J.R. Lemuel Morrison was commissioned to complete a utility survey of the Kill Van Kull, Newark Bay, and Upper New York Harbor in under 4 months to support modernization of shipping channels. The survey required locating underground utilities through document research and GPS, as well as developing a process to organize and present the vast amount of data collected. Through simultaneous task completion, linked documents, and developing digital folders and non-editable e-plots, the team completed the survey on time and under budget, providing utility owners and planners with valuable information.

1. J R Lemuel Morrison, PLS Mercator Land Surveying 101/29/15
Utility Survey of
Kill Van Kull, Newark Bay &
Upper NY Harbor
J. R. Lemuel Morrison, PLS

2. J R Lemuel Morrison, PLS Mercator Land S201/29/15
Outline
 Background
 Process
 Innovations
 Results

3. J R Lemuel Morrison, PLS Mercator Land S301/29/15
New York Harbor
Modernize the channels that serve the
local ports:
 Kill Van Kull/Newark Bay Channels
deepened to 45’ for access to Port
Newark/Elizabeth.
 Seven key channels deepened to 50’
over the next few years.

4. J R Lemuel Morrison, PLS Mercator Land S401/29/15
Reason for the Survey
Port Authority could not start design, much less planning, without
specific data on the crossings. The number of crossings were not
even known.
No single entity, even the USACE, had complete or current records--
even the number of crossings.
The Port Authority needed to know:
• What utilities cross the project area?
• Who owns them?
• Where they are?

5. J R Lemuel Morrison, PLS Mercator Land S501/29/15
Utility Survey – 3 Hurdles
The deadline: How to complete the work in a 4-month
time period?
Utility survey process: How to find utilities underground,
both by physical observation and by record
information?
Representation: How to convey the vast amount of
information not only to our client (who understands
survey information), but also to design engineers,
planners, politicians and others?

6. J R Lemuel Morrison, PLS Mercator Land S601/29/15
Meeting the Deadline
In a usual project the process is:
• Tasks are done in order
• One person at a time works on a drawing
• There are a manageable number of documents
Two key differences:
• Volume of documents
• Compressed timeframe (which could not be extended)
Conclusion: change work method
Address tasks simultaneously
Access same files concurrently

7. J R Lemuel Morrison, PLS Mercator Land S701/29/15
Resulting Work Flow
Tasks broken down by genre: notes, aerial mapping, utility lines,
and layouts.
Linked documents and drawings together:
Additionally:
• Held regular staff meetings
• Scanned every document
• Used xreferences aggressively.
• Used OLE inserts for charts and notes

8. J R Lemuel Morrison, PLS Mercator Land S801/29/15
Utility Survey Process
Research Documents
Locate Surface Evidence
Interpret and Present Graphically

9. J R Lemuel Morrison, PLS Mercator Land S901/29/15
Research
 United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
 Municipal Utility Authorities for the Boroughs of Bayonne, Elizabeth &
Linden and for Hudson & Union Counties.
 County Clerks of Hudson County, Union County & Richmond County
 Bureau of Land Management at the New York Office of General
Services
 Division of Coastal Resources at the New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection
 Private Utility Companies
 New York City DDC
 New York City DEP
 New York City DPR
 National Parks
 National Archives
 Borough President Offices

10. J R Lemuel Morrison, PLS Mercator Land S1001/29/15
Document Example
Source: NYCDEP

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The process:
• Set up a local network for aerial control and for Real-Time-
Kinematic (RTK) base stations
• Use GPS in RTK mode to locate surface evidence
• Match located evidence to features in research documents
• Digitize single-entity polyline for each utility
Locate Surface Evidence
How to locate underground utilities?  You can’t.
We can provide indications of the utilities by locating the surface
evidence.

12. J R Lemuel Morrison, PLS Mercator Land S1201/29/15
Representation
How to present this data? We supplied CAD drawings and prints.
Problems:
• Massive data set. Thousands of documents.
• More crossings than anticipated.
• Data more complex than just a location. Questions of
ownership, responsibility and time periods outside the jurisdiction
of a surveyor.
• Access to the data by third parties outside of the Port Authority.

13. J R Lemuel Morrison, PLS Mercator Land S1301/29/15
Representation
Many solutions:
•Every document was scanned.
• This allowed easy transmission to the Port Authority, but also to
others. It organized our operation and allowed more than one person
to use the document.
•Each crossing had an individual folder.
• Everything for a crossing was in one electronic place. The engineers
could see the data affecting the crossing.
• E-plots were created of each drawing sheet.
• Non-editable files could then be distributed to others. Yet the
functionality of CAD remained.

14. J R Lemuel Morrison, PLS Mercator Land S1401/29/15
Digital Folder Example

15. J R Lemuel Morrison, PLS Mercator Land S1501/29/15
E-Plot Example
 An e-plot is a format,
similar to a PDF that is
non-editable.
 The format is read-only
but retains CAD
capabilities such as
zooming and turning
layers off and on.
 E-plot format allows third
parties to print the
document and to add
markups.

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Kill Van Kull & Newark Bay -- Utility Survey
Key Sheet Example

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Upper New York Bay -- Utility Survey
Key Sheet Example

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Upper New York Bay -- Utility Survey
Crossing Map Example

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Conclusions
 Surveys were completed on-time and under budget.
 Surveys were exceptionally useful and I still get calls about the
project. They were provided to utilities, planners and officials.
 Surveys brought disparate data from many agencies together.
Not only were the utilities located, but a descriptive data set was
also created for each one.
 Surveys expanded the traditional “deliverable” to a client. The
end-user received not only an esoteric survey, but also a product
that could be used again and again.

20. J R Lemuel Morrison, PLS Mercator Land S2001/29/15
Questions
J R Lemuel Morrison, PLS
201 696-0296
lmorrison@mercatorgroup.com
www.mercatorgroup.com
Special thanks to John Richardson at Boswell Engineering