A surveying team of six Utah Valley University Geomatics students placed third in the National Student Survey Competition, in Las Vegas, Nevada on Feb. 21.

 

Eleven surveying schools from around the country were in attendance at this year’s competition, which is held in an effort to promote the surveying profession and the education required for licensure, and was sponsored by the National Society of Professional Surveyors (NSPS). This year’s theme was “Surveying Services in a Developing Country.”

 

Students were able to meet the evening before the competition to go over the details, consult with team advisors, and mingle with students from other competing schools. Teams spent three days and nights surveying and mapping a mock boundary, and locating natural and manmade topographic features in the Nevada desert with restricted equipment, using only two compasses, two steel tapes (chains), a field notebook, a level, and two level rods to create a standard topographic site map of a one-acre parcel.

 

Following their time in the desert, a 15-minute presentation was given by each team to illustrate the field work methodology they employed, the topographical map drawn and lessons learned from the competition.

 

“It was great to see how we compared against other schools around the country,” said Austin Ishino, competition team leader and senior at UVU. “We were able to apply what we learned in school and figure out how to best use the equipment we were given.”

 

UVU’s team was advised by Associate Professor and Geomatics Program Coordinator Danial L. Perry and Austin Ishino, the student team leader. Other team members included Sean Ireland, Corey Albright, Grant Hague, Derek McGovern, and Mike Stewart.

 

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About Utah Valley University

At 37,282 students and growing, Utah Valley University is the largest public university in the state of Utah and one of a few in the nation offering a dual-mission model that combines the rigor and richness of a first-rate teaching university with the openness and vocational programs of a community college. UVU’s unique model, which focuses on student success, engaged learning, rigorous academic programs and faculty-mentored research, is transforming higher education by making it more affordable and accessible to students of all backgrounds.