3D Geomatics is a land surveying company with over 20 years of experience, offering a wide range of services to both public and private sectors. While they engage in various activities, their primary focus is on land surveying. This includes tasks such as surveying land for construction projects, assessing roads after damage, and defining property borders. Additionally, they provide scanning services for structures, creating 3D models to assist companies in visualizing and improving areas or objects. We sat down with Marc Gervais, office administrator at 3D Geomatics to learn more!

01. TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF.

Marc: My name is Marc Gervais. I Immigrated to Canada in 1998. I’ve been here most of my life now, and I’ve worked all over B.C. I’ve worked up in the Yukon, done some work in Alberta as well, done quite a bit of traveling on the western side of Canada. I do a lot of different things. As of right now, I love my video games and cycling.

02. HOW ARE YOU INVOLVED IN THE COMPANY?

Marc: Mostly on the administration side. Making sure that we adhere to health and safety practices. Accounts payable, accounts receivable and just generally being there to help project managers on the admin side of things. I’ve been out in the field too to see what everyone does. They are very skilled and very knowledgeable! We are lucky enough to see some newer projects happening in the next few years and always try to be part of those projects. But there’s some interesting things happening.

03. WHAT SERVICES DOES 3D GEOMATICS OFFER?

Marc: Legal surveying, so anything that requires legal boundaries. Only certain people are qualified, it needs to be a legal surveyor. We also do 3D scans. We’ve actually done 3D scans of boats for companies wanting to add things to make them bigger or smaller. That was something fun!

We survey everything from roads, towns, to a mound of dirt. For instance, when companies, especially big construction companies, move dirt there are costs associated with it. They need to weigh the dirt in order to ensure they charge back effectively and only pay out of pocket what they need to. They will bring a surveyor in to look at how much dirt there was to start, then after they moved the required amount, we will survey how much is left.

04. HOW DO YOU SEE CANADA’S CURRENT ECONOMY AFFECTING 3D GEOMATIC AND THE INDUSTRY ITSELF?

Marc: That was a difficult question to answer. So, our work is based mainly on infrastructure. It’s based on what might happen in the future, and not what’s really happening. We have to forecast based on planned and expected projects. But there are emergencies that come up. A couple of years we had some really bad rain and roads got washed out all over the province. We had to drop everything immediately and go and survey the roads, building out designs for what needed to happen. Our work is based on infrastructure and construction, those are the main things.

05. WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE PROJECT TO DATE AND WHY?

Marc: Okay, so talking from a company perspective, we do a lot of different things it’s hard to choose a favorite. One that comes to mind was doing a drone survey of the Nanaimo waterfront. That was quite interesting due to the seaplane and helicopter traffic in the area; you need special permission to operate a drone in that vicinity. I also find big road projects very interesting, as well. Doing the survey for a road that’s 35 kilometers long can be complex because it’s not just the road you are surveying. We need to account for about a hundred meters on either side of that road for 35 kilometers. It’s a lot of work and something people wouldn’t typically think about at all.

06. HOW LONG HAS THE BUSINESS BEEN AROUND AND HAVE YOU SEEN A LOT OF CHANGE SINCE YOU STARTED?

Marc: The business has been around for over 20 years. The owner – Barry Fisk – has been doing it for longer than that. He’s very knowledgeable about surveying.

Everything changes every year, especially technology. There’s always something new which either creates more efficiencies or more challenges. We are all challenged with needing to do more with less time using less people. Drones, for instance, have had a massive impact on our business. What would have taken someone five days previously, now takes one person with a drone less than a day.

07. DOES 3D GEOMATICS DO ANY WORK OUTSIDE OF VANCOUVER ISLAND?

Marc: Yes, we do. We cover most of Vancouver Island – the other week, we did an interesting job in Chetwynd surveying a lake due to EV stations being installed. We cover all over the lower mainland and as far north as Prince George and as far east as Kamloops.

08. WOULD 3D GEOMATICS BRANCH OUT BEYOND B.C.?

Marc: I don’t see why not! We’d like to expand further in BC first and see where the future takes us.

09. WHAT IS A RESOURCE THAT YOU RECOMMEND PEOPLE USE?

Marc: Counselling. I know a lot of people think they’re invincible, but you don’t know until it’s sometimes too late. I do think it’s important for everyone to consider and possibly take advantage of – whether it’s counselling for yourself, friends, or family. In my experience, when you’ve realized that you’re burnt out. It’s already too late.

Learn more about 3D Geomatics by visiting their website – 3dgeomatics.com.

This interview has been edited and condensed.