Episode 252 - Chad Maxwell, PLS

Strap in and grab your Trimble, because Episode 252 of The Geoholics takes us on a globetrotting, tech-loving, swamp-sloshing survey saga with none other than Chad Maxwell, PLS—a man who’s mapped more terrain than your Roomba on espresso.

We kick things off with the usual “Jake Owen sings while KG wings it” intro, followed by breaking news from the land of satellite miners, career advice from the GeoSearch crew, and an ESRI pro tip that may or may not involve chair-based motivation.

Then it’s time for the main event: Chad “Every Mode of Transport” Maxwell. This guy has surveyed from 200 meters in the sky to 3,000 meters under the sea, possibly while simultaneously filing expense reports and dodging alligators in a swamp buggy. He’s done geomatics work inside a jet engine, which raises both safety concerns and curiosity about what his LinkedIn endorsements look like.

Highlights include:

A “remote-sensing-first” mindset that could make drones blush.

A heartfelt plea to ditch outdated habits (we’re looking at you, paper field books).

A shout-out to the ASPRS standards that got more love than most people's fantasy football teams.

And a lighting round that proves even surveyors enjoy filling in the blank—especially when the blank is “The future of surveying is _______.”

From nuclear reactors to the Grand Canyon, Chad Maxwell proves that the future of surveying is just one swamp buggy ride away.