The Falls of the Ohio Chapter of KAPS will be hosting an in-person fall seminar taught by Ethan Carr, L SIT (Bio), Ben Shinabery, PLS (Bio), Tyler Pence, PLS (Bio), and Luke Woodyard (Bio).

8:00-10:00 A New Surveyor's Perspective to Learning Field Survey, Presented by Ethan Carr, LSIT

Hand a data collector, a new GPS unit and a laser scanning total station to Ethan Carr, a new survey degree graduate, and ask him to start surveying on the largest funded infrastructure project in Kentucky and get it right. He has never used the data collector software, never been responsible to collect data in an efficient manner, never scanned a laser scan point cloud on his own. Will he be able to collect survey shots with correct positions, correct codes and in the correct format? Will he be able to learn the process of establishing control, switching between instrument survey styles and datum without problems? How well does the field collection and integration of the office work for new users? Find out how field collection is to a new survey grad and the frustrations and successes through Ethan’s first year of surveying every day.

10:00-12:00 Survey Mapping Rural Highway Safety Programs with LiDAR, Presented by Ben Shinabery, PLS and Tyler Pence, PLS

Driving through the rolling mountains of Kentucky makes me think of how the early trailblazers crossed Kentucky for the first time. Feeling the road below dip and turn, my stomach feels the movement just like a rollercoaster at the park. Many people on these roads do not have the same driving enjoyment, but fear that they may meet a large truck along a tight curve. Rural highway safety is a need on every road in Kentucky.

Collecting survey mapping data along rural roadways, in many ways, is more dangerous than driving the roads. For years, survey crews have been walking those curves and minimal sight distance hills to gather accurate survey locations. It took months to establish roadway surveys in the most rugged terrain in Kentucky. Is there a better way to collect accurate survey data in a more efficient way: faster, safer, and at a lower cost? Mobile mapping is the answer that Qk4 needed for a stretch of US 25 in Williamsburg.

Recent technology advances in Mobile LiDAR mapping hardware, software, and capture techniques have lowered the cost threshold for small rural safety projects which typically have not had budgets for Mobile LiDAR in the past. The MX9 is a self-contained small format, color capture mobile lidar unit that can be mounted to any vehicle to collect high density pointclouds. Beyond just collecting autonomous position data for asset inventory, highway engineers need accurate surveys to have the confidence to design new safety improvements along rural routes.

Mobile mapping has been utilized on many DOT roads nationwide. Applications are changing to include projects that typically don’t have the budgets to merit full mobile lidar collection. The advantage to the MX9 system includes flexibility to use on a range of vehicles, post-processing accurate design quality survey grade mapping, the duel head robust high-resolution color outputs, and integration into TBC with one click TopoDOT outputs.

12:00-1:00 Lunch

1:00-3:00 3D Survey Scanning a Billion Dollars of Bourbon in KY, Presented by Luke Woodyard

What happens when you put 9,000 tons of liquid gold into a 7-story wooden structure built decades ago for one purpose: to age the smoothest bourbon in the south. In 1964, Congress declared bourbon “America’s Native Spirit” and everyone knows that if it’s not distilled in Kentucky... it’s not really bourbon. Billions of dollars of assets age in the rickhouses along the “Bourbon Trail” in central Kentucky and those assets need to be protected. In years past, these rickhouses were monitored by large plumb strings hanging on the interiors of the structures to reveal the inevitable movement of the wooden beams. How much deviation and sag is difficult to tell when four strings are all you can count on. Starting in 2019, Qk4 began using laser scanning technology to capture the exact conditions and vertical deviation of bourbon warehouses for several sites in rural Kentucky for structural analysis. These high-resolution scans provide not only the relationship of the roof line to the foundation but the fine details of wall deflection and sag. With the interior and exterior details of these wooden vaults, structural engineers can know better how to protect one of Kentucky's great industries.

3:00-5:00 The Epoch of the Modern Kentucky Surveyor, Presented by Ben Shinabery, PLS

The modern Kentucky professional land surveyor most likely measures bearings and distances in distinct moments in time called “Epochs” if using a high precision GPS to determine coordinates relating to property boundary or topographic elevations. The word “Epoch” may be defined as a period of time in history marked by notable events or particular characteristics. While GPS measures epochs in atomic clock milliseconds, the Epoch of the Modern Kentucky Surveyor began a little over 20 years ago with the 2001 Kentucky Licensure Board Task Force study on professional land surveyor licensure requirements within the Commonwealth. Recently those license requirements were challenged by a sponsored house bill proposed to amend the current survey license laws to reduce the degree requirements and remove some board oversight of the profession. The demand for surveyors is on the rise in the state, and the average age of a professional surveyor is also rising across the nation. This informative session hopes to communicate the history of the modern Kentucky Professional Land Surveyor requirements found in KRS 322.045, the reasoning of the Board of Licensure Task Force study conducted two decades ago, the possible affects to engineers, and hopeful options to expand the survey workforce across the state.

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