Introducing Frederick Dyste our latest Brand Ambassador from California, USA. Let’s learn some more about him:

How did you get into surveying? My company, BizWatt LLC, is the creator of Qfactor for Surveyors, a surveying project management application we started almost 9-years ago.

What are your plans as a Brand Ambassador? To continue our current level of support as well as setting up a table at Orange County (CA) and other Southern California CLSA chapter events. There is a multi-chapter CLSA event at Cal Poly Pomona on March 6th, 2025 with Jay Seymour speaking on the Profession Career of Land Surveyor. Perfect opportunity.

Tell us a bit about what you do? I engage with land surveying business owners across the United States and globally on a daily basis. We promote GKIS in several ways; through email campaigns, on our marketing websites (https://bizwatt.com/mentoring-youth/) and by offering specials for surveyors who sign up for our services. We contribute $100 of their setup fees to GKIS in their name.

Anything else you’d like to add? I’ve been asked to speak at high schools in Santa Barbara county about entrepreneurship and I always bring up surveying as a career choice. I’ve worked in construction many years ago and never thought about surveying as a career. Now that I’ve been working in he industry for 9-years I see it as a great career choice. In fact I am trying to find a summer internship for my college age daughter.

Our company hires college students studying surveying as our support team. We look forward to the day a Qfactor team member gets hired by a surveying company.

Introducing our latest Brand Ambassador Tabuson Sharifu Nigo who is from Uganda, Africa:

How did you get into surveying? I have gotten into geospatial industry through attending 4 years Bachelors Degree program with Ndejje university in Uganda under the faculty of Engineering and Survey in the Department of Geomatics

What are your plans as a Brand Ambassador? I’m looking forward into spreading and teaching the younger generation the information regarding the impacts that will be brought by open geospatial knowledge and spreading the news about GIS at large within locally where my community within is more prone to and globally.

Tell us a bit about what you do: Am a graduate land surveyor and geomatics Engineer with current residence in Uganda. As a pasionate geosptial engineer, I work with Open Street Map Uganda(OSM_UGANDA) and Humanitarian Open Street Map as a contributor in mapping and adding places affected by disasters on Map such that incase calamities arise, such places must be having a geospatial aspect and location known onto Map and during my time at Campus, I leant about YouthMappers community which is an association of university led geospatial community operating worldwide and with the research I carried out, I founded one YouthMappers community for Ndejje University with the names SPATIAL MAPPERS NDEJJE UNIVERSITY in September 2023

Anything else you’d like to add? With the foundation gotten from YouthMappers Community from Spatial Mappers Ndejje University & Open Street Map Uganda as a Chapter Founder in 2023 and OSM contributor in 2022 respectively, I’m looking forward in teaching and spreading the news about Surveying and Geomatics engineering in broader scope and i have started teaching GIS to other professionals already, and been taken for a 4 years Bachelors degree for the Geomatics Engineering, I believe I will serve my Community to the best and will be well represented because I am a leader and personally carry on and do a lot of research with which I believe my community will benefit from majority of the students did not learn about Geospatial

Welcoming our new Brand Sponsor Juliano Associates to the Get Kids into Survey family! Let’s learn some more about them:

1. Company Name: Juliano Associates

2. Location: Wallingford, Connecticut, USA

3. Why is it important for your company to help Get Kids into Survey? Let’s face it, our profession is aging out, and our numbers are dwindling year after year.  Add to that the loss of university programs and the fact that most people have no idea what surveyors truly do.  This program allows us to get in front of the future generations to expose them to what this profession has to offer and how rewarding it truly can be.

4. What do you do? Juliano Associates focuses on land development projects and residential boundary surveys throughout Connecticut.  My title says I am the managing partner, but that is just a fancy way of saying I do anything and everything around the office that needs doing.

5. How long have you been in the survey industry? Well, since my father started the company in the basement of the family home in 1973, I would say just about all of my life.  But officially my career began the summer of 1992 when I graduated from UCONN and started working full time.

6.   How did you end up getting into the geospatial industry? I started my career as a civil engineer wanting to focus on design work, as I felt then that this was where professional recognition would come from.  My father was more than happy to turn over the engineering work to me and focus on the survey side of the business.  As I got older, I began to see just how wise my father was and why he was more than willing to let me handle the day to day engineering.  As I started to run the business more and more, I hired young engineers that were hungry for design work which afforded me the opportunity to focus on surveying.  I have never looked back.

7. State a funny fact about you… No lie, I was suspended from school for a day for fighting when I was thirteen years old.  There was no way my father was going to let me stay home where I could lounge around watching television all day.  Instead, he dragged me to work and had one of his employees take me to a project where they were setting up targets for a large aerial survey.  I got to paint white crosses on roads and parking lots and place pre-made cloth crosses in open fields, all while hiking around for hours in the woods as well.  His idea of punishing me ended up being a pretty good day.

Hmmm, maybe this should have been my answer for how I got into the geospatial industry!

8.   Favourite piece of kit and why? Definitely our Carlson GPS units. We bought our first receiver in 2013 not realizing how much we would be using it in our day to day operations.  They have definitely transformed the way we do things in the field, from being able to set all our surveys on state plane coordinates to increasing the amount of accurate data that can be collected in a typical day.

9.   Favourite Survey technique and why? My favorite technique is sitting down after all of the data has been gathered and working on the process of reconciliation between the physical evidence, the record maps, and deeds.  There is nothing more satisfying then putting the puzzle of a parcel boundary together.

10.  Your website

11.  How did you choose the character and what does he/she/it represent? Mean to you? What’s his/her name? It may look like I am walking my dog, Daryl, but trust me when I say he is the one leading the way.  Daryl is the backbone behind the company.  He thoroughly enjoys welcoming everyone to the office and makes sure to point out where his cookies are located.  He is lovingly referred around the office as HR.  He knows just when to get you to chase him around the map table or when you need to take a break and give him a belly rub. He is very intuitive about these kind of things!  He has been known to fall asleep on people’s shoes under the conference table if a meeting is running long.  Just don’t mind the bubbles and drool if you happen to be eating something around him.

Welcoming Rocky Richardson to the Get Kids into Survey Brand Ambassador group! Covering Stanislaus County and surrounding areas, California, USA:

How did you get into surveying? My father owns and operates a full-service land surveying firm in Oakdale California. And I’ve been surveying since I could walk. I love the industry.

What are your plans as a Brand Ambassador? To shed light on the industry and help cultivate the next generation of land surveyors and geospatial technicians.

Tell us a bit about what you do? I handle day to day operations, draft record maps, handle construction calculations, and handle field work.

Introducing JEP by Orcutt! Let’s learn some more about them:

JEP, short for “Just Every Point” is a state-of-the-art survey robot designed to assist Land Surveyors in their precise and demanding work. Equipped with advanced sensors, GPS technology and cutting-edge mapping tools, JEP’s primary mission is to measure, record, and analyze every corner of the land it surveys with unparalleled accuracy.

JEP was created by Orcutt Survey Company to take on the heavy lifting of fieldwork, such as marking boundaries, measuring elevations, and scanning vast terrains for data collection. Although JEP is highly intelligent, it doesn’t shy away from its playful side. As it moves through dense forests, rocky hills, or urban landscapes, JEP’s programming often leads it to express curiosity, checking out new landmarks and not to mention JEP’s killer sense of humor and consistent ribbing of local engineers and architects.

JEP continues to be on the cutting edge of robotic surveying, always evolving with new technology to meet the ever-changing demands of land survey professionals. Stay tuned to Get Kids Into Survey for JEP’s latest developments from drone surveying to bathymetric surveys. JEP is an old robot learning new tricks every day.

Welcoming Francisco Gonzales our latest Brand Ambassador covering from southern California to Las Vegas, USA:

How did you get into surveying? I went to school for aviation where I discovered the extent of the drone industry and its applications for mapping. My start was in multispectral mapping for agriculture using drones. I then moved to the defense industry and now work in the survey and mapping industry. I have a passion for collecting accurate data to create maps that are able to direct decisions and help planning efforts.

What are your plans as a Brand Ambassador? I think this is a great program. I live in a relatively low income area that does not have a lot of outreach programs for kids to get into STEM. It is really important to show kids these possible career paths to help better their communities.

Tell us a bit about what you do: In my current role as a Sales Engineer I work with a lot of surveyors that are trying to stay at the cutting edge of technology. I spent a lot of time educating how a new product could make their job easier, faster, and more accurate.

Anything else you’d like to add? I hold numerous FAA licenses for both manned, unmanned and ground instruction.

Introducing Bryan Worthen from Utah, USA

How did you get into surveying? I wanted to be an engineer. I started out down that path right after high school. I was working at the Civil Engineering firm as a draftsman at 17 when one of the Surveyors had a medical incident and was put on a medication where he couldn’t drive. At the time, I was basically the cheapest labor in the office so they made me be his chauffeur. Once i started going out into the field with the Surveys, it bit me like a bug and the rest is history.

What are your plans as a Brand Ambassador? I think Surveying is the coolest career anyone could have and it’s sad that more don’t know about it. I would like to expose more to the Surveying industry. I would specifically like to work with Utah Valley University (Which I already do) to recruit more kids locally to go into their Geomatics program (which is the only one our state has). Ultimately I just want to promote the Land Surveying profession.

Tell us a bit about what you do: Over the past 18 years i’ve gotten a little taste of everything. I’ve worked for 4 surveying firms total and was a sales rep for Kuker-Ranken for about 5 years. I got to know a lot of fellow surveyors and companies in the western united states. In my current role at Horrocks, I process Mobile, Aerial and Terrestrial LiDAR, I do some business line development, and survey project management.

Anything else you’d like to add? We have surveyors all over the USA that could help with outreach events. I personally would like to get involved with Get Kids In to Survey, but also the company I am with now is also interested at a survey department level. I’m not sure what all would be required of us, or how much time we can devote at this point, but we would have more outreach than just me individually. We are a part of several other companies called the Trilon Group, and there is the potential for other companies to be involved as well.

Welcoming Walter Alturo-Tapiero our latest Brand Ambassador from Colombia, specifically in the department of Tolima:

How did you get into surveying? I have been a surveyor since 1991. My first job was as a land surveyor. I have traveled around my country carrying out different topographical infrastructure projects. I have been president of the Colombian Society of Surveyors and I am currently serving as president of the Tolima Society of Surveyors. I have been a teacher of Computer Aided Design, Technical Drawing and Geographic Information Systems.

What are your plans as a Brand Ambassador? As sector leaders, we seek to inspire new generations about the importance of geoinformation, highlighting its use, efficiency and social, economic and environmental impact. Topography not only accurately represents a territory and its elements, but is also key to the organization and management of resources. However, this accuracy often clashes with the interests of those who prefer imprecise figures.

Tell us a bit about what you do: Currently, I am a technical and commercial director in several surveying companies, a GIS distributor and a sector leader in surveying in Colombia, with a special focus on my homeland, Tolima.

Is there anything else you’d like to add? An incredible initiative, combining the teaching of topography with the ancestral wisdom of the Pijao culture can generate a profound impact in the region. Create a specific educational model, such as community workshops, a formal school or a methodology based on the indigenous worldview.