Neighbor Design: Project: Land Surveyors United Social Network

A lot of creative pursuits came from the Palmetto Equipment project, but one of the most impressionable has been the highly acclaimed Land Surveyors United social network for professional land surveyors. LSU currently has 700 global members (which equates to more like 5000 in any other niche) and translates into 144 languages. This has been one of our most ambitious undertakings considering the fact that professional land surveyors spend very little time online, yet require some of the most intense technical support and the majority of them have zero knowledge of social networking and the power of the internet, despite their overwhelming need to communicate with one another. I wrote pretty extensively on the process of building such a network a while back, on Fast Company blog [link] and quite a bit on the Palmetto Equipment blog as well. Some of the more important information for our purposes here is quoted below.

One of the most important decisions that I made up front was to avoid trying to make a quick buck from the site. Building something like LSU (which is needed by the industry) may seem like the perfect exploitation scheme to some individuals, but I am 100% sure that if I had gone that route, I would have potentially created a monumental turn-off. I used free tools, my own time (creating graphics and tweaking code), and patience to manifest a tool that is now being used to find and share job opportunities (for an industry which is-let's face it-hurting), liquidate unwanted equipment, find manuals and work flows for instruments and unite an industry of individuals with real needs across the globe. Land surveyors not only have a voice now, they have a translatable voice attached to a face and years of experience.

Land Surveyors United is now more of an organism than a website-as planned in the beginning. Land Surveyors United has officially become the destination of surveyors all over the globe and can be enjoyed in over 144 languages. It has become what it was intended to be-a place where land surveyors from any region can go to find answers to their problems in the field, affordable equipment and supplies and news from the industry. In the LSU forum, you will see surveyors hard at work and networking with other surveyors to get the job done. We are becoming a one stop site for all things surveying related and I want to congratulate you all for putting in such hard work while socializing. Remember the this site translates into every language so there are no barriers as to what will be understood by other surveyors from the opposite side of the world. You all should be proud of being part of the largest most interactive social community of professional land surveyors anywhere in the world. Beef up those profiles with links to your business and experience, stuff to share and get those buddies in here to spread the wealth of knowledge that we have at our fingertips. Take a look at our member map and you'll see that we are quickly covering the globe.

Neighbor Design Services Involved with LSU: