The Geomatics Industry Association (GIA) will be sponsoring a workshop on “How Things Work” at the 2003 ACSM APLS Conference. The conference will be held March28 – April 2 in Phoenix. Joseph V. R. Paiva, PhD, Managing Director, Spatial Data Research, will present the workshop along with other members of the OPIA.

The four hour workshop will be a series of presentations covering the basic elements of surveying technology. The thrust of the presentations will be "How things work." The objective of the workshop is to introduce the surveyor to the basic design and configuration of various parts of technology of commonly used surveying systems. The purpose of this introduction is to help the surveyor better understand how to maximize performance, be it accuracy, speed, economy, etc. by understanding the capabilities and limitations of the technology being used. Each session will be 30 minutes; therefore the lectures and demonstrations will be introductory. Written course notes will be distributed to participants; where necessary, demonstrations, displays of component parts and graphical representations will be used to illustrate the presentations.

Dr. Paiva has worked with Sokkia and Trimble for many years and has authored many articles/papers and made several presentations regarding total stations and other technical aspects of surveying equipment and instrumentation at ACSM and other society conferences.

GIAA is an organization of manufacturers, suppliers, and distribution partners, encompassing the present and emerging technologies which address customer needs in surveying, GPS, engineering, construction, GIS/LIS and related fields by providing leadership in training and education to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of their related business.

Members of the GIA are Applanix Corporation, Leica, Nikon, Pentax USA, Sokkia, Topcon America Corporation, Trimble, Crain Enterprises POB Magazine, and Professional Surveyor Magazine.