As a child, I remember running around the outside of my home, cutting across the front yard, weaving around trees, and climbing over the fence to the backyard. Occasionally, I would run around the perimeter of said fence just to see where it goes. I’d be out in the open for the longest time until getting to the side facing my neighbours house who also had a fence. The gap between my fence and the neighbours was only a few feet wide, but more than enough for me run through. Near the middle of this ally there was something that intrigued my every time I saw it: this small metal plate with wording etched into it I couldn’t make out. I tried time and time again to pull it out of the ground but no avail. Even as I got older and started mowing the lawn I would trim the grass in the ally and that metal plate would pop out. While I gave up on trying to take it home I still remained quizzical into its purpose. It was only this year where I learned that these small little plates are not plates, but are metal monuments stuck into the ground for the purpose of providing a boundary between lots.

Since taking this class and other Geomatics classes I have begun noticing things I never looked at twice. I finally understand what those “metal plates” are doing stuck in ground, and for another example why some trees have huge pieces of bark missing. I used to always assume this occurred from people damaging them or because the tree is dying but I now know its called tree blazing, another way to set markers for surveyors.

I’m only a second year Geomatics student but am already developing an eye for topics I’ve learned in class in the real world.

On a different note, something we learned in lecture has peaked my interest in particular; air space parcels. With regular condominiums the tenant owns specific parts of the area. For example the boundary could extend to the exterior drywall, windows, and floor surfaces. With respect to shared walls the dividing ownership point is usually to the middle of the studs. With air parcels though, the home is treated similarly to a parcel of land, where the boundary is given by coordinates in airspace creating a three dimensional parcel in the air. I find the concept of someone owning a section of air extremely interesting and only brings questions. What happens if the building is shifted or destroyed? Could ownership of this airspace block future construction? This is a topic I will be researching much more myself and I hope to hear more about it in future lectures or future Geomatics classes.

Q1: Find and example of an advertisement. It could be an image, or a video, and could be for anything – a product, to support a politician, etc.. For that example, indicate whether pathos, ethos, and/or logos are used to persuade you to buy this product.

There are three main persuasive appeals; ethos, where the speaker appeals to his own character, pathos, where the speaker appeals to emotion, and logos, where the speakers appeals to reason. The above ad, for Ram trucks, would be an example of pathos persuasion. The ad states “A Hemi for his foot”, in reference to the satisfaction the customer would receive when driving the truck. This is put into contrast with a woman’s love for diamond jewelry to cement the feeling the owner of the truck will have.

Q2: For one of the cases under the “Cases” folder for the Module VI readings, read the case, write a correct legal citation for it, and state (one of two sentences) why it is important for a surveyor trying to determine the boundaries of a parcel of land.

The case I am going to look at is Kingston v. Highland.

The legal citation would be: Kingston v. Highland [1919] 47 N.B.R 324

This case is important for surveyors trying to determine the boundaries of a parcel of land because it highlights how important further research is and to not make assumptions. As stated in the case surveyors mustn’t assume where the boundary should be and research must be done into the location of original monuments and descriptions before establishing a new boundary.

Q3: View the file named “Survey_Plan_for_Description.PDF” in the “Assignments” folder on D2L. Based on the information in this file, write a metes and bounds description for the parcel labeled “Part I”. Note that it is not necessary that you description be perfect – only that you go through the exercise of writing a fairly good one.

Lot 26 Concession 7 in the Township of East Hawkesbury within the County of Prescott, Ontario

Beginning at the north-westerly corner of part 1, marked with a 5/8″ iron bar; thence travelling easterly along the post & wire fence at bearing S67 29 30E a distance of 199′ to the 1″ iron bar; thence maintaining the same bearing a distance of 10′ to the north-eastern corner of plot 1; thence S16 51 30W a distance of 220′ to the 5/8″ iron bar; thence N67 29 30W a distance of 209′ to the 5/8″ iron bar; thence N16 51 30E a distance of 220′ to the place of beginning.