Introducing our latest Brand Ambassador Michael Detwiler from Nevada, USA:

If you are a surveyor- Where did you study? University of Arizona, B.S. – Geography and University of Florida, M.S. – Geomatics

What are the requirements to be a surveyor in your area?

4-year degree + 4 years of work experience under responsible charge of a surveyor

Pass National Land Surveyor-in-Training exam

Pass National Land Surveying exam

Pass State exam

How did you get into surveying? Coming out of college I had a bachelor’s degree in Geography, which included some courses in remote sensing, GIS, and land planning. But I had no idea what land surveying was. I found a job opening for a field surveyor working on a crew. I loved the outdoors, so it sounded great to me, despite not knowing what I’d really be doing. Other than trying out land planning for less than a year early in my career, I have been surveying ever since!

How long have you been in the industry? 20 years

Are you part of any associations or organisations you would like us to mention?

Member of the Nevada Association of Land Surveyors

Serve as a director on the NALS state board

Serve as President of the Lahontan Chapter of NALS

Why do you want to be a GKiS Brand Ambassador? Surveyors have not done a good job at promoting the profession over the years. I would like to help change that and make surveying just as well-known as engineering.

Why is it important for kids to know about surveying and the wider geospatial industry? It really is a great profession that provides a wide variety of things to do. If you enjoy sitting in front of a computer drafting maps, you can do that. If you enjoy being outside and working in the field, you can do that. If you are into working with high tech instruments, you can do that. Or you can do all of those things combined!

What are you going to do as an ambassador for GKiS? All about spreading the word to the younger grade school kids. Need to plant the seed of an idea early. In Nevada there a re lot of rural towns where there’s not a lot of options for younger kids. Surveying would be a great option and we need to bring these opportunities to them.

 What are your hobbies? I enjoy skiing and mountain biking. I also play slow pitch softball on league nights and weekend tournaments. I have an old camper van and my family and I love to disappear off-grid into the remote parts of Nevada to enjoy the adventures and solitude.

If you/your company had a GKiS character, what would it be? Maybe me on a mountain bike?

 What resource would you like to see next from GKiS? You provide a lot of good stuff already!

Let’s begin with the process of sponsoring a resource!

(video coming soon)

Firstly decide which sponsorship option is best for your company (we currently have poster re-print packages or a Homework Project option where your company can get their own character). From this point you can look at previous posters and decide which theme your company best fits into. The posters are available to look at here, we have 19 different geospatial themes! 

Sponsorship enquiry forms can be found here if your company would like to fill it out. Or email Erin on erin@getkidsintosurvey.com with some details of what your company are wanting from the sponsorship.

We will receive that and send over a contract for you to sign to confirm your place.

Once the contract has been signed you will receive an invoice via email. This will be an invoice via stripe where you have the option to pay in full or 3 automated monthly payments.

• For poster re-prints we will put together a stamp like feature with your company logo in the corner of the poster. Once the proof is confirmed we will get this printed in your chosen location (Europe, USA or Australia) where it will go to our distributors and stock added to our website.

We will contact you for ideas for your Homework Project or Colouring Sheet. Our teacher Mat will help make your Homework Project as tailored as you wish. Our designer Marek will then draw it up, same as the colouring sheets.

At the same point in time we will ask for some information on your character (or mascot) design, can be as creative or plain as you wish. This is a back and forth process.

Finally it’s time to proofread over the finished poster and Q&A section. Once everything is perfect we send it to print and put it online for all to see.

What character might you be able to get? 

Well that is entirely up to you! Your company can base it on a person, an animal, an object or a completely made up character. Be as creative as you like!! This can be used for your branding so it will represent you as a company.

Benefits: 

The main exposure you will get is from the brand visibility on the resource in which your company features; with a character and a logo present. So far GKiS have distributed over 80,000 posters worldwide, not forgetting the regular online views/downloads too. Also included is:

• *A box of posters (*if sponsoring a re-print package)
• Featured on the Get Kids into Survey website with a Character Spotlight on the Blog.
• High profile coverage across social media platforms – Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn / Instagram
• ‘Get Kids into Survey Sponsor’ electronic logo material for social media and website posts, helping you to let your customers, clients and the industry know that you are investing in the future of geosurvey!
• Each poster has a resource ‘package’ including Q&A, colouring in sheets and Homework Projects. All working together to redirect kids and teachers amongst each.

One of the biggest benefits is that you are helping to educate the next generation about the geospatial industry. Therefore helping to bring more talent into the industry ready to take over from all those who are nearing retirement. 

To see more on the benefits of sponsoring please see our other blog.

There’s still time to get involved!

If reading this has spurred your company on to want to sponsor this great industry initiative then please visit the sponsorship page.

Our current campaign focusses on Homework Projects, which we’ve explained all about here!

Any questions please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Erin at erin@getkidsintosurvey.com

Welcome to our latest Brand Ambassador, Nishshanka from Colombo,
Sri Lanka!

Where did you study?

1. Faculty of Geomatics, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka.
2. University of Colombo in Sri Lanka.

What are the requirements to be a surveyor in your area? Should have a Bachelor  of Science degree of Surveying Science with 3 years of experience. Then we can get registration from the Land Surveyor Council in Sri Lanka.  http://www.landsurveycouncil.org/surveyor_details.php?id=20172122

How did you get into surveying? I have been selected for the B.Sc Surveying Science degree course at the Faculty of Geomatics, Sabaragamuwa University after the 2007 Advanced Level Examination.I graduated in May 2013 and joined the Sri Lanka Surveying Department in October 2014 and obtained my Land Survey Council registration as a Registered Licensed Surveyor in August 2018.

How long have you been in the industry? 2008-2013 Survey Student , 2013-2018 -Surveyor 2018-2022- Registered Licensed Surveyor

Are you part of any associations or organisations you would like us to mention?

Member of Surveyor Institute of Sri Lanka (SISL)

Associate Member of CASLE ( pending )

Why do you want to be a GKiS Brand Ambassador? I am the Managing Director of GLOBAL GIS PVT LTD/ Registered Licensed Surveyor and Active Member of Sri Lanka Institute of Surveyors. Generally, we do a lot of awareness programs and demonstrations about surveying in Sri Lanka. So I am considering giving it international exposure and working with the international community. I came into this field by accident. Now I enjoy this job well, so I want to promote this among children.

Why is it important for kids to know about surveying and the wider geospatial industry? It is a great job in the world with many opportunities. They can enjoy life/job with an environment and unforgettable experience.

What are you going to do as an ambassador for GKiS? Promote GKIS among the national and international communities by organizing workshops/seminars and such programmes.

What are your hobbies? Playing Cricket and Watch movies

What resource would you like to see next from GKiS? To see in every international  geospatial event.

We get asked a lot here at Get Kids into Survey about how people can get involved in the initiative… well this blog is here to explain just that!

Being a Brand Ambassador:

The term Brand Ambassador means “a person employed by an organisation or company to represent its brand in a positive light, helping to increase brand awareness. The brand ambassador is meant to embody the corporate identity in appearance, demeanour, values and ethics”. 

So in this scenario being a Get Kids into Survey Brand Ambassador means you volunteer your time to educate and spread awareness of the geospatial industry to the next generation. Whether that be visiting schools, scout groups or influencing over social media platforms! Someone who has a passion for the industry is a must.

There’s no set amount of time you must volunteer each year, just a willingness to do good for the geospatial industry… Recognising that we all need to play our part in helping the industry progress before all of the current surveyors retire with limited new recruits coming in to replace them.

As a Brand Ambassador you will receive a presentation to download and use on your educational visits, some Brand Ambassador branding to use as you wish. Our website already has all of the free resources on it in which you can have access to, as well as our free printed posters.

You can print some of the resources to take with you to events (lesson plans, worksheets, colouring in sheets, Q&A’s that link to the posters). Plus you could opt to take some of your equipment in to demonstrate a bit more practically what you do. The choice is entirely up to you!

Our resources are aimed at children roughly ages 8-12 years old.

You can read about some of our current Brand Ambassadors on our blog page, which may give you some inspiration and ideas. We have an Ambassador map on the website, so if you sign up and submit your profile information you will be able to see yourself appear on the map!

When a Brand Ambassador we really appreciate any help getting support from your industry connections. We rely purely on industry sponsorship to create the resources. This helps us to keep the resources free and accessible to all! If you think you know someone interested then there all the sponsorship options/information online here.

To sign up all you need to do is fill out the form here!

Please let me know if you have any further questions? Email them to erin@getkidsintosurvey.com

*once you are an ambassador we reallyyyy appreciate updates so we can update our social media channels and blogs to motivate and inspire others to do the same!

The last time Elaine attended Trimble Dimensions was 4 years ago back in 2018! Wow it seems like SUCH a long time ago… before covid hit and everything slid to a halt in 2020. It was awesome to be able to get back to normality with an incredible 5,750 attendees from 75 countries, the Trimble community gathered in The Venetian Resort, Las Vegas! 

Ps how COOL was the hotel?!

Attending the Trimble conference is a great way to catch up with past and present clients, and find out about all of their new exciting ventures. Elaine has worked with lots of Trimble staff worldwide holding consultancy sessions, and as part of the GKiS initiative. That, plus having a few Trimble resellers as regular students in the Geospatial Marketing Academy which is run by Elaine. So it really does mean a lot to catch up with these amaze-ball geospatial folk!

This years event had a huge focus around the NEW ‘Trimble Construction One’ which they launched at the Conference. This new system helps you Plan, Do and Manage all sorts of construction projects, it drives efficiency and productivity at each stage of the project lifecycle. This means everything (data) is in ONE place… can be used by a range of stakeholders. 

This is an exciting partnership between Trimble Universe and Microsoft Azure…

The big guns are teaming up 

Another incredible experience from the show was having the honour of listening to Steve Wozniak who is the co-founder of Apple! Please tell us you’ve heard of this man…

“Social Media and Surveying”

On the Tuesday, Elaine, Robert Martin, PS (Surveying with Robert), Trent Keenan (Dimaondback Land Surveying) and Michael Dix (Trimble Marketing Communications) took to the stage to present a panel discussion about Social Media and Surveying.

Topics included the current best practices for major social media platforms Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. 

The panelists talked about the benefits and ROI of using these platforms, and showed how you can post great content using the employees you already have, and when to leverage 3rd party resources. Other topics will include what not to post, and what not to do on social media. Finally we talked about social media ads, and when you should use them effectively. 

There was a fabulous turnout, but we are a bit upset that Elaine’s selfie was all blurry but here we are haha

Get Kids into Survey

⚠️ NEWS UPDATE ⚠️ As many of you know, Elaine’s on a serious mission to Get Kids into Survey! That being said, she has to up her game! To go BIG or go home!

Get Kids into Survey is a Brand that she set up in 2017 with the aim to educate the next generation on the geospatial industry. GKiS have grown huge amounts and have over 100 stakeholders to thank.

Over the next year we’ve set ourselves 2 BIG goals…

✅ Goal 1: Franchise the Get Kids into Survey Model into EVERY COUNTRY  

Why?

We have only scratched the surface and if you know Elaine, she can’t just do that! We need to do MORE! By franchising the model we can get the name of Survey into more countries quicker thus speeding up the process! 

We want SURVEYING terms and jargon into every child’s lingo! Yep you read right!

✅ Goal 2: is to get Get Kids into Survey into Minecraft yes sir re! 

At Intergeo Elaine spoke with several contacts to help nudge us forwards in our mission. Getting on Intergeo TV gave us that boost (https://lnkd.in/eWiAr2ZU) so did the talk at Dimensions to help work Elaine’s network of contacts.

She MAY have met with a senior member of Microsoft and have started the BALL “get the pun” rolling with them!! Ekkkkk

Geoholics Roadshow

One to check out… an unscripted educational chat with a few geospatial pals. Myself and Trent Keenan (Diamondback Land Surveyors) can be heard at 01:31 to 20:34 on Day 1’s Geoholics Roadshow podcast.

Well worth a listen as we announce some exciting and secretive news shhhh 

Connections

Elaine was thrilled to see all her lovely clients, GKiS sponsors, GKiS Brand Ambassadors and meeting “finally” with online friends! Trent Keenan  Peta Cox  William Wing RLS  Kent Groh  Ben Shinabery Nolan Mark, PS and many others! Elaine loved spending time with you all! 

Check out these pictures from a catchup going around the Las Vegas version of the London Eye haha!

Get Kids into Survey- Here’s what our team do! 

Put very simply- we produce material for you! 

Background:

We created our first poster so that surveyors could go home and teach their kids what they do at work, not in just any way, but in a fun interactive way! This took off and Elaine Ball (our co-founder) ended up with a hefty postage bill after sending hundreds around the world. This was the start of an amazing venture which founded the ‘Get Kids into Survey’ initiative.

Since then we have created 20 geospatial themed exploration posters, each with a complimentary Q&A section, lesson plan and worksheets. These are available for FREE on the website HERE.

According to RICS, ‘85% of UK surveyors have problems recruiting due to the lack of qualified applicants’. Just look on the TSA website to see how many Surveyor Vacancies there are. The same trend shows worldwide!

We have found this to be a worldwide trend, with a lowered geospatial university intake, and an ageing demographic. If there are not enough new geospatial experts coming up into the sector then who will take over?! 

This led us to the world without surveyors scenario, which was played upon in our GeoSquad Comic Book that was launched last year…

“Join Maddison, Miles. Setsuko and Kwame on a time-splitting adventure to a future on the brink of total chaos – a future without geo surveyors!

Taking control of four hi-tech mechs, the team tackles landslides, runaway trains, Antarctic squid, an urban inferno, and an evil businessman who seems to want to get rid of geo surveyors for good! Will the squad save their crumbling city – and then the world? There’s only one way to find out!

Read the first chapter of the GeoSquad comic now and discover Middletown 2049, the surveyor-less city”

Available to purchase from our website *here*!

The process:

The first stage in the process at Get Kids into Survey is gaining funding from industry in order to create these fantastic educational resources. Since 2017 we have had over 100 companies and organisations support us financially, thus helping us promote the industry worldwide as we are able to supply this for free. Making it easily accessible for ALL!

Now our 20 posters have been finalised we are beginning to run out of some of our originals… this means we require some more support in order to re-print and therefore distribute some more posters out. There are NEW funding options which can be found on our ‘Get Involved’ page HERE.

We have a great support network which include a primary school teacher Matt who helps to write the resource content so it aligns with some of the UK curriculum. Plus our designer Marek who we couldn’t live without!! He creates our iconic cartoon creations!

Now you are wondering who distributes these materials to the next generation?

That is where our SUPER Brand Ambassadors come in. Our Brand Ambassadors have the aim of spreading the word of the ‘Get Kids into Survey’ Initiative in their local area by attending careers fairs, school classrooms & conferences. We love sharing what our Ambassadors get up to on social media so make sure you follow us especially on LinkedIn.

By going into schools we are working through the ‘bottom up’ technique. ‘A bottom-up approach is a way of making corporate decisions that starts from the bottom of the hierarchy, rather than at the top’.

This is opposed to the top down method which is an approach ‘where an executive decision maker or other top person makes the decisions of how something should be done. This approach is disseminated under their authority to lower levels in the hierarchy’.

By going from the bottom up we can get a feel for what the children are thinking and really get involved. This means we need lots of volunteers so we can spread far and wide! If this sounds like something you’d be interested in you can learn more about becoming a Brand Ambassador HERE, once you fill in the form you’ll gain instant access to our outreach presentation.

The actual distribution of these posters is done with a HUGE thanks to our 3 distributors from each continent. They package and post out orders that come in through the website for our posters. They also store the stacks of posters that get printed until they are ordered… without them we would struggle to keep the posters free.

HOW do we educate the next generation?

GKiS focuses more on the lower age groups because it was found that by the age of 7 children already have an idea of what they’d like to do; “There are only “minimal changes” in attitudes towards career options between the ages of seven and 17, says the report produced jointly by the OECD and Education and Employers” (Link to article). This is alarming because surveying is not a very well known profession amongst adults let alone children. So ensuring we spread awareness of the industry at a young age will give a higher chance of them asking questions and recognising what this career involves!

As previously mentioned for this we require the Brand Ambassadors to go into schools and talk openly about what they get up to in their job. But it is also a parents responsibility to enlighten their children on the possible career choices at hand, by not steering them into a typical doctor, teacher, vet stereotype.

We are working our way up- there are two more wonderful ladies helping to get the Geospatial industry recognised. Firstly Alison Watson MBE who heads Class Of Your Own who are the ‘award-winning creators of the Design Engineer Construct! Learning Programme’. Secondly Alex McKee who has set up Geospatial UK! The website aims to help students find out more about the sector, including what skills they could learn and what jobs they could get.

Both of these initiatives are worth taking a look at as they continue through the ages up to university level. They too have seen a drop in university applicants which in turn is leading to less skilled workers. Although with the implementation of the new apprentice programmes and T-levels (UK) there are more opportunities to begin an exciting career. TOGETHER we will teach the next generation how amazing the world of geospatial is… with endless opportunities!

What do we NOT do?

Here’s some common things that we get asked that we DO NOT do here at GKiS

*Cross* GKiS arranges school visits for professionals to attend.

*tick* Our Brand Ambassadors are available to do school visits, check out our map to see who is local to you. They are loaded with a presentation plus they might bring in some of their equipment to demonstrate to your kids!

*cross* GKiS print unlimited posters worldwide

*tick* We produce the amount of geospatial posters that we gain funding for, thank you to our amazing sponsors. However, once the initial print run has been completed we require more funding to get more stock, this means we are starting to run out of some designs! Each poster can be printed in either the UK (for EU distribution), USA (for distribution around the Americas), and Australia (for distribution around Oceania).

*cross* GKiS make a profit on the sponsorship money collected

*tick* GKiS reinvest all funds received because they go into designing, printing, and dispatching of the resources. Don’t forget the staffing costs too to be able to run this initiative.

*cross* Getting involved in the GKiS initiative will cost money

*tick* Getting involved in the GKiS initiative comes with a range of options! Firstly, if you aren’t able to financially support us but would love to get stuck in with outreach and spreading the world about the geospatial profession… becoming a Brand Ambassador might be for you (completely free, we work on a volunteer basis). GKiS requires funding so we are greatly appreciative of any sponsorship option that a company chooses to support. We have just updated our ‘Get Involved’ page to accommodate our recent package options, catering for all budgets. Thank you 🙂

We Need You!

Our campaign is currently focussing on the ‘Homework Projects’. Our Homework Projects are based around a certain geospatial theme (usually on one of our posters), that take a deeper dive into the subjects/skills required in the geospatial industry. These are much more in depth than our posters so great if the children wish to learn a few more surveying terms and knowledge!

School teachers can set this in class and are also great for parents to use as extra curricular study.

We are hoping to find sponsors for all 20 of our Homework Project titles, which will heavily feature your company character and equipment throughout. These can be tailored towards what your company do in the surveying industry. Can you help to provide free educational resources to the next generation? If that’s a big fat YES then you can check out more info here (plus other options including poster reprints) and email erin@getkidsintosurvey.com

It would be great to have you involved in the Get Kids into Survey initiative! You’d even get your very own company character!

WOW WOW WOW what a week!!!

What started off a little manic due to a cancelled flight to Germany, ended very successfully. We will start off by introducing our Founder Elaine’s TV interview which explains all of the latest Get Kids into Survey efforts:

Elaine not only appeared on TV, but was also interviewed for various podcasts and YouTube content which we will share once they go live!

Meanwhile Erin and Elly were busy on the GKiS stand that Intergeo kindly supplied. We stocked up on hundreds of posters and leaflets, yet we still managed to nearly run out at the end of day 2! Oh so popular! We had a couple of board games made in English and German which are super fun and might be making a comeback in 2024 *watch out*.

It was great to meet some of our international Brand Ambassadors since this is the first time many of us had travelled since covid struck. Our Brand Ambassadors play a key role in going into schools and teaching about surveying, often taking some of their equipment in to share… demonstrating what an interesting career choice surveying can be.

This month is the turn of our ‘Homework Project‘ campaign. Our Homework Projects are based around a certain geospatial theme (usually on one of our posters), that take a deeper dive into the subjects/skills required in the geospatial industry. These are much more in depth than our posters so great if the children wish to learn a few more surveying terms and knowledge!

School teachers can set this in class and are also great for parents to use as extra curricular study.

We are hoping to find sponsors for all 20 of our Homework Project titles, which will heavily feature your company character and equipment throughout. These can be tailored towards what your company do in the surveying industry. Can you help to provide free educational resources to the next generation? If that’s a big fat YES then you can check out more info here or email Erin on erin@getkidsintosurvey.com

Let’s learn some more about our latest sponsors of the ‘Civil Engineering’ poster re-prints! Introducing Impulse Radar:

A bit about your company?

ImpulseRadar develops and builds ground penetrating radar (GPR) instruments and related software, enabling people and organisations to investigate and map subsurface features and structures non-invasively. We provide mapping and geospatial solutions for underground utility assets and infrastructure, cultural resources, and transportation infrastructure. Rather than simply being a manufacturer of GPR, we categorise ourselves as a geomatics company focusing on subsurface imaging and mapping solutions using GPR as the core technology.

Why are you supporting the Get Kids into Survey initiative?

This initiative is a great way to provide early exposure and education to help young people gain a better idea and understanding of different career options. The modern survey and geospatial industry offer exciting opportunities that may otherwise be missed, so we support introducing kids to these early.

Key piece of advice for someone wanting to get into the geospatial industry?

Prepare yourself technically, professionally, and personally. Learn the key fundamentals for your area of interest. Remember that technology develops fast, so stay on top of key industry developments via blogs, online magazines, social media, and following technology manufacturers. While you cannot be expected to start with every skill needed, there are plenty of resources to help you improve, especially via industry associations. If newly graduated, emphasise relevant course work and boost your skills with free online courses. Be curious and open-minded to new opportunities, and show a genuine interest in the industry.