Chris Tomko, PE, PS and senior project manager for R.E. Warner & Associates Inc., didn’t set out to become a surveyor. His exposure to the profession came through his pursuit of a degree and career in civil engineering.

This issue of POB marks a new stage in our role of serving the professional land surveyor.

It is well known within the profession that the world is facing a shortage of surveyors, with plenty close to retirement age and not enough young people joining. What can be done?

The day-to-day problems of surveyors would be easier to handle if they were only the technical and mathematical ones that can be systematically solved. Many of the demands placed upon us, however, do not have a formula for the answer.

The complexity of training and licensing and the lack of public awareness of the surveying profession combine to make it difficult to adopt some of the strategies employed by other professions to attract new talent.

A surveyor's seal stands for a long time, and the brand represented by that simple instrument will be firmly attached. Make sure your brand is solid.

Recently, I had an opportunity to visit with Elly Ball, the CEO of GetKidsintoSurvey, whose mission is to educate kids and the general public on the essentials of surveying.

The Geospatial Data Act, as enacted, seeks to improve the coordination and use of geospatial data by the federal government.

Dr. Norbert Lohl, UAV Dach e.V., opened the European Drone Summit by stating this was clearly the right time for such a summit, citing a recently published special report that, he said, "calls our time the Drone Age."