRI Summit was well attended and organized.
- The debate rages on concerning the role of the surveyor in the US – it’s sad.
- Joe Betit reported that mobile laser scanning was the only way to get the work done on time and predicted that the construction industry will drive the adoption of laser scanning.
Well, it was a whirlwind trip to San Diego – if there is a nicer climate on earth, please tell me where it is. The event was very well attended and delivered. Since I am running a little late this morning I will leave out a lot of the smaller impressions for now, and go straight to 2 key ones.
First of all the debate rages on about the role of the surveyor in the US society. All I can say is it’s SAD, the surveying profession has no one to blame but itself, and that includes the leaders of the profession. I had been on the front lines of this debate in the 80′s, yes that is not a typo, and listening to 90 minutes of panel discussion was like deja vu all over again. And this is with the progressive types who are the only ones attending this event. Throughout the rest of the world the surveyor holds a high rank in the overall land use decision process. Don’t expect anything to change on this front.
More importantly, was the great message delivered to the attendees by Joe Betit. Joe is the Survey Manager for the extension of the DC Metro to Dulles airport. Bottom line – the project could not meet the deadlines and the tight budgets without – you guessed it mobile laser scanning, and on top of that Joe predicted that it would be the construction industry that is going to drive the adoption of laser scanning on a worldwide basis. The main reason for this was that laser scanning is the only technology that can keep pace with the as-built requirements on these large projects. Now that is music to my ears.
