Senior project manager Roberto Ramirez made the surveying and engineering community and his company, Cordoba Corp., proud in October when the Space Shuttle Endeavor rolled through the streets of Los Angeles in a beautifully choreographed dance through a maze of obstacles before an audience of millions.

Cordoba's pro bono role was to plan, identify the obstructions and execute the transport. Ramirez's inspired solution was to ask surveyor David Evans and Associates to use mobile laser-scanning technology to capture the geometry of the 12-mile route in high-definition 3D. Then, the team moved a polygon, which represented the spaceship, through the enormous volume of data to run clash detection and determine what it would take in equipment, maneuvering and obstruction removal to roll an 80-ft-wide, 60-ft-tall, 122-ft-long object on four self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs) through L.A.