Abstract

USACE Survey Monumentation Archival and Retrieval Tool (U-SMART)
Track: Technology
Authors: James Garster, Mark Huber

One of the major findings from the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force was that local project control was not consistent from project to project and in most cases it was not up-to-date with the current datum values. Local project control is often not accessible outside of the local USACE district branch or section that established it. In order to ensure project control is consistent, current, and available to others within or even outside the district, it was determined that a centralized database was needed to provide USACE districts with the ability to manage and verify control point information quickly and efficiently. The Project Control Database or U-SMART initiative captures local project control and primary project control with connections to the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS) and stores them in a database where they can be related to USACE projects. This U-SMART database allows each District to manage and maintain project control points, ensure they are current and correctly tied to the NSRS, and make sure that others use the most up-to-date control points values. Additionally points may be linked together to create project networks. The system also detects differences or changes between the project points and the NGS database of NSRS points. U-SMART is a fast web-based GIS interface for monument archival and retrieval linked to the CorpsMap System and facilitates the archival and retrieval of survey control from the database of USACE and NGS control points. The marks are also referenced to their respective projects making it easy to link up projects and their associated control points. Control points can be entered into U-SMART through a web interface or through a standardized U-SMART PDF form. Once the PDF form is completed by the surveyor, and the content is accepted by the local USACE district designee, the control point's data along with the pictures are imported into the system with the click of the [SUBMIT] button. The point's description and coordinates are then available for future use. The U-SMART database archives superseded information when a control point is modified or updated.