Land Surveyor
Job Description
Land surveying is a science as well as an art of spatial position fixing. Land surveyors participate in various civil engineering and land development projects. They gather and value the relevant information on land and geographical locations, offer advice and services on planning and efficient management of resources such as land, ocean and buildings. The work of land surveying can be classified into the following categories:
Cadastral Surveying (Property Surveying)
- Determine boundaries and areas of land properties on site
- Set out boundaries
- Re-establish old lot boundaries with reference to records and survey marks
Engineering Surveying (Surveying for Construction)
- Prepare initial site survey plans
- Compute construction alignments for civil engineering works
- Set out pre-determined positions for construction and measure earthwork quantities
- Monitor unstable structures, slopes and areas
Geodetic Surveying (Surveying of Figure and Area of Earth)
- Establish and maintain a network of horizontal and vertical reference points, and apply the Modern Global Positioning Systems (Satellite Surveying Technology) to enhance the precision of the existing network and relate it to the worldwide co-ordinate system
- Provide geodetic information to departments and establishments concerned
- Relate old survey marks or survey system to the current system
- Compute latitudes and longitudes, and horizontal co-ordinates
Hydrographic Surveying (Sea Surveying)
~Provide accurate information on the topography of the sea bed to ensure safe navigation and sub aqueous construction. Major services provided are:
- Measure water current
- Locate rocks, bars, lights and buoys
- Determine channel depths
- Measure and compute sub aqueous excavation quantities
- Collect any information relating to marine navigation
Photogrammetric Surveying (Surveying Using Photographs)
~Refer to various techniques employed for producing surveying plans and maps from photographs taken on ground or by cameras carrying in aeroplanes. The photographs can be used in:
- Producing survey plans and maps at various scales
- Preparing mosaics from aerial photos
- Monitoring structures by photogrammetric method
- Surveying antiquities and monuments for record or restoration purposes
Topographic Surveying (Map Making) and Digital Mapping
- Measure topographical features on ground and transform the measurements into graphical outputs, e.g., survey plans, survey sheets and maps, for users such as architects, civil engineers, town planners, geologists, drivers, tourists and hikers
Land Information Processing
- Collect and process various types of information and data in relation to land
Career Opportunities
- Employed in government departments such as Lands Department and Civil Engineering Department
- Employed in private practices
- Provide services for the developers and contractors