To the Land Surveying Community of the Central Coast:

The surveying profession is coming up against a wall of not enough land surveyors to fulfill the needs of the nation, state and central coast. Many groups are working on how to bring more people into the profession and how to promote the profession. The Central Coast Chapter’s focus has been on the education of those coming into the profession. I am asking that we continue that support.

For more than 30 years our chapter put on LS / LSIT review sessions, using local experts to educate those preparing for the exams required to become a land surveyor. In 2014 the review sessions ended when the number of local participants had dwindled to where the review sessions didn’t cover the costs of the sessions.

To replace the review sessions, in 2015 the Chapter added a sister site to Parallax, the LS LSIT Study Boot Camp. See  https://study.centralcoastclsa.org/ .

The site provides material for those preparing for the NCEES “Fundamentals of Surveying”, NCEES “Principles and Practice of Surveying” and the California State Specific “Professional Land Surveyor” exams. Many members of the Central Coast Chapter contributed material for the site, which covers about 70% of the topics on these exams.

My request is to fill in that missing 30% and to improve the  70% that we already have. It has been a few years since this request was made to the chapter and even longer since anyone answered one of these requests. I have seen a new crop of people in the central coast area who are newly working in the land surveying profession. The best way to keep them in the profession is to support them the best way we can. I believe education and support of the LS/LSIT Study Boot Camp is one way.

Here are some statistics about the site:

• In 2025 we had 2022 visitors to the site, with 3518 views
• The most common areas the visitors viewed were:
  • LS Sample Questions
    • There are about 150 questions
    • Most have answers to them.
  • LSIT Sample Questions
    • There are about 190 questions
    • Only a few have answers
  • LSIT and FS Exam Preparation
  • Public Lands
  • LS Resource Material

If you are interested in supporting the site or just curious about what we are teaching, look at the site. https://study.centralcoastclsa.org/. Or, if you are reading this on Parallax web site, go to the menu on the top and select “Exam Review Site” and you are there.

What you can do to support the site:

• Content creators
  • A number of areas that have no content
    • Any item on the first page with no link has no content, including

LS REVIEW NEEDED: State Plane Coordinates, Vertical Datums, GNSS, PLS Act, Other statutes, Construction, ALTA, FEMA Flood, GIS

LSIT REVIEW NEEDED: Trigonometry, Algebra, Highway Curves, Business Economy, Boundary Basics, Geodesy, Photogrammetry

• Many areas with content need additional material
• Sample Question writers
  • There is always a need for more questions (with answers)
  • Many of the LSIT questions need answers to them, with explanations.
• Editors
  • Many of the existing write-ups have never been reviewed
    • Check for grammar and spelling
    • Make explanations more clear
    • Note any questionable information
• Resource researchers
  • Check links in the resource areas
  • Look for additional resources
  • Look for better resources
• YouTubers
  • Create video discussions on a topic
    • 7 to 15 minutes long.

Please consider doing what you can to help the profession in this way. If you have suggestions or comments, please feel free to contact me. As I use to tell my students, the only bad questions are the ones I ask.

Tom Mastin