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Surveying and Mapping Technicians

  • Bright Outlook
  • Rapid Growth

Perform surveying and mapping duties, usually under the direction of an engineer, surveyor, cartographer, or photogrammetrist, to obtain data used for construction, mapmaking, boundary location, mining, or other purposes. May calculate mapmaking information and create maps from source data, such as surveying notes, aerial photography, satellite data, or other maps to show topographical features, political boundaries, and other features. May verify accuracy and completeness of maps.

What you’d do

  • Set out and recover stakes, marks, or other monumentation.
  • Search for section corners, property irons, or survey points.
  • Calculate latitudes, longitudes, angles, areas, or other information for mapmaking, using survey field notes or reference tables.
  • Enter Global Positioning System (GPS) data, legal deeds, field notes, or land survey reports into geographic information system (GIS) workstations so that information can be transformed into graphic land descriptions, such as maps and drawings.
  • Adjust and operate surveying instruments such as prisms, theodolites, electronic distance measuring equipment, or electronic data collectors.
  • Check all layers of maps to ensure accuracy, identifying and marking errors and making corrections.
  • Collect information needed to carry out new surveys, using source maps, previous survey data, photographs, computer records, or other relevant information.
  • Record survey measurements or descriptive data, using notes, drawings, sketches, or inked tracings.

Skills that matter

  • Reading Comprehension
  • Critical Thinking
  • Complex Problem Solving
  • Mathematics
  • Active Listening
  • Monitoring

How to get there

Medium preparation: usually vocational school, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree

Also called

  • Land Surveyor
  • Mapping Technician (Mapping Tech)
  • Stereoplotter Operator
  • Survey Technician (Survey Tech)
  • Field Surveyor
  • Land Survey Technician (Land Survey Tech)

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