What Does A Surveyor Do?
Surveyors are professionals who work to carry out measurements on land and water to find out the exact location of property boundaries. Getting the boundaries right for both urban and rural properties is important for many different purposes. First, it delineates the ownership life of two properties. When there are disputes involving property owners about boundaries, the surveyor is tasked by the court to do a survey to determine where the property lines lie. During court hearings, surveyors are called to present their findings and give their testimony to support or debunk claims.
Another reason why the boundaries should be set is because it establishes areas where particular structures should be built following zoning regulations. The zoning laws of the land dictate what kinds of edifices can only be constructed in a particular property. The surveys done by surveyors are able to determine where roads, office buildings and residential areas should be built. To support the work they do in this area, surveyors don’t just do field work. They also look into land and survey records as well as land titles. When a particular edifice is being constructed, surveyors look at the exact location of highways or structures and even go as far as measuring what the proper depths should be for building the foundations.
Surveyors are also called upon to reestablish boundary lines. They act like detectives when they do this job since they investigate and look for evidence on where the old markers are. There are times when natural and man-made occurrences will cause these boundary lines to be blurred or lost. It is the job of surveyors to look into records and examine the land closely to determine where these markers were once placed.
To do their work, surveyors now rely on a satellite system that pinpoints reference points with a high very high degree of accuracy known as Global Positioning System (GPS). In order to showcase data in the more understandable form of maps, charts and reports, surveyors also make use of the Geographic Information System (GIS). The results they can gather from their GPS and GIS are helpful in determining the areas where the best place to construct roads and other infrastructures are. They typically work with other building professionals like engineers, architects and urban planners in large scale projects.
Surveyors also give data and description on the shape, contour and elevation of the land for engineering, architectural, mapmaking and mining purposes. They may also do surveys to determine the value of a particular land.
Before the surveyor will report their findings to their clients, they have to make sure that their findings are accurate. They are very thorough in recording their findings and measurements so that the homeowners, private companies and the government agencies that hire them will be able to make sound decisions based on the data provided to them. Accuracy is very important because they will be responsible for writing down the descriptions of property surveys which will be reflected in legal documents like deeds and leases.
A physically demanding job, surveyors have to bring their own geodetic and engineering instruments to the location. They would then have to set up fixed survey points. Since they are usually the leaders of a survey party, they have to give the proper instructions to the survey technicians and other assistants of the survey team. They also have to make adjustments to their instruments during the survey process to ensure that these remain accurate. They also have to conduct the surveys based on the proposals and procedures they have already prepared beforehand.
Surveyors may also be asked to do surveys of water to establish where marine structures like piers and breakwaters ought to be constructed. They may also be asked to determine locations for prospecting efforts, like that of finding possible areas where petroleum and other mineral products can be mined.
In addition to land and water surveys, surveyors may also do aerial surveys. If they need to do an aerial survey, they will have to determine what cameras to use to get the best shots and decide from which altitude they should take the pictures of the geographical site for accurate results.
Career Spotlight: Surveyor
A surveyor makes exact measurements in order to define the boundaries of a property. This is necessary to determine where the exact locations of real estate and construction projects are and to give l[...]
