I’ve always been a strong advocate of surveying education, and although I’ve retired from formal teaching, I will present and partake in continuing education.
While I’ve done teaching and seminars in both the technical and legal aspects of surveying, I really enjoy presenting (and learning more about) the legal side. How boundaries were created, actions people took with respect to them, and subsequent re-establishments are the footsteps the contemporary surveyor must follow. While looking to the past, today’s surveyor must also be aware that he/she is creating new steps for future generations.
It’s easy to get caught up in surveying technology. However, we must remember the corners re-established today were set with less sophisticated instrumentation. Chasing around hundredths of a foot makes little sense for a corner originally set with multiple feet of uncertainty. The accuracy for which we strive is not one of the measurements but the original corner location. The fastest, most “accurate” measurement is meaningless if you measure the wrong thing. We can’t always use technology to answer legal questions. Sometimes, that gets forgotten. Remember that the next time you encounter a monument “nest” at a corner location.
