Agenda

Registration:                    8:00 – 8:30 am

Morning Session:             8:30 am – 12:00 pm

Lunch (On your own):       12:00 – 1:00 pm

Afternoon Session:           1:00 – 5:00 pm

Development of State Plane Coordinate System

   Who developed the state plane coordinate system?
   Why was the state plane coordinate system developed?
   How were the state plane coordinate systems for the states designed?

Development of Individual State Systems

   Background for understanding projections
   Understanding the Lambert Conformal Projection
   Understanding the Transverse Mercator Projection
   Analysis of state plane coordinate system distortions for various states

Use of Projections in State Systems

   Using the Lambert Conformal Projection
      • Maryland and Washington D.C.
      • Pennsylvania
      • Virginia
      • Corrections for Lambert Projections
   Using the Transverse Mercator Projection
      • Delaware
      • Corrections for Transverse Mercator Projections
   State plane coordinates implications related to boundary surveying
   Discussion of grid or ground data shown of plats and plans

Using the State Plane Coordinate System in the Field

   Discussion of grid or ground distances in the field

Low Distortion Projections

   What is good and bad about them
   How they are designed
   How you use them

Control Surveys

   The techniques that can be used and the accuracies, advantages
      and disadvantages you can expect for the following:
      • GPS static
      • OPUS static
      • OPUS rapid static
      • Network RTK
      • Conventional traverse
      • Conventional leveling
   How errors do and don’t propagate in your survey measurements
   How to properly use the previous techniques to minimize your errors
   How to get elevations that are twice as accurate from trig leveling
   Standards and specifications
   How atmospheric conditions can affect traverse and level data with
      refraction and what actions can be taken to correct this

Credits

Professional Engineers &
Land Surveyors
     7.0 CE Hours

Floodplain Managers
     3.0 ASFPM CECs

Continuing Education Credit Information

This seminar is open to the public and offers 7.0 continuing education hours to professional land surveyors and engineers in most states, including Virginia. Educators and courses are not subject to preapproval in Virginia.

HalfMoon Education is an approved sponsor for land surveyors in Florida, New York, North Carolina, and North Dakota. HalfMoon Education is an approved continuing education sponsor for engineers in Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New York (NYSED No. 35), North Carolina, and North Dakota.

The Association of Floodplain Managers has approved this seminar (AM session only) for 3.0 CECs.

Attendance will be monitored, and attendance certificates will be available after the seminar for most individuals who complete the entire event. Attendance certificates not available at the seminar will be mailed to participants within fifteen business days.

Speakers

Alan Dragoo

Alan R. Dragoo is a licensed surveyor in the State of Maryland who was employed for 27 years by the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) in Laurel, Maryland. He was a geodetic project manager in charge of high-precision horizontal and vertical geodetic surveying projects using the global positioning system and classical methods in support of the WSSC Control Network, the Interagency GIS System and the deformation studies for three dams. Mr. Dragoo also worked for Trimble Navigation for eight years as a technical support representative in support of sales for the Northeast U.S. He also worked for Keystone Precision Instruments for eight years as the sales manager for land survey products for Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. He is currently employed by Maser Consulting at their Sterling, Virginia, office as their assistant Survey Department manager.
Mr. Dragoo worked with the National Geodetic Survey to survey the top of the Washington Monument. He was co-director for the completed survey on the top of the U.S. Capitol to determine its position and in the basement of the U.S. Capitol to locate the cornerstone set in 1792. He is a member and fellow of the National Society of Professional Surveyors; past president for the American Association for Geodetic Surveying (AAGS); past editor for the Geodetic Surveyor, a newsletter for AAGS; and National Society of Professional Surveyors director for the Maryland Society of Surveyors. Mr. Dragoo was MSS Surveyor of The Year for 1996 and Russell E. Lowman award recipient and Life Time Achievement award recipient in 2015. He was also director for the spring 1996 ASPRS/ACSM Baltimore Convention and director for the spring 1998 ACSM Baltimore Convention.
Mr. Dragoo has authored and co-authored articles and papers for Professional Surveyor magazine; for Surveying and Land Information System, a journal for the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping; and for society newsletters in the United States and Canada. He has also presented numerous technical sessions and workshops on matters related to geodetic surveying, State Plane Coordinates, least squares, compatibility of GPS with conventional measurements, Trimble Business Center software, and the sources of errors in conventional surveying.