Please join us Friday March 22, 2024 at Catholic University Conference Center for a new 8-credit professional seminar.

DCALS is the only organization teaching District of Columbia boundary law and surveying. This all-day seminar will benefit everyone who deals with property lines, land titles or technical survey issues in DC. It’s recommended for individuals seeking licenses. Certificates for  8-Continuing Education Credit Hours will be awarded - valid for land surveyors and civil engineers in DC and all surrounding states.  Mandatory Continuing Education took effect in 2019 for the District of Columbia. These courses fully meet DC’s new requirements.  Please join us.

Featured will be sessions on:

TRAVERSING DC: UNVEILING THE SERVICES AND PROCEDURES OF THE OFFICE OF THE SURVEYOR, DC . . . Joseph Snider, Surveyor for D.C. and his Deputy, Ramon Labrador, will offer a brief overview of the operations of the Surveyor's Office followed by an introduction to SurDocs for newer users. In addition, Mr. Snider will highlight the recent changes in SurDocs and planned improvements to the platform.

INTERPRETING DC SURVEY PAPERS. . . DC Survey Paper drafting and annotation methodologies are unique to DC and can be a challenge to interpret without basic knowledge of how they are prepared and utilized in property surveys today. Using a row house survey sample, this presentation will provide an overview of how survey papers are prepared, their intended uses and how to interpret the information they provide to make accurate property boundary determinations.

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS FOR SURVEYORS . . . Ethical behavior is not just required after becoming a “Professional Surveyor”.  Ethics are a prerequisite before one is even qualified to seek licensure to practice the profession. This course looks at the Historic context of Standards for Surveyors’ Ethics, quoting and discussing the writings of respected authors. A look at Modern Ethical Standards includes Voluntary Standards (specifically the Surveyor’s Creed and Canons published by the National Society of Professional Surveyors); and Mandatory Standards, as found in some state Codes and Rules. The material is customized to include material from the host state’s code and rules. The presentation includes several case studies for group discussion with a focus on DC Ethics discussed in Chapter 14, “DC’s Code of Professional Conduct” in the DCALS January 2017 “LAND SURVEYING IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA” manual and Chapter 17-15, Title 17 of the “District of Columbia Municipal Regulations”.

WHAT IS THE NSRS. . .  This presentation will provide an update on the fundamental improvements needed for industry and the user community and the preparative measures associated with the modernization of the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS). Scheduled for completion in 2025, the modernized NSRS will provide improved 3-dimensional positional accuracy through time for improved comparisons of diverse GIS data sets, development of parcel-based Land Information Systems and an array of other uses including precision navigation, intelligent transportation systems, etc.  Discussion will include how modernization might impact current surveyor’s day-to-day practice, and how the design and implementation of the new NSRS can implicitly improve surveyor’s products. Time permitting, NGS online tools for accessing the NSRS and to assist with transitioning work-flow between datums will be discussed.

ALTA SURVEYS IN DC . . . ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys are prepared and issued every day in Washington DC. Multimillion-dollar land developments rely on them. Yet, do some of ALTA’s 2021 Standards even apply here – in an early American city with conflicting official boundary dimensions, no coordinate system for property lines, confusing survey records, scarce monumentation and unconventional boundary practices? How many surveyors in DC check property markers by the “length of the semi-major axis, expressed in feet or meters, of the error ellipse representing the uncertainty due to errors in measurement in the location of the monument?” Can Relative Positional Precision be certified at a ’95 percent confidence level’ in a city like Washington? And what of ‘Optional‘ Table A – when the lawyer demand all 20 items? There are good ATLA seminars given by national experts. None of them ever teach city ALTAs. Steve Jones, a 45-year Washington area surveyor with CPJ Associates, will explain how to prepare accurate, certifiable ALTA surveys in dense urban environments like Washington DC.

Seminar Details at a Glance . . .

DATE:  FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 2024

PLACE:  CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY’S PRYZBYLA CONFERENCE CENTER
               620 Michigan Avenue, NE, Washington DC 20064
               202-319-5529

CREDITS:   8- Professional Development Hours (PDHs); equivalent to

                    8- CE/CPC Unit Credit Hours (DC/MD/VA);

COST: ‘Early-Bird’ registrations, received before midnight Sunday MARCH 17, 2024 . . .

             DCALS Members . . . $300           Non-members . . . $350
             ($50 Additional for registrations received after midnight Sunday March 17, 2024.)

PARKING: Free secure all-day parking is available for every attendee who wishes to drive. The conference center uses the ‘O’Boyle’ parking lot at the north end of campus. Seminar registrants will be emailed parking instructions and a map by March 21th.  Parking instructions will be available at the check-in desk on the day of the seminar.

OVERNIGHT ACCOMMODATIONS:  None provided. Catholic University is conveniently served by Metro’s Red Line BROOKLAND-CUA station – right at the corner of campus. It’s a short walk to the conference center. DCALS strongly encourages everyone to come by Metro. Attendees from out of town should arrange their own overnight accommodations wherever best for them. Travel in on Metro.
                                                             
QUESTIONS ABOUT REGISTRATION? Contact Events@DCALS.org

‘Land Surveying in the District of Columbia’ – DCALS Manual . . .

AVAILABLE FOR SALE at our seminar will be DCALS’ 2017 edition of “LAND SURVEYING in the DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.” Packed with useful information, this is the only book published on DC surveying. DCALS’ new updated 2017 Manual will be - $130 for members, $160 for non-members.

• JOSEPH SNIDER, LS, is the current Surveyor for the District of Columbia with 40 years of experience in the Land Surveying profession. He has held the position of Surveyor for 3 years after being the Surveyor’s Deputy for 5 years. He has over 30 years of experience in the private sector, active licenses in Maryland and D.C. and served as twice President of the D.C. Association of Land Surveyors (DCALS).”
  
  
• RAMON LABRADOR, LS, is a seasoned professional with over 15 years of experience in the Land Surveying field. Currently serving as the Deputy Surveyor for the District of Columbia for the past two years, Ramón brings a wealth of expertise from both private and public sectors. With licenses as a Professional Land Surveyor in Puerto Rico, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., he’s also recently taken on the role of State Geodetic Advisor for D.C.. Ramón’s dedication extends beyond his work, as he actively participates as an Ambassador for "Get Kids into Surveying" and is a valued member of the Young Surveyor Network (YSN).”
  
  
• ALAN M. SCHIFFER, PE & RLS is one of the most respected boundary surveyors practicing in the District of Columbia today. A Stanford graduate with a Master’s degree in civil engineering, he has 39 years experience performing demanding survey projects in Washington DC, and is a skilled mathematician who developed special formulas for solving DC boundaries.
  
  
• NEAL ISENSTEIN  of the DC Surveyor's Office has spent his life figuring out complex DC boundaries, first in the private sector and now as Survey & Wall Check Coordinator at DCSO. Neal reviews all Official Surveys and Wall Tests, and probably knows more about the District’s immense archive of survey records than anyone else.

• STEVE JONES, Prof. LS, Licensed in three states, has over 40 years of experience performing all types of difficult surveys in the Washington metropolitan area. He’s the Division Manager of Surveys at Charles P. Johnson & Associates, where he’s directed hundreds of urban ALTA surveys. A DCALS Charter Member, Steve is a past-president of MSS and a long-time member of VAS and NSPS.
  
  
• DON TETER, Prof. LS, graduated from Davis and Elkins College with a B.A. in History and Political Science and has been a West Virginia licensed surveyor since 1982. He is a past-President of the West Virginia Society of Professional Surveyors, was Editor of The West Virginia Surveyor for ten years, and served on the Board of Directors of the national Surveyors Historical Society. For over 30 years Mr. Teter was self-employed surveying mostly rural properties, with a scattering of city and suburban work, and occasional topographic and minor construction surveying. Don has participated in several exam-writing and review workshops for the West Virginia state exam, and is a part-time complaint-reviewer and investigator for the West Virginia licensing board. He has been presenting continuing education seminars for surveyors for over twenty years in numerous states, Since 2018 Don has been Assistant Professor of Surveying at Fairmont State University, and he participated in the successful effort to obtain ABET accreditation for their BS in Surveying and Geomatics Engineering Technology.
  
  
• CHARLES GEOGHEGAN, Geodesist, spent the first decade of his career with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on a National Geodetic Survey triangulation field party.  In the mid-80s, after NGS completed its transition from triangulation to GPS field work, Charlie left NGS and spent the next two decades employed with the South Carolina Geodetic Survey. During this period, he earned a degree in Civil Engineering Technology and was licensed as a surveyor in South Carolina.  He returned to NGS in 2006 as a geodesist/trainer at the NGS Testing and Training Center near Corbin, VA.  In 2023, he was promoted to his current position as the Geodetic Advisor for the Mid-Atlantic Region.

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