Zachary Hayes and UA surveying and mapping team take 2nd place in national competition

2015 May 6

On April 13, 2015, in Crystal City, VA (Washington, D.C. area), four Surveying and Mapping program students from the College of Applied Science and Technology at The University of Akron were awarded 2nd place in the National Society of Professional Surveyors' 14th annual competition among surveying programs. Akron's surveying students have competed in eleven of the national competitions, winning 1st place five times and 2nd place five times.

Zachary Hayes of Mcdonald, PA took part in the poster session and oral presentation. Survey field work was performed in January and February and the research paper was completed in March. Seven teams competed in this year's event. The 1st place winner was the University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez, and in 3rd place was Penn State University.

Hayes is working on the degree Associate of Applied Science Land Surveying.

For the 2015 competition, student teams were expected to conduct two field surveys as part of a detailed "Error Study of Topographic Mapping Methods." Akron's team performed a Robotic Total Station survey using a robotic instrument. In addition, students conducted a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) Real-time Kinematic (RTK) survey using The University of Akron's survey-grade, satellite receivers. They also used a Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) method with aerial survey provided by Kucera International of Willoughby, Ohio as their required third-party data set for the study.