National Surveyors Week (March 20-26, 2022) was created by the National Society of Professional Surveyors to celebrate the surveying profession, which often goes unrecognized. This week, Dawood is shining a spotlight on some of our surveyors to highlight the breadth of knowledge and experience among our staff. Today, we speak with Kevin Hanley, PLS, Manager of Business Development for Europe and New England based in Braintree, Massachusetts.
Hi Kevin! Please tell us a little bit about how you got into the surveying field and what your current position at Dawood is like.
I was the founding principal of Surveying and Mapping Consultants (SMC), based in Braintree, Massachusetts. When SMC was nearly 30 years old in 2018, we were acquired by Dawood (now celebrating its 30th anniversary!). In my current role at Dawood, I’m focused on identifying and developing new business relationships within New England while maintaining and expanding current relationships. I also support Adam Grewenda’s ArchiTube team in Poland through business development activities across Europe, primarily by developing existing relationships stateside with our US clients that have a European presence.
What’s so special about surveying and how does it motivate you?
Having graduated 50 years ago, I’ve seen a wide range of technology used in the surveying profession. During my college years I learned about microwave and visible light technologies being used in distance measurement, which was considered “cutting edge” at that time. I was fortunate to work for firms in the United Kingdom, West Africa, and Ireland that had implemented these technologies together with the first use of infrared light technologies.
My career has given me incredible opportunities to use and implement the latest in Computer Aided Drafting (CAD) and Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. I also was part of the SMC team first in Massachusetts to have in-house mobile LiDAR. Dawood’s award-winning staff capabilities and our innovation in the US and Europe motivates me to expand our key client relationships and build our brand of being the leader in the use of innovative technology.
Tell us about one or two of your favorite Dawood projects and what makes them stand out to you.
Over the years, I’ve had many favorite projects, most involving technology integration—aerial survey, aerial LiDAR, mobile LiDAR, laser scanning, and conventional surveying techniques. The most unique project was possibly a survey of a Boston utility tunnel using laser scanning techniques. Traditionally, a horizontal survey control network is transferred from the surface to an underground location using suspended piano wires, which have heavy plumb bobs attached that are damped in a bucket of oil – known as the Weisbach Triangle technique. For the Boston project, because of the configuration of access manholes, metal ladders, and platforms beneath the manholes, this technique was impractical.
The Dawood team was confident that we could invert a laser scanner in the manhole and down the ladders in the shaft to the tunnel and use laser scanning techniques to transfer survey control from the surface to the tunnel. Traditional survey control was placed along the tunnel with targets at regular intervals. The laser scanning continued through the tunnel and up the shaft to the surface at the other end of the tunnel. This registered point cloud approach met the client’s accuracy requirements.
What’s something that people might not know about you?
I was a USA Rugby international referee! The decision-making skills I gained from my surveying career and my refereeing career are complimentary— identify the problem, manage it before it becomes an issue, and make confident and timely decisions. It has been said that surveying is not a branch of the Olympic Games. It’s not about how fast something is accomplished. As surveyors or referees, our decisions must be accurate and completed with “unhurried haste.”
What do you like to do when you’re not at work?
I enjoy working in the yard. I’m not a gardener, but I have no problem digging holes. The solitude gives me time to think about life and work. These days, sprinting after big athletes has long passed me by, but I do enjoy playing golf competitively and spending time with friends and spinning yarns about how great we used to be.
Of course, it’s always great to spend time with the grandchildren – all six of them—and watching them develop skills in various sports also is a source of enjoyment. Taking walks with my grandchildren in the nearby conservation area has been a fun opportunity to teach them the words of the Happy Wanderer, a song from my childhood in Ireland. Seeing them interact with their Irish cousins, who they rarely get to see, is a special joy for me.
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