Incorporating 3-D Laser Scanning into Land Surveying Curricula

Evergreen Valley College, San Jose CA

Investigators

Abstract

Land surveying (Geomatics) plays a very important role in civil engineering projects, land development, and the resolution of property boundary issues. The U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Outlook projects that the job market for surveying and mapping technicians will increase 9 to 17 percent from 2004 to 2014. With very few universities offering land surveying programs, the training of land surveying technicians occurs predominantly at community colleges. A review of the land surveying programs offered by two-year colleges, however, reveals significant gaps between the needs of the industry and training offered by the two-year institutions. Over the last few years, a new technology, 3-D laser scanning, has emerged as a very important tool in land surveying. This project incorporates this new technology into land surveying curricula by developing, testing and delivering new courses materials, including model course content, examples, assignments, laboratory activities, and field work. The course materials developed in this project can be adopted by any community college or high school in the nation. To facilitate information dissemination, workshops are training teachers who want to use this curriculum, and the contents of the curriculum are being published through both printed media and electronic media, including booklets, a website, CDs, and conference presentations. The curriculum is first being evaluated by a panel of experts from the industry, universities, the American Society of Civil Engineers, and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping, and then implemented at Evergreen Valley College and Santa Rosa Junior College and eventually disseminated nationally. The project is a collaborative effort among industry, educational institutions, and government agencies. The project has secured support from Trimble, Santa Clara Valley Water District, HMH Engineering, Silicon Valley Land Surveying, Caltran, Santa Clara County, regional high schools, Santa Rosa Junior College, California State University at Fresno, and San Jose Sate University.