During a week of advanced training for Javad’s 5PLS Support Team in San Jose, California, which covered topics such as Live Support over RAMS (Remote Access and Monitoring Server) for Triumph-LS users, Localizations, Linework Collection, Import and Export, Staking, Base/Rover Setup, DPOS processing, and exploration of many other features and future software enhancements, the team took a brief time out for a competition any surveyor would appreciate - a pacing contest.

Michael Glutting used a Triumph-LS, receiving corrections from an Internet base mounted to the Javad facility’s roof, to precisely determine a distance between two marks in the parking lot. The result was 102.31 US Survey Feet.

Each member of the team then evaluated the baseline, and made careful effort to count their strides as they paced, one at a time, across the parking lot. Each submitted their measurement to the official record keeper, Kelly Bellis.

Unfortunately one contestant was disqualified for violating the International Federation of Pacing Official Rules and

Once the dust had settled, the results were tabulated and compared to the precisely determined baseline distance. The winner, with an impressive 102.3 feet, was John Evers, Professional Surveyor from Ohio. John’s submission varied only one hundredth of a foot from the RTK derived distance - a ratio of error of more than 1:10,000.

Runner-up Matt Sibole of Kentucky, submitted a very respectable distance of 103.2 feet - a difference of 0.89 foot.

At the conclusion of the event, the team celebrated the diverse skills required to be a surveyor - including the use of advanced, modern measuring technologies tempered with ancient techniques requiring nothing more than an even stride. Congratulations, John!