Surveying

A picture true to original of the surface of our Earth

In the middle of the 1970s after I had returned from military, I started a traineeship, which I finished in 1978 as a surveyor. At this time you had to draw with ink and circle, while today there are CAD-programs and plotter. At the field respectively in the outside work we had mainly an optical equipment. Today there are electronical ones.

When I started my traineeship, the office bought its very first computer - an Olivetti with datas and programs on magnetic cards. It costs 9000 DM - it was the hole proud of my boss.

After I had finished the traineeship, I started to study surveying at the academy. Unfortunately, only after 2 year, I recognized that I was wrong. I canceled the study and worked in a consulting office as surveyor respectively as a architectural draftsman.

Section of a surveyor's plan of the old school

We planed a highway with 4 tracks through a integral nature reserve in Wuppertal. After that we planed a avenue with 4 tracks in Bagdad in Iraq. In the early 1980s the war between Iran and Iraq was in full swing. By considering our plans we had doubts, that there are no holes from bombs. By the way at this time we were very shure that there were only camels in Bagdad to walk on the boulevard.

One day for this project I had to go to the Iraqi embassy in Bonn, in order to get a visa for a colleague of mine. In the embassy, I remember, there was a very frosty climate, although germany was not involved in war. After I passed the door of the embassy I felt like in a foreign country, from one moment to the other. I felt like a foreigner in my own country.