Land surveying is known as the world’s second-oldest profession. It dates back to ancient Egypt and Babylonia. Surveying is essentially the art and science of measuring and mapping land, which is a vital part of the design and construction process. While the entire scope of our profession is vast, it all eventually boils down to determining where your land boundaries are located. Without this service, railroads could not be built, skyscrapers could not be erected, and individuals could not put up fences around their yards, for fear of trespassing on someone else’s land.
We perform boundary surveys to tell people where their property is, map the topography of land for engineering design, establish elevations of home sites for flood insurance, perform title surveys for real estate transactions, certify that structures are built according to design, lay out buildings, subdivisions and other construction projects.
So, if you see a guy in the road looking through an instrument on a tripod, that is a surveyor, now you know that he is doing more than taking pictures.