Wisconsin Geospatial News

Surveying Wisconsin in a day

Almost a year ago, on a cold and snowy day in March, 2010, members of the Wisconsin Society of Land Surveyors (WSLS) decided to kick off National Surveyors Week with a statewide survey project. Local surveyors from around the state set up their GPS receivers on various stations and simultaneously obtained GPS signals from the satellite constellation from various locations throughout the state.

The data collected that day were processed into a single precise latitude and longitude location for each point measured. Every point had an accuracy of about 1 centimeter (or about 1/4 inch) on the surface of the Earth. In the future, during National Surveyors Week, the member of WSLS plan to re-measure these same monuments in order to determine any shift in where Wisconsin is located on the face of the Earth.

The map below displays the stations surveyed that day. Users can click on any of the red (a type of CORS station) or white (a different/varied type of station/non-CORS) symbols to display characteristics on that station.