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Ending the Era of the U.S. Survey Foot

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Re: Ending the Era of the U.S. Survey Foot

#41

Post by madcaptenor »

thechao wrote: post #30
3fe9a03ccd14ca5 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t really mind that we’re not on the metric system. I just wish our measurements were consistent as they increase. E.g. foot, kilofoot, etc. instead of foot, yards, miles.

And base-2, rather than the computer-unfriendly base-10. Aaaaactually ... with a bit of squinting the U. S. customary volume system(s) define a complete set of base-2 nouns (which could be used as prefixes): tbspn oz jill gill cup pint quart half gallon peck kenning bushel rundlet barrel hogshead butt tun Where each item below the next item is exactly 2x the previous one. It turns out there's also some base-3 stuff (…

That gives you a gallon of exactly 4 liters (256 * 2.5^3 = 4000 mL). Alternatively, a quart is now just another name for a liter.

Re: Ending the Era of the U.S. Survey Foot

#42

Post by [deleted] »

thomk wrote: post #37
adamtj wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not hard to imagine. Quick, what's 1/3 of a meter? The sometimes problem with metric is it's base-10. The prime factors of 10 are 2 and 5. Feet are in base-12, which has the prime factors 2 and 3. Three is much more useful than five. There are marks on your measuring tape at exactly 1/3 of a yard or 1/3 of a foot. Metric is often easier and more convenient, but not always. So, in the US, we tend to use metric…

Agreed. If you have ever done any type of construction you are very thankful that you can divide a foot evenly by 2, 3, 4 and 6.

[deleted]

Re: Ending the Era of the U.S. Survey Foot

#43

Post by zokier »

hadlock wrote: post #3

Mildly surprising that we are not just using meters at this point.

They are using metric:

https://geodesy.noaa.gov/INFO/Policy/files/SPCS2022-Policy.p...

> The meter is the unit of the defining linear parameters for SPCS2022

> SPCS2022 coordinates are published in meters

Re: Ending the Era of the U.S. Survey Foot

#45

Post by clucas »

opwieurposiu wrote: post #4

As an example of a problem that can occur: Client wants to survey the elevations of a parcel of land for building a house. The surveyor goes out and collects data with gps survey equipment, which produces a .csv file of northing,easting,and elevation values relative to some National Geodetic Survey benchmark. The engineer imports this .csv into his cad software, produces a grading plan .csv file. The earthmoving cont…

I worked as a CAD operator, surveyor, and occasional field crew worker at a civil engineering firm for a few years. We never ran into issues like this - by far the more common issue was the difference between NAVD and NGVD. At the time I was surveying, the FEMA flood insurance maps in our area were only partially updated, so the base flood elevation could be in either datum, and you had to really watch it so you didn't end up about 0.7' off vertically.

Re: Ending the Era of the U.S. Survey Foot

#46

Post by not2b »

ska wrote: post #17
DoofusOfDeath wrote: post #16

The article left me confused about what it means to have a legally binding redefinition of a term. Does this mean that all existing, legally binding contracts are to be reinterpreted using the new definition of "foot"? Does it mean that any new legal document (contract, legislation, etc.) that uses the term "foot" without further clarification shall be assumed to mean this new definition of "foot"?

I believe it is the latter.

In practice, since the difference is so small it does not matter in almost all cases, because no one was in a position to measure accurately enough. If you ask for 100 feet of rope, the difference between the two definitions of "foot" is much tinier than the smallest possible roundoff error you or the sales person will make.

Re: Ending the Era of the U.S. Survey Foot

#47

Post by clucas »

adamtj wrote: post #29
DeepYogurt wrote: post #21

Imagine it being 2020 and not using the metric system.

That's not hard to imagine. Quick, what's 1/3 of a meter? The sometimes problem with metric is it's base-10. The prime factors of 10 are 2 and 5. Feet are in base-12, which has the prime factors 2 and 3. Three is much more useful than five. There are marks on your measuring tape at exactly 1/3 of a yard or 1/3 of a foot. Metric is often easier and more convenient, but not always. So, in the US, we tend to use metric…

I do agree with you that base-12 is easier to work with, but I think it's worth pointing out, appropos of the article, that U.S. surveyors actually talk about feet in "tenths" and "hundredths" - so, quick, what's one third of a foot? About 33 hundredths of a foot. ;)

Re: Ending the Era of the U.S. Survey Foot

#48

Post by irrational »

thomk wrote: post #37
adamtj wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not hard to imagine. Quick, what's 1/3 of a meter? The sometimes problem with metric is it's base-10. The prime factors of 10 are 2 and 5. Feet are in base-12, which has the prime factors 2 and 3. Three is much more useful than five. There are marks on your measuring tape at exactly 1/3 of a yard or 1/3 of a foot. Metric is often easier and more convenient, but not always. So, in the US, we tend to use metric…

Agreed. If you have ever done any type of construction you are very thankful that you can divide a foot evenly by 2, 3, 4 and 6.

Yeah, woodworking is so much easier when using feet and inches. It's so incredibly useful to be able to divide a foot into half, thirds, quarters, sixths, and twelfths.

Re: Ending the Era of the U.S. Survey Foot

#49

Post by runxel »

thomk wrote: post #37
adamtj wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not hard to imagine. Quick, what's 1/3 of a meter? The sometimes problem with metric is it's base-10. The prime factors of 10 are 2 and 5. Feet are in base-12, which has the prime factors 2 and 3. Three is much more useful than five. There are marks on your measuring tape at exactly 1/3 of a yard or 1/3 of a foot. Metric is often easier and more convenient, but not always. So, in the US, we tend to use metric…

Agreed. If you have ever done any type of construction you are very thankful that you can divide a foot evenly by 2, 3, 4 and 6.

Well, architectural construction is based on the "octameter", so 12.5 cm.

That adds pretty well ;)

Re: Ending the Era of the U.S. Survey Foot

#50

Post by irrational »

salgernon wrote: post #36
kbar13 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

think renaming a software library is hard? try changing units of measure!!!!!

Saw this here somewhere previously: Sweden did something more insane: Högertrafikomläggningen. Do it once, get it over with? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagen_H

What would the cost be to change everything for a country the size of the USA? I imagine it would be in the trillions.
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