MicroSurvey was founded in 1985 in Edmonton by current president and CEO Darcy Detlor (Figure 1) while in his final year studying engineering at the University of Alberta. The main goal of the company at first was to provide software for land surveyors, specifically catering for Alberta surveyors in the booming oil & gas industry. In 1990 the company relocated to its current home in West Kelowna, and by 1996 released the first fully CAD-based survey software program, with great success. Over the next few years MicroSurvey grew into a major provider of land-survey software solutions across Canada.

At company headquarters in the sunny Okanagan Valley one finds a very relaxing environment. The offices are situated on the western side of Kelowna, overlooking Okanagan Lake. The valley is lush with vineyards, orchards and golf courses, and is a Mecca for high-tech companies. MicroSurvey currently employs 25 technical staff throughout North America (Figure 2).

The company has at present a share in two key markets: software for professional land surveyors and engineers, and the forensic-reconstruction software market for law-enforcement and accident-reconstruction specialists. Written by Darcy Detlor and released in late 1996, MicroSurvey CAD (MSCAD) combined the company's survey software with a CAD drafting engine. Sales increased over just a few short years by over 2,500% after release of this product, and according to Detlor, "MSCAD continues to be the right product for thousands of surveyors who want a full CAD system but not the cost of traditional AutoCAD-based products. MSCAD now uses the IntelliCAD engine and it has proven to be powerful, stable and dead easy to run if you have AutoCAD experience."

In 2001 MicroSurvey released software for the land-survey data-collection market, designed specifically for Windows CE and Windows Mobile devices (Figure 3). MicroSurvey FieldGenius has evolved into a powerful, graphic-rich program. Darcy Detlor elaborates, "When we show people a 3D-image of a stockpile they have measured, or real-time contours in a golf course, or even the linework created as you pick up shots along a road, they know they will benefit." Complementing the data collection software, the company in 2005 released OfficeSync, allowing the surveyor to wirelessly send job files back and forth between job site and office using cellular technology.

MicroSurvey now had a full product line offering land surveyors the tools they needed to get the job done from field to finish. The next step was to be able to distribute these products internationally; however, all the company's products were written solely in English. The next step was for MicroSurvey to develop easily translatable versions of all its products, producing translator kits for technical people familiar with survey technology. The user could now translate an entire product without any programming knowledge whatsoever, and requiring no changes to the source code. The company currently has software available in English, Spanish and simplified and traditional Chinese. Versions in Russian, Polish, Latvian, Slovakian and Czech will be released in summer 2010.

In 1999 MicroSurvey entered the accident and crime-scene market with CAD-based software. This technology allowed forensic specialists to take data collected from a scene and accurately create drawings for courtroom presentation. Since company expertise lay in the creation of highly accurate maps, adding forensics proved quite a natural fit. Police have used this software to construct diagrams of some of the most infamous major crimes in the US and Canada. The forensic product line evolved to include evidence-collection software for the field, desktop software for assembling raw data, and now 3D-animation software for the reconstruction of crime or crash scenes with compelling animations.

Last year was a record-breaker for MicroSurvey, with sales at an all-time high despite the worldwide recession. The company attributes this success to its global reach and looks forward to continued growth. Its software can now be found in more than 55 countries, with resellers throughout the world. The company plans to continue its commitment to developing leading-edge technologies for both the land-survey and forensic markets. The way MicroSurvey perceives and reacts to the ever-changing worldwide business climate continues its tradition of innovation and value. Technology is engineered and designed to work the way people think. "We empower people", says CEO Detlor, "not machines." Solutions for surveying, construction, engineering and accident reconstruction are inspired by uncompromising company standards of integrity, quality, leading-edge technology, support and value.