© fletcher photography - the american surveyor

>> By Trenton D. Turk, LS

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In September of 2003, surveyors played an important role as

the community of Marietta, Georgia came together to

honor the victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

joined the local Kiwanis Club inMarietta, Georgia about two yearsago because it offered me (and ourcompany) opportunities to serve ourcommunity in many different ways.In the fall of 2003, my involvement inthe club afforded our company anopportunity to help with a very spe-

cial project known as the “Field of Flags.” Devan Seabaugh, President of the local club,

and Glenn Graham, a fellow member, had con-ceived the idea for a “Field of Flags” earlier inthe year. Devan had seen an article depicting alarge field with flags scattered through it, andasked Glenn if a similar project would be possi-ble for our club to do in remembrance of the vic-tims of the September 11th terrorist attack.Glenn has chaired our “flag committee” foryears, handling the placement of more than sixhundred flags around the community on sixpatriotic occasions throughout the year as a fund-raising event. He firmly believed that our clubcould handle this project as well!

Glenn immediately began organizing all aspectsof the event. He advertised the effort at each of

our weekly meetings, soliciting volunteers to helpwith the assembly of the flags. Committee mem-bers began selling the flags for $10.00 eachthroughout the community. John Cissell, Rangerfor the Kennesaw National Battlefield Park,arranged for a local field at the park to be usedfor placement of the flags.

The plan was to place 3004 flags in the field,one for each victim, and keep the flags on display from Wednesday, September 10th untilSunday, September 14th. continued >

At Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park

IScott Holcombe of GeoSurvey, Ltd., operates a Topcon AP-L1A roboticstation while collecting data for the base map.

Displayed with permission • The American Surveyor • Charter Issue • Copyright 2004 Cheves Media • www.TheAmericanSurveyor.com

http://www.theamericansurveyor.com

Surveyors Get InvolvedOn Thursday, September 4th, I attend-ed our weekly Kiwanis meeting andhappened to sit at the table with GlennGraham. At lunch Glenn shared hisconcerns about several of the flag proj-ect details that still need to get ironed

out, including whether or not the fieldat the park was large enough to handlemore than 3,000 flags.

Each flag pole consisted of a 10-footsection of electrical conduit. The planwas to place sections of rebar through-out the field over which the flags couldbe placed. I asked Glenn if he had meas-ured the field in any way or if he haddetermined how far the flags should beplaced apart. It turned out that a fewmeasurements had been taken, but nospecific plan of action had yet beendeveloped. Realizing that we could pro-vide some valuable help, I volunteeredour company, GeoSurvey, Ltd., to pre-pare a base map and plan for the place-ment of 3004 flags in the field. With atremendous look of relief, Glenn gra-ciously accepted my offer.

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Top: Aerial view of the 100-foot grid.

Inset: Portion of drawing created as base mapfor use when staking the 100-foot grid

Bottom: David Odom and Scott Holcombeutilize a Topcon HiPer GPS RTK remote unitwith TDS Ranger controller to set up a base-station and place stakes on the 100-foot grid.



The following Thursday afternoon,surveyors David Odom and ScottHolcombe visited the field and took thenecessary measurements to establish thesize and configuration of the open field.A control traverse consisting of fourpoints was established using a TopconAP-L1A robotic instrument combinedwith a TDS Ranger data collector. Afterthe control points were established, theylocated the edge of the woods and theadjoining roadway for use in developingthe base map. Later that day, they trans-ferred the collected data into AutoCADwith Carlson software and prepared asimple base map depicting the existingfeatures of the field. An aerial photo-graph of the site obtained online fromMapQuest.com was inserted into the draw-ing as a background image.

On Friday morning, I contacted Glennand requested that he drop by my office.He arrived mid-morning, and we imme-diately began developing the plan for theplacement of the flags.

We quickly determined that the fieldcontained approximately nine acres,therefore, squeezing 3004 flags onto itwould be a challenge. Areas also had tobe reserved for crowd assembly and fora large tent to be set up near the flags.We set up a baseline along the longestaxis of the field parallel to Old Highway41, then proceeded to draw a grid on thefield using 10-foot squares. We blendedthe grid into the edge of the woods onthe rear of the field, and angled the gridalong the side of the field nearest the

park center and gathering area. After setting up the grid, we used the

‘array’ command to copy a small circleto every grid intersection. A quick entitycount in AutoCAD revealed 3,055 cir-cles, or flag positions. We trimmed out51 circles, leaving us 3,004—which wasexactly what we needed!

Bring on the Lights!Using Carlson software, we establishedpoint numbers on 100-foot squaresthroughout the grid. On Tuesday morning the points were uploaded into aTDS Ranger data collector for stakeout.David Odom and Scott Holcombereturned to the site and placed stakes ateach of the 100-foot grid intersections.We utilized a Topcon GPS RTK systemto stake the points. A “site calibration”was performed on the four previouslyestablished control points. After the sys-tem was calibrated to the site, we simplyfollowed the arrow to each point num-ber. Each 100-foot grid intersection wasmarked with a stake and the correspon-ding point number. Due to the irregulari-ty of the grid, we also staked every 10-foot grid point along the woods line.A plan with the point numbers was pro-vided to Mark Wade of Wade Electricand to Glenn Graham. Employees fromWade Electric used a 100-foot ropemarked at 10-foot intervals to place the10-foot grid points on the ground. Paintspots were placed at each 10-foot gridintersection between the 100-foot gridstakes. On this same day, Cobb EMC,

the local electricity supplier, providedand placed four large light poles andspotlights to light up the field at night.

At daybreak on Wednesday morning,September 10th, more than 100 employ-ees of Butch Thompson Enterprises, alocal contracting firm, reported to workat the park. Each one grabbed a ham-mer, a pair of gloves, and several four-foot sections of rebar (all provided byHome Depot in Cobb County) and setright to work. Within two hours, standsfor 3004 flags had been placed on anexact 10-foot grid throughout the site.

That afternoon, many Kiwanis Clubmembers in pickup trucks began trans-porting the 3004 flags from the assemblybuilding in downtown Marietta to the

Top: Volunteers marked off ropes every ten feet.

Past Meets Present — An artillery piece from the June 27, 1864 Battleof Kennesaw Mountain occupies the Topcon HiPer RTK base station.

Sections of rebar in place on the grid



field. By late afternoon the flags werehandsomely and uniformly displayedthroughout the field.

The team that worked so diligently toget these flags in place before September11 was rewarded by the look on the visitors’ faces when they first saw theflags. People came from as far away asIndiana to walk through the flags andpay their respects to those who lost theirlives on September 11, 2001. Many visitors had tears in their eyes as theywandered through the field. Some simply sat at the base of a flag, staringup at the mountain or at the other flags.Others left flowers, stuffed animals, andother tokens of remembrance at thebases of many of the flags.

On Thursday, September 11, TheKiwanis Club held its weekly meetingunder the large tent that was set upnear the field. Georgia CongressmanJohnny Isakson addressed the groupand encouraged all to remember thosethat died in the terrorist attack andthose that have given their lives in warsince that day. Former GeorgiaGovernor Roy Barnes gave a memo-rable address. The day concluded witha solemn sunset service, a bagpipe tribute, and a 21-gun salute.

The event was noted on national tele-vision on the morning of September 11on ABC, and was covered by all thelocal television stations in Atlanta.Articles commemorating the event werepublished in the Marietta Daily Journal,

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and otherpublications.

Glenn Graham has already beenapproached by many Kiwanis membersand others in the community aboutmaking the Field of Flags an annual tra-dition. Rest assured, we at GeoSurveywill do our part in the future to con-tribute to this wonderful project.

Editor’s Note: To learn more about photographer and portrait artist Jay Fletcherand see examples of his work, visitwww.fletcherphotography.com. All other photosby Trent D. Turk.

Trent Turk is President of GeoSurvey,Ltd., located in Marietta, Georgia.

Top: One by one, Kiwanians place flags over the rebar stands.

Middle: Visitors gather at the “Field of Flags”on September 11, 2003, to pay their respects to victims of the 2001 terrorist attack.

Bottom: Flowers, stuffed animals, and othertokens of remembrance were placed at many ofthe flags.



© fletcher photography - the american surveyor

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