Mission and Purpose of the Geomatics Program:

The Geomatics Program degrees prepare students for a profession in Geomatics on a state, regional, national and international level in public, private and academic settings. Geomatics is a subset of Geospatial Science which not only includes classical land surveying but this profession has now grown to encompass integration, acquisition, modeling, analysis, and management of geospatial reference data used in disciplines such as; land surveying, civil engineering, cartography, geographic information systems (GIS), geodesy, and remote sensing.

  What is Geomatics?

Events:

• UTAH COUNCIL of LAND SURVEYORS (UCLS) Annual  Convention 2013, February 26-28, 2013, South Towne Expo Center, Sandy, Utah

• National Student Surveying Competition sponsored by the NSPS

• The Geomatics Club is NOW ACCEPTING MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONS!

• $2500 Monsen Scholarship awarded to Trevor Jensen graduating Spring 2013

Reminders:

• UVU Spring 2013 Academic Calendar

Projects:

• Beit Lehi IsraelProject:   Get Involved
• Uintah Indian Reservation Boundary Project: Get Involved

Senior Project:  Nich Wardell-- North

“True North” is a term that is often used in the Geospatial Profession, and it is usually used with little understanding of what North has actually come to mean. The purpose of this document is to clarify the definition of North. North is and has always been a critical concept for navigation and design. Maps, survey plats, legal descriptions, and roadway drawings are published records conveying information for the purposes of construction, navigation, or preservation. These documents lose their value if the author’s concept of direction is misunderstood by the user. Located on documents that are published for the purpose of perpetuating a geographic location, either implied or annotated, should be the author’s concept of north. This of course is not always the case. In situations where direction is left for interpretation the user needs to have the ability to determine the appropriate direction. What is not widely known and even less understood is that north can mean different directions. In our increasingly technological world where accurate geographic positions are increasing in demand, it is critical for professionals who work in the geospatial community to understand the differences between the different directions of north, and how to identify them.

Senior Project:  Travis Warren and Trevor Jensen-- NGS CORS Station

The National Geodetic Survey, an office of NOAA's National Ocean Service, manages a network of Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) that provide Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) data measurements in support of three dimensional positioning, meteorology, space weather, and geophysical applications throughout the United States, its territories, and a few foreign countries. Surveyors, GIS users, and engineers, or really anybody who uses GNSS data use the data logged at CORS to better create the precision of their position both horizontally and vertically.  Because the data is very important to be accurate the NOAA, has many stringent rules, and they have set up guidelines (instructions) on how to create a CORS and join the national program.  By joining this national program we can better establish ourselves as a credible Geomatics program and help bring others into the profession.  This report describes in detail the research, process, design, and subsequent approval, installation, and initiation of a CORS atop the UVU Computer Science building.