What are the qualifications of a surveyor?

Land surveying is a learned profession. It requires precision, facility with applied mathematics, technical knowledge, ability for discriminating investigation, logical thinking, and judicious judgment. A land surveyor in the execution of his projects will work with lawyers, architects, engineers, urban planners, local government officials, and the public in general. He will be involved in both field and office work. In the design of urban subdivision, the land surveyor utilizes extensive surveying principals, applied mathematics, including computer techniques, basic civil engineering principles, photogrammetry, and electronic distance measuring equipment. He is involved in planning, office design and field layout of streets, storm and sanitary sewer extension, and property boundaries. The land surveyor works with the lawyer in writing land descriptions or in locating existing descriptions on the ground.

He also makes maps for architects, landscape experts, and urban planners to utilize for the design of houses, shopping centers, or housing developments. He does layout work for engineering projects. Hence land surveying requires knowledge in applied science and mathematics and basic planning, surveying, engineering, and legal principles.

All 50 states have laws requiring practicing land surveyors to be registered. The state of Indiana requires the equivalent of a four-year university degree in land surveying and four years experience under the supervision of a registered land surveyor, plus the passing of a 16-hour written examination, to become registered as a land surveyor.