How One Surveyor Manages a Profitable Survey Business and Finds Time to Fish in the Morning
In 1982 Grover Dingus was operating a conventional survey firm in Orlando with an office, two crews, three CAD operators, a bookkeeper and a receptionist. Now he's a sole operator, apart from his wife Ineita who does the bookkeeping part-time. He works out of his home and he says he's never been happier nor more successful. What happened?

Downsizing began with the 1992 recession. "Although it was hard to lay some people off it gave us alot more freedom and flexiblity. When business picked up I decided not to restaff but to automate my equipment," says Grover.

Grover and Ineita sold the office in Orlando and moved to their retirement home in Flagler Beach, a small unpretentious beach town on Florida's east coast: population 4500. He bought a Topcon APL-1A robotic total station and AutoCAD but soon thought the program was too inefficient and began shopping for survey software.

"It is design software with little in it for surveyors," says Grover. "I found MicroSurvey software to be very efficient for the type of work I do, with integrated linework. You used to have to measure, take it back to the office, review and plot your data. Nowadays there's fewer steps to process data. Basically you do it once and it makes it so much more efficient."

Grover also uses FieldGenius on an iPAQ. "I like the robotic total station and having a separate data collector works faster than having the data collector on the instrument. I write my code with the Automap feature (in MSCAD 2002) so all the symbols come up on the right layer and the linework comes on the right layer and the (information transfer) is very fast and very automated."

With its graphical interface, as FieldGenius points are collected, Grover is automatically connecting the points with lines and arcs. When he imports his job into MSCAD, most of the work is done. He simply adds some text, a title block and a few dimensions. With MicroSurvey's system Grover is able to make the most efficient use of his time, resulting in a higher profit margin. Also, he no longer has to manage employees and he can pick and choose his projects.

"My wife loves our lifestyle." They're 10 years from retirement "but I can't think of anything that's more fun than what I'm doing now. With the beach half a block away I can always go do a little fishing before work."

As for how he got such an unusual name, Grover Dingus Jr. says he was named after his father who went off to fight in World War II - just in case his father didn't come back. "I think it's a benefit to have an unusual name in the survey business, don't you?" he says.

Michigan Department of Transportation Chooses FieldGenius To Carry Them Forward
After a two year evaluation process, Michigan Department of Transportation chose FieldGenius data collection software to bring them up to speed with new technology. And MDOT did not have to upgrade their hardware or desktop software in the same fiscal year in order to upgrade with FieldGenius. “Logistically, FieldGenius allows us to equip our survey crews with one DC software package, but retain compatibility with whatever survey equipment the crew might be using that day,” says Andy Semenchuk, Survey Automation Specialist for MDOT.

Processing FieldGenius projects in MicroSurvey Express 2002, the Michigan surveyors use the CAiCE export feature which creates a text file complete with all coordinate, figure and chain information. This file imports directly into CAiCE Visual Transportation using their Flexible File Format.

Read more about MDOT's decision >>

FieldGenius ValuePack Special Continues Through the Fall
The FieldGenius ValuePack launched August 1 is an excellent value in data collection for surveyors and has proved popular.

"We're quite impressed with the FieldGenius ValuePack we bought," says Peter Allen of Grange W. Elliott Ltd in Kingston, Ontario. "We purchased it for the price and it's nice to be able to take out a data collector as slick as this one." Allen also makes use of FieldGenius' GPS module which saves the company survey time on a daily basis.

The ValuePack is a survey package including FieldGenius Basic, 128 MB Flash memory card, a DB9 cable connector, and a case which ruggedizes the new HP 2215/2210 - all for $599 US. The HP 2215 or 2210 is available separately at your local electronics store for $399 US or less.

Surveyors can be assured of getting the latest technology with manufacturer Hewlett Packard. The HP 2000 series has a 400 MHz processor, replaceable battery, and built-in slots for CF or SD cards. "Because the manufacturer is Hewlett Packard surveyors are more confident in purchasing it to use as a data collector," says MicroSurvey's Product Manager Jason Poitras. "FieldGenius really manages data quickly with the HP 2215's fast processor."

The FieldGenius Valuepack can be demo'd by one of MicroSurvey's dealers near you or call us at 1-800-668-3312 and we can arrange for a demonstration.

Tip of the Month

Changing the Scale of a Drawing with MSCAD 2002 or inCAD
You've completed your drawing at a specific scale and then the customer asks,“Can you give it to me at another scale?”. The answer is yes with MSCAD 2002 or inCAD. Of course the drawing does not have to be complete before rescaling. You may find that the scope of the work increases which forces you to change scale as you are drawing. Try the following steps:

1) A command you can type called MS_RESCALE is available from the MicroSurvey menu -> Drawing Utilities -> Re-Scale Complete Drawing. This command will show you the current drawing scale and ask you for a new drawing scale.

By changing it here, you are setting the default so anything added to the drawing will now place text using this new drawing scale. It also rescales all of the Descriptions, Point Numbers, Elevations, Bearings, Distances and symbols placed via AutoMAP to reflect this new drawing scale. Linework is never changed and is always full scale.

2) Other text, including any that you have manually placed into the drawing, will not be affected by the MS_RESCALE command. To change you have a couple of options. You can go under the MicroSurvey menu -> Text Entry and Editing -> Scale Selected Text By Factor. This command allows you to select all of the text that was not changed and allow you to apply a scale factor to it to make it the correct size.

3) Another option for text is found under the MicroSurvey menu -> Text Entry and Editing -> Scale One Text Size To Another. This allows you to match the old text to the size of other existing text that is the correct size (such as a Bearing or Description already changed by the MS_RESCALE command)

4) Other symbols such as Title Blocks, North Arrows, etc. will also have to be changed manually by running the SCALE command found under the Modify menu. Each one would have to be done individually. It may be easier to erase the symbol and reinsert it at the new scale.

NOTES:
1) You cannot simply run the SCALE command on the entire drawing because that would change the actual length of the linework.
2) If you simply plot/print the drawing at the new drawing scale without doing the changes, you will get the correct drawing size and the linework will be correct but the text may be too large or small, along with the symbols, leaders, etc.
3) You will notice when you run the MS_RESCALE command all of the points and related text are placed back on the original default layers and the Descriptions, Point numbers and Elevations are put back to the original location around each point. So if you have done much editing to move the Descriptions, etc then you will have to redo this editing again. If you used a command to put the point on a unique layer, then you have to redo this edit as well. The only exception is if the AutoMAP Library was set up to do the layer editing, then it will remain as it was set up.
4) There may be other entities in the drawing that require special attention. Some of these may include Xref Drawings, Dimension Styles, Hatch Scales, LineType Scales, Layout Mode Viewports, none of which are discussed here.

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Free Software Donated to Worthwhile Projects
MicroSurvey Software, Inc. is interested in sponsoring a worthwhile community, third world or benefit survey project with free software and/or equipment. Surveyors or companies with interesting projects should email brief proposal ideas to

GIS software advice needed on the Online Forum
On MicroSurvey's User Forum, Richard Sands asks, "What do others use when Esri/MapInfo can't be warranted on cost and use? I bought GIS (Manifold) mainly for my work in river rehabilitation where maps are required. I am not a GIS guru, but find it increasingly necessary to have the ability to work in this 'medium'."

Murray Shirley, MicroSurvey GPS Development Manager:
A Geographic Information System (GIS) is a software application which integrates mapping and database storage into a graphical system for querying and manipulating data with related geographical positions. Land surveyors often provide their services to various government departments by supplying a database of infrastructure positions and associated attributes to populate a GIS. Data sets for a GIS can include basic utilities (electric, gas, water, sewer), transportation and communication networks. To supply GIS data sets to customers or other departments, the surveyor requires a few basic tools for collecting the data in the field, doing quality control and editing prior to delivery and exporting the data to a suitable file format to the client.

MicroSurvey's FieldGenius is a powerful tool for quickly creating GIS data sets. FieldGenius supports the assignment of user defined attributes to collected features and the ability to export data to the widely used Shapefile format.

Contribute to the discussion on the User Forum >>

Recent News in FieldGenius Updates
FieldGenius XG radically evolved with the release of version 2.0 in spring this year, and continues to feature some outstanding updates. Recent service packs available free online include features such as:

• Stake to DXF objects
• DXF Lines and Arcs are added to the figures database, so you can stake them right away
• DXF export - Now you can export your linework in a DXF file for import into most CAD programs.
• GIS attributes can be saved on all points. Export ArcView SHP files directly from the data collector.
• Create a Staking List to select points on the screen and add them to a stake list.
• MicroSurvey Feature File Editor. Open and use TDS .fea files, so you can start with an existing system and extend it further.

  More features >>

Joke of the Month
The teacher of the Earth Science class was lecturing on map reading.

He spent the class explaining about latitude, longitude, degrees, and minutes.

Towards the end of class, the teacher asked his students, "Suppose I asked you to meet me for lunch at 23 degrees, 4 minutes north latitude and 45 degrees, 15 minutes east longitude..."

A student's voice broke the confused silence, and volunteered, "I guess you'd be eating alone, sir."