Surveying, Mapping and GIS

The Alabama Legislature currently has a bill pending, HB 333, sponsored by Rep. Keahey, which essentially waters down Alabama's regulation for the practice of land surveying - an excerpt of the proposed bill is presented below:

Section 2. (a) The practice of rural land surveyor is limited to rural areas and municipalities with a population of less than 5,000.
(b) To qualify as a rural land surveyor one must meet one of the following requirements:
(1) Graduation from a four-year curriculum in civil engineering or forestry and successfully passing a written examination approved by the board relating to the laws, procedures, and practices of land surveying in Alabama.
(2) Graduation from an approved technical curriculum related to surveying or forestry; two years of supervised surveying experience; and successfully passing a written examination approved by the board relating to the laws, procedures, and practices of land surveying in Alabama.
(3) Eight or more years of field experience in land surveying and letters of recommendation from at least three individuals that will attest to satisfactory surveying work during these years.

Option 3 above bypasses the examination, it allows anyone to recommend the applicant, and thereby bypasses vetting of applicants. The traditional approach pursued, implemented and recommended by NCEES and most State Registration Boards has been to strive for a stable foundation which is not based on any single yardstick, but instead a combination of education, experience and examinations. Further, the case here in Pennsylvania has been to ensure that the applicant has some minimum amount of experience with boundary surveys, has been exposed to both field and office practices, and that experience gained has been progressive, and under the oversight of a licensed professional.

The full bill text is available here: AL HB333

This bill is inconsistent with all prior efforts toward regulation of the surveying profession in Alabama, is inconsistent with NCEES recommendations and their Model Law, and otherwise ill-advised in many ways.

Alabama residents are strongly urged to consider contacting their representatives and recommending opposition to this bill - call (334)242-7600 and ask to be put in touch with your representative.

After the last post, where I was venting some frustrations as I was trying to get the trip underway, one might not know what to expect from me regarding the remainder of the trip. Aside from having very limited internet connectivity - I did manage to break away from the NCEES Annual Meeting to take in some of the excellent scenery - here the only issue was my digital camera, which is getting to be 6 years old, and through various travels is showing signs of wear. I can't complain at all, though - I managed to capture over 200 photos, most of which I was able to upload to Flickr.

Some highlights:


Actually being able to see Denali from Anchorage - over 130 miles away!


Iditarod monument in downtown Anchorage


Incredible fall colors in the Kenai Peninsula


Great wildlife... Bull Moose near Portage


Siberian Yupik dancers from the towns of Savoonga and Gambell, on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea


Juvenile Grey Whale Skeleton


Alutiiq Petroglyphs


Athabaskan Food Store - this would be up on stilts, with the posts coated with bear grease to make it difficult for animals and other interlopers. The scent of bear grease would also keep the bear away.


Campsite with tipi along Kenai Lake - near Cooper Landing

There are plenty more photos in my Alaska 2006 collection on Flickr - click here for my "Alaska 2006" photoset.

Some of the places I went - the Alaska Native Heritage Center, on the Glenn Highway north of Anchorage, the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, near Portage, Moose Pass, Sterling, Soldotna...

Some of the other highlights - the food was excellent - I had plenty of native halibut and salmon - grilled, smoked, and prepared many other ways, I did partake in the reindeer sausage and sampled many excellent local beers like Alaskan Amber. On the flight in, one of the bonuses was the incredible view of over a dozen glaciers along the coast, and on the flight out, we were presented with a spectacular view of the Northern Lights.

To anyone who ever has the opportunity to travel to Alaska, I highly recommend it. As with my last trip to Alaska, this one will have a lasting and rewarding memory. As the Inupiaq would do, to Alaska I say quyanaq!

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I am looking forward to next week - I am traveling to Alaska for the week, to attend a conference as a Pennsylvania Delegate to the National Council of Examiners of Engineering and Surveying (NCEES).

This is their annual meeting - where among other things, the proposal of "B+30" for engineering licensure will be discussed. B+30 essentially describes an academic foundation of an accredited Bachelors' degree in Engineering, plus 30 additional credits or a Masters' degree.

I am looking forward to the trip - it has been several years since I was last in Alaska, and I enjoyed it greatly last time.

Last time, I flew into Fairbanks, and traveled the length of the Parks Highway to Anchorage and back, went jetskiing on Nancy Lake, explored Denali, burning rolls of film capturing the National Geographic scenes of Grizzlies, Dall Sheep, Caribou and other flora and fauna... Also took an enjoyable riverboat trip on the Chena and Tanana rivers, (a memorable image is still the lazy swirling together of the white Tanana - with glacial silt from the Wrangell Mountains and Alaska Range to the north, next to the black Chena, stained from the peaty permafrost to the south)... I also got to meet Susan Butcher (Iditarod winner) at her homestead and see her dogs and quite a few other amazing things on that trip... This time, I will be staying in Anchorage and hope to see some of the sights, and perhaps get down into Kenai briefly.

Of course I plan to enjoy the local fare - in Fairbanks there was a salmon bake that I still remember quite fondly... 20 feet of massive salmon fillets, grilled outdoors over alder fires. And Alaska has some excellent local brews as well...

Though I am disappointed that the Fly By Night Club in Anchorage is closing... "Sleaziest Bar in Spenard" - They had an excellent blues band there last time - Maurice John Vaughn - and who could forget the various Spam delicacies and Budweiser surcharge.

Though it's partly a working trip, it will be fun, to say the least.

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The Pennsylvania Registration Board for Engineers, Land Surveyors and Geologists is meeting on January 18th at 9:30AM at the PA Department of State, 2601 North Third Street, Harrisburg, in Board Room C.

As Vice Chair of the Registration Board, one of the items that I have requested be placed on the Agenda is a discussion of Continuing Professional Competency for Engineers. Recently, the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers has pursued legislation to require continuing education for Professional Engineers, in Senate Bill 655. Additionally, the Pennsylvania Society of Land Surveyors Board of Directors has also recently authorized pursuing similar legislation for Land Surveyors.

While I am generally very much in favor of Continuing Professional Competency for licensed professionals, some of the concerns I have regards logistics for implementing such a program at the State Registration Board, along with harmonization of these efforts with model legislation and requirements recommended by NCEES.

I have been reading several articles, but would be curious to hear how other states, professions and jurisdictions handle Continuing Professional Competency.

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The National Council of Examiners of Engineering and Surveying, in their December 2005 Zone Update, report that calculator policy for NCEES exams in the 2006 exam administration permits the following:

Hewlett-Packard

• HP 9s, HP 30s, HP 33s

Casio

• FX 115 ES, FX 115 MS, FX 115 MS Plus (Note FX 115 ES and MS models with 'SR' designation also allowed)

Texas Instruments

• TI 30XA (or TI 30Xa), TI 30X IIS, TI 30X IIB, and TI 36X Solar

The Board of Directors further recommended simplifying this list for 2007. Additionally under discussion is the possibility of instituting NCEES-supplied calculators.

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Over the last couple of months, an effort has been begun to institute Continuing Professional Competency for Engineers and Surveyors, as initiated by PSPE in Senate Bill 655 and by PSLS in their December 2005 Board of Directors meeting.

I believe the current NCEES guidance recommends 30 hours of continuing ed over each biennial registration period- the current proposal is geared for 24 hours. Some of the questions are-

• What kind of courses are appropriate - strictly technical topics, or also business practice, ethics, legal issues
  
• How to track and manage CPC requirements
  
• Others...?

I will probably be looking into a crosswalk of how the current CPC proposal relates to how CPC has been implemented in other states. The hope is that this can be a successful, transparent, and portable process that will benefit all licensees.

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continuing education, continuing professional competency, continuinged, engineering, licencing, licensure, pennsylvania, policy, professional, surveying