Workers using drones – a hive of activity
We are starting to use a drone to capture images of project sites and gradually improving our game. Examples below are of an oblique image and an unrectified aerial image. We’ve still got a bit to learn to be able to supply ortho-rectified images (aerials images true to scale) so we sub-contract to an experienced outfit for now. However, we’re hopeful this will be an in-house service soon.
Warkworth Surveyors Ltd won the 2020 Warkworth Business House Bowls Competition!
Congratulations to Marty and Rupert who should considerable poise under pressure in the final. Go team WS!
Warkworth’s Biggest Loser – UPDATE!
Well it happened. Warkworth's Biggest Loser weigh-in was just before Christmas break. Lucy continues to lead the field with an impressive –8.9kg! The original showdown between Graeme and Shane was won by Graeme for breaking the –5kg threshold (–5.9kg!). Shane only managed –3.7kg so had to blow the cobwebs off his wallet and buy Graeme a pint at Tahi bar (photo evidence of Shane’s shout below). You can see the pain in that grimace on his face.
We had another weigh-in the first day back in the New Year after all that Christmas Pud. Graeme had regressed a bit to –5.4kg and Shane to a sad –1.0kg!
Long term, it’s turning into a one horse race with Lucy in the lead. Graeme has decided to play his trump card and give up beer until next weigh-in. A huge sacrifice for the greater good!
A couple of donations we’re proud of . . .
We’ve donated $250 to the Mahurangi Senior Prize giving and $250 to Rodney Rams Junior Rugby League. We like to support the community that supports our business, and we particularly like to help our youth get a good start in life. Go you guys!
New sponsorships confirmed
First up, we are proud to confirm our ongoing support for Auckland Rescue Helicopter Trust. We have been a donor to this fine service for four years now, and it is very close to our hearts after someone close to us had need of the service several years ago.
We have a strong association with Matakana School. Graeme's children attended the school and he was on the Board of Trustees for a time. We are really proud to continue our support with a cash donation, and a voucher for dinner for two at Wharf Street Bistro to be sold at the school auction. Delighted to be supporting the school and the children – maybe the surveyors of tomorrow!
7 May 2019
We have a new toy!
The Sokkia GRX3 is an upgrade to our previous GRX2 satellite positioning receiver. We use these in pairs in RTK (real time kinematic) mode to locate ourselves in the field to an accuracy of just centimetres. The advantage of this new receiver is that it can access several satellite constellations, not just the American GPS satellites. The Russian, Chinese, European and Japanese satellites can all be tracked simultaneously with GPS to contribute to the positioning solution. This improves our ability to work in more marginal locations, such as close to buildings or under tree canopy. For you, the customer, that means quicker work, more accuracy and cost savings. The GRX3 equipment includes a tilt sensing pole, enabling us to use the system to survey to building corners, under the eaves (see photo). We can just lean the receiver out far enough to lock onto enough satellites, then, Bingo!, we’ve got the shot! Position recorded.
16 November 2018
We have recently been audited by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ).
It went well.
Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) audits approximately 15 Licensed Cadastral Survey practices every year. This is on behalf of the Surveyor General and required by Section 7(1)(j) of the Cadastral Survey Act 2002. Firms are randomly selected for audit each year, and this is the first time Warkworth Surveyors Ltd, or our Licensed Cadastral Surveyor, Graeme Smith, has ever been subject to a LINZ audit!
It involved a field audit of a rural (Class B) survey and an urban (Class A) survey. They randomly selected these from the 44 survey datasets we’ve submitted to LINZ in the previous 12 months. A month later, when they’d analysed their own measurements and compared the results, they visited our office to audit our cadastral survey office procedures. This included reviewing hard copy and electronic files of the two previously selected surveys, plus two other files, selected randomly.
For full details of the audit process, click here.
We won’t receive the audit conclusions for a week or so, but feedback on the day, from the two LINZ auditors, was very pleasing and very reassuring. The two surveys that were fully audited passed with flying colours (2 points on one and 3 on the other – 0 is a perfect score and 10 is a fail). The auditors were very complimentary about our office files, systems and infrastructure.
We are confident that the Surveyor General will receive a glowing report about Warkworth Surveyors Ltd!
UPDATE 12/03/19
We received the official Audit Report from LINZ that simply states: “the Audit did not find any significant issues”. The unofficial and the verbal feedback from LINZ staff was more forthcoming and encouraging. We’ve been assured that LINZ has confidence in the quality of our cadastral survey work based on our “great audit result”. Great news for us and our clients.
The Oaks on Neville
Our Surveyors Shane Sutton (left) and Simon Knight (right) have been heavily involved in the Oaks on Neville Project for the last few years. They are pictured with our Sokkia SDL30 digital level and bar-coded fibreglass staff. This equipment was used to accurately monitor the height of references pins in the pavement and buildings surrounding the project site. This was to make sure there were no issues while de-watering was being carried out during construction of the underground carpark. This level monitoring commenced in November 2014 and has been repeated at regular intervals until now. Small fluctuations of a few mm in height were observed and in general these mirrored the fluctuations in groundwater levels that the geotechnical engineers were recording at piezometer borehole locations. This enabled management of the volume of water being pumped out of the basement excavation.
Simon and Shane were also responsible for setting out grid positions, reference benchmarks and other specific features during the construction process. This was mainly for the project managers, Kalmar Construction Ltd and for the piling contractor CLL Ltd. There were also numerous requests from both Kalmar and the Oaks on Neville Ltd for urgent topographic surveys to facilitate design changes.
Warkworth Surveyors Ltd gave the Oaks on Neville project top priority in our day to day programming. We made sure there was flexibility in Simon and Shane’s weekly tasks to ensure they could be available at short notice to meet construction demands.
We are proud to have been involved in the Oaks on Neville Project.
Our latest hardware update
The Sokkia SHC5000
This new tablet recorder, incorporating Real Time Kinematic (RTK) data collection allows us to improve efficiency out in the field. Better screen illumination makes it easier for our operators to see what they are doing in bright light. Just part of our drive to stay ahead of the curve on technology.
Along with updated hardware comes software improvements. We have installed BricsCAD software at the office to improve our CAD capability. This software will improve the presentation of our final plans and improve efficiency. We like something that makes us look good.
We have also updated our Mail Manager so that all our e-mails can be referenced to individual jobs. No more hunting around trying to find an e-mail that came in about a particular project. It's all neatly filed and easily available now and in the future. That's better for us and our clients.
There have been exciting developments with drone mapping in the surveying industry. It getting easier and more affordable to get very accurate aerial surveys of our projects which can be converted to 3D fly-throughs, and other applications. We've now utilised such technology for two of our projects and are pleased with the results. The future has arrived!
And, lastly, on the project front, there is still an awful lot going on locally to keep us busy. We are just finishing up on The Oaks retirement village in central Warkworth, doing finishing touches to projects in John Andrew Drive, Warkworth, and closing off Stage 2 and opening Stage 3 of our work in Torea Rd, Matakana. There are many more projects in the pipeline so expect to see our utes and staff out and about in the field.