BASELINE RECENTLY STARTED MENTORING OTHER FIRMS. HOW ARE YOU HOPING TO HELP THOSE OTHER FIRMS?
Mentoring Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUB) allows them to engage in larger, more complex projects, which might not be possible without our teaming arrangements. The Mentor Protégée program allows Baseline to build stronger relationships with these predefined HUB subconsultants. It helps both Baseline and the subconsultant by having dependable teams, consistent work, cross-training, and provides each with additional resources.
WHAT DO YOU GET OUT OF SURVEYING THAT YOU COULDN’T GET FROM ANY OTHER KIND OF WORK?
I get the ability to establish and reestablish land boundaries; perform highly accurate measurements on the earth’s surface for planning, design, construction, and record information; and have the opportunity to learn and use new technology consistently.
When I started surveying in 1980, the development of handheld calculators with trig functions was only a few years old, and electronic distance meter technology was new and barely affordable. Wang computers with cassette tape backups were “the norm,” and drafting was done on a drafting table with a “T” square and a protractor. Surveying has allowed me to be engaged in the constant change of technology in the last 40 years. This has included the development of fax machines, DOS-based, and then Microsoft based computers, Digital drawings (out of a plotter), the development of AutoCAD and Bently (MicroStation), the creation of GIS, electronic total stations with electronic data collection, and now robotic total stations and digital levels, Static GPS, then RTK GPS and now RTK GPS on RTN VRS Networks with centimeter accuracy, aerial LiDAR, terrestrial LiDAR, Mobile Mapping, Drone Surveying and many other technologies I may have missed.
WHAT HAS BEEN ONE OF THE MOST UNIQUE PROJECTS YOU HAVE BEEN A PART OF?
I have been involved in quite a few unique projects, but Texas Motor Speedway in Denton County stands out the most. A field crew and I were the first ones on the ground. I performed the initial boundary survey for the 2,000-acre facility. I was involved in developing the plats, more than 100 easements, and construction staking of the track itself and the surrounding facilities.
IF YOU HAD TO LEAVE YOUR HOUSE FOREVER BUT COULD TAKE ONLY ONE OBJECT WITH YOU (ALL PETS AND HUMANS ARE ALREADY COMING WITH YOU), WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Whatever my wife told me to take. Probably the safe.
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