What is a Surveyor?

As Defined by Utah State Code

Title 58-22-102 (11) "Professional land surveying or the practice of land surveying" means any service or work, the adequate performance of which requires the application of special knowledge of the principles of mathematics, the related physical and applied sciences, and the relevant requirements of law for adequate evidence to the act of measuring and locating lines, angles, elevations, nature and man-made features in the air, on the surface of the earth, within underground workings, and on the beds of bodies of water for the purpose of determining areas and volumes, for the monumenting or locating property boundaries or points controlling boundaries, and for the platting and layout of lands and subdivisions thereof, including the topography, alignment and grades of streets, and for the preparation and perpetuation of maps, record plats, field notes records, and property descriptions that represent these surveys and such other duties as sound surveying practices could direct.

The following four (IV) definitions of surveying are attributed to Dr. Ben Buckner, Ph.D., author of "Surveying Measurements and their Analysis  

I. ELEMENTARY DEFINITION OF SURVEYING (as paraphrased in most texts)

Surveying Measurement: The art, science and technology of gathering and analyzing measurement data related to the land and other land related surfaces and spaces, to include designing and devising the measurement specifications and standards to accomplish these measurements with the desired precision and accuracy and error control and adjustment, including the use of all instrumentation applicable to such measurements, and measurements typically being, but not limited to distances, heights, angles, directions, positions, areas, volumes, and other measurements associated with these quantities.

Professional Surveying: The application of knowledge of the science of surveying measurement, the legal principles of boundary location, the law related to boundaries and land use, the applicable mathematical and computational theories and principles, the natural and other forces which affect positional accuracy, the land planning and development concepts pertinent to subdivision of land and property surveys, land record and land tenure concepts, geodetic and other earth-related sciences to the analyses, design, and execution of surveying and mapping projects and the design of land mapping and information systems

1. Original Surveys for Establishing Property Boundaries

2. Retracement of Property Boundaries

3. Field Surveys for topographic and other Maps

4. Photograrnmetric Surveys for Topographic and other Maps

5. Construction of Maps and other Graphics for Design and Planning

6. Layout and Staking to Guide Construction

7. Measuring and Plotting the Position of Constructed Works

8. Geodetic and other Precise Control Surveys

9. Surveys for Mining and other Subsurface Operations

10. Hydrographic and Underwater Surveys

11. Making Surveys and Maps for Land Information Systems

12. Design of Measurement Specifications for Various Surveys

13. Development of Measurement Standards for Various surveys

14. Application, Use, and Adjustment of Measurement Instruments

15. Development of Relative Geometric Positional and other Accuracy Needs for Land Information Systems.

16. Assisting engineers, Lawyers, Planners, the Public, and Government Officials with the solution of Problems Where Surveying Expertise is Needed.

IV. THE VALUE OF BEING A SURVEYOR

1.  Full understanding of the inexactness, uncertainty, and variable nature of measurement leads to humility since it teaches that one can never be sure of results. It is this very humility that, more than anything, creates the professional attitude needed to constantly seed new evidence, and consequently a higher probability of approaching the truth or proving something with confidence.

2. The surveyor is primarily an analyst. As an analyst of both measurement data and boundary location evidence (including geometric and other mathematical relationships) the surveyor is in a position to develop a keen sensitivity to the importance of finding and applying the truth.

3. A surveyor, when practicing according to the true nature of surveying, is ever seeking the truth, whether in measurement or in boundary location. consequently, learning and applying the measurement science and the legal and other principles of boundary retracement develops character.

4. The art and science of surveying is a mirror of life itself.