Category: Uncategorized
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Gratitude is …
Gratitude: n. 1. the quality or feeling of thankfulness or appreciation; the state of being grateful. Once again the season has arrived wherein we are reminded – and unfortunately, we do need to be reminded – of the abundance that most of us tend to take for granted: food, clothing, shelter, productive work, and relationships.
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Galileo Conspiracy Theory
Don Jewell at GPS World reports that in the aftermath of the botched launch of the European Union's first 2 Galileo satellites, the conspiracy theorists are coming out of the woodwork to blame Russia. Hopefully the theorists are wrong, and there was no intentional sabatoge. But it doesn't take much imagination to think that Russia,
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Galileo Satellites Not in Expected Orbit
GPS World reports in this article that two Galileo satellits launched 08/22/14 by the European Space Agency are not in expected orbit. The liftoff and first part of the mission proceeded normally, with the planned orbit to be circular, but the satellites are now in an elliptical orbit. In this more recent article with updated
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Fishy Business
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources is using Juniper Systems handhelds to assist with removal of invasive fish species from the Green River. Native species are caught, recorded, tagged, and released, while the invasive species, which are destructive to the ecosystem by outcompeting native fish, are captured for later documentation. In a single day the
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Maps on NPR, and GPS Coconuts
If you're a fan of both Surveying and NPR, you may be interested in a recent NPR radio show featuring guest Bob Dahn, past president of the NSPS. The show entitled "Navigating Our World: Maps to GPS" focused on the use of maps throughout history and how GPS affects map usage. Bob maintains that it's
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GLONASS Failures
A couple of months ago I shared an article with an admonition from Brad Parkinson, GPS founding architect, that measures need to be taken to ensure the resilience and robustness of current GNSS systems. One method of doing so is to augment signals with data from other sources just in case a satellite failure were
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To Keep, or To Toss…
POB contributor Jeffrey Turner, in his article entitled "Breaking Records in Surveying", addresses the issue of how to handle a surveyor's historical records. Are all those old hard copy maps and plans just taking up space and in need of being tossed? Or are they actually valuable archives that should be retained for future use
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How Vulnerable is GNSS?
Just image all the ways that we are impacted by current GNSS technology, from the guidance systems in our cars to the apps on our smart phones, and on a global scale by GNSS applications within the infrastructure that supplies our daily needs, including maritime, highway, and aviation navigation in the shipping industry. Now imagine
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Space Weather Explained
On January 7, 2014, a significant coronal mass ejection erupted from the middle of the sun directed toward Earth, and arrived on January 9th. The image posted here, taken just after maximum emission of a solar flare, shows the largest solar flare so far this year. This GPS World article also includes a poster-size JPG
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Merry Christmas!
As yet another year comes to a close, all of us at Charles Rothe & Associates offer our sincere thanks to both clientele and business associates for the opportunity to work with you and to meet your surveying and engineering needs. It is our pleasure to serve, and as we begin 2014 may your business
Rothe & Associates, PLLC 