Ascent Geomatics Solutions
8620 Wolff Ct, Westminster, Colorado, United States

Steve started Ascent Geomatics Solutions (Ascent) in May, 2006 in response to clients requests in the D-J Basin for faster and more accurate surveys and stakings needed for Well Location Certificates.  Steve rented 2 offices at 240 Union in Lakewood, CO.  He hired a receptionist and a PLS, purchased a used 1996 Ford 150 pickup and a Pentax Total station.  The PLS and an associate would collect the data for 1-2 vertical wells a day, load the data into DocMall and the Well Location Certificate was prepared for the client.  As oil prices increased, Ascent hired more surveyors and purchased more trucks and equipment. 

As the demand grew and sites became more complicated in 2007, Steve recognized the need to assist clients with the design of the drill pad site and access roads so he added Civil Engineers to the team.  In 2008, Steve added a Regulatory and Permitting team to assist clients in putting together the information needed for the Colorado Oil and Gas Commission to issue a Drilling Permit. By the end of 2008, the team had grown to 14, so he purchased a building at 1801 W 13^th Avenue in Denver to accommodate more growth. During this period, directional or horizontal drilling became more economical, and clients were now requesting surveys and stakings for multiple wells from a single pad, which greatly increased the complexity of the projects.  In response, Steve purchased more complicated total stations and data collectors and added members to the surveying, civil engineering and permitting teams.  He also created a GIS  department to systematically store all of the data collected  and created a hosted website called Petroleum Asset Manager (PAM) so that our clients could access all of their data on-line.  He also opened an office in Rifle, CO to accommodate the needs of client operators on the western slope. 

In 2011, to serve the needs of clients’ requests in the Williston basin, Steve opened an office in Williston, ND and began to expand our services to midstream providers. 

Although the precipitous  decline in oil prices in 2014 interrupted 10 years of double digit growth and expansion of services, it gave us an opportunity to look at new technologies, new services and new industries.  Clients are requesting more geospatial data, want it collected faster and more economically.  In response to these requests, we are now using drones, or UAVs and LIDAR scanners.  We can now analyze and manage this data with sophisticated software that allows our clients to make more timely and accurate business systems.  We are now offering these services to other industries such as mining and infrastructure challenges.