Below is a summary of the changes as outlined by the Committee Chair, Mr. Ed Cowherd.
The first update was bringing in the new 2005 ALTA requirements and standards with assistance from ACSM.
While the current contracts manual available from ACSM is a joint endeavor with other associations and societies we were given permission to use the previous document from ACSM with information about elements of a good contract and sample contracts for various circumstances.
The hydrology portion of the manual was re-formatted to full page rather than two columns, which made usage of the graphs and other material easier. The hydrology portion of the manual was checked by specialists in the area of hydrology and confirmed to be current and correct.
A new least squares and positional tolerance section with current information was added.
A revised state plane coordinate – a practical application section was incorporated replacing an older section on the same material.
A section with all types of information about registration, licensure, etc was replaced with a web link and front page of the Secretary of State’s web site. Since this material changes fairly frequently, we decided it would be better to direct interested persons to the web site where the most current information would be available.
The State Board of Registration’s Technical Standards for Property Surveys – chapter 180-7 was updated to the current minimum technical standards.
In general, the manual was reformatted in an attempt to have a more uniform appearance thus making use of the manual easier.
The manual committee recommended to SAMSOG that the updating and review of the manual be done on a continuing basis with a manual committee each year with a charge to stay on top of the issues in the manual and any new areas deemed to be important to the Licensed Surveyors in the State of Georgia.
