Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast

It may be April 1 on the calendar but we are not fooling around! Technician training is an important topic and "Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast" is here for you. This week, your host Tim Burch sits down with Todd Horton, PE, PLS, and lead instructor for survey technician training sessions being hosted around the country. They chatted about the importance of training in the age of one-man crews and exploding technology. Todd has been busy hosting sessions with the Michigan and Indiana societies, but look for him to visit your area soon. A great conversation you don't want to miss.

As we wind down to the end of March and Women's History Month, this week's episode of "Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast" features someone who plans on making a name for her own self. While on location at the Western Region Survey Conference in Las Vegas, Tim Burch sat down with Kennedy Williams, a senior at Cal Poly Pomona and budding surveyor/engineer in the making. Kennedy shared her story of making the decision of pursuing a civil engineering degree then "finding" surveying during her sophomore year. They also discussed the importance of the combination of education, experience, and networking to give the surveyor a well rounded career opportunity. A conversation with a dynamic lady so give it a listen today!

The surveying industry is currently grappling with a massive transition of ownership as aging founders near retirement, a situation that threatens local economic stability and the continuity of essential professional services. This week's episode of "Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast" features John R. Allen, III, owner of Allen Business Advisors in Brookline, MA. Tim Burch recently sat down with John to discuss the "silver tsunami" within the surveying profession and how it will effect both employers and employees. John provided great insight into succession planning and strategies to insure a smooth transition of business ownership. A serious conversation that provides insight into a brighter future for surveyors. Check it out today!

This week’s episode of “Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast” is the next installment of “From the Director’s Desk” with your host, NSPS Executive Director Tim Burch and features stories about National Surveyors Week. Tim shares the origin story of how the third week of March became a fixture on the surveyor’s calendar as well as current events happening for 2026. A very informational episode you don’t want to miss so check it out today!

It is assumed that most surveyors are either born into the profession or discover it during their formidable years of education. Sometime, however, a career change opens one's eye to finding the passionate role their life may have been missing. This week's episode of "Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast" does just that. Your host, Tim Burch, caught up with Milad Sadegi, LSIT, and a member of the LSAW Young Surveyors Network, to discuss his transition from the financial field to the road to becoming a professional land surveyor. Milad and Tim discuss the similarities between surveying and Milad's part-time photography career in which both final products capture a specific moment in time. This conversation proves that it is never too late to discover a surveying career!

This week's episode of "Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast" finds us in Denver, Colorado wrapping up a great opportunity of promoting our new state affiliate membership drive at GeoWeek 2026. Your host, Tim Burch, sat down with Linda Foster (NSPS President), Tim Murphy (NSPS President-elect), Jeff Clendenning (NSPS Vice President), and Patti Brook (NSPS Treasurer) to reflect on our first time at GeoWeek and what made it a huge success. Lots of incredible observations on how the surveying profession is not going away, so check it out today.

Studying for your professional surveyor licensing test can be a daunting task, so this week's "surveyor Says! THe NSPS Podcast" is here to bring you much needed information. Your host, Tim Burch, caught up with Amanda Jonas, RPLS, and Jib Ahmad, LSLS, RPLS, PLS, LS, CFM, from Halff who has been leading an online preparatory session for NCEES FS and PS exam takers. This small internal mentoring class has turned into a juggernaut overnight yet the mission to help the exam taker remains the same. Listen today to hear about the history of the class and how growing at a rapid pace will not deter this effort to educate our future professionals!

Now we are getting down to serious business! Our review of the changes within the 2026 Edition of the updated ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey Standards continues on "Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast." Our resident land title survey expert, Gary Kent, PS., gets deeper into the revisions with Section 3, “Surveying Standards and Standards of Care.“ Your host, Tim Burch, sits down with Gary to discuss the important changes within the Section, so you don’t want to miss it. If you haven’t already, now is a great time to bookmark both the podcast and video version of the updated Standards on the NSPS YouTube channel!

As we continue to review the changes to the 2026 Edition of the updated ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey Standards, "Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast" continues with our resident guru, Gary Kent, PS. Your host, Tim Burch, spoke with Gary to discuss despite how little has changed with Section 2 "Request for Survey," our practitioners would be advised to review and make sure what is covered within this important section. A nice refresher on the standard so check out what Gary has to say. Watch this space for more sections of the updated Standards to follow soon!

Has it been five years already? It has, so we must prepare for the 2026 Edition of the updated ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey Standards. This week's episode of "Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast" catches up with a central figure in these standards, Gary Kent, PS, to give an overview into the reasoning we have these critical standards. Your host, Tim Burch, sat down with Gary to discuss how these standards came to be, how often they have changed (and why!), and what lies down the road ahead in our collaboration with ALTA. Great insight into an important standard so you don't want to miss this one!

Greetings from the "Big Easy!" This week's episode of "Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast" finds us in New Orleans attending the 2025 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Annual Conference. With over 20K attendees, it was great to run across this week's guest, Ryan Hippenstiel, Surveyor-in-Residence - Solutions Engineering for DroneDeploy, one of the leading reality capture platforms. Your host, Tim Burch, sat down with Ryan to explore his career into surveying, his work in both public and private practice, and now in his role at DroneDeploy. We covered a lot of ground on this one, so check it out today!

This episode of "Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast" finds your host, Tim Burch, providing news and other updates for this episode of "From the Director's Desk." Among the topics covered today: NSPS Election Announcement Scholarship Deadline! ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey Standards Lobby Day 2026 - Issues 2026 NSPS Student Competition And some teaser items to watch for in 2026! We have more great guests lined up for us to talk with in the coming weeks so bookmark the podcast and look forward to bring them to you soon! Check us out on our YouTube channel as well.

And now for something completely different! This episode of "Surveyor Says! The NSPS Podcast" turns the reigns over to the NSPS Young Surveyors Network (YSN) and features a Q&A session with the 2026 Vice President candidates, Luke Woodyard and Zach Holshuer. The current YSN officers, President Cam Lowe, Vice President Jon Geffre, and Past President Nolan Mark, peppered the candidates with questions about their viewpoints on the profession and a few fun ones, too. Lots of energy and insightful outlook on how our younger practitioners see our beloved profession and the optimistic growth they currently see. Take a listen today and hear why their positive outlook is contagious! Thanks for listening and subscribe wherever you listen to your podcasts.