PLSO The Oregon Surveyor May June 2020

12 The Oregon Surveyor  | Vol. 43, No. 3 Featured Article There are many more far-reaching aspects of this bill than I can report on at this time, but here’s the most important one. None of what you just read is true. I’m saving what I wrote here so I can publish something similar in a few years. New Laws Impacting Our Profession Satire Satire Satire Satire Greg de Bruin, PLS NYSAPLS Past President A s most of you know by now, our governor just signed into law a bill that includes the most com- prehensive changes to our profession, and to the lives of land owners in New York state, since our colony was first formed. Known as the Land Surveyors’ Modernization Act, it promises to change forever the way we work as stewards of boundary information for the millions of properties in the state. The most important aspect of the bill is a change from transferring property by deeds to transferring by title. The state will create a land registry to manage all title interests. The bill allows this registry to be managed by private entities. To accomplish this initiative, the bill re- quires that every property in the state be retraced within the next 20 years. All retracement info will be stored digitally in a single large GIS database that will in- clude all metadata (deeds, maps, found evidence, boundary line agreements, etc.). This data will be publicly accessible to all, at no charge to the user. Cost recovery for this massive effort will come from a large federal loan, to be paid back from land transfer fees that will be collected by the state. Recovery rate is expected to exceed 120% of costs. The bill has some changes that directly affect our practice. First, every new sur - veyor that comes into the profession must have a 4-year degree in land sur- veying. Every licensed land surveyor will be required to be an expert in geodesy. Geology courses will also be required, to gain a keen understanding of the move- ment of the earth’s tectonic plates and how those movements affect proper- ty location. Effective January 1 of this coming year, all land surveyors, including current licens- ees, will be required to show proof that they own at least two GPS units capable of receiving signals from GNSS, Glonass, and Galileo. We will also have to pass tests demonstrating knowledge of the 2022 datum. Lastly, we will each need a special certification to be eligible to up - date the state’s land registry. Without all of these credentials, you won’t be allowed to make maps in New York state. With them, you will become part of a large co- ordinated effort that will be working to bring boundary determination and man- agement into the current millennium. Another requirement of the new bill that came in to play at the last moment is the concept of “virtual monumentation.” The state anticipates that, before themapping work is completed, survey-grade posi- tioning will be ubiquitous in consumer products such as cell phones, including under full canopy. Since all boundary lines will be freely available in the cloud, property owners will be able to walk their lines using augmented reality apps that project the boundary locations onto the ground as they move about. There are many more far-reaching as- pects of this bill than I can report on at this time, but here’s the most important one. None of what you just read is true. I’m saving what I wrote here so I can publish something similar in a few years. Right now, we’re still doing things pret- ty much the way they’ve been done for the last couple of centuries. Sure, we can measure faster and more precisely, but