Students from Fargo (ND), West Fargo (ND), and Hawley (MN) learned about the surveying profession during
Marketplace for Kids held at the Microsoft Campus in Fargo on April 23.
Chad Qualley, Chuck Rebsch, and Dustin Buchholtz from Houston Engineering, Inc. (HEI) taught students about the profession of land surveying and demonstrated the equipment used in its daily work. Students learned how land surveyors play a role in how infrastructure is built around them, such as parking lots and property lines for developments. They also learned how technology innovations changed the surveying profession in significant ways.
In the early days, land surveyors would use a horse-drawn carriage to haul their equipment, and their work often required three or four survey crew members. Today, surveyors use robotic total stations and drones to capture survey data with fewer crew members in a faster and more efficient manner. Students asked many questions about the equipment being used, especially when drones were being discussed!
At the end of the presentation, students could interact with the virtual sand elevation demonstration table provided by
North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS) to see how the elevation of the sand could affect how rainfall travels over the landscape.
Thank you to Marketplace for Kids for hosting this educational event and for letting us promote the land surveying profession!
Chad Qualley (left), Dustin Buchholtz (middle), and Chuck Rebsch (right) taught students about land surveying during Marketplace for Kids.