GeoLearn Adds Nine Geodesy Courses by David Doyle

David Doyle

GeoLearn, a company focused on serving the geospatial industry with video-based online learning and continuing education credits, has added nine courses on geodesy topics by retired NGS Chief Geodetic Surveyor and GPS World contributor David Doyle.

Doyle is a contributing editor for survey to GPS World’s monthly Survey Scene newsletter. His first column appeared in May.

GeoLearn’s new introductory geodesy courses carry approval for professional development hours (PDHs) from the ABET-accredited geospatial program at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.

“I’ve been addressing groups of surveyors and other professionals who use NGS data. In these courses, I take those decades of interaction and try to anticipate and address the most common problems they’ve encountered and most of the questions they would ask,” Doyle said.

Doyle’s first eight courses are offered as a series, though students can pick and choose. The first is an introductory stage-setting course on geodetic fundamentals for those who have been hesitant to delve into any geodesy-related topic. It is an excellent primer for a broad spectrum of geospatial professionals and technicians in fields such as land surveying, engineering and technical GIS applications. The rest of the series includes two on classical horizontal datums and contemporary horizontal datums and two on vertical datums. He includes an additional course on future datums and another on coordinate systems.

Doyle’s ninth course uncovers the “secret sauce” to understanding and using NGS data sheets. It helps novices and experienced alike to understand all the clues and guideposts embedded in such sheets. He includes a discussion of how to understand the accuracy (horizontal and vertical) of various marks based on the metadata provided right in the data sheet. Also included is information on how to access photographs of the marks and how you can update the information using a simple program that you can download from the NGS website.

“Dave was of phenomenal service to geospatial professionals when he was with NGS,” said Joe Paiva, CEO of GeoLearn. “We are proud to be the only 24/7 education source that delivers Dave’s quality, video-based education on these needed topics.”