SEE LATEST NEWS ON SAGES AND SAGIS ON MY "HOME" OR "FRONT PAGE" OF THIS WEBSITE.
ONE OF THE PREVIOUS MOST IMPORTANT ASSIGNMENT - GET A CREDIBLE PERSON TO TESTIFY TO THE STATE LEGISLATURE ABOUT THE ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF THIS SYSTEM.
NOW I AM NOT SURE THAT OKLAHOMA WILL EVER REALIZE THE BENEFITS, HOWEVER, A WORLD WIDE EFFORT WITH THE HELP OF GOOGLE EARTH MAY BE THE ANSWER.
ABOVE IS ONE OF SEVERAL GRAPHIC SIMULATIONS OF WAYS TO PICK A SECTION CORNER ON THE SYSTEM AND GET THE ACCURATE STATE PLANE COORDINATES (SPC) AND OTHER DATA, CURRENT AND HISTORICAL, FOR THAT CORNER.
PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE TO BRING SURVEY ACCURATE INFORMATION TO EVERYONE IN THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA OVER THE INTERNET.
The name of this campaign is “Improve Your World” (IYW)
Between the lines below is a note that I have previously used to inform people of what this IYW is about.
I realize much has happened since I first wrote the note. Most of my ideas in the past took many years to become a reality. Tying to get some local towns to switch their old paper Atlas System to GIS with a layer for accurate survey base information using the system I have promoted may be the wrong way to get this done efficiently.
I have just recently realized that it may be more affective to get Oklahoma State, County, Sponsorship, and City funding with support from leaders to provide initial funding and make this happen. Already other States and a couple of cities within our State are doing this and seeing great economic benefits.
I met with OKIE early in 2005 for ideas on how to get funding. They volunteered to help sponsor a symposium to generate more interest and sponsors and/or get funding to make it happen. They are well established and dealing with challenges to focus on the safety, communication, and improvements of our utility location system. They would benefit greatly with such a system that would in turn, benefit all Oklahomans. Since then they fizzled out but I have not lost faith in them. The note is between the lines below:
Much has been created and gathered on the idea of an internet free survey accurate map and information system idea since 1990 and there have been periods of time that I have taken time to promote it. Lately I have taken time to write down different parts of the grand plan as technology of GIS and GPS and Land Surveying join hands to make the this happen in my lifetime.
I have created an organization template to encourage others to contribute along their normal use of the Land Base System in Oklahoma (LBSO), data that can be used to establish the permanent location of our LBSO. I see GIS as a powerful tool and means to accomplish the ultimate goal of having survey accurate coordinates on every single corner registered and created for the Public Land Grid Base of Oklahoma (PLGBO), which is another name for the LBSO.
Once upon a time, the value of maintaining and funding the PLGBO was well known and provided by each county in Oklahoma. Our leaders have forgotten the importance of maintaining a reliable grid system and the result has been much more confusion and wasted time due to disputes over boundaries and location of the Grid Points that are call Section Corners to include the Sub-Section Corners such as Quarter Corners, Sixteenth Corners and so forth that have served to provide everyone with a reliable way to divide land since the beginning of land ownership. This information is and should be public in every since of the word.Disputes have even resulted in killings and great loss of life and economic growth. I have developed systems to better account for the inventory and maintenance of this valuable asset to our State. Others continue to try to maintain the system with limited funds and limited usefulness through our Oklahoma Department of Libraries Archive Corner Records Division.
The billions of dollars of lost information has been lost in the private sector that would have been able to fund such needed maintenance and development due to lack of organization and education in this State. Finally people are realizing the importance of this and are working to get the word out to those with the power to direct funds to this corrective and cooperative effort.
The results of developing and revitalizing a good system will increase productivity, decrease waste, and promote positive growth in our State like nothing else we can do with this natural resource. More people will spend their time building instead of disputes and wasted time discovering the wheel over and over if they had a good and accessible foundation to base their decisions of land use and ownership in this State.
That is why I am promoting this cause and am seeking support to make this happen with cooperation from the public and private sectors in this State. We need the funds to collect and maintain this Survey Accurate GIS Mapping Grid System, which can be accessed free over the Internet.
Local County Assessors would be able to maintain a higher accuracy accounting if the property corners where maintained with the same system. Many cities are providing base stations to use with Survey Accurate GPS to establish more reliable and perpetual grids and information for growth, maintenance, and decision making enhancement with nothing but positive results. It is and will be more of what can make our future home a better place and we must act now to assure we will not be left in the dust by other States with cities and counties doing this. Please promote this and let me know what you can do to help fund or spread the word for this endeavor. If we could get our leaders to set aside funds, even if only a start to get this going, the results will promote it further. The earth surface may change over time but the PLGBO will not so we better find it again and utilize its benefits.
I am a Registered Professional Land Surveyor in the State of Oklahoma working for myself now. Please contact me and our State organizations such as osls.org for more information as to how land surveyors can make this happen in Oklahoma.
MONUMENT PICTURES ADDED 20090608 THIS PROJECT WILL PRESERVE THESE AND OVER 300,000 MONUMENTS IN OKLAHOMA THAT ARE RAPIDLY DISAPPEARING DUE TO LACK OF MAINTENANCE BY OUR STATE.
DO YOU GET MY POINT YET?
Statistics for Oklahoma:
Oklahoma has
69,903 square miles within their political boundaries. .
I will assume that there are about as many sections as there are square miles because I do not know how many sections are in the State or how many corners precisely.
My first assumption is 4.6 corners ( C ) which include quarter corners that define each section since most sections share common corners and few have independent based on counting common and independent corners in a relatively small square grid sample of 16 square miles ( SM ). . Therefore, 69,903 SM x 4.6 C/SM = 321553.8 C or about 321,554 section corners.
The Plan:
Assuming it will cost about $250 per corner to ultimately establish this system, the cost of that system would be $80,388,450 however, to set this project into action, I estimate the initial cost to be $4,000,000 the first year for coordination efforts to create a network between the various agencies to gather already existing data that could reduce the cost of the data acquisition or duplication of effort. The benefit to the State is estimated to be 10 fold return on the investment due to increase in development that a GIS system will bring to Oklahoma.
Utilizing various existing resources such as OK GIS and the ODOT data and concentration of the first efforts in and out from the larger population areas is recommended. Bridging the various population areas proportional to their population would be a fair way of distributing the effort the following years.
Once the system is set up to obtain the data, an increase in yearly funding would be appropriate to accelerate the project to an earlier completion. After completion of the data collection, the system could be maintained by the Oklahoma Department of Libraries or OKIE or ODOT or other State Agency.
The various County Assessors and Public Works authorities would benefit from a cooperative arrangement for providing and maintaining the system for their areas. Such entities such as a Council of Governments similar to the Indian Nation Council of Governments in the Tulsa Area could serve as the organization created for the management of this mass of data.
The USGS and other National Mapping and Data agencies would be contacted to share information and methodology to enhance, fund, or help in making this project happen faster and better. State organizations like the Oklahoma Society of Land Surveyors could be consulted and funded for their organizational efforts to make this system happen.
Various suppliers of equipment and software might want to sponsor part of this effort. The setup, maintenance, and backup system of computers to handle the Terrabytes of data are important to consider in this project.
I came up with an idea to reward each suveyor who turns in a corner record with the Survey Accurate Data as an additional certification on the forms being used a fee of $350 for each record. When I discussed this with other surveyors at the OSLS Conference 2006, I fond out that some of the surveyors professed to have seen a system like that in other states. David Arnold said that he thought there were two states, one is Texas, he thought, that gave money to surveyors who would turn in certified coordinates, and another state up North who paid surveyors to re-establishe the Public Land System years ago. The rewards (instead of penalties that OK charges for corner records not filed) would encourage the restoration of this important data.
Since the state does not provide a service available online, a company called HubTack (HT) has moved in to take on the challenge. They charge for the same result for corner record data that is provided by the state through the Department of Libraries (DOL). The DOL does not have the funding to provide an online service. The database that HT has built might be very helpful in this effort, however, they like the rest of us, have to make a living and pay for the development costs, so I do not think they are going to help unless given some monetary incentives. Do you blame them?
Examples of successful programs for communities like Ardmore, Oklahoma ( Charles Brady III - City of Ardmore (
) should be reviewed and considered in planning this system. Colorado recently developed a system. We can learn from the experiences of others to reduce the time and effort in bringing this system online.
Robert E. Breisch has been one of the greatest motivators for this project with his knowledge and experience in setting up websites that can be used for education and training classes online to promote economic growth in this Great State of Oklahoma.
I do not personally know the people he works with, however they are the foremost brains in the State that can set up the system of meta data and such to illustrate what can be done on a pilot project. Just like all projects, they will need funding to begin on this. They are connected to the State for their funding, so no large effort will be needed to get started if they are authorized to start on this project.
My main concern is that the goals are not lost in the process of getting others involved in this project. I recommend that I be authorized and funded to oversee this project and have access to the State leaders who can mentor me in the process to insure that the original goals are preserved.
Access to contacts, permissions, and use of information can be good or bad depending on the attitude of the people who control it. I have found that some cities are very protective of this information yet others have made it available and seen the great increase in economic growth it has promoted.
When developers can have easy access to information on resources, then their surveyors and engineers can make much better progress at much less cost. They can accomplish much more on improvements within the political boundaries of the city. This happens with those who provide the information in the GIS or web access formats that are accessible free to the public for that access.
Is there a way that a surveyor could obtain information via email or a website that would help report discrepancies easier? Also is there an inexpensive way for the public or a surveyor to obtain information on the owner of properties on using the numbers on the map like Rogers County has without fees?
Many times, in order to prevent incidents like the “Skiatook Fence Dispute Killings”, where the surveys all agreed but the neighbor did not and ended up killing 3 people over a land boundary dispute, it can be prevented with good communication and information.
I always encourage my clients to get agreement with their neighbors before fencing a line that has been surveyed. A survey does not matter if a neighbor does not agree if he or is not consulted or contacted on the information that could be used to reach an agreement as to the boundary and evidence for the boundary. A key word is agreement.
In order to get agreement, you need evidence to agree upon. The concluding evidence can be found and exhibited by the surveyor and shared with both parties to the boundary line being revealed both in writing and on the ground. The neighbor is usually please to find out the “truth” provided by the survey exhibit because he benefits from it because it should be impartial and only based on the evidence.
That is why both parties to the line should not withhold evidence just like in a court of law where evidence is also used officially to make a decision. The decision should always be based on evidence that clears up the doubt and does least harm and prevents future harm and confusion. The truth does set you free and protect you and provide for your growth and well being ultimately and for future generations of land use.
That and many economic reasons are for the Survey Accurate Geographical Information System (SAGIS) that will do more for our economy that any other investment in State or County funding. Several City-County entities in OK have developed their SAGIS.
As a surveyor, we collect evidence to help each neighbor understand where their Corners are based on previous documentation that you have and the physical evidence we find on the ground to verify or find or restore the corners or references to the actural markers or in case of the GIS, the position on this globe we call home using Survey Accurate Global Positioning Systems (SAGPS).
Thanks for the invite. I am looking forward to any activities you have in the Tulsa area, especially if they promote the Statewide Survey Accurate Geographical Information System (GIS) that will do more for our economy that any other investment in State, County, and City funding.
Just imagine you are a world wide developer looking to invest in a spot to do business or branch out. You go to the OK SSAGIS site which was sponsored by our tax dollars to enhance our economy and attract people just like you to our State. You find that all the information you need it right there even down to the square foot for utilities, property corners, and what you need to do to pick a site, build, and get into business bringing much to the State in tax and cash flow. This way a person can waste less time and spend more time building new things to enhance our economy so that everyone benefits.
It works all the time for everyone who has done this. Call or write your Senators and Representatives to get this going. This is the best way to make it happen and happen faster and better.
It can be done if we all focus on getting our representative to allocate the money. It will do more for the industry that SCAUG works with than any other effort. We can toot our horns and show off to one another and promote our business however way we want, but to be affective we need to sell this idea to those who can fund our ideas and use our technology to the max to see us zoom into the future and, for a change, the advanced state setting the pace for the rest of the country and being able to fund it.
Please encourage this so we can all benefit from the gigantic economic benefits to all of us for our use of this modern day technology with internet access free to the public and/or professional land surveyors like me.
Senator Nancy Riley for her efforts to encourage our State to provide this system and what she has done to change things to promote what is right and best for Oklahomans. You can contact her very easily and she has been genuinely helpful and not just talk - a refreshing prospect and attribute to future leaders and servants of the people of OK.
Rep. Todd Hiett - District 29 -
Speaker of the House – who made arranged for the meeting with Tom Daxon with Gary Breisch via email and phone.
Rep.Ray Young - District 43 -
Committees - Business and Economic Development Committee, Chair - Retirement Laws Committee - Banking and Finance Committee – contacted by email by Gary Breisch.
Gary Breisch meeting with Tom Daxon February 22, 2006.
Background information on Tom Daxon
Tom Daxon has been named acting general administrator of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, effective Monday, February 3.
Commission Chairman Denise Bode says Daxon comes to the Commission with a wealth of expertise.
“We consider ourselves very fortunate to have someone with Mr. Daxon’s proven expertise, particularly with the challenges currently facing the state,” said Bode.
Commission Vice-Chair Bob Anthony agreed, saying Daxon brings a proven track record to the job.
“Tom Daxon is one of the most capable, outstanding management and administrative officials who has ever served the state of Oklahoma,” said Anthony.
Commissioner Jeff Cloud, who took office on January 13th, said the Commission faces a challenging future.
“I look forward to working with Mr. Daxon as we begin our new positions at the Corporation Commission,” said Cloud.
Daxon served as Oklahoma's elected State Auditor and Inspector from 1979-1983. He served as state Finance Director from 1995-2003.
A CPA, Daxon earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from OklahomaStateUniversity.
As general administrator, Daxon is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the agency. The Commission’s former general administrator, Larry Shaver, retired last month.
The meeting notes:
Purpose of meeting was to familiarize and promote the project to bring a Survey Accurate GIS system to Oklahoma. This system, with each section corner precisely located, will all but eliminate the waste and confusion that exists and has existed since the beginning.
Gary is convinced that such a system will save money and enhance positive growth and the quality of life in Oklahoma. The many years of neglect has caused the original system to degrade. The lack of maintenance to the original system has caused the original intent of the system over 100 years ago to be lost. The proof is from experience and logic, according to Gary, however, many government organizations who stepped out and instigated this or similar systems will witness its success.
Tom will be taking the information that Gary has given him and follow-up on contacting others who will make it possible to get funding for this project. He suggests that I contact various people who are credible and will have the most promise to reach the legislators and promote action on funding the project.
The Colorado project was discussed as an example to learn from the experiences of others to organize the efforts proposed. Gary recalls articles in POB magazine that will be researched to show how Colorado made it happen and provide names of those who can testify to the facts that support such projects.
With questions from Tom on if Gary knew a credible person from Ardmore, Gary recalled that Charles Brady with the GIS of Ardmore might be able testify or to get a spokesman to testify on the validity of a project like this. The Ardmore GIS Survey Accurate system has proven a success.
Tom suggested Gary contact various utility companies for spokesmen and advocates. Oil Companies were recommended as advocate opportunities.
We need to show that these types of projects save money, and promote growth and positive improved development.
Tom Daxon
January 29, 1999
Tom Daxon has traveled across the United States and back since his days at OklahomaState. Today you'll find him at the state capitol leading the state's Office of Finance.
Armed with a B.S. in Economics ('70), a Master's in Geography ('77), and his CPA, Daxon became a principal in Arthur Andersen & CO./Andersen Consulting, the world's largest accounting/consulting firm. It was here that he was able to blend education with finance and accounting issues and was designated one of the top 10% AICPA instructors nationwide. This activity led to his writing and teaching governmental accounting courses for New Jersey, assisting state employees with a new accounting system.
As Daxon made his way back to Oklahoma, he acquired a reputation for trouble-shooting and problem solving. His expertise made him the first choice to assist with resolving financial difficulties experienced at both the Resolution Trust Corporation in Denver and the Orange County, California government.
Appointed by Governor Frank Keating as the state's Secretary of Finance and Revenue in 1995, Daxon exemplifies the OSU leader spirit: roll up your sleeves, work vigorously, and promote a positive outcome!
Besides the resources above that have already been listed, here is a list of resources and contacts that I have quickly copied and pasted below from my contact list under the GIS category:
GIS Coordinator - Ray Hardy - OHR
- Oklahoma House of Representatives - State Capitol - 2300 N. Lincoln Blvd., Rm 109 - Oklahoma City, OK 73105-4885 - (W) 405-521-3201 - (F) 405-557-7351.
OKLAHOMA GIS Coordinator - Dr. Mike Sharp – Director - Information Technology Division Oklahoma Conservation Commission - 2800 North Lincoln Boulevard., Suite 160 - Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105 - Phone: 405-521-4813 - Fax: 405-521-6686 - Email:
or
Thomas E. Tollett - GIS/Environmental/Transportation Specialist Citizen Potawatomi Nation
- 41707 Hardesty Rd. - Shawnee, OK 74801 - Ph: (405)878-4672 Fax: (405)878-4678.
Shellie Willoughby - GIS Specialist - Oklahoma Conservation Commission - 2800 North Lincoln, Ste 160 - Oklahoma City, OK 73105 - (405) 521-4828 \ShellieW [
]
Scott Brown - Adjunct Instructor – GIS - Business & Industry Services - Moore Norman Technology Center - Office/Fax: (405) 759-2135 -
see OKGIS New Contact InfoNew Job.htm in GIS for surveyors.
Mitchell Fiedler, ITAM GIS Program Analyst (Contractor) - Department of the Army - Directorate of DPTM - ATTN: ATZR-TRL (GIS Program Analyst) - Bldg 2583 Currie Rd. - Fort Sill, OK 73503-5000 - voice: 580.442.6461 - fax: 580.442.5164 - email: HYPERLINK - mailto:
"
- http://sill-www.army.mil/itam
Mary K. Banken - Director, Geo Information Systems - 2020 Industrial Blvd. - Norman, OK 73069 - ph: 405/325-3131 ext 223 - fx: 405/579-5985 - email:
- check out our web site @: HYPERLINK "http://www.geo.ou.edu/"http://www.geo.ou.edu
Peter Earls - Department of Botany - OSU - Oklahoma State University - comparing DOQ coordinates with a GPS receiver see also GIS - GPS and articles.
Ed Hatch - Information Technology Coordinator - Business & Industry Services - Moore Norman Technology Center - 405.364.5763 ext. 7403 - fax 405.366.2864 -
see OKGIS New Contact InfoNew Job.htm in GIS for surveyors. GIS - CIP - Sarah Willis (
).
Arlen K. Wiens -
-a fellow surveyor has recently encouraged this system and worked on a similar idea back in 1990. He wrote a white paper on it and is currently restoring those ideas to help in the effort.
My contact information is:
Email:
or see www.gbreisch.com for additional contact information.
OK SAGIS 
