Surveyor

This reading sits behind the What a Trade Is panel for the trade named below. The panel gives the trade in 250 words; this gives the trade its context — what the work is, how it is learned here, and what it costs and pays.

The panel text

What. A surveyor measures the earth so that everything else can be built on it. The first person on a site and the one who decides where the building actually stands.

Tools. Total station, GNSS receiver, level, prism pole, field book, drone, GIS software, the plat and the deed.

A day. Recover the control points. Set up, back-sight, measure. Stake the building corners and the utility runs. Fly the drone for the topo. Reduce the data in the office; draw the map.

Pay. $45k entry to $90k experienced; licensed land surveyors beyond.

Path. Universal core → QGIS/ArcGIS → GNSS → total station → construction layout → photogrammetry → cartography. Credentials: FAA Part 107 (drone), NSPS Certified Survey Technician L1–2, Esri ArcGIS Pro.

Why it matters. Land price per square foot is what drives a city upward (Series C). The surveyor is the one who measures the square foot.

See it. Transit → total station → drone, Gallery G9, and the live GIS table.

Reading further

The panel's series (What a Trade Is) hangs together in Gallery G10, the Hall of Makers. Each panel in the series is printed at 48 inches on aluminum composite, lent to schools and libraries, and archived here with its reading.

The program behind the panel: GIS / Surveying / Drone Operations

9.0–12.0 months full-time. Curriculum: QGIS/ArcGIS; GNSS; total station; construction layout; photogrammetry; hydrography intro; cartography.

Courses

• 1. Universal Core: Safety, Math, Communication & Career — 148 hr (core), $1,185
• 2. QGIS/ArcGIS — 146 hr (trade), $1,750
• 3. GNSS — 146 hr (trade), $1,750
• 4. Total station — 146 hr (trade), $1,750
• 5. Construction layout — 146 hr (trade), $1,750
• 6. Photogrammetry — 146 hr (trade), $1,750
• 7. Hydrography intro — 146 hr (trade), $1,750
• 8. Cartography — 146 hr (trade), $1,750
• 9. Capstone Project — 216 hr (capstone), $2,160
• 10. Externship / Worksite Placement — 324 hr (externship), $1,295
• 11. Certification Exam Preparation — 90 hr (exam_prep), $900

Credentials: Esri ArcGIS Pro; FAA Part 107; NSPS CST L1-2.

Every course above carries a written exam, an observed skills demonstration, a signed log and a safety audit; the program ends with the capstone, the externship and the credential exam.