The Link Magazine - August | 2015

The

Volume 38 ... Number 2 ... August 2015

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Editorial Group The 'Link' is produced by the Office of the Association of British Columbia Land Surveyors for the enjoyment of members, advertisers and subscribers.

The 'Link' was established in 1977 as an independent forum for the distribution of informed comments on surveying and for the exchange of ideas among surveyors, students and any interested parties.

Opinions expressed by individual writers are not necessarily endorsed by the Editorial Group or by the Association.

The 'Link' is distributed worldwide to all British Columbia Land Surveyors, registered students, authors of record, advertisers and subscribers.

The 'Link' is also exchanged with sister associations across Canada, the United States and Australia.

Contributions to the 'Link' must be submitted no later than March 15th, July 15th and November 15th.

Submissions may be by means of a computer disk, legible typewritten manuscript, or may be forwarded using e-mail (text only format for articles and as an attachment for graphics). If possible, avoid sending the article in the PDF format. Colour graphics should have a resolution of 300 DPI. Publication takes place in the months of April, August and December.

The 'Link' is not protected by copyright. However, articles reprinted from other newsletters may require permission from the author or the editor.

For additional information or submissions, please contact The Association office: 301-2400 Bevan Avenue, Sidney, BC V8L 1W1 Phone: (250) 655-7222 .. Fax: (250) 655-7223 E-Mail: office@abcls.ca Editor ... Dave Morton (dl.morton@shaw.ca) Advertising Please contact Denise Brethour (dbrethour@abcls.ca) regarding rates PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT NO. 41027533 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN MAIL TO ASSOCIATION OF BRITISH COLUMBIA LAND SURVEYORS 301-2400 BEVAN AVENUE, SIDNEY, BC V8L 1W1 E-MAIL: office@abcls.ca

Front Cover ... the photo (Fernie in the Fall) was provided by Garrett Winkel.

Association Web Site http://www.abcls.ca/

Contents Editor's Effort

More on Windows 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

President’s Message

McVittie House and Presidential Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Delegate Reports

Alberta Land Surveyors AGM ... Bronwyn Denton . . . . . . . . . . .

National Surveyors Conference ... Bronwyn Denton . . . . . . . . . .

Newfoundland Land Surveyors AGM ... Bronwyn Denton . . . . . . .

Saskatchewan Land Surveyors AGM ... Bronwyn Denton . . . . . . .

6 7 8 9

Chief Administrative Officer

Public Awareness ... Chad Rintoul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Practice Advisory Department

Horizontal Positional Accuracy ... Peter Goodier . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Surveyor General’s Datum

Land Title and Survey Authority of BC ... Mike Thomson . . . . . . . 17

The Center of the Universe ... Wayne Griffith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Robert's Corner

A Short Primer on Geocaching ... Robert Allen . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 BC Farm Museum Exhibit ... Robert Allen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

Bulletins New Commissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

CPD Committee and CPD Program Update ... Minda Riley . . . . . .

25 Year Pin Presented to Eric Hoerburger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

OIP Luncheon Report ... Don Watson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The Complaint Inquiry Committee ... Chuck Salmon . . . . . . . . .

Biographical Corner

36 40 40 41 43

David Trevorrow ... Robert Allen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Catless Collection

The Mouse that Soared ... Bill Brookes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Legal Issues Can a Surveyor be Wrong Without Being Negligent? ... Will O'Hara . 49 E-Files ... Stephen Estopinal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

The Link ... August 2015

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Editor's Effort More on Windows 10

By Dave Morton, B.SC., BCLS In the April 2015 issue of the Link I described what I knew, at the time, about the new Windows 10. There have been some developments since that time that have encouraged me to update my previous article. For example, it is now known that Windows 10 will be available on July 29th. This does not mean that everyone should take advantage of the free update.

Incidentally, the free update is not available for any version of Windows prior to Windows 7. Also, the free version cannot be installed on a newly purchased computer … it is an update for existing systems. If you wish to purchase a new computer for Windows 10, as I plan to do, you will have to pay the going price for the operating system. As for cost - Newegg.ca, for example, will be offering Windows 10 Home (64 bit) for $134.99 and Windows 10 Pro (64 bit) for $179.99.

There has been some concern that a subscription charge will be associated with Windows 10 … not true!! In fact not only is the update free for those currently using Windows 7 and 8, but Windows 10 will be updated and developed on a continuous basis … apparently there will not be a Windows 11. Instead Microsoft will continue to add features and improvements to Windows 10. As an additional bonus there will be no need to pay for any of the proposed future improvements. Instead Microsoft will be generating revenue through the marketing of applications and services such as desktop programs, digital music and videos.

is a potential for complications that may damage client information. As with most of the Windows operating systems, a newly minted version of the program will have 'bugs'. You can never know what can go wrong with an upgrade and you will need your business computer to always be functional.

Wait a few months in order to allow Microsoft to fix the 'bugs' that could bring your computer down. A complete image of your current setup (operating system, programs and data) would be an invaluable safety precaution and will allow you to keep all your options open. I create a system image using Acronis True Image 2015 once a week. The image is copied to an external drive which could be used to replace my current boot drive … creating a situation similar to System Restore, but in a much more thorough manner.

At any rate, Microsoft will not be upgrading all systems at the same time … the company does not have the facilities to carry out a massive simultaneous upgrade to Windows 10 that is expected. The upgrade will be in stages with those who have undertaken the Insider Program first to receive the 'final' upgrade. When it appears that Windows 10 is running without issues, Microsoft will begin upgrading those who have reserved a copy of the operating system.

Some of you may have noticed an icon in your notification tray that when activated offered a chance to reserve a copy of Windows 10. If you do not want an early version of Windows 10, the reservation can be cancelled by clicking on the icon and selecting the appropriate choice provided.

In any case, there is no doubt in my mind that the future of computing, for those of us that are in the PC world, will be determined by Microsoft's Windows 10 and its future.

In my previous article on Windows 10, I made mention of the replacement for Internet Explorer … named 'Spartan', at that time. In fact, the new browser has been designated 'Edge' and is a complete re-write of Internet Explorer with the exclusion of the old interface and the unnecessary and sometimes confusing icons. Microsoft will continue to add features to the new browser which, incidentally, now includes integration with 'Cortana'. Cortana is an interesting feature on its own as it is an easy means of quickly determining information in a unique manner.

However, it may not be a good idea to install the free Windows 10 update on a business computer as there 4

The Link ... August 2015

President's Message McVittie House and Presidential Challenges

By Bronwyn Denton, BCLS, President

I recently had the pleasure of attending the McVittie House and Land Surveying Office grand opening at Fort Steele. I had most recently visited the house last October when John Armstrong offered Steve Buzikievich and I a tour during the fall board trip, but my prior memories of McVittie House were from several years ago, when we held a Kootenay Regional Group Meeting in the main room of the log cabin. It was a very cool October morning and we were thankful for the heat coming from the wood stove as we all sat through the meeting in our jackets! The house has now been brought back to life thanks to the tremendous efforts of our volunteers and the folks at Fort Steele. I was honored to assist Bill Chapman with his tours of McVittie house to visitors at Fort Steele, playing the role of "Anna McVittie" and seeing the excitement on people's faces as the stories came to life in the restored home and survey office.

Bob Allen's article, in the next issue of the Link, will provide a full account of the day, but I wanted to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the volunteers who have worked on the house over the years. In the early days of the work parties, from 1998-2002 volunteers included John and Carol Armstrong, Jim Sharpe, Jon and Faith Magwood, Bill and Sandy Chapman, Gordon and Janine Stein, Don White, and Don Watson and Don's brother, Bill. The work parties started again in 2012, where John and Carol, Bill Chapman, Gordon Stein, and Don Watson and his brother Bill were joined by Dai Yates and Robert Allen. In addition to the BCLS volunteers and their spouses, there were also David Thompson Brigade members Denny and Delores DeMeyer from Birch Bay, Washington; Jim Halliday from Cochrane, Alberta; and Ian Emmerson from Calgary, Alberta. Other Brigade Team members who have joined some of the work parties included Ken Allred from Calgary, Alberta; Dwaine Ronnie from Slave Lake, Alberta; and Mary McDowell who recently moved from California to Everett, Washington. Ross MacDonald from Invermere, the lead person for the entire David Thompson Columbia Canoe Brigade also volunteered. On behalf of the ABCLS, I would like to again offer a most sincere thanks to each of those named for your contributions to this project.

It has been a challenging few months since the AGM as you can see from the delegate reports, I have represented the Association at the Alberta AGM, ACLS AGM, Newfoundland AGM and most recently the Saskatchewan meeting. To be honest, this travel, combined with the face to face meeting in June and the demands of my position with WSP has been more difficult than I anticipated. I now have an even greater amount of respect for the Past Presidents, particularly those of you who are sole practitioners and are so critically involved in every step of each survey that takes place in your firm.

Your Board of Management had a successful working meeting in June, and seven candidates sat the Professional Assessment Interview. Several of these candidates have now been commissioned, and I invite you to welcome them to the Association, especially those in your local area, with a phone call or an email of congratulations. Committees and working groups continue their efforts on several initiatives that will be brought to members at the fall meetings for input and feedback. Please keep your eyes open for circulation of that material in September.

Enjoy the remaining days of summer and I look forward to seeing many of you this fall during the Traveling Board Trip.

The Link ... August 2015

Bronwyn Denton & Brad Froggatt at the Mcvittie House Site 5

Delegate Reports Alberta Land Surveyor’s Annual General Meeting

By Bronwyn Denton, BCLS, President

The Alberta Land Surveyor's Annual General Meeting was held April 23-25th, 2015 in Lake Louise. CPD seminars were held on Thursday including: an ethics presentation

by Curtis Sumner, the Executive Director of the National Society of Professional Surveyors (USA); a loss and risk seminar presented by CG&B, the new broker for PSC; an expert witness seminar by Izaak de Rijcke from 4 Points Learning and finally a seminar on boundary investigation.

The two day business meetings were an interesting mix of presentations and the business agenda. The theme of the meeting was "Time Travel" and several times each day, short video interviews with new commissions as well as more experienced surveyors were played containing fun anecdotes and words of wisdom.

Areas of discussion during the AGM included: ●

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Concern around the funding model for the ALSA when post sales are the main source of revenue for the association Multiple issues with double postings and resulting boundary uncertainties The hybrid cadaster … this continues to be a hot topic of discussion - it appears to have gotten off to a slow start, with only 14 plans received from July - December of 2014, but 30 have come in since January 2015 (15 from the same person).

Recommendations brought forward by several committees as a result of committee work over the year (i.e. Registration Committee and Standards Committee). Electronic voting was not utilized during the meeting, but only one vote stemming from these recommendations needed to be counted.

The visiting Presidents watched the election with great interest as the election is essentially held within the business meeting. Each candidate running for election provides a five minute speech and nominations are accepted from the floor right up until moments before the speeches. Ballots are cast and collected on the spot then counted. The new Vice President, Fred Cheng, was elected from the floor. Carl Larson was re-elected to Council for a three year term, Brian Ball and Scott Partridge for a two year term.

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On Saturday morning, a moderated panel discussion took place with four land surveyors with a combined 172 years of experience. The panel responded to a range of questions from the audience in addition to showing and explaining historical instruments and accessories that had been brought along to the meeting. This was an interesting opportunity to hear from experienced land surveyors on a variety of topics.

There were five motions brought to the floor during new business, paraphrased here for your general information.

The first was to have council consider assigning hearing costs if a party was found guilty of unprofessional conduct or unskilled practice. This motion was strongly defeated, with concern expressed that this would be too onerous on the party, that it would lead to bias in the decision making and that it would result in land surveyors appealing the decisions in court. There have been some recent cases where hearings have cost in excess of $40,000, and some members feel the onus should be on the member to carry these costs completely, while others feel the general membership should share in these costs as part of the cost of the discipline process. Anyone interested in knowing more about this can review the recent ALS News for additional information.

The second motion from the floor was pertaining to sworn affidavits, asking council to consider guidelines for the discipline committee regarding falsely sworn affidavits and automatically forwarding a charge of unprofessional conduct if it was found that an affidavit had been sworn falsely. This was also defeated, and several spoke against this motion. ALSA council also spoke about the lack of clarity about the definition of a "false affidavit", for example whether it was intentionally signed incorrectly or was an error discovered about the information at a later date.

The third motion asked council to consider implementing operating procedures for the Discipline Committee

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including (1) that five members attend the hearing and the same five be present for the penalty proceedings and (2) that the land surveyor being disciplined know in advance who will be participating and allow him to request certain members to be removed from the panel if it is felt there is a conflict. This was defeated.

The fourth motion asked council to investigate the process of adding new nominations to council in a more acceptable way (vs it happening on the floor). The person who brought the motion forward felt it would be more fair to the candidates and respectful if there was an alternate method of nominating to council that wasn't mere moments before the election. This motion was defeated.

The final motion from the floor was carried, it asked council to consider making a committee to work with the Director of Surveys, Alberta Environmental

Sustainable Resource Development (ESRD), Alberta Energy Regulator (AER) and Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) to deal with long term Crown disposition renewals.

This was stemming from a lengthy discussion earlier in the meeting about how to address these renewals that are starting to expire and the debate around whether or not these renewals can be surveyed using alternate methods such as aerial photography or if these need to be surveyed on the ground.

In addition to the CPD and business meetings, there was a full social calendar including a silent auction, comedian, guest speakers and several wonderful meals prepare by the chefs at the Fairmont. Mark and I would like to thank Barb and Al Jamieson for their hospitality, and wish Al all the best in his term as past president. Mark and I look forward to traveling with Greg Boggs and his wife Catherine in the coming year.

National Surveyors Conference

By Bronwyn Denton, BCLS, President

The National Surveyors Conference was held in Winnipeg from May 13-15th, 2015 with the theme "Intersections Connect at Portage and Main," a joint presentation of the ACLS and PSC. On Wednesday morning the visiting Presidents, Executive Directors from across the country and several Surveyor Generals including Mike Thomson, Peter Sullivan and Sue MacGregor met together as a group for the third consecutive CCOG meeting. There was fruitful discussion including collaborative opportunities across the country, action items for PSC to tackle, a breakdown of the geomatics sector scan, and a presentation summary of the recent GeoAlliance Meeting. The EDs and Surveyor Generals continued their respective meetings in the afternoon and the following morning, while the visiting Presidents joined the ACLS meeting in progress. CPD consumed the Wednesday sessions, including seven presentations on the theme of "The CLS at the Service of Aboriginal Communities," and an excellent keynote address by James B. Wilson, Treaty Commissioner for Manitoba.

Thursday morning included CPD sessions under the theme "Datums Elevations and Heights - Ensuring Water Flows Downhill," and several awards were presented during the luncheon. Congratulations to Doug Dodge

for winning the Challenging Applications in Cadastral Surveying category for his complex Mount Currie IR plan. Peter Mueller was runner up in the "Innovation in Geomatics" category for his project ,"Creation of a Road Tenure Layer in a Municipal GIS." Five commissions were awarded and PSC presented Jim Gunn from Nova Scotia with the Champlain Award for his years of contribution to the profession.

The ACLS business meeting commenced Thursday afternoon and carried into Friday morning. There are several concerns facing the ACLS at this time. Membership numbers have been in steady decline, as regular memberships have dropped by 96 since 2011 and licenses by 54 in the same period. This, combined with reduced revenue from post and plan document fees, is creating budgetary pressures. This generated discussion on the floor, as there was a proposal to increase fees in the upcoming year to reduce the impact of a currently projected deficit budget. The ACLS is working on several key initiatives right now including ongoing work to promote the GeoEd online learning tool to surveyors across the country, efforts towards finalizing the Hydrographic Surveying Certification Project and various other activities that support the strategic plan that was revisited in November 2014.

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The ACLS has just ended the second cycle of the ACLS mandatory CPD program, and 20 members did not record the minimum hours of CPD required to renew their license to practice. Jean Claude Tetreault, Executive Director, is currently working with those practitioners to find resolution.

meeting tends to be a time where council reports activity out versus members bringing items forward to shape the future direction. There were about 55 voting members in attendance. This year, the ACLS opened the meeting up to members to join via Go-To-Meeting where they could watch the podium via webcam and cast votes through the online system. 19 members participated on Thursday, and nine on Friday morning.

Julia Meldrum-Smith from Ontario has replaced Jim Gunn as practice review manager effective January 1st, 2015.

There was only one motion from the floor and that was asking council to consider implementing a contingency fund to help even out the ups and downs of revenue.

The ACLS business meetings are different from the ABCLS meetings from the perspective that discussion is somewhat limited, bylaw changes are not voted upon at the meeting (but rather by an online vote after the fact), and the

Anne Cole of Sudbury, Ontario is the incoming ACLS President, Tania Bigstone is Vice President. I would like to thank Gord Stark for hosting the delegates in his hometown of Winnipeg and have enjoyed our time together.

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Association of Newfoundland Land Surveyors Annual General Meeting

By Bronwyn Denton, BCLS, President

The Association of Newfoundland Land Surveyors held their Annual General Meeting at Marble Mountain Resort near Corner Brook from May 21-23rd, 2015. President Wayne Hodder and his wife Wendy opened the event with a dinner for the "come from away" guests, allowing us to meet the incoming and past ANLS presidents as well as the Secretary-Treasurer. The Thursday meeting comprised of several CPD events including a workshop where we broke into small groups to make comments and suggestions on proposed changes to the Manual of Practice.

Several presentations occurred in the afternoon including Jean-Claude Tetreault talking about GeoEd and the benefits of ACLS membership and two presentations by Izaak de Rijcke.

There are several key issues facing Newfoundland Land Surveyors raised throughout the meeting: ● The Lands Act: A few months ago, the Lands Act was re-opened by the government and the ANLS found out through the media. They have been providing input during public stakeholder meetings, but the government refuses to allow them a seat at the advisory committee table.

● Unauthorized practice: This is a significant concern right now for the ANLS. The definition of "Land Surveying" in the Land Surveyors Act (1991) is as follows:

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"land surveying" means the interpretation of boundary evidence, the spatial measurement, the demarcation and the textual and graphical definitions of either or both boundaries and points on, over or under the earth or a combination or all of those". ANSL legal counsel has provided the opinion that these infractions are worthy of pursuit of legal action as cease and desist orders have not been effective and legal counsel feels that the definition of land surveying will be upheld in court. ●

Crown Lands: there appears to be several points of tension between the ANLS and the folks at Crown Lands. This includes concerns about quality of plans, and some claims that roughly 90% of plans submitted are returned to the surveyor with errors or corrections.

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Discipline: A member is currently under a six month suspension, and a second investigation for this same member is ongoing. The 1st hearing cost the Association $48,000 and the member owes payment of $36,000, due within six months of his suspension being completed. There are also many current clients that have come forward either with work partially complete, with errors, or with payment made to the practitioner for work that has not been completed.

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Friday"s agenda consisted of several presentations related to the business of the association, but not formally part of the business meeting. This included a presentation from the Mandatory CPD committee, a presentation from the Secretary on compliance responsibility, an update from the Crown Lands Working Committee, a presentation by LandGazette and several others. The Secretary's presentation was quite interesting as it included topics such as discipline, practice and plan audits (not currently a program in NL) and unauthorized practice.

Saturday's business meeting commenced with a review of the annual report, which was essentially the executive and committee reports, as well as the Council minutes for the past year. All of these items are printed and published in a large book for review and reference at the meeting. There are currently 14 articled pupils in the province, which brings great optimism to the aging membership. One candidate received a commission this year, a labor mobility candidate who moved "back home" from Calgary. Three land surveyors became a life member, which in Newfoundland essentially means they have retired from practicing before the public.

The leader of the official opposition, and arguably the future Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador spoke at the lunch on Saturday. He shared a passionate message and hit all of the right points with the crowd, confirming the importance of land surveyors in society, and shaming the present government for failing to include the ANLS in an advisory committee during the ongoing review of the Land Act. He also talked repeatedly about having one, fully integrated, single registration system.

Four bylaw changes were brought forward to the AGM. The first two could be considered housekeeping, while the 3rd was a bylaw regarding the creation of an assurance fund which mirrors the wording of the Law Society's bylaw. The desire to start an assurance fund was an outcome of the discipline hearing which left a member suspended and his clients scrambling to have incomplete or incorrect work corrected by others. There was a lot of discussion on this from the floor, including concern about the increase to the marker fee to build this fund, assumption of liability by having a fund and suggestions that this type of claims against a practitioner could be covered by professional insurance. This motion was defeated so that more time could be spent within the regional groups discussing the concept and perhaps refining the language. The final bylaw change attempted to introduce the ability for a member outside of the nomination committee to put forward names for council, but the timing of the sequence of events did not make sense, and so after some discussion, the motion was withdrawn to be improved and presented at a future meeting.

Congratulations to Cliff Hawko on his election to the Presidential position, a post he previously held 28 years ago. John Burgess was elected as VP, and Aubrey Burt, Dominic Howard and Robin Davis were elected to council for two year terms.

Thank you to Wayne and Wendy for extending their hospitality to the ten visiting provincial delegates, and for keeping the cod frozen right up to the moment we had to kiss it J. The venue was lovely and the social events contained the music and laughter you would expect in Newfoundland.

Association of Saskatchewan Land Surveyors Annual General Meeting

By Bronwyn Denton, BCLS, President

The Association of Saskatchewan Land Surveyors held their 105th annual general meeting June 10th-11th in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan at the Temple Gardens Mineral Spa Resort.

President Ryan Maloney and his wife Kim hosted the visiting delegates for dinner on the Tuesday evening before getting down to business on Wednesday. Continuing professional development sessions were presented on Wednesday by Marc Lavoie, a Certified Human Resource Professional. Topics included The Brains (Neuroscience) of Leadership Communication, Generations @ Work & Cross Cultural Component of Leadership, and Transformational (Servant) Leadership.

The President’s forum followed the CPD sessions, which is a valuable opportunity to share information between jurisdictions. Since the ABCLS meeting in March, four associations have changed presidents, bringing a new dynamic to the President’s forum.

Each provincial association is working through various challenges and opportunities. For example, Alberta is working to make inroads with their new NDP government, but is anticipating challenges raising awareness to the appropriate Ministers about the critical role of land surveyors given the learning curve facing some of the young MLAs.

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The business meeting was held on Thursday morning and threatened to be wrapped up by coffee break based on the speed of the first several agenda items! Five resolutions were circulated in advance for consideration. The first spoke to ongoing participation in PSC’s “All In” model, which passed with only one person voting against. The second resolution was to set the annual post fee (a bylaw requirement), and it remained at $0.50 per monument. Two motions were to honor Don Franko and Wes Jamieson as life members of the SLSA. An honorary life membership was awarded to Terry Alm, the outgoing public member who had contributed tremendously in his term with the Association.

Ten new commissions were welcomed into the Association.

An update was provided by the department head of the Geomatics Technology program at SIAST, which has recently been renamed Saskatchewan Polytechnic. There will be 22 graduates of the program in December, and for the first time there is a waiting list for admittance to the program. The new curriculum is being finalized, and the next major step for the department will be applications to CBEPS to gain exemptions. They have decided not to tackle

gaining exemptions for all seven courses at once, but will start with C1, C4,C5, C6.

There was one motion from the floor that was ultimately defeated, but which generated excellent discussion. The motion suggested that “land surveyors be personally present at the location where section/quarter section corners are declared lost” in order to be confident in the declaration of these critical corners.

Congratulations to Chris Kuntz, incoming President and to Robert King, Vice President. Dan Codling and Steven Drew were elected to council. Robert was not on this year’s council, but had previously served from 2012-2014 which is apparently common. All positions including council seats were by acclamation, and the election was carried out by a show of hands, not by ballot.

Thank you Ryan and Kim for hosting us in beautiful Moose Jaw, it has been a pleasure traveling with you.

Welcome Chris and Heather, and good luck with the challenge of hosting a meeting in Lloydminster, where the convention space is in Alberta but the bylaws require the meeting be held in Saskatchewan!

Chief Administrative Officer Public Awareness

By Chad Rintoul, Chief Administrative Officer The first goal outlined in the ABCLS Strategic Plan is to raise awareness of the profession. I am pleased to report that the Board and several of the Association's Committees have been working diligently to make progress on this front.

In recent weeks representatives from Association management and the External Relations Committee have met with several key stakeholders including government ministries in order to present our Annual Report to Stakeholders and introduce our public awareness campaign. We have stressed the contribution made by the land surveying profession to the development of the provincial economy, public order and safety.

The overall objective of our communications strategy is to demonstrate the value of the profession of land surveying to key audiences; to seek out opportunities to advance the value and contributions of the profession; and to encourage land surveyors to be involved in stakeholder and public engagement.

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Led by the ABCLS Career and Public Awareness Committee (CPAC), we have contracted a local advertising agency, Holy Cow Communication Design Inc. (Holy Cow). Early on in this process we learned that we needed to create something fresh that had both internal and external components that engaged our audience with thoughtful messaging, anchored by compelling creative.

Functionally, we knew that we wanted the campaign to be multi-platform, with the intention of creating something that we could build on in the years to come.

To tell the story, we selected two main headlines: 'Only a land surveyor knows your boundaries' and 'Only a land surveyor knows where to draw the line'. To anchor the messaging Holy Cow created a simple concept with catchy headlines and memorable graphic elements.

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The campaign has rolled out with the launch of a Twitter pilot project. An online-based member toolkit and website updates (which include a new campaign-branded section for the public and membership) will follow. And we have new collateral including a campaign themed banner stand, rack cards, vehicle decals, and t-shirts.

A modest digital advertising campaign has also been implemented.

A key component to raising the awareness of the profession includes encouraging members to serve as "ambassadors of the profession". At the regional group meetings this fall we will be introducing resources to enable the membership to network within their local communities and help raise awareness of the profession.

I look forward to working together with the Board and the membership as we advance stakeholder and public awareness of the profession.

Practice Advisory Department Horizontal Positional Accuracy (HPA) … How is it calculated?

By Peter Goodier BCLS – Practice Advisory Department

In the December 2014 issue of The Link, the Practice Advisory Department published an article entitled Georeferencing and Plan Preparation … Frequently Asked Questions. That article discussed some of the salient points of Horizontal Positional Accuracy (HPA), but it did not examine the different scenarios for calculating HPA. The aim of this article is to take a closer look at calculating HPA in a number of different georeferencing scenarios.

As a reminder, the GSI Rules define Horizontal Positional Accuracy as "the network horizontal accuracy of all the georeferenced points in the survey."

Also; Network Horizontal Accuracy means "the absolute accuracy of the coordinates for a point with respect to the adopted British Columbia Geo-Spatial Reference to a 95% confidence level, which is dependent on the network accuracy of the known point(s) used to derive the coordinates of the legal survey and the relative accuracy of the connection(s) to the known point(s)."

There are several important points to consider when we talk about the HPA of the georeferenced points: ● The HPA is a measure of absolute accuracy; ● This accuracy must be with respect to the adopted BC Geospatial Reference as published in Circular Letter #463; ● The HPA is expressed for your georeferenced points (i.e. points which have occupied by GNSS equipment) and does not necessarily apply to other points in your survey. ● In order to determine an HPA for other points in your survey, you will have to ensure that rigorous methods are followed for field observations and processing these observations (e.g. least squares adjustment) to be confident about the HPA of such derived points.

Calculating Horizontal Positional Accuracy The approach one takes for calculating the horizontal positional accuracy for georeferenced points depends on the georeferencing method used. This article looks at several different georeferencing situations and discusses approaches for calculating HPA. In each approach, we emphasize the following:

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To the maximum extent possible, the HPA should be based on statistical results generated from your survey.

The HPA calculation needs to include an allowance for the HPA of the source geodetic control or the RTN/RTK base you are using.

The accuracy must be expressed to a 95% confidence level.

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At this point, a brief review of the difference between the standard deviation and the 95% confidence level is in order. In statistics, the standard deviation S is a measure of confidence. A fact of the normal distribution is that 68% of the measured values in a data set will fall within the upper and lower limit of the standard deviation. For example, if a distance is measured as 35.01 m, and the standard deviation S= 0.01 m, then the upper limit is calculated as 35.01 m + 0.01 m= 35.02 m , and the lower limit is calculated as 35.01 m – 0.01 m= 35.00 m, and 68% of any observations made will fall between 35.00 m and 35.02 m.

Most surveying standards reference the 95% confidence level. The 95% confidence level is achieved by multiplying the standard deviation by 1.96.

Using the numbers from the previous example, if S= 0.01 m, then the 95% confidence levels would be calculated as 0.01 m X 1.96 = 0.02 m, and 95% of the observations would fall between 35.01 m +/- 0.02 m; that is 95% of the values would fall between 34.99 m and 35.03 m.

1. Static GNSS surveys using the Precise Point Positioning (PPP) service The PPP service provides a report which includes the 95% confidence levels for latitude and longitude (the PPP report calls these confidence levels "Sigmas 95%"), and the HPA is readily calculated using these statistics.

Example: Calculating the HPA from data provided by a PPP report:

Estimated Position for TH 043

Latitude (+n) Longitude (+e) Ell. Height NAD83(CSRS) (2002) 49º 39' 24.1637'' -116º 56' 32.7886'' 625.684 m Sigmas(95%) 0.013 m 0.017 m 0.043 m The HPA for the PPP-derived base station is calculated as the square root of the sum of the squares of the 95% confidence levels for the latitude and longitude; HPA = 21 mm

(95% confidence level Latitude)² + (95% confidence level Longitude)² =

(0.013² + 0.017²) = 0.021 m =

2. Static GNSS surveys using the manufacturer's software to process a baseline vector Often, a GNSS survey will derive coordinates for a base station using the PPP service, and process a vector to a second GNSS point.

In these cases, the GNSS processing software will provide statistical analysis for the second GNSS point, which will consider errors in the baseline vector. It is important to be mindful of the following:

●

●

The software should be reporting at the 95% confidence level. If the software is reporting at the 68% confidence level, then the multiplier of 1.96 should be applied to achieve the 95% confidence level.

The software should consider the positional uncertainties of the base station in the calculation. Be wary of situations where the GNSS software reports an HPA at the rover which is more accurate than that of the base station.

Example: A GNSS survey is conducted where a receiver is set up at TH 043 and is designated the base station. A second receiver is set up at TH 044 and several hours of GNSS observations are collected.

Use the HPA for the base station calculated in the previous example and the following vector calculation report (provided by the GNSS processing software) to calculate the HPA for TH 044.

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Vector processing report From Pt.

To Pt.

Start Time

End Time

Duration

Horizontal Precision 95% (m)

Ve r t i c a l Precision 95% (m)

dN (m)

dE (m)

TH 043

TH 044

9:10 05/06/2015

12:10 05/06/2015

3:00

0.005

0.006

150.010

75.022

The HPA calculation for TH 044 is straight forward - we simply add the positional uncertainty at the base station obtained from PPP to the Horizontal Precision of the vector from the processing report: HPA =

(error base station² + error vector²) =

(0.021² + 0.005²) = 0.022 m = 22 mm

3. Real Time Kinematic (RTK) GNSS surveys There are several approaches for calculating the HPA for RTK surveys: i. Most GNSS manufacturers provide some sort of post-mission statistical reporting, often in terms of "coordinate quality" for RTK surveys, which is available through a desk-top interface. For example, one GNSS manufacturer's software offers a 'Statistics' window where the Horizontal Precision (95%) is displayed. Using this figure for the HPA on a survey plan is a reasonable approach. It is important to be aware that these software applications may or may not consider the errors at the base station. ii. The positional uncertainty related to the vector between the base station and the rover can be calculated by referencing the manufacturer's specifications. The vector error can then be added to the HPA at the base station to calculate an HPA for the rover. The HPA for the base station could come from the published standard deviations from a MASCOT monument (which would require applying the multiplier to achieve the 95% confidence level), from the 95% confidence levels in a PPP report, or from the HPA of a real time network base station.

This approach is not as rigorous as other methods, because it does not consider the conditions under which the survey was completed. However, if no other options are available, this method can be used.

One manufacturer, for example, specifies an accuracy of 8 mm + 1 ppm at the 68% confidence level (in "normal to favorable conditions") for RTK survey measurements.

Example: Using the manufacturer's accuracy specifications, what is the HPA of a RTK point, where the baseline is 15 km long and the base station is MASCOT monument 534438?

MASCOT GCM No: 534438 Latitude Longitude D M S SD D 48 38 48.38468 +/-0.003m 123

M 24

S 0.65693

SD +/-0.003m

a. MASCOT lists standard deviations (68% confidence level); it follows that we first multiply the standard deviations by 1.96 to achieve the 95% confidence levels at the base station: Continued on Page 14 Ø

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95% Confidence level Latitude = 0.003 m X 1.96 = 0.006 m 95% Confidence Level Longitude = 0.003 m X 1.96 = 0.006 m b. Second, the HPA for the Base Station is calculated: (95% confidence level Latitude)² + (95% confidence level Longitude)² = HPA Base station = = 0.008 m

+

c. Next, the uncertainty associated with the RTK baseline is calculated. The baseline is 15 km long. The manufacturer's specifications relate an accuracy of 8 mm + 1 ppm for RTK surveys.

Uncertainty baseline vector (68%)= 8 mm + (15,000,000 mm X 1/1,000,000)= 8 mm + 15 mm= 23 mm = 0.023 m To calculate the 95% confidence level we apply multiplier 1.96: 95% confidence level= 0.023 m X 1.96= 0.046 m= 46 mm Remember that the manufacturer states these specifications for "normal to favorable conditions". If conditions for GNSS surveying are inclement, then this method may not be sufficient. d. Finally, we add the uncertainty in the base station to the uncertainty in the RTK vector to calculate the HPA of the RTK point: HPA =

(8 mm)² + (46 mm)² = 47 mm (For normal to favorable conditions)

This approach can also be applied to the situation where corrections come from a Real Time Network.

iii. The final approach for calculating HPA can be used when several RTK measurements have been taken for a single point, and the measurements are sufficiently time separated (e.g. 1-2 hours between points).

In this method, a statistical approach is taken. The statistical theory behind this technique is nicely explained in the article The Normal Distribution by Dr. Charles Ghilani in the June 2015 edition of xyHT. Given several time separated RTK coordinate values for a single point, the following working example demonstrates how the HPA can be calculated. This method is well suited to a spreadsheet application.

Example: The following RTK coordinates for TH 045 were taken with a 1 hour time separation between observations. What is the HPA for TH 045, given that the baseline is 15 km long, and that the base station is MASCOT GCM No: 534438.

Measurement 1: TH 045

N: 1000.015

E: 5000.002

Measurement 2: TH 045

N: 999.970

E: 5000.010

Measurement 3: TH 045

N: 1000.030

E: 4999.970

a. First, we calculate the mean coordinate values:

Mean N= (1000.015 + 1000.030 + 999.995)/3 = 1000.005 m

Mean E= (5000.002 + 5000.010 + 4999.970)/3 = 4999.994 m Continued on Page 15 Ø 14

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b. Second, we calculate the residuals v for each measurement (where v = mean value – individual observation): Measurement 1 vN = 1000.005 - 1000.015 = -0.010 m vE = 4999.994 - 5000.002 = -0.008 m

Measurement 2 vN = 1000.005 - 999.970 = 0.035 m

vE = 4999.994 - 5000.010 = -0.016 m

Measurement 3 vN = 1000.005 - 1000.030 = -0.025 m vE = 4999.994 – 4999.970 = 0.024 m

c. Next, we calculate the standard deviation S (68% confidence level) for the Northings and Eastings

S=

v²/ n-1, where n = the number of observations

S Northing=

S Easting=

(-0.010² + 0.035² + 0.025²)/(3-1)=

0.001193/2 = 0.031 m

(-0.008² + -0.016² + 0.024²)/(3-1)=

0.000896/2 = 0.021 m Continued on Page 16 Ø

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certifies technologists and technicians with expertise in geomatics and survey technology, and regulates standards of practice in

accordance with a Code of Ethics. Certification as an Applied Science Technologist (AScT) or Certified Technician (CTech) is granted to individuals who meet stringent national standards, are job ready with education and experience.

We encourage all BC Land Surveyors to actively support the technologists and technicians on your team, to achieve certification.

…adding value to the Surveying Team For more information…

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10767 – 148th Street Surrey, BC CANADA V3R 0S4 TEL: (604) 585-2788 FAX: (604) 585-2790 EM: techinfo@asttbc.org

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FOR

T E C H N O LO G Y P RO F E S S I O N A L S

The Link ... August 2015

www.asttbc.org IN

BRITISH COLUMBIA 15

× Continued from Page 15

d. To achieve the 95% confidence level, we apply the multiplier 1.96 to the standard deviations:

95% confidence level N = 0.031 m X 1.96 = 0.061 m

95% confidence level E = 0.021 m X 1.96 = 0.041 m

e. Now we can calculate the horizontal confidence level of the point using the 95% confidence levels for the Northing and Easting: Horizontal confidence level (95%) = = 0.073 m =73 mm

(95% confidence level N)² + (95% confidence level E)² =

(0.061² + 0.041²)

f. The HPA we have just calculated does not account for the error associated with the distance from the base station or the positional error at the base station. So, we now apply these errors, both of which were calculated in the previous example: error baseline vector² + error base station² + confidence level calculated at point² = HPA= (73 mm)² = 87 mm

(47 mm) ² + (8 mm)² +

Additional Considerations for Georeferencing with RTK. If a survey is completed entirely by RTK, then every point in the survey will have associated coordinate values. It follows that the georeferencing of the survey plan of an RTK survey essentially becomes a matter of choosing two RTK points for which good surveying practices have been employed.

What are good practices for RTK surveying? This topic is discussed in Guidelines for RTK/ RTN GNSS Surveying in Canada, which is published by Natural Resources Canada and is available at the NRCan website. This manual is suggested reading, and it recommends the following techniques for precision work with RTK equipment (pages 19-21):

●

●

● ●

The computation of a mean position over a specified time period (time window averaging) is recommended, however this technique on its own is not enough to guarantee positional quality.

Re-occupation - to optimize the benefits from changes to the satellite geometry and atmospheric conditions, re- occupying the RTK point after a time lapse of 1-2 hours is recommended.

Checks to known survey control will verify that there are no systematic errors degrading the survey accuracy.

Surveying each RTK point using corrections from a second base station will provide checks on all point determination factors.

Unlike static GNSS surveys, RTK point solutions are usually based on relatively few observations- It follows that redundancy is imperative when using RTK techniques for georeferencing.

Static surveys also require redundancy. One member has shared that he has processed baselines where the processing software has reported excellent positional quality- however, due to multipath, the positional solution had a 1-2 metre error.

Similarly, base stations have been known to move, either by tectonic shifts or other reasons (See the article "Black Boxes" in the December 2013 issue of The Link).

4. Georeferencing using conventional surveying equipment If a survey is georeferenced conventionally by ties to passive geodetic control (e.g. it is in an Integrated Survey Area), then PAD recommends that the coordinates should be shown at the geodetic control monuments, and the coordinates will be the MASCOT published coordinates.

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This technique has the benefits of simplicity (there are no calculations required) and accuracy (the horizontal positional accuracy will be calculated from the standard deviations published on the MASCOT coordinate listing). It is worth repeating that the standard deviations included in the MASCOT listings represent the 68% confidence level. These figures must be multiplied by 1.96 to achieve the 95% confidence level prior to calculating the Horizontal Positional Accuracy.

Conclusion While this article emphasizes an approach based on statistical analysis, it is important to remember that it is incumbent on the surveyor to ensure that appropriate measurement techniques and redundancies are employed before relying on statistical data. In other words, don't rely on the statistical output that your system displays unless you have incorporated appropriate redundancy and observational methods into your survey.

Above all else, the HPA should be a meaningful and realistic figure. This article has offered a handful of options to use for calculating HPA- some of the methods discussed are more rigorous than others. Regardless of the method used, the HPA you show on your plan needs to be a considered figure which makes sense.

Looking ahead to 2016, ParcelMap BC will use the HPA value to weight the coordinates of the georeferenced points in order to guide the adjustment process. Assigning an HPA of 20 cm to georeferenced points when the survey has been done more accurately would negatively skew the adjustment of the cadastral fabric being inserted into ParcelMap BC. Alternatively, overstating the HPA will cause PMBC to put too much weight on a specific plan's information.

Surveyor General's Datum Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia

By Mike Thomson, BCLS, Surveyor General

Note: This article is based on speaking notes from the ABCLS Spring Regional Group Meetings held in May and June 2015 in Kamloops, Nanaimo, Burnaby and Fort St. John. Information has been updated to be current to early July 2015.

The LTSA is just over a quarter of the way into the 2015/16 fiscal year and it has been a busy start. Our revenues for the first quarter sit 15.8% above budget, an indication of how busy land title registration activity has been.

We remain especially busy on our ParcelMap BC project and I will spend some time discussing it a little later.

1. Introduction

On May 15, 2015 myLTSA Legacy Search was retired and all will now be using the new Search tools. We have heard a number of positive comments with the one constant concern being related to the File Reference field. A minor 'fix' has been implemented that we believe offers some improvement.

The two major items of focus around the LTSA this quarter have been the 10-year Operations Report and Fee Simplification.

As you know the LTSA celebrated its 10 year anniversary on January 20, 2015. A requirement of the Operating Agreement between the LTSA and the Province is the two parties are required to conduct a review of the first 10-years of operations. In response the LTSA has prepared a very detailed report of LTSA activities through the first 10 years.

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The report was reviewed by the Minister and the Deputy Minister of Forests Lands and Natural Resources and the parties have agreed that the report meets the intent of the requirements for a 10-year review under the Operating Agreement.

The Minister noted the report reflects the LTSA's continued high performance and commitment to: ● Fully meet its core business requirements

● Maintain a high level of customer support and stakeholder satisfaction

● Invest in British Columbia's land title and survey infrastructure

● Deliver ongoing services and support to the Province

The report was made public in early June 2015 and is available on the LTSA web site at www.ltsa.ca. I would encourage all to consider having a read of the report; it is a very interesting look at the changes we have made to the land title and survey systems of BC over the last 10 years.

The other major activity recently is a project known as Fee Simplification. It may be the worst named project ever, because nothing is at all simple about what is being undertaken, but the result for the mass majority of LTSA customers will be a much simplified fee structure, particularly in the land title offices.

Early in the spring 2015 legislative session the Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations introduced Bill 25, which amongst other things included significant changes to Schedule 2, the Land Title Act Fee Regulation. Most significantly the result of Bill 2 is to reduce the number of land title fee categories from some 68 to 10. Applications have been grouped into similar categories such that the registration of a plan will have the same fee regardless of the type of plan, excepting a section 68 Land Title Act posting plan which will continue to have a 'nil' fee. Similarly the registration fee for a 'charge' will be the same no matter the type of charge.

This will be an advantage to customers who will find it much easier to determine the appropriate fee for any document or plan they wish to file in the land title office. The big challenge to the LTSA is that we are required to map all the existing fees to the new fee schedule and determine the LTSA portion of the fee. The change is required to be revenue neutral to the LTSA, such that the total dollar value of our portion of the fees (45% of the total fee) remains the same as it would have been if the province had not introduced Bill 25.

This is an enormously complicated task, where each new fee must be mapped against each old fee, so the number of relationships is significant. It is further complicated by the fact that some Surveyor General fees, for example applications for accretion or a natural boundary adjustment which are made pursuant to the Land Title Act, are impacted while others, for example applications under the Land Act, are not.

The new fees under Fee Simplification will not go into effect until late 2015, with November 1, 2015 being a good estimate of the commencement date. We now have the new fee regime completed, approved by the LTSA Board and others required to approve it. The new fee listing was released on our website on July 9, 2015.

2. Organizational Changes The Surveyor General Division continues to enjoy a relative period of stability in our workforce. The LTSA, in the early part of 2015 did see some significant retirements in the Land Title Division. We have rolled out a Leadership Development Program to help develop staff in the land title offices.

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Our team of Surveyor General Division professional staff, Jeff Beddoes, Cristin Schlossberger, Dave Swaile and Peter Haas remain available to serve you as best as they can. Our dedicated technical staff is fully engaged in day to day business, supporting First Nations Treaty Settlements, supporting the Provinces Crown grant programs and offering support to the ParcelMap BC build where and when they can.

Brian Greening continues his leadership of the ParcelMap BC project and team.

3. LTSA 2014/2015 Year in Review We completed the 2014/2015 fiscal year on March 31, 2015 and are now approximately three months into our new fiscal year.

In 2014/15 the land title offices processed 710,000 land title registration applications, a 6% increase from the 670,000 in the previous year.

In 2014/15 the Surveyor General Division confirmed a total of 1,558 Crown land survey plans, a reduction of 16.9% from the 1,876 survey plans in the previous year and further below the 2,312 survey plans in the 2012/13 fiscal year.

We issued 119 Crown grant documents, up marginally from the 114 the previous year and well above the 85 in the 2012/13 fiscal year.

We also processed 332 statutory applications, up 34 or 11.4% from the 298 in the previous year, and above the 307 in fiscal 2012/13.

In the year we also responded to 930 (807 the previous year) requests for copies of survey plans and field notes from the Surveyor General's records.

3.1 Electronic Filing System (EFS) – and Electronic Plan Updates: At the end of the 2014/15 fiscal year we were seeing approximately 94% of all documents being filed to the land title office electronically. Approximately 49% are being registered automatically, using 'OTTO', our automated examination processes. The way this breaks down is approximately 70% of all applications can be reviewed by OTTO and of that set, approximately 70% are successfully registered. The 70% of 70% computes to 49% of all documents being registered automatically.

On the plan side: ● In the 2014/15 fiscal year, 99.2% (9,454 of 9,534) of all survey plans were filed electronically in the land title office. During the year only 80 mylar plans were received. This compared to 97.2% of all survey plans being filed electronically in the Land Title Office in fiscal 2013/14 and 84.9% in fiscal 2012/13. ● In 2014/15, the 9,534 survey plans filed was 10.9% below the 10,703 survey plans received in the 2013/14 fiscal year. ● In March 2015, the electronic filing number was 99.3% (852 of 858). ● In April 2015, the electronic filing number was 99.4% (873 of 878). ● In June 2015 the electronic fling number was 99.7% (890 of 893).

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4.0 ParcelMap BC Update Work continues very aggressively on our ParcelMap BC project.

To review; the primary objective of the ParcelMap BC (PMBC) project is to deliver a single, complete, trusted, and sustainable map of all active titles in the land title register and all surveyed provincial Crown land parcels.

We continue to work with stakeholder organizations which supported the development of the PMBC business case through the PMBC Advisory Committee, including: ● The Province of British Columbia ● Integrated Cadastral Information Society - ICIS ● The Association of BC Land Surveyors - ABCLS ● BC Assessment Authority - BCA We continue to meet with the Land Surveyors Advisory Task Force (LSATF) to review progress on the project and to review important changes for land surveyors in how business will be conducted. We will meet again with the LSATF on July 14, 2015 and then again in October 2015.

Prior to the AGM in March we released our "Survey Plan Dataset Specifications" document.

On May 7, 2015, through an ABCLS Office Update the LTSA released a draft version of Practice Bulletin No. 3 – Surveyor General's Requirements for the Submission of a Dataset to Support ParcelMap BC. The bulletin provides important information to land surveyors on what types of plans require datasets, which plans will not require datasets, and perhaps most importantly when a dataset must be submitted. The guiding principle is that "Datasets must be submitted prior to submission of a plan image through the Submit Package to Land Title Office or the Submit Package to Surveyor General", from the menu in myLTSA. It is critical that the PMBC Operations Team has the dataset in hand when the plan arrives on the desk of a land title office examiner or the Surveyor General's technologist for review and confirmation. This is necessary to ensure the ParcelMap BC Operations Team is able to deliver on the service levels we have committed to.

Please note we are currently looking at a change in the Plan Notification that is available to land surveyors such that instead of being notified when a plan you have prepared is fully registered - you will be notified when the plan is filed as part of a package in the land title office. This recommendation was made by the LSATF and it is believed it will serve as an excellent reminder for land surveyors that their Survey Plan Dataset should have already been submitted.

Our anticipation is that the Survey Plan Dataset Submission process will be available in early November 2015. The current thinking is we will work with a small group of pilot users initially, and then open the system up to a larger group of pilot users before making it available to all land surveyors before the end of the calendar year. Our target date for requiring the submission of Survey Plan Datasets is now April 1, 2016.

We will continue to work with land surveyors to keep you as informed as we can, and certainly there will be much more information available as part of the fall Board trip.

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As to the project I will provide a brief update as to where we are, or perhaps more precisely where we were at the beginning of July.

We have arrived at a key milestone. Delivery of Increment No. 1, the Nanaimo Regional District, to our ParcelMap BC Operations team for Acceptance Testing is scheduled for July 17, 2015.

On the Cadastral Ties side of the project, capture from plans in ISA areas is now complete with over 4,488 ties collected.

Field surveys of cadastral ties are on schedule. We are more than 59% complete overall with all field ties on Vancouver Island, in the Sunshine Coast, the Lower Mainland and the Fraser Valley complete. Field work in the Kootenays, Columbia Shuswap, North Okanagan and Thompson-Nicola Regional District is complete and being compiled for acceptance. Field crews have moved into the north half of the Province. We remain focused on finishing field ties by the end of September, 2015.

As noted, completion of Increment No. 1 has occurred in the contractor's office, the MDA team is currently finishing factory testing. It will be delivered to the LTSA for acceptance testing on July 17, 2015. Our Ops Team is now responsible for maintenance of Increment No. 1, the Nanaimo Regional District. The first task will be to integrate 'catch-up' plans – or those plans registered since the compilation of Increment No. 1 began. We are excited to have reached this stage.

Work has begun on the build of Increment No. 2, the Cowichan Valley Regional District and Increment No. 3, the Greater Victoria Regional District.

There was a delay in the completion of Increment No. 1 which centered on our need to roll the 'lessons learned' into the compilation process and to allow time for the team, mainly Peter Haas, to address anomalies found in the data. In Increment No. 1 alone we dealt with 182 data anomalies.

The technology build for the delivery of the Survey Plan Dataset Submission tools remains on target for October / November 2015. Development work should complete near the end of August 2015 and we anticipate acceptance testing to be under way by mid-October 2015. We will then move towards the build of the Surveyor Search and Download Tools, and our ParcelMap Direct service.

The Surveyor Search and Download Tools should be available at the point that submission of Survey Plan Datasets becomes the requirement in April 2016. At that point we anticipate 5 or 6 of the 20 increments will be available.

In summary we remain on target for completion of the build of ParcelMap BC on a province wide basis by the end of March 2017.

5.0 Surveyor General Division – Upcoming or Recent Events

GeoBC Publication of Vertical Datum

As many of you are aware, GeoBC has been working with Geodetic Survey Canada and other parties to prepare for an eventual move of the vertical datum to CGVD2013 from the current CGVD28.

GeoBC has begun the migration such that a CGVD2013 elevation is available for all the federal benchmarks contained within Mascot. Over time the CGVD2013 elevation will be added for other control points. We are working with GeoBC to ensure the CGVD28 datum remains the official datum and that the CGVD2013 datum is available as an 'additional' datum.

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It is important that when you download MASCOT data you are careful to note the vertical datum being displayed and that you acquire the correct datum for your purpose.

If you have any concerns please contact GeoBC directly.

Boundary Commissioner

One of the roles I fill on behalf of the Province is that of Boundary Commissioner representing BC. We have recently re-let a contract to restore or re-establish 10 boundary monuments in the Elk Pass region.

We hope that this work will be completed this summer and we will be able to report out further on this activity as part of the fall Board trip.

Approving Officers Workshop On June 16, 2015 there was an Approving Officer's Workshop held in Prince George. These sessions are sponsored by the Local Government Management Association (LGMA) and supported by the LTSA and ABCLS. This year we were fortunate to have Jeff Beddoes presenting on our collective behalf.

If you have any particular topics that should be covered in the future please provide us with your thoughts.

ICIS User Conferences ICIS, the Integrated Cadastral Initiative Society, is one of the LTSA partners on the ParcelMap BC project. We supported a series of ICIS User Conferences this spring. Brian Greening attended conferences in Kamloops on June 4 and in Terrace on June 24. Peter Haas attended the conference in Dawson Creek on June 10 and I was in Prince George on June 17.

We appreciated the opportunity to talk about ParcelMap BC at these conferences and to learn more about ICIS's other ongoing initiatives at the same time.

As I finish my updates to this article I am sitting in a Tim Horton's in Cranbrook about to head to Fort Steele for the grand opening of McVittie House. I am looking forward to the celebration. I offer my whole hearted congratulations to all that have worked for many years for the arrival of this day. Congratulations – you know who you are – please accept my standing ovation. I encourage you to take the time to reflect on your accomplishment - be very proud - a great example of just how the BC land surveyor contributes to society. Well done ladies and gentleman.

In closing, I look forward to seeing many land surveyors on the fall 2015 Annual Traveling (ABCLS) Board trip September 28, 2015 - October 2, 2015.

We will be sure to provide an update on both the ParcelMap BC project and Fee Simplification at that time.

Lawyer Story of the Year

This took place in Charlotte , North Carolina .

A lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then insured them against, among other things, fire.

Within a month, having smoked his entire stockpile of these 22

great cigars, the lawyer filed a claim against the insurance company. In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost 'in a series of small fires.'

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The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason, that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion.

The lawyer sued - and WON! (Stay with me.)

With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.

This true story won First Place in last year's Criminal Lawyers Award contest.

Delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company, in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable 'fire' and was obligated to pay the claim.

Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000 to the lawyer for his loss of the cigars that perished in the 'fires'.

Now for the Best Part …

After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!!

The Center of the Universe

By Wayne Griffith, BCLS, CLS

Late last spring I was on a road trip to the Custer Battlefield Memorial at the Little Bighorn when I stumbled upon 'The Center of the Universe'. I was sightseeing in historic Wallace, Idaho at the time when one of the locals approached me and pointed to this rather elaborate manhole cover in the middle of the street intersection. "That is The Center of the Universe" he stated and with that I sauntered over to have a look and took the attached photos.

Some time ago I had been to the Geographical Centre of North America which is located near Rugby, North Dakota. Apparently the location of the stone cairn marking the Geographical Centre of North America may be out as much as 16 miles but the Wallace manhole cover seems to be right on. At first I thought this was a bit cheeky but upon reflection if there has to be a center to the universe why not Wallace, Idaho. I don't think they had a local land surveyor certify the position as being true and correct, but to my knowledge no recognized authority has disputed its position.

Wallace has other attractions to fall back on if 'The Center of the Universe' doesn't work for you. Wallace is also the home of Lana Turner and also claims to be 'The Silver Capital of the World'. Every building in the downtown section is on the national register of historic places. If you like the architecture of the early 1900s and lots of antique stores, downtown Wallace is the place to visit.

Thirty years ago Wallace was probably better known for its brothel locations and the downtown section has a

A manhole cover marking 'The Center of the Universe'

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bordello museum to commemorate this age old industry.

It seems that the local authorities turned a blind eye to prostitution for almost 100 years before the fed's intervened in the early eighty's and shut things down.

The interstate freeway through Wallace is an elevated roadway built to protect the historic downtown and unfortunately most of the traffic bypasses this wonderful old town. If you are headed that way, keep an eye out for the Wallace exit because not everyone has been to 'The Center of the Universe'.

Note the sign post and the elevated freeway in the background.

Buildings in Wallace's Historic District

James Thurber (1894–1961) Anecdote When The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, starring Danny Kaye, became a hit movie, Sam Goldwyn decided that he wanted to add Thurber to his team of writers. He offered Thurber $500 a week but Thurber was very happy to continue working for Harold Ross at The New Yorker.

After a decent interval Thurber wrote back to Goldwyn, declining the offer by saying "Mr. Ross has met the increase." Goldwyn wrote back, raising the offer to $1,000 a week, then $1,500, and finally $2,000. Each time, Thurber responded that Mr. Ross had met the increase.

Goldwyn lost interest but awhile later wrote again, this time offering only $1,500. Thurber replied: "I am sorry, but Mr. Ross has met the decrease."

24

The Link ... August 2015

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1

Robert's Corner A Short Primer on Geocaching

By Robert Allen, BCLS (Life Member), CLS, CIG (Life Member) Geocaching officially started on May 3, 2000, the day after the selective availability had been removed from the GPS satellites and it has been described as wandering through the forest looking for $1.00 Tupperware containers with the aid of billion dollar satellite systems. There are well are over 2.6 million geocaches around the world and they are located near places of historical interest, in parks, on mountain tops, and everywhere in between.

There are two types of geocaching membership. One is the 'basic' membership and it is free, you only need to sign up with a unique geocaching name. The other is a 'premium' membership and the yearly fee is $30.00. Even before signing up for a membership, you can visit the geocaching website: http://www.geocaching.com/ for free and type in any address (your own or just the name of a city) in the location shown in the screen shot below and it will list all the geocaches near that entered location. On that same page you can read more about geocaching, create an account, or sign in, if you are already a member.

Once you enter your address or the name of a city, hit enter or click on the magnifying glass and it will take you to a page listing geocaches in the area. Click on any one of them and you can read an abbreviated version of the geocache details. Once you become a basic member or a premium member, more details and options become available.

Each geocache location has a geocaching serial number.

The serial number for the geocache on top of Mount Gerry Andrews, near the Flathead Valley, for instance, is GC3QYMD. If you enter that serial number into the area where you can enter your address, it will take you directly to the webpage for the Mount Gerry Andrews geocache. Once

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you are a member and you are on the geocache webpage, you can read the logs left by other folks who have found the geocache and view any photographs that they may have posted as well.

Some of the more interesting geocaches I have been to are: GC5D6, GCV1D0, GC3P8N7, GC107QK, GC4Q1F9, GC1RAYV, GC1GQZE, and GCWJZ3. One other cache that I would like to have made it to is GC5P3F8, but it was in St. Paul, AB and it was in conjunction with a display being put on by the Alberta Land Surveyors.

There are numerous makes and models of handheld GPS units available. Currently I use a Garmin Oregon 450

that is preloaded with the BC Backroad Maps. It allows for paperless geocaching like a good number of the newer handhelds.

When going out geocaching, ensure that someone knows where you are going and when you expect to return.

Take water, some snacks, some extra batteries, your camera, and at least a basic first aid kit.

The benefits of geocaching are many. It promotes a clean healthy outing for all members of the family, you get some great exercise, you meet people with similar interests, you get to go to places you wouldn't normally go, you can often learn more than what you can from travel books, and you get yourself familiar with the use of a handheld GPS.

BC Farm Museum Exhibition

Hard Lines ‌ Surveying Early British Columbia

By Robert Allen, BCLS (Life Member), CLS, CIG (Life Member) Hilary Ruffini at the BC Farm Museum in Fort Langley has put together a very well done exhibition about early land surveying that runs until mid-October.

The panels in the display are a bit of the history of how surveying and settlement/farming kept in step with each other and it is a general look at the period up to the end of the First World War.

The Historical and Biographical Committee and the Office of the Surveyor General have helped with contributions to this exhibition and we recommend that you make an effort to take it in. Hilary has been working on the project for a year now, and again, has done an excellent job.

For more information on the BC Farm Museum, please visit: http://bcfma.com/

Please note the posters pertaining to the BC Farm Museum Exhibition are shown on pages 34 and 35.

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35

Bulletins New Commissions

Steve Buzikievich, Steve Wong, Cindy Wong, Chuck Salmon and Bronwyn Denton

Steve Wong … BCLS #942 Steve was commissioned by Chuck Salmon on March 19th, 2015 at the AGM in Penticton. He was born and grew up in Vancouver. Steve chose to become a land surveyor because his dad and uncle were land surveyors and he wanted to follow in their footsteps.

He would like to thank his dad Edmund Wong, his wife Cindy, his uncle Ken Wong along with Bill Chapman, Harry Hickman, Peter Mueller, Monty Brisson, Robert Glass and Mike Thomson for helping him along the way. When Steve isn't busy working he enjoys spending time with his wife Cindy and their two children.

Bronwyn Denton, Katie Hannah and Chuck Salmon

Katie Hannah in Drumheller, Alberta

Katie Hannah … BCLS #943 Katie Hannah was commissioned on June 2nd, 2015 at the ABCLS office in Sidney by Chuck Salmon and Bronwyn Denton. She grew up in Calgary, AB and chose to become a land surveyor because of the love of being outdoors, engineering, math, science and the legal and historical aspects of the work.

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Katie would like to thank all the land surveyors and at the WSP Fort St. John office and the party chiefs who were patient with a university student who had very little practical knowledge of surveying. "It takes a village", is the best mentality when it comes to articling a future land surveyor.

Katie enjoys golfing, dirt biking (she got to teach Bronwyn how to ride a dirt bike when working for her in Invermere during the summer of 2008), horseback riding, reading, travel and spending time with friends. She also enjoys playing the piano and had the opportunity to play one of Liberace's pianos - one of only two of this particular style in the world.

Cam MacDonald, Dan Machon, Mike Thomson, Zuzana Fulkova, Greg Marston and Joe Riar

Zuzana Fulkova ‌ BCLS #944 Zuzana was commissioned on June 12th, 2015 by Mike Thomson in Surrey. She grew up in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. She achieved a Master's degree in Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering from Czech Technical University in Prague.

Zuzana chose to become a land surveyor because her grandfather was a mathematics teacher and she always thought math was fun. She also loves to be outdoors and do manual work and finds land surveying is the perfect balance of both.

Zuzana would like to thank all the people she worked with over the years. She has learned something from each and every one of you: Dan and Joe for their constant guidance, her family for supporting her decision to move to Canada and pursue her career here, and her boyfriend Jeroen Rijken, for the patience he has had with her over the years when working on projects and exams.

Zuzana enjoys volleyball, travelling, hiking, crosscountry and back-country skiing.

Zuzana Painting

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Chuck Salmon, Chris Bryenton and Ian Robertson

Chris Bryenton working at Muncho Lake on the Alaska Highway

Chris Bryenton ‌ BCLS #946 Chris was commissioned by Chuck Salmon on June 30th, 2015 in Vancouver. He was born in Murrayville and grew up in White Rock. Chris chose to become a land surveyor because he liked the idea of a career that involved the outdoors, math, computer and history with some adventure thrown in.

Chris would like to thank his wife, Lori and his master, Ian Robertson for all their support throughout the process. When Chris is not working, he enjoys spending time with his family, triathlon, hiking, skiing and scuba diving.

Chris Cryderman, Jon Cormier, Chuck Salmon and Chris El-Araj

Jon hiking with his wife, Jessica, in Garibaldi Provincial Park

Jon Cormier ‌ BCLS #947 Jon was commissioned on June 30th, 2015 by Chuck Salmon in Vancouver. He grew up in Corner Brook, NL. Jon chose to become a land surveyor because it provided him with a career that is challenging and offers a new problem every day. He appreciates being part of an association with such a remarkable history and strong reputation.

Jon would like to thank his wife, Jessica Cormier, for her positivity and encouragement, all the land surveyors at Underhill who were always available to answer his questions, and his family, friends and coworkers who have supported him throughout this process. In his spare time, Jon enjoys anything outdoors, but especially hiking, backpacking, snowboarding and fly fishing.

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Mike Thomson, Hans Troelsen, Sebastiano Loconte, Bill Wong and Dave Harris Sebastiano Loconte ‌ BCLS #945 Sebastiano was commissioned on June 19, 2015 by Mike Thomson in Richmond. He was born and grew up in Vancouver.

After graduating high school, his sister's godfather (a BCLS), told him that he should look into surveying as a profession. He said it would be perfect for Sebastiano, and to make sure he got all the maths and sciences and to check out BCIT. He originally said "Maths and sciences? No thanks!" After thirteen years of working construction and some college and university, Sebastiano decided he needed a change ‌ and he gave it a shot. The rest is history. He would like to thank his wife and parents for their patience and support throughout the process.

He would also like to thank the following BCLS's for lending their time and sharing their knowledge, and helping him through various stages: Diego Caffo #644, Steve Campbell #712, Joe Coelho #750, Dave Harris #719, Michael Luo #850, Seamus Pope #923, Hans Troelsen #551, and Bill Wong #697.

Sebastiano enjoys spending as much time as he can with his two daughters (2 and 4 years old), watching hockey and football, and playing ball hockey.

Lemon Squeeze The local bar was so sure that its bartender was the strongest man around that they offered a standing $1000 bet. The bartender would squeeze a lemon until all the juice ran into a glass, and hand the lemon to a patron. Anyone who could squeeze one more drop of juice out would win the money.

Many people had tried ... over time: weightlifters, longshoremen, etc., but nobody could do it.

One day, this scrawny little fellow came into the bar, wearing thick glasses and a polyester suit and said in a small voice, "I'd like to try the bet."

After the laughter had died down, the bartender said, "OK"; grabbed the lemon; and squeezed away. Then he handed the wrinkled remains of the rind to the little fellow. But the Crowd's laughter turned to total silence ...as the man clenched his little fist around the lemon ... and six drops fell into the glass.

As the crowd cheered, the bartender paid the $1000, and asked the little man: "What do you do for a living? Are you a lumberjack, a weight-lifter, or what?"

The little fellow quietly replied: "I work for Revenue Canada."

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39

CPD Committee and CPD Program Update Minda C. Riley, BCLS, CPDC Member

2015 has already been an exciting and active year for the ABCLS Continuing Professional Development Committee (CPDC). In March, at the ABCLS 110th AGM, members ratified Bylaw 19 requiring mandatory participation and reporting of professional development activities commencing on January 1, 2016. With that in mind, the committee currently has a number of initiatives underway, and this article provides an opportunity to update the membership on the CPDC's activities.

As a reminder, GeoEd Canada is an online distance education portal, providing professional development opportunities to the land surveying community. The ABCLS is a Registered Provider with GeoEd and has developed online course materials that are currently available. The portal is easy to access and use, with a mix of live and recorded content. We would like to encourage all members to visit the site and take advantage of the various course offerings available through GeoEd. www.geoed.ca

The CPDC is progressing though a number of items related to the new bylaw and the associated Continuing Professional Development Program (CPDP). The ABCLS has formalized a working relationship with the Association of Canada Land Surveyors (ACLS), in line with the Memorandum of Understanding that was agreed to in 2014.

We are actively working with the software developer to develop a web based tool, to be accessed from the ABCLS website, and used for tracking and reporting individual professional development activities mirroring the existing ACLS model. A CPDP Guide is being developed to provide information to members on program as well as the online reporting tool. This document will be circulated once complete. The Self Assessment Form is being finalized and will be available electronically for ease of use. The CPDC is anticipating on providing information to each of the Regional Groups during the Fall Regional Group Meetings at the end of September. Announcements will be made in advance of the meetings, and attendance is encouraged so that the CPDC can answer any questions and get your feedback.

As a reminder, until January 2016 the current voluntary reporting program remains status quo. As in previous years the current voluntary reporting forms can be found on the ABCLS website.

The CPDC also struck a working group to investigate refreshing the Getting It Right BC (GIRBC) program material and delivery. An RFP was issued to the membership earlier this summer and the CPDC is currently considering submissions with the aim of rolling out the updated GIRBC program in 2016.

The committee is also working on the 2016 AGM Professional Development schedule. The program will consist of 1.5 days of professional development, and include a combination of professional, survey, technical and soft skill topics. The CPDC will provide an announcement once the schedule has been finalized.

40

Ron Johns presenting Eric Hoerburger with a 25 Year Pin at the Spring Lower Mainland Group Meeting.

The Link ... August 2015

OIP Luncheon Report ‌ May 4th, 2015

Chair - Don Watson, BCLS; Secretary & Photos - Wayne Griffith

Fifteen Old Important People showed up at our usual dining establishment (the Oriental buffet in Guilford) for a sociable lunch, a brief discussion on the Association happenings, storytelling (some actually true), and jokes (of course).

We welcomed two new members, Jamie Enders #659 and David Liddle #667 and had a moments silence and remembrance for six land surveyors who passed away last year: Ed Wong #409, Mark McGladrey #536, Dem Carrier #296, Art Bridge #386, Richard Kadatz #607 and Vic Bartell #348.

Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of these things not worth keeping around the house.

Bring your husbands.

Next Thursday there will be try-outs for the choir. They need all the help they can get.

The Associate Minister unveiled the church's new campaign slogan "I upped my pledge - up yours" !

The low esteem support group will meet Thursday at 7 pm. Please use the backdoor.

The posters for the Surveyors Rendezvous on September 9th-13th, the official opening of the McVittie House and Surveyors Office on July 11th, and the ABCLS Golf Tournament in Kamloops on September 25th were circulated with the suggestion that the OIP's car pool and attend.

Chris James - Half a century ago back in England I was working as a Chartered Surveyor's Assistant for a large company in the very prestigious area of Ascot, south of Windsor. My boss told me there was a job on one of the exclusive lots on the Wentworth Estate between the fairways of the famous golf course.

A reminder of the OIP trip to the Victoria Land Title Office in 2011 with the suggestion that we again venture forth with a trip to the Sidney Office of the Institute of Ocean Sciences and the Canadian Hydrographic Services was mentioned and received a vigorous and positive response.

We were to meet the client on site to discuss details.

We were shown into the mansion, a servant brought out the silver tea service and the Dowager Lady Smiley entered to serve tea.

Again, the idea of a change of venue to BCIT and a guided tour was mentioned which was also received with interest, again.

Ron Scobbie - Mentioned that he has recently obtained a copy of Volume #3 of Men and Meridians by Don Thomson from a book store in Nanaimo, which still has copies of Volumes #1 and #2 if anyone is interested.

Chris James - Announced that he has sold most of his survey equipment after his retirement and has contributed $210 from the proceeds to the Association Scholarship Fund.

Business having been completed, we finally got down to our real purpose of storytelling and joking around.

Don Watson - These messages actually appeared in church bulletins or were announced at church services.

The Church will host an evening of fine dining, super entertainment and gracious hostility.

Weight Watchers will meet at 7 pm at the First Presbyterian Church. Please use the large double door at the side entrance.

A couple of weeks later, having surveyed the site and calculated a line dividing the house from the large detached garage, I returned to stake the new boundary. I invited her ladyship out for an inspection. She viewed the line of stakes and cried out, "Oh No Mr. James ! This will not do, you have given away my dogs!!" And she stomped off. I had not noticed a small pet cemetery now on the wrong side.

Back to the drawing board, re-calculate, resurvey, restake. I knocked on the door, and invited her Ladyship's reinspection. She declined to look and I was not invited back for tea.

Dia Yates - A true story (I think). Back in the 70's I did a lot of oil patch work across Northern Alberta and the N.W. Territories and I heard this story three different times on three different rigs and each time from somebody who had heard it from somebody, so you know it's true.

This rig was nearing the target depth and they had to change the drill bit which required pulling the whole thing out three at a time and stacking them to the side. So they get the last one out, change the bit and one of the hands

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stumbles and dropped a wrench down the hole. Of course you have to retract it so they spend two days fishing it out.

They finally got it out and the Tool Push hands it back to the guy and tells him to get his blankety blank off the site or he will break his neck, The guy says blankety blank you and drops it back down the hole.

Ron Scobbie - A Scottish couple walking downtown when the wife says, "what a wonderful aroma coming from that

restaurant". So he decides to give her a treat and he walks her past the restaurant again.

Ralph Turner - An elderly couple in their 80's, he was a holy terror, always abusing his wife, neighbours hated him and she wanted to kill him, so he told her if she did he would dig his way out and come back to kill her. He eventually died and the neighbours asked her if she was scared that he would come back and she told them that he will not because she had him buried on his stomach so that if he did start digging she knew he would never ask for directions.

Harry Truman (1884–1972) ... Anecdotes After his election to the U.S. Senate in 1934, Truman was amused by the advice he received from an old judge he had worked with on the county court, who had once worked for a Senator in Washington. "Harry," he said, "don't you go to the Senate with an inferiority complex. You'll sit there about six months, and wonder how you got there. But after that you'll wonder how the rest of them got there."

As

president, Truman kept two signs on his desk. One quoted Mark Twain: "Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest." The other read, "The buck stops here."

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The Complaint Inquiry Committee on Conflicts of Interest

By Chuck Salmon, BCLS

Impartiality is the cornerstone of land surveying, upon which the public's trust in the profession and the work we, as land surveyors do, is built. Public trust is central to the role of a land surveying professional, since a lack of trust would imply we do not deserve the privilege of selfgovernment. The work we do is fraught with situations in which impartiality is put to the test. The Complaint Inquiry Committee has prepared this article to point out factors from a recent case that bring to light questions about the impartiality of the land surveyor involved.

Everyday work is filled with examples of minor conflicts of interest; most land surveying work is paid for by a client, who has hired the professional to do a survey on their behalf. Despite who is paying for the work, the land surveyor assesses evidence and reestablishes boundaries using objective land surveying principles. Similarly, land surveyors are often hired to do separate projects on adjoining properties at different times. The decisions made on the common boundary do not change depending on which party the land surveyor is working for; instead, the decisions are based on the same principles and evidence, so the professional arrives at the same answer each time. This predictability in decision-making leads to trust from the public, despite the possibility of conflict of interest.

Sometimes professionals are faced with more complicated situations, some of which are addressed through our bylaws. Examples of these situations include obtaining and using confidential client information or performing work for more than one client on the same project. Those specific situations are addressed by requiring the member to disclose the conflict and obtain consent from all parties prior to proceeding further.

These sorts of situations don't tend to bring the quality of the land surveyor's boundary decisions into doubt, but rather represent times when one client could potentially gain an unfair advantage at the expense of another. By requiring disclosure and consent of all the parties, our bylaws and code of ethics serve to prevent this.

Situations with the greatest conflict of interest are those in which the bylaws alone may not do enough to address the issues: Situations where the role of the land surveyor, the client and/or the owner are not separate (arm's length) parties. Common examples include: ● A BCLS does land surveying work on a property they own

● A BCLS acquires a financial interest in a project they do work on ● A person who is a BCLS hires their own land surveying firm to do work for another company they are an owner/officer/director of ● A BCLS buys shares in a publically-traded company that they regularly work for and have access to confidential information about These types of situations are more complex because these at least have the appearance of putting the professional's impartial judgement into question. If someone, independent of the arrangement, looked from the outside in at one of the situations noted, they would see the BCLS has the potential to benefit financially in some way beyond their normal work. This financial benefit or interest has the potential to make the BCLS appear partial and just the appearance is all that is necessary to create conflict. The BCLS may feel they are taking every precaution to do their work according to the relevant land surveying standards, but to an outsider there can be the appearance of doing things improperly to benefit the land surveyor.

A recent complaint to the CIC illustrated conflict of interest quite vividly. In this case, a land surveyor did work on a project that the land surveyor later acquired an ownership interest in. When the business experienced hard times, owners and managers of the business began to disagree; this led to the character of the land surveyor and his work being strongly questioned due to his involvement in the business. In addition, the land surveyor felt conflict in acting in his role as a BCLS and a shareholder at the same time. Things the land surveyor said or did in this role as a shareholder did not fit with the role of a land surveyor on the project. While the complaint did not proceed to a full hearing through the ABCLS discipline process, the matters did result in ongoing court action between the company, its directors and its shareholders.

Going into the business arrangement, the BCLS likely did not realize the potential for the situation to go wrong. The land surveyor did disclose his roles as both a land surveyor on the project and as an owner to all the parties, but this did not shield him/her from having the credibility of the land surveyor's work called

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into question. Meeting the bylaw requirement was not enough in this case. In hindsight, the BCLS could have avoided the conflict of interest by sticking only with his/her original role as the land surveyor on the project.

As soon as the land surveyor became a shareholder, the appearance of that potential financial benefit gave others an excuse to question the quality of the survey work.

For other members, the key to dealing with these kinds of apparent conflict of interest is to look at them from the perspective of an outside third party.

If a random member of the public would question the nature of the relationship, then as a professional you should carefully consider your level of involvement in

the project. For comparison, the Code of Ethics of the Association of Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia (APEGBC) goes so far as to expect members to avoid all conflicts of interest, and then to disclose to all parties once they have found themselves in conflict.

Perhaps that is a standard for members of the ABCLS to adopt in their practices.

As we can see from the recent complaint, a conflict of interest could grow in complexity as the situation evolves. The CIC wants to reinforce the importance of members considering the bylaws and the code of ethics as the minimum standard of conduct. Depending on the situation a member faces, they may choose to do more to minimize the potential for conflict of interest. The goal for all of us is to maintain trust in land surveyors through impartial work.

Biographical Corner David Victor Trevorrow, BCLS #402

By Robert Allen, BCLS (Life Member), CLS, CIG (Life Member) ... With help from Michael Trevorrow, P.Eng. David was born on January 18th, 1933 in Enfield, Middlesex, England, none too far from the Enfield Rifle Works. He was raised in the Depression era and war-time London and was evacuated during the Blitz as a child, and was notably underneath a pair of B17s that collided in midair during the latter stages of the war. That he survived apparently was pretty lucky. His parent were "In trade" as the saying goes and the family was definitely English, not British.

David had his early schooling in Enfield and later graduated from the two year course at HMS Conway Naval School in 1949. Conway was a wooden 98 gun square rigged sailing warship from the previous century used as a training school for the merchant marine in the UK. He then followed an adventurous career as a navigational officer with the Royal Navy but didn't stay in the Navy because of the pay and he actually turned down a commission on the Implacable, their main aircraft carrier, for a job with the Union Castle Steamship line which ran passenger liners and freighters to Canada, USA and Africa. He had his 2nd Mates ticket, and was doing well until he failed an eye exam. He then moved to Canada in 1956 and joined the Canadian Navy because they allowed their officers to wear glasses.

He was RN(R) Lt. and RCN(R) Lt. and his son, Michael, seems to recall that he retired from the Canadian Forces in the mid 1970s.

David married a nurse, Martha, from rural Ontario that he had met in Vancouver in about 1958 and they were 44

married in 1960 and Don Highe, BCLS #461, was his best man. David articled to Bryan Berting, BCLS #349, from 1957 to 1960 and was sworn in as a British Columbia Land Surveyor #402 on April 19, 1960 and worked in a number of places during his career. While in Paris and flat broke on his honeymoon (a client hadn't paid him), David ran into a classmate from grammar school who took him out for a drink. The friend was in the RAF attached to NATO and wanted to return to England but had to find a replacement before he could go. David stepped in and did the alignment of some fixed missile silos in France for a time. He was back in British Columbia a couple of years later and was in partnership with M. Bruce Paterson, BCLS #291.

He once told me that that relationship was like Batman and Robin. David didn't like playing the part of "Robin" so that partnership didn't last too long. During his early BCLS career, he may have also worked for the BC Power Commission, now BC Hydro, near Quesnel. In the early to mid 1960's when work had slowed down a bit, he returned to work in England, but was back a short while later and in September 1964 was one of the founding instructors at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. His Navy background and his love of mathematics and being a BCLS all helped him secure that job and it is from BCIT that a lot of us remember him.

After his time at BCIT, Doug Meredith hired him to work for McElhanneys and there was a story that Doug

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tried to lay him off on his first day because they didn't have enough work. David and his family lived on St. John's Street next door to a very good friend of mine. They left Port Moody for Chilliwack in 1973, shortly after Martha and their daughter, Marianne, were mugged of their Girl Guide cookies right in front of their house. David ran the office there for McElhanney's and the family does remember David being Santa Claus at the company Christmas party for a couple of years running. The car ride home from Vancouver afterwards was always an interesting hour and one-half mix of a strait laced mother and a free spirited exsailor father.

In 1985, David left McElhanney and went out on his own. Work was slow in those years and running his own firm was difficult. His son, Michael, remembers those years well. While David was always up for adventure, subdivision surveys and certificates of encroachments were not his favorite surveys. During that time, David also helped set exams for the Association along with Keith Errington, BCLS #498 and his son, Michael, wrote several of them as David's personal guinea pig. Michael says: "To those that didn't pass on their first try, they have my sympathy although if you had knowledge of his most recent field jobs and the fact that he liked astronomy, it was much easier." David's work around Chilliwack was mostly little stuff for Highways, or the School District or the City or the farmers or the natives in the area.

Notably the work of Noel Humphry, PLS 80, after 1918 left all the Chilliwack area Land Surveyors lots of puzzles to put back together. David did take his 'personally superintend oath' fairly seriously though and was out into the field consistently.

will miss his tales (sometimes tall) of adventure and perhaps the odd sea shanty if he was particularly comfortable.

He kept his sense of humor to the last and he wanted his friend, Doug Meredith, to know that the "god-dam cat's got him now". Apparently there is a poem … Doug might have to elaborate on that.

David articled five Land Surveyors: A.J. (Sandy) Watts, BCLS #497, Bob Flynn, BCLS #510, David Lyon, BCLS #522, John Henderson, BCLS #557 and Paul Bunbury, BCLS #688.

A lifelong sailor, David instilled in his children and grandsons a love of storytelling, sailing and adventure.

He will be missed by family and friends, and forever remembered for his sense of humour and optimistic outlook.

His instructions were that obituaries were to be terse, and so it was. He also wanted no ceremony, no plaque and no fanfare. His son, Michael, said: "He was not sentimental. I know this may come as a shock to all of us that were used to him telling stories ad infinitum, but so it is."

Beloved father and grandfather, David died peacefully in Victoria, B.C. on August 22nd, 2014 … age 81. He was predeceased by Martha, his wife of 48 years and survived by children Mark, Marianne, and Michael, and grandsons Ricardo, Ian, Rory, and Samuel. At David's request, no memorial service was held.

Near the end of his career, David produced a bottle of Cutty Sark on the last night of his last ever field camping job to find that none of the crew drank whisky (don't make them like they used to …). Michael also vividly remembers taking his chainsaw away in his very last week when his tie was lapping over the chain brake as he was happily sawing away (being English, he wore a tie a lot).

David's survey records were destroyed in a flood during the big snow storm around 1998, while he was on holiday and so unfortunately there are no records to consult. I had heard a similar story from another mutual friend who lived in Sechelt, but who recently also passed away.

After retirement, David and Martha settled down in Ladysmith and then after Martha passed away, David moved to James Bay in Victoria. He lived out his final days going down to his boat or the coffee shop to have a daily chat with whomever he could find to speak to. There will be many who

So long, David. It was a pleasure to have known you and to have been taught by you.

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Some Additional Notes: His son, Michael, also wrote: "It is also foolish to believe that I could even begin to sort legend from hard fact to create a more exhaustive listing of what he had done. Here is what I think I know. You will have to figure out what is fable and write something suitable for your audience as I cannot weigh the measure of someone so close, and I gave my word not to write what you are looking for." A lot of what I have written above was from the information provided to me by Michael and I thank him for doing that and maybe even doing what he and his family said they would not do.

I started BCIT in September 1965 and David, although at the time, Mr. Trevorrow, was one of my instructors, one that I admired and thought a lot of. He had some radical ideas which I didn't always agree with, but he did instill in me a love of astronomy. I have taken many, many sun and star observations over the years and if it wasn't for Mr. Trevorrow's teachings, I may not have done so.

Mr. Trevorrow also taught us hydrography at BCIT and I well remember the field trip to Indian Arm for our hydrographic project. We set up a number of survey stations along the shore line and they all had to have names - not numbers. We had major and minor stations and he suggested we call the major stations by three letter names and the minor ones by two letter names. The major ones were HYD, DRO, GRA, FIC and the minor ones were MA, KE, LO, VE.

One of my BCIT Hydrographic Survey Project photos: Dave Nielsen, Jack Law, David Trevorrow (putting on a face), Lorne Landry, Glen Carey, and Dennis Friesen Another story goes that David left one of his jobs with some hard feelings after finding his severance letter on a copier, a couple of days in advance!

David was not without compassion. A few years after his sister met an untimely death in London, England, David brought his parents and his sister's two children out to Canada. All told, he had a hand in raising not only his own three children but also his sister's two children plus another boy whose parents passed away young and one grandson who lived with him in his formative years.

Catless Collection The Mouse that Soared

By Bill Bookes, CLS

It was nearing the end of August 1984, and for our geodetic survey party the end of another field season, when the astro-printers began to malfunction. The astro-printer was a portable device about the size of a briefcase consisting of a crystal oscillator-controlled clock and a mechanical printer and was used to keep precise time for geodetic astronomy observations. Brian, the other astro party chief, borrowed the astro-printer assigned to my crew after both his and a spare third unit failed to function.

Armed with a set of screwdrivers and a multimeter, I attempted to isolate and repair the problem. I had done this with some success on a number of previous occasions by tracking down broken or loose electrical connections. This time, however, it became apparent that neither instrument could be coaxed back into immediate 46

operation, so we contacted headquarters in Ottawa to have a fourth unit dispatched by air to us in Fort Nelson, BC. Circumstances being what they were (headquarters contacted on a Friday afternoon, the intervening weekend, and then several flights on different airlines), I had ceased field operations and was on my way home by the time the replacement unit arrived in Fort Nelson. Meanwhile, Brian was proceeding with his work using my astro-printer which was operating quite satisfactorily. As a result, this fourth unit was never removed from its shipping case and was returned to headquarters by truck transport in the state in which it had departed ‌ or almost.

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One morning, about five or six weeks later, I received a phone call from the electronics lab. They were refusing to service one of our astro-printers until such time as the mice who had taken up residence inside were evicted. When the unit was delivered to my room for examination, there was a faint but nonetheless unpleasant odor emanating from inside the printer. Removing the back panel we found a nest of shredded paper and the dehydrated corpses of a mother mouse and her three babies.

A ghastly sequence of events began to unfold. Up until we requested the astro-printer in August, it had been stored for the summer at our testing observatory which is situated on a small knoll surrounded by farm fields just outside the city. It seems that this particular mother mouse found the printer to be an attractive site for her nest. There's a narrow slot in the front panel through which the paper tape with the printed observational times issues forth, and it is through

this opening that the mouse gained access. The printer paper was shredded to make a nest comfortable for rearing a family, tucked in amongst the printer's circuit boards. This scene of domestic serenity came to an abrupt end for the unsuspecting mice when the printer was hurriedly thrust into a packing case and dispatched elsewhere, apparently without being carefully checked out first.

At times I am still troubled by the incident. I often wonder if they expired at 50,000 feet above the prairies in the cold belly of a 727, or if they starved to death in the back of some truck while trying to nibble nutrition from the clock's multicolored, plastic-covered wiring. And then, what about the implications of secretly transporting wild animals across provincial boundaries?

At any rate, the round trip proved to be too much for them, but mother mouse did manage to avenge their doom by chewing up much of the wiring within the printer clock before her untimely death

Silver Pockets Full Submitted by By Robert Allen, BCLS (Life Member), CLS, CIG (Life Member) This piece of trivia is really unique. You are among the few generations since the beginning of time that will experience it during their lifetime.

August, 2015, will have 5 Fridays, 5 Saturdays and 5 Sundays. This happens only once every 823 years. The Chinese call it 'Silver pockets full'. So, send this message to your friends and in four days money will surprise you. Based on Chinese Feng Shui, whoever does not transmit the message may find themselves poor!!

This is the only time you will see this phenomenon in your life!

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31 ​I'm not so sure that money will surprise me, although I did first send this out ​a few days ago and I did find a loonie on the ground last night. I don't think one dollar will make me any richer, especially when I split it between my two grandsons. So now, they have fifty cents each and I don't​have any of it. But … I am richer for having this new found knowledge … Robert Allen

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FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE BC LAND SURVEYORS FOUNDATION The two primary objectives of the BC Land Surveyors Foundation are to:  create and maintain a library that houses historical and current reference material related to the surveying industry in British Columbia; and  financially assist students who wish to pursue careers in surveying by providing scholarships and bursaries.

The Foundation has a number of books for sale - consider purchasing them for members of your staff, local schools, or libraries. They will make a wonderful gift and at the same time, your contributions will help support the Foundation. The following books are available from the ABCLS office: Surveying Central Canada $42.00 (taxes included, shipping extra) Author: Jay Sherwood Surveying Northern British Columbia $30.00 (taxes included, shipping extra) Author: Jay Sherwood Return to Northern British Columbia $42.00 (taxes included, shipping extra) Author: Jay Sherwood Made to Measure $32.00 (taxes included, shipping extra) Author: Katherine Gordon

Furrows in the Sky The Adventures of Gerry Andrews $21.00 (taxes included, shipping extra) Author: Jay Sherwood Surveying Southern British Columbia $42.00 (taxes included, shipping extra) Author: Jay Sherwood Additional information on these books can be found on the Foundation/Books for Sale page of the ABCLS website.

The BCLS Foundation Trustees would like to invite all land surveyors to help support these worthy causes through financial contributions. If you are interested and willing to donate, you may contribute by cheque or credit card. You might also like to consider leaving a Legacy Donation through your will to contribute to existing scholarships - or to establish a new scholarship in your name. You can do this by stating in your will that the bequest should be made to: The BC Land Surveyors Foundation, Suite 301-2400 Bevan Avenue, Sidney, BC V8L 1W1 Donations by credit card can be given by calling our Association office: 250-655-7222.

All cheques should be made payable to the BC Land Surveyors Foundation and mailed to the Association office.

Please provide your name(s) and mailing address so a receipt can be forwarded to you.

Our thanks to you for helping to ensure the future of the land surveying profession.

Can a Land Surveyor be Wrong Without Being Negligent?

By Will O’Hara

Reprinted from SLSA Corner (Publication of the Saskatchewan Land Surveyors' Association) Volume XXVIII - Number 3 ‌ Fall 2007

The subtle distinction in the law in various states was outlined in Graves v. S.E. Downey Registered Land Surveyor, from the Maine Supreme Judicial Court:

Introduction Most professionals try hard to be perfect - or at least good. And if not good, they aim to be competent.

The duty of care that the Superior Court imposed in this case required the Graveses to demonstrate that S.E. Downey's work on the survey was below that of an ordinarily and reasonably competent land surveyor in like circumstances. Courts in other jurisdictions have articulated the duty of care of land surveyors in similar ways. For example, in West Virginia, a surveyor is held to the standard of care that a "reasonably prudent surveyor" would have applied with regard to the same project. Both Maryland and North Carolina state that a surveyor must "exercise that degree of care which a surveyor of ordinary skill and prudence would exercise under similar circumstances." We agree with the Superior Court that the duty of care a land surveyor is obligated to provide is that degree of care that an ordinarily competent surveyor would exercise in like circumstances.[4] (citations omitted)

There are many good reasons for this. In many jurisdictions in North America there are professional standards and codes of conduct that impose ethical duties on professionals to be competent. The laws of negligence also impose standards on professionals in every discipline and, if the professional fails to meet these standards, he or she will face liability.

Most of us are not perfect. Even the best professionals make mistakes and face exposure to liability. Often our first reaction when we make a mistake is to say: "I might have been wrong, but I sure wasn't negligent."

Is there a difference between being wrong and being negligent? If there is, what practical difference does it make? The answers lie within an area of judge-made law, an area of the common law that is constantly evolving. Let's see what the judges say.

Negligence Negligence in the context of professional liability is usually described as the failure to meet the standard of skill and care possessed by a person of ordinary competence in the same calling,[1] or in general terms "the failure to use the requisite amount of care required by the law in the case where the duty to use care exists."[2] Negligence is a finding made by a court of law and it usually carries with it the obligation to pay damages to the party affected by the negligence.

Standard of Care There is no question that professional land surveyors can be negligent. This universal truth is accepted throughout the common law world. The American approach is described in this way: The liability of a surveyor for his errors does not differ from that of professional people generally. He may be held responsible for such damages as are sustained as the result of his negligence and lack of skill. He is obligated to exercise that degree of care which a surveyor of ordinary skill and prudence would exercise under similar circumstances.[3]

The Canadian approach was described by the Ontario Court of Appeal in 1881: A surveyor is under no statutory obligation to perform the duty, but undertakes as a matter of contract, like any other professional man, to do the service required of him; and ... there must be evidence of a want of reasonable skill and knowledge or of gross negligence before he can be made liable.[5] Gross negligence is not required to show liability on the part of a land surveyor. The question now is whether there was a failure on the part of land surveyor to "use reasonable care and skill" of a person in that profession.

Error in Judgment Not every error amounts to negligence. Sometimes a professional can be wrong without being negligent. This fine, but important distinction, was made clear by Lord Denning, a judge with a rare gift of clarity: Apply this to the employment of a professional man.

The law does not usually imply a warranty that he will achieve the desired result, but only a term that he will use reasonable care and skill. The surgeon does not warrant that he will cure a patient. Nor does the solicitor warrant that he will win the case.[6]

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The distinction was explained with an example in Wilson v. Swanson, a case dealing with medical negligence: An error in judgment has long been distinguished from an act of unskilfulness or carelessness or due to lack of knowledge. Although universally-accepted procedures must be observed, they furnish little or no assistance in resolving such a predicament as faced the surgeon here. In such a situation a decision must be made without delay based on limited known and unknown factors; and the honest and intelligent exercise of judgment has long been recognized as satisfying the professional obligation.[7] The authors of Professional Liability in Canada warn that the public - and the courts - will be more tolerant of errors made by some professionals than others. They argue that the courts accept the view expressed by Lord Denning in legal cases or medical cases, but they expect a standard approaching perfection in other professions, such as engineers or architects.[8] Land surveyors are likely to fall within the latter group, as their work is more scientific, they have more control over their work, and are not usually forced to make instant judgment calls like doctors in the middle of an operation or lawyers in a jury trial.

Land Surveyors Land surveyors can clearly be wrong without being negligent. The Chief Justice of Prince Edward Island adopted the law as stated in Survey Law in Canada: In an action in negligence, the mere fact that there has been a mistake does not mean that the surveyor is liable in negligence. A surveyor is not a guarantor and, if the mistake or error in judgment occurs despite the surveyor having conformed to proper and prudent practice in accordance with the standards of the profession, there may be no liability.[9] On a cursory reading, statements like these may give comfort to land surveyors, but they deserve a closer look. In any action for professional negligence, it will be necessary to determine whether the land surveyor has "conformed to proper and prudent practice in accordance with the standards of the profession" as a first step in determining liability.

This is where the contest begins. A judge will want to hear evidence about the proper and prudent practice of others in the profession. This will require expert evidence to establish what the accepted practice was. An expert will describe the current practice and describe the legislation governing specific procedures.[10] Then there will be evidence about whether the practice was actually followed.

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In many cases where an error was made there will be (perhaps coincidentally) examples of where he or she did not "conform to proper and prudent practice in accordance with the standards of the profession". This is especially so when the services that were provided are subjected to the closest scrutiny. Any examples of transgressions or short comings will provide a basis for a court to conclude that the land surveyor was not only wrong, but negligent.

The concept that "an error of judgment is not negligent" has been criticized in the English case of Whitehouse V. Jordan, a medical malpractice case: ... an error of judgment "is not necessarily negligent."

But, in my respectful opinion, the statement as it stands is not an accurate statement of the law. Merely to describe something as an error of judgment tells us nothing about whether it is negligent or not. The true position is that an error of judgment may, or may not, be negligent: it depends on the nature of the error. If it is one that would not have been made by a reasonably competent professional man professing to have the standard and type of skill that the defendant held himself out as having, and acting with ordinary care, then it is negligent. If on the other hand, it is an error that a man, acting with ordinary care, might have made, then it is not negligent.[11] Based on this statement of the law, it is important to look at the nature of the error and ask whether it would have been made "by a reasonably competent professional man professing to have the standard and type of skill that the [professional] held himself out as having, and acting with ordinary care." If the answer is no, then the error was a negligent error.

Practical Differences Between Being Wrong and Being Negligent The critical difference between being wrong (making an error that was not negligent) and being negligent (making a negligent error) is that liability flows from being negligent, but not from being wrong. With liability comes the obligation to pay damages, which usually means calling on your errors and omissions insurer, paying a deductible and paying increased liability insurance premiums.

It is possible for a land surveyor to make errors that would be considered negligent, but for the fact that there were no damages caused by the error. In Parrot v. Thompson & Monty[12] the Supreme Court of Canada stated that without damages caused by the land surveyor's error there can be no

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negligence. Again, this is a judge-made rule of law. The aim is to avoid clogging up the courts with needless law suits.

The rule may allow a careless professional to avoid liability for a clear error in some rare circumstances, although it would not insulate the professional from disciplinary proceedings.

Conclusion Based on the statements of law from the judges who make the common law, it is possible for a land surveyor to be wrong but not negligent. The courts do not expect perfection and will not insist on land surveyors warranting or guaranteeing the results of their work. The courts do insist that land surveyors comply with the generally accepted standards and procedures in the profession, especially when the standards are clearly set out in legislation. Assuming there are damages, those who do not meet the standards will be wrong and negligent. The consequences of being negligent are far more severe than the consequences of being wrong.

Will O'Hara is a partner at the firm of Gardiner Roberts LLP, practicing in professional liability litigation, intellectual property, insurance and dispute resolution.

He is certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a Specialist in Civil. Litigation and teaches a postgraduate

course at Ryerson University entitled Legal and Ethical Issues in GIS and Data Management. wohara@gardiner-roberts.com References: [1] Campion and Dimmer, Professional Liability in Canada, 1994 to 2007 at paragraph 1.4 [2] Riddell v. Reid, [1943] A.C. 1 (H.L.) [3] Reighard v. Downs, 261 Md. 26, 273 A.2d 109 (1971) [4] Graves S.E. Downey Registered Land Surveyor, RA., 2005 ME 116, paragraphs 9-11, 885 A.2d 779, 781-82.

[5] Stafford v. Bell (1881), 6 O.A.R. 273 (Ont. CA) [6] Greaves and Co. (Contractors) Ltd. V Bavnham Meikle & Partners, [1975] 3 All E.R. 99 (C.A.) [7] [1956] S.C.R. 804 (S.C.C.), al pp. 812-13 [8] supra, footnote 1 [9] Morris Land & Engineering v. Goldsen, [2002] 217 Nfld. 65 (P.E.1.S.C.), citing Survey Law in Canada, Carswell, 1989 [10] For example, in Ontario the Surveyors Act. R.S.O. 1990, c. S.29 and the Surveys Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. S.30, and regulations made pursuant to those Acts.

[11] Whitehouse v. Jordan, [1981] 1 All E.R. 267, at page 2811121 [12] Parrot v. Thompson & Monty (1984), 51 MR. 161 (S.C.C.), see Survey Law in Canada, Carswell, 1989, at page 341

E-Files: Feeling the Heat

By Steve Estopinal, PE, PLS

Reprinted, with permission, from the Professional Surveyor Volume 27 - Number 8 … August 2007 These stories are true (names and some details have been altered to ensure confidentiality) There was no way that an ATV of any kind was going to be able to traverse the dense stand of growth in front of us.

Even after we cut into the border brush, the crowded trees would not allow for the passage of anything larger than a man. We were down to surveying as our forefathers had, cutting line and back packing the equipment in. The good news was that we had only a half mile to go.

The bad news was we had to cut every foot by hand carrying everything we needed. The list was long: total station, reflectors, tripods, iron rods, ribbon, maul, chainsaw, brush blades, field book, notes, calculator, water, lunch, first aid kit, and walkie-talkies all loaded onto two rucksacks and one waterproof briefcase.

There were only two of us, Joe Figgaro and myself. The progress along the line consisted of cutting 500 or so feet of line, returning to the stock pile of material, and humping it to the working end in two or more trips. After we cleared a line of 1,000 feet or so or encountered a tree that was too large to be felled without blocking the trail, we would set a random station at the working end, occupy the last known station, back sight a target stacked, and crank a set of angles and distances to the new station. It was by this leap-frog process that we advanced to the corner to be set in the wilderness.

Did I mention it was hot? The ambient temperature recorded as we began was 98 degrees and the humidity was 80 percent. It was not long before we had finished off the two gallon jugs of water we were carrying. Each of use kept two small plastic bottles of water in our rucksacks for emergencies. Both of us were soaking in sweat. The only

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place on either of us not dripping wet was the cuff of our trousers where our boots protected the denim from our skin.

The thick brush did not permit the slightest breeze, and by the time we stopped for lunch we were both showing signs of exhaustion.

already in the truck. Joe would be back when I failed to show at the truck, but Joe weighed 130 pounds at most.

There was no way that he could drag 200 pounds of dead weight through a cut line.

"Great," I thought, "at least he'll be able to direct the coroner to the body."

"Joe," I said "we had better take more frequent breaks; neither one of us looks ready to dance with that brush hook much more."

Joe only managed a nod. It was plain to see that we had better slow it down.

"We only have 500 feet left to the corner and then another 500 feet east to tie into the Breaux corner. Then we're outta here."

I had surveyed the Breaux tract two years ago based upon the same control traverse we started from today. Closing on the corner I set in the Breaux work would provide a check on what we were doing today.

That last 500 feet to the Breaux corner had to have been the longest 500 feet I can remember. The tie closed, within reason, much to our relief. Now began the chore of returning to the truck with all the gear.

As we returned from the closing corner, we added to our load until we could tote no more. We traveled all of the way to the truck and unloaded what we had. We then returned for the rest of the items to be retrieved. Joe loaded up with a tripod, reflector, and bracket, and I added a tripod, the briefcase, and the rest of the loose items. Each of us carried a brush blade to act as a cane and to contend with whatever crawling thing might be on the trail.

Joe headed back while I finished securing the pack and ensuring that nothing was left behind. It was late evening, about 7 p.m. or so, but still hotter than the dickens. It hit me when I swung the rucksack onto my back.

Overpowering nausea gripped me, and I tossed whatever was left of my lunch. I sat on a fallen tree and pulled my "emergency" water bottle from the rucksack. I drank the bottle, but in a few seconds it came up. I tried to stand, but cramps gripped my legs. I recognized the early stages of heat exhaustion and knew I was in trouble!

I pulled off my shirt and flapped it in the air to cool it.

I then put it on my neck. That seemed to really help. I then took a chance and finished off the water. It stayed down.

I remembered Jerry "Rat" Cole. The Rat was in my machine gun fire team. Everybody in the squad had to carry ammo for the machine gun. We all called it the "pig" because it ate so much ammo. The Rat had a heat stroke humping ammo up a hill. It was 114 degrees in the shade, but there wasn't any shade. When he fell out, his skin was absolutely dry to the touch and he was unconscious. A medical evacuation (dust off) got him out. I had heard that he recovered, though disabled. It took an ice bath and a long hospital stay to save him. We never saw or even heard from him again.

My arms were still damp, but I was not sweating as profusely as before. I worried that I would "go dry" at any minute.

"No dust off for me," I thought. If I was going to get out of this mess, I was going to have to walk out.

I raised myself up using the brush blade as a crutch.

By shuffling along, I was able to move without causing painful, cramping spasms in my legs. I had 1,000 feet to go. Whenever I encountered a fallen tree, I had the option of going around it or crawling over it. If I tried to step over

I pulled the last of the water from the rucksack, sat still, and thought out what I should do. Both walkie-talkies were 52

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anything higher than my ankles, cramps would grip my legs and immobilize me.

The trip gave me a lot of time to think. What had I done to get myself in this fix?

First of all, I didn't commit enough resources to the job. Two guys to bust a line through thick brush in a south Louisiana August heat wave were not enough hands to do the work and provide for resting and carrying sufficient water.

Second, I tried to get it all done in one day. Two early morning efforts would have done the job; the hottest parts of the day could have been set aside for less stressful work, like cranking angles and distances, and the cooler parts of the day spent cutting line.

Third, I eliminated communication with Joe by placing both walkie-talkies in his rucksack. Everybody in the crew needs to maintain the ability to communicate. Finally, I should have hydrated myself better before starting out. Five cups of morning coffee was no good. It should have been five glasses of water.

Distracted by my self critique, I didn't realize I had made it out until I stepped into the clearing next to the truck.

Joe had the motor (and air conditioner) running. He was at the tail gate loading the last of the gear when I stumbled out of the woods like Frankenstein's monster. Joe had to finish securing the gear while I slumbered in the cool cab of the truck.

"Hey, Boss. You okay?" Joe asked.

"I'll be okay, Joe. Time to go to the shop," I said weakly and reclined my seat.

"What happened, Boss?" Joe was concerned.

"I'm just getting over a bad case of the stupids," I said.

Steve Estopinal is a senior engineer and professional land surveyor at CSRS, Inc. in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He has been involved the practice of land surveying for more than 30 years and is the author of A Guide to Understanding Land Surveys 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1993.

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