Three workshops will be offered on November 15, 2007 as part of the 4th GIS Symposium. The workshops will be free with a paid registration to the symposium.

The purpose of the seminar is to stimulate and expose users of GPS, LiDAR and 3D Laser Scanning into a better understanding of how these systems work and to help understand the survey data or results from each of these systems. This class is a very fast paced overview covering the background, the capabilities and limitations of these survey systems. The class is geared for both the individuals who already have some survey background and for those with a limited understanding of survey data collection systems.

Part One of the course will expose the individual on what GPS systems are, how GPS works, datums, coordinate and projection systems, GPS techniques, types of antennas, the GLONASS system, sources of error, how DGPS works, Wide Area Augmentation System and reference stations.

Part Two of the course will expose the individual to LiDAR mapping systems, how they work, LiDAR techniques, sources of errors and survey data results from actual projects.

Part Three of the course will focus on ground based LiDAR (3D scanning) and will expose the individual to how these ground based system work, project setup, software overview, techniques, problems and the wide range of uses for the system. These classes will not provide hands on training but will provide many examples of actual projects to provide the individual with some understanding on all these systems.

Mr. Nobles is the President and owner of the Surveying and Engineering firm of Allen Nobles and Associates, Inc. with offices located in North Florida and South Georgia. Mr. Nobles still serves a Project Surveyor and oversees crews for Sectional and Boundary Surveys, Construction Staking, Topographical and Control Surveys. Mr. Nobles has been working with survey grade GPS systems for over 25 years and has completed a number of "Blue Booked" control networks for NGS and currently has ten survey grade survey GPS units working in the field daily. Mr. Nobles is also an approved CE provider for the State the Florida.

The purpose of this workshop is to help land surveyors and those that are generally new to GIS understand how survey data is seamlessly integrated into existing geodatabases, in particular cadastral data. We will examine how control points are established and how their incorporation into a data model improves the spatial accuracy of data across the board.

To demonstrate this, we will be using ArcGIS Survey Analyst. ArcGIS Survey Analyst is an ArcGIS Desktop extension that provides surveyors and GIS professionals with tools to create and maintain survey and cadastral data in ArcGIS. With this application, surveyors can centrally locate, process, and manage their data, enabling them to work more efficiently. GIS professionals use ArcGIS Survey Analyst to manage and continually enhance the accuracy of their data using existing survey methodologies.

We will also introduce a new dataset called the Cadastral Fabric. Cadastral Fabric is a topologically integrated geodatabase dataset designed to store both a continuous parcel fabric that covers a jurisdiction as well as survey-based subdivision plans without loss of any information in the original survey record. Features include parcels, boundary lines, parcel corners, and control points. Additionally, we will demonstrate a new workflow called Cadastral Editor. Using the Cadastral Editor, individual parcels and subdivisions are entered using coordinate geometry (COGO)-based plan entry. An integrated Cadastral Fabric is developed from all relevant survey and plan data using least-squares adjustment for the best-fit representation of the parcel layer. Cadastral Editor also tracks parcel history and lineage by maintaining the legal recording dates.

We will see the end result as a cadastral fabric that is accurate to the same mathematical integrity of the original survey measurements and complete by preserving all survey data. We will also have a GIS database of original survey measurements and see GIS feature layers correctly geo-referenced to the fabric.

This workshop offers general information about 3-D laser scanning and its real world uses. During this interactive workshop, you will have the opportunity to acquire data in the field with GCY’s professional staff. Also during the lab session of the workshop, you will have hands on experience with examples of various real life applications using 3-D data. During the workshop, there will be several examples of actual projects completed by GCY, Inc., Surveyors and Mappers. If you are interested in 3-D laser scanning and want to understand its many uses, this workshop will be a great opportunity.