Landon, you're a credit to your profession. I've spent a good part of this afternoon going through your content instead of studying for the AZ state specific exam, which I'll be taking in 16 days. Count me as one who greatly appreciates your effort. I'm just going to throw my two cents in on this subject and get back to studying. I'd say you damn well better take field notes---in the fieldbook for boundary and topo related surveys and on cut sheets for construction staking. An electronic file can get misplaced. The fieldbook tells you what the name of the file is that you're searching for. An electronic file can't tell why you chose to localize on the points you localized on or why you chose to keep scale to 1.0, for example. An electronic file could tell you whether or not you searched for a point and didn't find it, but typically doesn't. While the assistant is shooting an observed control point on a property corner, the chief should be describing it in the book worded as he would expect to see it in the final drawing. It's a time saver. Don't make the field assistant type all that shit out. "6in x 4in stone with X chiseled on top, 14in above grade, 2 cuts on S face, 3 cuts on E face, leaning badly to the south, loose, center of stone shot at ground level." The assistant would just type MON for the code and start his countdown. If you want your job to go smooth, expect your field assistant to type stuff wrong in the data collector, expect the draftsman to not know what's going on (and too busy on his phone to figure it out), and expect the registrant that you're working under to want to be assured that due dilligence is being practiced. Oh, you can expect that little bastard of a draftsman to try to blame you when things don't go right, too. So, keep the typing in the DC to a minimum, make notes that answer questions (rather than creates them), sketches that are easily understood and ideally oriented to the anticipated deliverable, and so on. These should generally be things not (or not easily) found in the DC file, but tell the rest of the story. Your field notes should be usable as evidence that you definitely earned the money you made that day and that you are worthy of a raise. They should also be why project surveyors request that you specifically be sent out to their pain in the ass projects. I think the biggest challenge with field notes is knowing when they go from helping profitability for the job as a whole to hurting profitability. In my humble opinion, just take a book and scribble down the bare minimum to not be embarrassed by them in court. You won't "need" them much of the time. Oftentimes, they will be helpful. Sometimes, they will prove to be essential and you'll look pretty damn smart for having them. Ok I'm done.
My answer is “it depends.” For the most part a raw file would do most of the work for you. I’d just make sure you do a sketch if needed. Probably should use a physical field book for larger, high risk projects. (Hospitals, bridges, pipeline, etc.)
Landon, you're a credit to your profession. I've spent a good part of this afternoon going through your content instead of studying for the AZ state specific exam, which I'll be taking in 16 days. Count me as one who greatly appreciates your effort.
I'm just going to throw my two cents in on this subject and get back to studying.
I'd say you damn well better take field notes---in the fieldbook for boundary and topo related surveys and on cut sheets for construction staking.
An electronic file can get misplaced. The fieldbook tells you what the name of the file is that you're searching for.
An electronic file can't tell why you chose to localize on the points you localized on or why you chose to keep scale to 1.0, for example.
An electronic file could tell you whether or not you searched for a point and didn't find it, but typically doesn't.
While the assistant is shooting an observed control point on a property corner, the chief should be describing it in the book worded as he would expect to see it in the final drawing. It's a time saver. Don't make the field assistant type all that shit out.
"6in x 4in stone with X chiseled on top, 14in above grade, 2 cuts on S face, 3 cuts on E face, leaning badly to the south, loose, center of stone shot at ground level."
The assistant would just type MON for the code and start his countdown.
If you want your job to go smooth, expect your field assistant to type stuff wrong in the data collector, expect the draftsman to not know what's going on (and too busy on his phone to figure it out), and expect the registrant that you're working under to want to be assured that due dilligence is being practiced.
Oh, you can expect that little bastard of a draftsman to try to blame you when things don't go right, too.
So, keep the typing in the DC to a minimum, make notes that answer questions (rather than creates them), sketches that are easily understood and ideally oriented to the anticipated deliverable, and so on. These should generally be things not (or not easily) found in the DC file, but tell the rest of the story.
Your field notes should be usable as evidence that you definitely earned the money you made that day and that you are worthy of a raise. They should also be why project surveyors request that you specifically be sent out to their pain in the ass projects.
I think the biggest challenge with field notes is knowing when they go from helping profitability for the job as a whole to hurting profitability.
In my humble opinion, just take a book and scribble down the bare minimum to not be embarrassed by them in court. You won't "need" them much of the time. Oftentimes, they will be helpful. Sometimes, they will prove to be essential and you'll look pretty damn smart for having them.
Ok I'm done.
My answer is “it depends.” For the most part a raw file would do most of the work for you. I’d just make sure you do a sketch if needed. Probably should use a physical field book for larger, high risk projects. (Hospitals, bridges, pipeline, etc.)
“With no erase marks” 😆
Consider, the book is kept in PENCIL. Conversely, notes are an imperative component to all surveys for several reasons. Keep the book.