Case Study: Chustz Surveying Inc achieves rapid, accurate post‑Katrina damage assessments with Trimble VRS GNSS solutions

Chustz Surveying Inc - Customer Case Study

GULFNet, a GNSS CORS network built and operated by LSU, teamed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and local firms like Chustz Surveying to provide post‑Katrina survey control in southeast Louisiana. When Hurricane Katrina destroyed local benchmarks and interrupted the region’s backup positioning network, survey teams faced the urgent challenge of producing accurate damage assessments and levee inspections with few reliable reference points.

LSU crews repaired and repowered GULFNet within two weeks, boosted station sampling, and integrated Trimble VRS to convert the network into an RTN so teams could perform RTK without local base stations. The restored system delivered accuracy that matched NGS values within 0.15 ft, enabled rapid, cost‑effective statewide and federal structure assessments (weeks instead of months), and now supports regular monitoring and subsidence science to inform long‑term flood mitigation.

Chustz Surveying Inc

Jimmy Chustz

President