Coeur d'Alene Resort Convention Center

Conference Schedule
Subject to Change

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 23

12:00 pm-8:00 pm - Tradeshow Setup - Beauty Bay

1:00 pm-6:00 pm - ISPLS Board Meeting - North Cape Bay

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24

7:00 am-7:00 pm - Registration & Exhibit Hall Open - East Conference Center Lobby/Beauty Bay

7:00 am-8:00 am - Breakfast w/Exhibitors - Bay 6

8:00 am-12:00 pm - General Session - Bay 4

Gary Kent: Needham v. Hise - Mock Trial:  This mock trial is based on an actual boundary dispute that was litigated in court; the trial transcript was the basis for the script used in the program. Two attorneys and a judge will participate - with the audience sitting in as jurors - as the plaintiff and defendant, and the two surveyors testify in an exploration of the relevant issues including the chains of title, conflicting lines of possession, the related boundary law principles, and differing claims of title, both written and unwritten. Throughout the day, the audience will observe and learn about court room procedures including direct and cross-examination. As an integral part of the trial, questions will be taken from the audience. After the trial testimony, the audience will be divided into juries to compare and debate the merits of the defendant’s and plaintiff’s cases and report on their deliberations. The day will end with a presentation on the characteristics of good expert witnesses and what purpose they serve.

12:00 pm-1:00 pm - Lunch

1:00 pm-5:00 pm - General Session - Gary Kent, Needham v. Hise (continued)

5:30 pm-7:00 pm - Dinner 

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25

7:00 am-7:00 pm - Registration & Exhibit Hall Open - East Conference Center Lobby/Beauty Bay

7:00 am-8:00 am - Breakfast w/Exhibitors - Bay 6

8:00 am-12:00 pm - Breakouts

1. Bay 4 -Gary Kent:  Ethics and Ethical Dilemmas - When practicing surveying, surveyors inevitably encounter situations in which the right thing to do ethically is very clear. Yet, perhaps more frequently they chance upon states of affairs in which the right thing to do is not patently obvious. It is during those times that they may consult what the various laws say about ethical conduct and how those laws might apply to their specific situation. And as often as not, a clear answer will simply not be found in the law. This program will provide an overview of some of Minnesota’s more significant ethics laws and discuss some circumstances that can challenge our ability to readily apply those rules. 

2. Bay 5 - Dennis Mouland:  Controlling Intermediate Corners:  A half day course on dealing with the many CIC's in the PLSS. Includes meander corners, both types of witness corners, line trees, witness points, closing corners, crossing closing corners, and previously set subdivisional corners.

12:00 pm-1:30 pm - Lunch, General Membership Meeting 

1:30 pm-5:00 pm - Breakouts

1. Bay 4 - Dennis Mouland:  Sometimes Proportioning is REALLY Dumb:    4 hour course on seven situations where proportioning lost corners is not the best solution, both in remote PLSS, metro areas, and even in residential subdivisions.

2. Bay 5 - 

1:30 pm - 3:00 pm - Logan Campbell, Aerotas: The Great LiDAR Wave:  LiDAR has dominated the conversation around digital mapping and imaging over the past five years. For aerial imaging, every airframe has developed capabilities to carry LiDAR payloads. Ground-based LiDAR scanning has also experienced rapid adoption, leading to much denser point clouds to classify and extract features from. So when should a practitioner utilize photogrammetry, aerial LiDAR, and ground-based LiDAR? What are the tradeoffs between the three methods of data capture? And how can blended workflows lead to top notch data capture and reliably accurate mapping deliverables? Join Aerotas CEO Logan Campbell as we discuss this and more.

3:30 pm - 5:00 pm - Michael Hart and Jeff Swann, Bureau of Land Management:  The Right Model for the Job:  Grok, Claude, Gemini, Copilot & ChatGPT:  This talk drops the “which AI is best” argument and matches each model to the work it actually wins. You’ll leave knowing when to reach for Grok, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, or ChatGPT, when to switch and how to use them.

5:30 pm-8:00 pm - Reception, Dinner - East Conference Center Lobby

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26

7:00 am-8:00 am - Coffee Service

8:00 am-11:00 am - Seated Breakfast, General Session - Bay 4

George Yerion (and others): Beyond the Checklist: Subdivision Plat Verification in Idaho - Applying Idaho Code, Professional Standards, and Surveying Judgement.

11:00 am - Conference Adjourns