Harry O. Ward, PE

We recently completed our Spring semester at George Mason University where I have been teaching for many years.

For weeks now we are seeing the Mississippi flooded, dams being intentionally breached by the USACE and farms and towns completely flooded out. OK, so it rained, a lot.

With the growth of automated machine guidance increasing at a strong pace related work occurs in surveying, stakeout and data prep. Machine Control is useless without a good 3D model and we have talked about this in my writings for over ten years!

t is a great time to be a Surveyor or Civil Engineer if you live in China! - Land Development is dead in the U.S., it is flourishing in China due to increasingly wealthy population and a huge influx of ex-patriate workers.

It was interesting to hear the President give the annual State of the Union address last week. As anticipated, he urged us to invest in three things: infrastructure, education and research. These concepts come on the heels of the rare visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao.

I had a rare opportunity to watch a bunch of TV this holiday, mostly documentaries, but they were varied in content. After watching several on history I began to realize how flimsy our construction is. The shows highlighted the work of the Romans, their great cities many of which still stand today; their public works facilities, their roads, bridges and coliseums, libraries and meeting places.

First of all, Merry Christmas to my colleagues in the business! Here we are at the end of a horrendous year of business for most people in engineering, surveying and construction. Land development is all but gone, infrastructure shows promise but could be a mere fleeting tease of what should be. What does 2011 look like from your point of view?

Traditional surveying with total station (reflectorless or not) is coming to an end. OK I said it. 

The recession has been long and hard and it isnt even remotely over yet. Many people have been caught short when they are laid off, some even shocked. 

Finally the survey business is picking up. Are we headed back to the good old days of 5 years ago? No! However, we are now seeing surveyors working again.