PLSO The Oregon Surveyor March April 2020

12 The Oregon Surveyor  | Vol. 43, No. 2 Featured Article T hanks to Shaun Fidler for organizing the PLSO Map Contest at the 2020 PLSO Annual Convention. Sean has recognized that our filed survey maps will become historical documents and are a reflection of our work, our reputation, and a source of information to future surveyors. While I can take some pride (actually a lot) in being the winner, the fact that it was by one vote is an indication that all were high class entries. In fact, when I reviewed the entries, I couldn’t decide which one was best. I was amazed at the quality, and for the record, I didn’t vote to skew the results. However, since one vote doesn’t clearly make me the best, I am sharing 40% of my prize money with second place, Dave Roeger of CMTSC. We Surveyors work in a noble profes- sion, a profession shared by Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and, based on his sur- veys in Brazil, Theodore Roosevelt. While we may not aspire to become President of the United States, we still will leave behind a history and documentation of our reputation by our surveys. Our maps reflect not only what we did, but should also reflect how we did it and what information we relied upon. If our narrative only says, “Held” or “I held the corners as shown”, it is easy to think, “So what?” Where is our thought process and the defense of our reputation? It is much better to say, “I held corner (number) be- cause...(it is an original plat corner...it is a deed corner of Book-Page”...it was held by Surveys No’s...” etc. Don’t be afraid to say that there is conflicting evidence, there almost always is. It is our job to reason it all out, apply common sense and the law. I find that when you look at a prob - lem from several different perspectives, it becomes easy to determine what is right. Beyond that, our survey maps are a work of art. First impressions are important. Our maps need to look friendly, well orga- nized and a pleasure to the eye. Important items need to stand out, and differences sizes and weights of lettering can help to do so. Capital letters is like shouting. All text the same size does not give attention to what is important. One paragraph 600 words long is not easy to read, nor does it convey a thought process. I like to organize my surveys in parts with bold titles, Legend, Corner Notes, Narra- tive (which also can be broken down into sub parts), Reference Surveys, etc. I also like to include coordinates. If you are ever redrafting a survey that you are tying to, you have to adjust the record data, which is to the nearest hundredth of a foot, to get it to close. Therefore, I recommend listing coordinates out to four decimal places, not because we are that accurate, but because our computers are. ODOT and many surveyors already do. I think that it should be the standard of practice. Yes, it may be in a different coordinate system, but you can, in Auto- CAD, make a block, insert it into another drawing, explode it, and update the co- ordinates to a new system. In conclusion, our maps are our individ- ual legacies. Let’s be proud of them, and next year, submit your best and you too can be a winner. The bragging rights are worth more than the award money.  x Thoughts from 2020 PLSO Map Contest Winner Leonard Rydell