Anthony Cavell. PLS, CFedS
BATON ROUGE (2022) – LSU Center for Geoinformatics Surveyor J. Anthony Cavell was installed as President of the American Association for Geodetic Surveying (AAGS). The AAGS leads the U.S. community of geodetic, surveying, and land information data users. AAGS aims to develop new educational programs, including presentations, seminars, and workshops on topics related to geodetic surveying; and articles and papers that inform the membership of the latest scientific and technological developments and how to implement them efficiently.
Cavell is the State Geodetic Coordinator and a Fellow of AAGS, NSPS, and ACSM and has been active in the ACSM and the Louisiana Society of Professional Surveyors (LSPS). He was licensed by the Louisiana Professional Engineering and Land Surveying Board, in 1990, and approved as a Professional Development Provider in 2004. In 2007, The U.S. Bureau of Land Management recognized him as a Certified Federal Surveyor.
He is a researcher at the Louisiana Spatial Reference Center (LSRC) at LSU C4G attempting to better define the Geoid model for Louisiana with hopes of expanding to the Gulf Coast. The Geoid is an invisible surface that has the same gravity potential on every part of that surface and is the best fit for what has been called “Mean Sea Level.” Previous and existing geoid models have been poor compared to most of the continental United States, due to its unique geology. The goal is ambitious; to achieve a precision of 1 centimeter (current models have errors as much as 8 cm).
A successful result will permit areas within Louisiana and the Gulf Coast with the tools necessary to quickly and regularly determine tectonic movement, subsidence, and sea level rise and better plan and respond to natural changes and emergencies.
Cavell continuously strives to educate the public about the breadth of Geodesy and the surveying profession, its history, the dependence society has on it, and the dangers of assuming robots or numbers from measurements are exact.