Pennsylvania
Land Surveying Institute
The Pennsylvania Land Surveying Institute (PLS Institute) is a hub for recorded webinars on essential topics to the surveying profession.
All PLS Institute recorded webinars are eligible for credit/Professional Development Hours (PDHs) in Pennsylvania. We hope this allows you to learn and earn credit/PDHs when it is most convenient, to help further your professional development at your own pace. The PLS Institute will consistently be adding new archived webinars to the hub so check back in regularly.
How it works: Once you have purchased a webinar, we will need to verify that payment has been made in full. Once payment is confirmed, the recording and a completion form will be emailed within 48 hours. After watching the webinar, please fill out the completion form and send it back to psls@psls.org to receive your certificate. Please allow 7-10 business days to receive the certificate. Also, please note that the only person who will receive credit for the webinar is the one whose PSLS profile the webinar was purchased under. If you have any questions, please email the PSLS office at psls@psls.org or call 717-412-1946.
Description:
As an expert witness, there are requirements on what information a surveyor is required to provide before testifying at trial. This presentation will discuss when a surveyor may be required to be deposed and what questions may be asked, as well as the information required to be provided through interrogatories and other documents that may need to be disclosed prior to trial.
Description:
The practice of land surveying often requires a surveyor be prepared to effectively communicate their opinion in deposition and court. The surveyor must be prepared to present their opinion and analysis in a clear, understandable, and concise manner. This seminar will focus on trial documents and exhibits used in the litigation process.
Description:
The presentation addresses hazards that surveyors can face when working near roadways. It will provide attendees with information to help prevent incidents and methods to control traffic.
Description:
Land surveyors link the worlds of white-collar engineers in the office with blue-collar construction workers in the field. They need to integrate multiple kinds of knowledge to make sound professional judgments. Without surveyor’s wisdom to guide them, they too easily apply mathematics and measurement technology illegitimately to problems requiring other kinds of knowledge, too, in order to be solved accurately, legally, and ethically. Why do we often lack surveyor’s wisdom? Presenter Joseph Stuart reflects on how the history of surveying and modern work culture help us to understand the forces undermining surveyor’s wisdom while also providing clues for how to recover it.
Description:
One of the greatest surveys of early colonial America took place to settle a land boundary dispute in the years between November 15, 1763, and September 11, 1768. The astronomers were sent over from the Greenwich Royal Observatory in England to perform the world’s first geodetic survey and set stones along the agreed-upon line of demarcation between the land grants from King Charles II to the Penns and Calverts.
Recently, the Maryland Society of Surveyors (MSS) and the Pennsylvania Society of Land Surveyors (PSLS) formed a joint effort to assist the Maryland Geological Survey (MGS) to help inventory the remaining Mason and Dixon stones in order to have them placed on the National Historic Registry.
This webinar will discuss the past and present of this historic line.
Description:
The Pennsylvania’s Eminent Domain Code, codified at 26 Pa.C.S.A. § 101, et seq., sets forth the procedures by which an entity cloaked with eminent domain power may take real property for a public purpose. In this webinar, we will focus upon the procedures that must be followed in condemning real property, the limitations on this power, the defenses available to property owners whose lands are subject to a taking, and the damages to which property owners are entitled for the loss of their property.
Description:
This one-hour webinar is intended for professionals with prior experience or education in stormwater management who want to sharpen their practical design skills. Through a detailed swale design example, the session will reinforce key hydrologic and hydraulic concepts including the Rational Method, time of concentration, design storms, and Manning’s Equation.
We will also discuss considerations for regulatory compliance with Pennsylvania DEP stormwater requirements, highlighting how these foundational calculations are applied within the current regulatory framework.
Ideal for land surveyors, engineers, and site designers, this refresher bridges theory and practice in a focused, real-world application.
Description:
Join us for a focused one-hour webinar on the key aspects of professional ethics for Pennsylvania land surveyors. This webinar will provide an overview of the Code of Ethics from the Engineer, Surveyor, and Geologist Registration Law and touch on ethical guidelines from relevant surveying and engineering organizations. This webinar aims to offer a clear introduction to ethical principles and practical considerations in the land surveying profession. Suitable for both experienced professionals and newcomers, this overview will help you understand the basics of ethical standards in land surveying.
Description:
Survey reports can be an important part of documenting surveying services. Survey reports provide a flexible format to provide a complete, comprehensive, and clear narrative of the surveyor’s opinion. The report provides a methodical method to document the background information and the analysis performed. The report also provides a narrative of the services performed, limitations, problems, concerns, and recommendations. This workshop will discuss the use, preparation, and focus of the survey report.
Description:
This webinar is a focused discussion on contract negotiation, management, professional risk, and evolving legal considerations impacting professional land surveyors and design professionals. This webinar helps land surveyors spot potential contract pitfalls, strengthen their documentation practices, and stay ahead of recent legal and regulatory developments affecting the profession.
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