Recently our staff have been in the City of Canton, Illinois collecting the location of each fire hydrant in town. While this may not sound too large, we quickly realized how many features needed to be collected. To accomplish this project we deployed iPads with Esri’s Collector Application installed on them. This allows users to collect data in the field with heightened accuracy. The app can work with the standard GPS of the iPad, but we were also incorporating a Trimble R2 unit to increase geographic precision.

We set up the collector application to collect hydrants (separated by cap color / rate of flow), water main valves, and any curb boxes that we may encounter. All in all, there were 643 hydrants within and surrounding the City. By using the Collector App we were able to have multiple users work on the map, and have all the previous work be visible to each user. This is a great advantage of the application. By allowing each worker to see in real time where other work is being completed, it allows crews to divide and conquer data collection.

If you are interested in learning more about the Collector application, or how Maurer-Stutz can assist in setting your organization up, please contact us today!

Maurer-Stutz GIS Webpage

309.693.7615

Before joining our team in September 2019, Saad Binsefran was a student at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale pursuing his bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering with a minor in Construction Management andamp; Operations. During his senior year, he was working with the Saudi Students Association at SIUC to launch an initiative called 150 Minutes.

The purpose of this initiative is to raise college student’s awareness of the recommended physical activity guidelines to achieve a healthy lifestyle, i.e., adults need at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week and should perform muscle-strengthening exercises on two or more days each week for 15 minutes. Additionally, this initiative aims to develop inclusive activities and exercises that are tailored to college students’ lifestyles to help them achieve their physical activity goals.

The initiative was launched as part of the Sports for All Challenge sponsored by the Saudi Sports for All Federation (SFA). 150 Minutes attracted more than 250 students from 15 universities and institutions in Saudi Arabia and the United States. At the final stages of the competition, Saad’s team was selected as one of the top three winning finalists and was invited to present their message at the competition finale in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Saad travelled to Saudi Arabia to support his team by presenting with his colleagues and helping to spread their message to the community. The final presentations were held in Riyadh, the Capital of Saudi Arabia, on January 29th, 2020 where the SFA President Prince Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud attended and judged the final presentations.

The 150 Minutes team came in second in the SFA Challenge winning a prize of 5000 US dollars. A few weeks later, Prince Khaled requested the 150 Minutes team to draft a proposal to start a nationwide program in Saudi Arabia sponsored by the SFA which will continue to deliver the initiative’s message and target more age groups such as children and seniors. Also, the Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the United States Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud contacted 150 Minutes team leader Mohammed Alobaidaa and complimented the idea of the initiative and arranged a meeting with the team in Washington, DC which had to be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Two weeks ago, the Saudi Students Association at SIUC ranked 4th among the best Saudi Students Clubs in the United States by the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission which is a first-time accomplishment for the Association since 2007.

Supporting Material:

• DeAnna Price, the SIU track and field star who became the first woman to win gold in the hammer throw at the IAAF World Championships in 2019 in Qatar even got on board by filming a video promoting the initiative.andnbsp; https://youtu.be/WOUpqZU7ENk

• Saudi Students Association arranged an in-campus 5K as part of the initiative’s activities https://youtu.be/rFnNT2z9rXM

WAND-TV featured Gayle Baker, an Agricultural Services Engineer at Maurer-Stutz and a Deep Pit beef barn project completed in early 2016. The project was implemented using EQIP (Environmental Quality Incentive Program) through USDA-NRCS (USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service). Maurer-Stutz, Inc provided professional engineering services for the design and permitting of the waste storage structure and other related practices.

The producer took advantage of this to address the resource concern of manure running off his existing lots with the possibility of entering the nearby water source. The project collects rainfall and runoff from the concrete lots and transfers the water and manure into the deep pit manure barn where liquid manure waste is stored. This has ensured that manure and runoff remain in the storage until it is utilized as a fertilizer for the surrounding cropland.

Manure contains ammonia and organic nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium that can be utilized as a replacement for commercial fertilizers. The other benefit of applying manure for crop production is the organic matter that is also replaced in the soil, which provides a better environment for growing crops. When the timing is right for manure application, the pit is agitated, which mixes up the manure to make sure that nutrients are similar throughout the slurry. Manure is applied with injection, which places the manure just below the soil in the root zone, which prevents rainfall and erosion from carrying away the nutrients and provides the nutrients in the optimum place for crop uptake.

On the sustainability of raising livestock, and particularly raising livestock in a barn, Gayle has this to say, “The utilization of manure to produce crops to feed to livestock for food production. The livestock natural byproduct is manure, which goes back into this very renewable and sustainable system. The value of having manure that is stored in a deep pit provides a dense source of nutrients for farmers to put a value on, just like they would commercial fertilizer.”

“Producers out their care! They care about their natural resources and they care about their livestock. Even in this unsure time, producers are working hard to produce safe food for us to consume.”

You can also view the news feature of Jon Strickler, part of the family farm that implemented this deep pit facility in 2016 on his notes on the improvement it had on the Strickler Family Farm operation.

Engineering Day | FREE DAY!

Sun, Feb 16 | Noon-5 pm

Future engineers, scientists, and kids of all ages are invited to Engineering Day 2020 at the Peoria Riverfront Museum. Exciting andamp; engaging engineering activities will be provided throughout the museum by local engineering groups, who are also sponsoring general admission for this free day at the museum.

Engineering Day Planetarium Schedule:

1 pm – Earth, Moon, Sun
1:30 pm – We Are Astronomers
2 pm – Earth, Moon, Sun
2:30 pm – Stars Over Peoria
3 pm – We Are Astronomers
3:30 pm – Uniview – Tour the Solar System
4 pm – Earth, Moon, Sun
4:30 pm – We Are Astronomers

29th Annual ASCE Bridge Contestandnbsp;

1:30 pm

Auditorium

*Free event and General Admission, up-charge applies to “Da Vinci – The Genius” and Giant Screen Theater.

For more information call 309.686.7000.

Sponsored by Caterpillar and other local engineering firms and groups.

ASCE Engineers Week Bridge Contest!

29th Annual Bridge Contest
ASCE would like to extend an invitation to the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade students at your school to compete in the 2020 ASCE Bridge Building Contest.

Maurer-Stutz is a proud sponsor and volunteer of this event!

For registration application -andnbsp;click here.