About Land Surveying Jobs

For every construction, renovation and mapping project, land surveyors are needed to go out with sophisticated instruments and record actual measurements. There are several different types of surveying, but all involve some mathematical skill and desire to work outdoors. It is a job that has been around for a long time and will continue to be as the nature of the job changes with the invention of new technologies.

History

Land surveying has accompanied almost every kind of construction in history, and is known to have been a part of development for at least 5,000 years.

Types

Surveying can apply to boundaries, archaeological sites, construction of buildings and roads, preconstruction activities such as topographic and layout surveys, detail of land use and more.

Identification

Land surveyors work outside and use theodolites, set on tripods, to measure height and elevation changes of land as well as electronic measurement systems and even GPS to obtain and record data.

Considerations

Careers in land surveying are rewarding, but surveyors must have a working knowledge of basic mathematics, pass a state examination in the U.S., and have the proper license to work where they do.

Fun Fact

Land surveying is considered by some to be an art, since matching up and calculating property boundaries, as well as considering other boundary crossings and miscalculations, can be like building a puzzle.