Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast

Episode 106 - Happy Thanksgiving!

Each week, we bring you fascinating guests that are involved in the profession of surveying, but this week we are doing something a little different in the spirit of Thanksgiving. This episode finds several of the officers and our Executive Director, Curt Sumner, sharing what they are thankful for during this holiday season.

Thanks for joining us here on this holiday edition of “Surveyor Says!” The NSPS Podcast.

Episode 105 - Bob Akins, PLS - Candidate for NSPS Vice President

This episode of “Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast” features executive Director Curt Sumner sitting down to speak with Bob Akins, PLS (OH) and a candidate for NSPS Vice President in the upcoming 2022 Election. Bob has been involved in the surveying profession for over 40 years after serving his country in the Army as a surveyor for several tours of Southeast Asia.

Bob represented the Professional Land Surveyors of Ohio (PLSO) as NSPS Governor and was part of the 100% Membership initiative in which he became the Ohio representative on the NSPS Board of Directors. Bob currently serves as Chair of the NSPS Railroad Abandonment Committee and is committed to finding legislative support and financial backing for establishing monuments any time a railroad chooses to abandon a previously used line.

Bob would like to see NSPS continue to support the Young Surveyors Network and provide mentorship for any surveyor looking for career guidance.

Thank you for listening to this episode of “Surveyor Says!” The NSPS Podcast and look for more interviews with the officer candidates for the 2022 NSPS election cycle.

Episode 104 - Survey & GIS Summit -”What is Surveying” Panel Discussion

This week’s episode features our panel discussion from the recent “Survey & GIS Summit” hosted virtually by NSPS and URISA. Our panelists are Linda Foster, PLS, GISP from Ferber Engineering, Tripp Corbin, MCP, GISP from Davey Resource Group and Brent Jones, PE, PLS from Esri. Surveyors and GIS professionals share tools, markets, clients, and a lot more. There are many commonalities with services that surveyors and GIS professionals offer, but there are many differences as well. Questions were presented for this expert panel of both professional land surveyors and practicing GIS professionals.

EP103 Rick Howard, PLS - Candidate for NSPS Vice President

This episode of “Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast” features executive Director Curt Sumner sitting down to speak with Rick Howard, PLS (CT) and a candidate for NSPS Vice President in the upcoming 2022 Election. Rick has been involved in the surveying profession for over 30 years.  His educational background includes an associate degree in Civil Technology from the University of New Hampshire and a Bachelor of Science in Survey Engineering from The University of Maine, Orono.  Rick has both private and public sector experience. He spent 18 years working for Northeast Utilities in Berlin, Connecticut gaining experience in all types of land surveys including monitoring, GPS, GIS and large mapping projects.  He has been in private practice since 2007 and maintains land surveying licenses in CT, MA and NY.

Rick has served on The Connecticut Association of Land Surveyors (CALS) Board of Directors since 2007 and was selected as its Surveyor of the Year in 2014.  Rick represented CALS on the NSPS Board of Governors from 2007 to 2013, receiving the Key Governor Award in 2007, and serving as Chairman for two years (2012 and 2013).  As a CALS NSPS Director he received the Key Director Award in 2016.

Rick became a member of the NSPS team of ABET Program Evaluators (PEV) in 2014, served on the NSPS Executive Committee in 2015 and received an NSPS Presidential Citation in 2017.  

Rick currently serves as an NSPS Trustee on the NSPS Foundation Board (2015 to the present) and has served as Vice-Chair for the last two years.

Rick would like to see NSPS continue to be "One Unified Voice for the Surveying Profession", to strengthen our membership and continue to excel at the things we have proven we can do well.

Thank you for listening to this episode of “Surveyor Says!” The NSPS Podcast and look for more interviews with the officer candidates for the 2022 NSPS election cycle.

Episode 102 - Joey Wilson, PE, PLS - President of Wilson and Associates

This episode of “Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast” features executive Director Curt Sumner chatting with Joey Wilson, PE, PLS from Franklin, Tennessee. He is the President of Wilson and Associates, a second-generation engineering, surveying, and environmental firm.

Episode 101 - Les Van Horn and the Brown County GIS

As we gear up for the upcoming “Survey & GIS Summit” co-hosted by NSPS and URISA, we take a trip back to the early days of surveyors and land administration This episode of “Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast” finds us talking with Les Van Horn, PLS, and husband of Lisa Van Horn, PLS, the immediate Past-President of NSPS. Les recently chatted with Tim Burch about his start in surveying and how his passion for the profession has provided a great journey in and around Brown County, Wisconsin. As the County Surveyor for many years, he led the effort to create a cadaster of parcels based upon the many different land systems in his region. Les talked about the importance of political relationship to support and fund the critical records database and field operations for creating and maintaining a bountiful GIS for public use. A great conversation with an icon from the Badger State.

Thank you for listening to this episode of “Surveyor Says!” The NSPS Podcast and send us comments on our topics and ideas for future recordings. We appreciate being able to provide great content that is useful and interesting!

Welcome to the 100th episode of “Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast”!

Welcome to the 100th episode of “Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast”!

When NSPS began the process for replacing its venerable “NSPS Radio Hour” on internet radio, we knew it would take some time, work, and learning some new skills to put together our own podcast. While the format has changed, the transformation to a podcast medium has allowed us to attract more guests from around the globe and introduce many more topics than before.

This week is no different, as we meet our coordinators for the upcoming “Survey & GIS Summit” co-hosted by NSPS and URISA. Brent Jones (EP79) and Linda Foster (EP81) are leading the charge to bring a virtual conference event that has plenty to offer to the GIS and surveying professions together. Listen in on the details of the origin of the conference, evolution to today’s version, and where this endeavor can take both professions.

Thank you for tuning into “Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast” and listen for the question to enter into our drawing for great prizes. Simply email the answer to info@nsps.us.com to enter the drawing for shirts, hats, Yetis, and more!  The deadline is enter is Wednesday, October 20 at 5:00 pm Eastern. And watch social media for more announcements about future episodes and guests!

Episode 99 - This episode is with Virginia Winberg, a PLS from the Land of 10,000 Lakes, (Minnesota, for those who don’t know that tidbit).

Chalk up another great conversation with a true role model! Our chat this week for Episode 99 of “Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast” is with Virginia Winberg, a PLS from the Land of 10,000 Lakes, (Minnesota, for those who don’t know that tidbit). Tim Burch sat down with Virginia to talk about her involvement in the Women’s Survey Summit AND the Future Surveyor’s Foundation with our previous “Surveyor Says!” guests, Anna Rios (EP21) and Heather Sides (EP95). She also shared her recent experience at the Minnesota State Fair (exhibiting for 12 days!) and spreading the survey gospel to fair goers. Virginia talked about what makes a great mentor and how we need to continue to give back to our wonderful profession.

Thank you for tuning into this episode of “Surveyor Says!” The NSPS Podcast and keep watching social media for our announcements regarding Episode 100 and cool prizes!

Episode 98 - This episode of “Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast” is a recent conversation with Denver Winchester, PLS, and the current President of the NSPS Young Surveyors Network (YSN).

This episode of “Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast” is a recent conversation with Denver Winchester, PLS, and the current President of the NSPS Young Surveyors Network (YSN). Tim Burch sat down with Denver to discuss the 2022 NSPS Student Competition being held in conjunction with the NSPS Spring Business Meetings. They also discussed topics and outcomes of the YSN meetings during the NSPS Fall Business Meetings in Oak Brook, Illinois, (just outside of Chicago). Denver and Tim talked about the importance of both the Student Competition and growing the YSN to provide a solid future for the profession and for the Association.

Thank you for tuning into this episode of “Surveyor Says!” The NSPS Podcast and keep watching social media for our announcements regarding Episode 100 and cool prizes!

Episode 97 - Our discussion this week includes Curt Sumner, Gary Kent , and Tim Burch talk about how licensing varies nationwide.

Professional surveyors are well aware of the duties that go with being licensed; protection of the public’s safety, health, welfare, and property as related to boundaries and correctly prepared legal descriptions. The public itself, and the governmental officials they elect, often do not realize the importance of the professional land surveyor. Today’s episode of “Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast” covers the topic of why licensure of surveyors is critical to public safety while attempts to include surveying in license deregulation will harm many aspects of property ownership and accurate descriptions. Our roundtable discussion includes Curt Sumner (NSPS Executive Director), Gary Kent (longtime ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey Chair), and Tim Burch (NSPS President-Elect) talk about how licensing varies nationwide, the multitude of land systems, and how the educational requirements must be a significant component in the path to licensure.

High precision measurement has become the norm thanks to technology, but surveyors are relied upon for their accuracy in establish, retracement and legal descriptions of real property. This discussion establishes several good talking points for our practitioner to use when deregulation comes knocking at their door. This is one episode of “Surveyor Says!” The NSPS Podcast you don’t want to miss!