It’s not only amazing to watch as our tools change and evolve, it is thrilling to see what we are learning when we apply these new capabilities. With this issue, POB is setting in motion its own sequence of changes.

As a whole, the profession has done little to project a positive image.

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?

Easement disputes are on the rise across the nation, as illustrated by the ease with which they can be found in modern court records.

What safety features are incorporated in a structure beyond the usual designated tornado shelter and evacuation signage? How well documented is the final build, and what is available to first responders who might have to assist in an emergency?

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.

Surveyors and geospatial professionals can help measure and quantify the impact we are having on our environment and the positive potential of steps to intervene and, as Esri Founder Jack Dangermond would say, "design our future."

Finding where a property boundary line has become established on the ground requires gathering the best available evidence that the reasonably prudent surveyor would find, evaluating that evidence, and then rendering a well-reasoned opinion on the factual question of location.

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.

With the current run to technology, much of the "Art of Land Surveying" is disappearing.