Some of the best locations are also well known for their historic Bar-B-Q or homemade pie. A while ago I was tasked with learning GIS office software. I knew I needed a project to make it enjoyable and dig out the features of the software. I had looked up a story of lost gold that suited the project well  and proceeded to disprove the story with the data I was to collect regarding the tale. The gold was stolen from the Spanish wagon trains coming from the gold and silver mines of Mexico while headed to the port of New Orleans along the Camino Real de Los Tejas. This is otherwise known as Nacogdoches Road. My first landmark was a large pink granite monument which is found by the original Tom’s Ribs. I had passed by this for years and not noticed it in plain site until this time. I pulled the original survey from the Texas archives, done in 1912, which denoted the 52 monuments across the state (529 miles of work with chain and transit) and proceeded to collect the remaining monuments (that were not on private property) that lead to Nacogdoches, then to Natchitoches, LA and on to New Orleans. It follows the path of the old churches and presidios.

After adding my gathered data to the software to compare to the bearings and distances of the survey, aerial imagery, a USGS digital elevation model, modern road map, and cross checking against another survey – Andrew Ellicot’s Survey of the Southern Border of the United States (the Mississippi River) – I was able to virtually locate where the 20 wagon loads of gold are stashed. I will contact the land owner and check it out. It is pretty exciting.

To get all of this data to work together was amazing. I found it equally amazing that all of the survey companies that I have worked with were more than capable of gathering this sub-meter data with what they already have invested in their company. However when talking with most surveyors regarding GIS I usually hear, “Don’t even consider it” or, “We have to cost our crew at $1k per day just to do the work.” Sometimes I hear, “What is required?” or, “Who do you talk with?” in regards to finding out more about GIS work. But most are content to wait until the work they are familiar with comes in even though that has taken longer than usual lately.

Here are a few things to know about the GIS industry. Besides needing municipal assets mapped for inventory purposes cities, municipal utility districts (MUD’s), electric cooperatives, drainage districts, gas utilities, storm water services, oil pipelines, etc, are always growing. Many gas, electric, and water utilities are not mapped (existing) or need to be (the new additions).

There are a number of GIS departments in the larger cities but not in the smaller ones. Of the current GIS departments in Texas, many use sub-meter accuracy GPS receivers to gather data. That accuracy gets worse when they try to locate a point with the same sub-meter receiver (the magic of compounding) rather than find a centimeter accurate point with a sub-meter receiver.

Most GIS applications only require sub-meter accuracy (it is after all a telephone pole or wind turbine) without elevation. Some GIS departments are great at utilizing data and working with the other municipal departments for the upcoming task that City Hall has mandated, but could use help gathering the data (there is a lot of flooding in Texas).

GIS departments want to know more about an object than its location (Hydrant, Make, Model, Year, Location).

GIS data collection is a tool that came with the survey company’s tool box but usually hasn’t been taken out yet. A survey company has a “sunk cost” in gear (field and office), software, and staff needed to offer the GIS gathering service. Most all RTK rover gear can be configured to provide corrected sub-meter data, with your data collectors to provide coding with the needed features/attributes (Hydrant, Model, etc.)

A crew would turn into an individual and the lower cost of the “individual crew” would help make the service profitable.

So polish off the top brass of the company. Send them out to talk with local (and rural) municipalities and utilities on what they need and what you can deliver. Attend local GIS meetings (like the one in Boerne or the TSPS GIS committee) to better understand the market.

If you do a little digging you can find gold in the GIS market.