Surveying - Land Surveyor

Land Surveyor

One of the primary roles of the land surveyor is to find the boundary of a person's property. That boundary is described in legal documents and the land surveyor follows that description and locates the boundary on the physical land and marks it, so the owner knows what land he owns. As an example, such a legal description may refer to a point as being 120.25 feet south of some existing marker. The land surveyor in that case would find the existing marker and use measuring instruments to find the point 120.25 feet south of that, and place a new marker at that location. These markers are called monuments.

Monuments are categorized into two groups which are known as natural and artificial. Natural monuments are things such as trees, large stones and other substantial, naturally occurring objects that were in place before the survey was made. An artificial monument is anything within the regulations that are usually placed at corner points by landowners, surveyors, engineers and others. They may be called by various terms on maps, in descriptions and in field books. They may be refereed to as iron pins or pipes, stakes, trees, concrete monuments or what ever the surveyor decides to use at the time, within the regulations for the area. The courts have held that natural monuments control over artificial monuments because they are more certain in identification and less likely to be disturbed.

Over time, development, vandalism, and acts of nature often wreak havoc on monumentation, so the land surveyor is often forced to consider other evidence such as fence locations, wood lines, monuments on neighboring properties and recollections of people. This other evidence is known as Extrinsic Evidence and is a fairly common principle. Extrinsic evidence is defined as evidence outside the writings, in this case the deed. Extrinsic evidence is held to be synonymous with evidence from another source.

Today's land surveyor sets monumentation at actual physical points on the ground that define angle points of boundary lines that divide neighboring parcels. These monuments are most often 1/2" or 5/8" iron rebar rods or pipes placed at 18" minimum depth, but varies state by state. The more recent rods or pipes may have an affixed plastic cap over the top bearing the responsible surveyors' name and license number. Older monuments may exist such as old pipes, gun barrels, axles, mounds of stone, whiskey bottles, or even wooden stakes. In addition to rods and pipes, surveyors might use 4x4" concrete posts at corners of large parcels or anywhere that would require more stability (e.g. beach sand). They place them three feet deep. In places where there is asphalt or concrete, it is common to place nails or aluminum alloy caps to re-establish boundary corners. Marks are meant to be durable, stable, and as "permanent" as possible. The aim is to provide sufficient marks so some marks will remain for future re-establishment of boundaries. The material and marking used on monuments placed to mark boundary corners are often subject to state laws. Many states have laws that protect existing monuments and can have civil penalties if disturbed or destroyed.

Cadastral land surveyors are licensed by governments In the United States, cadastral surveys are typically conducted by the federal government, specifically through the Cadastral Surveys branch of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), formerly the General Land Office (GLO). They consult with USFS, Park Service, Corps of Engineers, BIA, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation, etc. In states that have been organized per the Public Land Survey System (PLSS), surveyors carry out BLM Cadastral Surveys in accordance with that system.

A common use of a survey is to determine a legal property boundary. The first stage in such a survey, known as a resurvey, is to obtain copies of the deed description and all other available documents from the owner. The deed description is that of the deed and not a tax statement or other incomplete document. The surveyor should then obtain copies of deed descriptions and maps of the adjoining properties, any records from the municipality or county, utility maps and any records of surveys. Depending on which region the survey is located in some or most of this information may not be available or even exist. Whether the information exists or not a thorough search should be conducted so that no records are neglected. Copies of deeds usually can be located in the county recorder's office and maps or plats can usually be found at the county recorder or surveyor's office. These arrangements will vary state to state and survey system to survey system so some familiarity maybe needed. When all the records are assembled, the surveyor examines the documents for errors, such as closure errors. When a metes and bounds description is involved, the seniority of the deeds must be determined. The title abstract usually gives the order of seniority for the deeds related to the tract being surveyed and should be used if available. After this data is gathered and analyzed the field survey may commence. The initial survey operations should be concentrated on locating monuments. In urban regions or a city, monuments should be sought initially but in the absence of monuments property corners marked by iron pins, metal survey markers, iron pipes and other features that may establish a line of possession should be located. When the approximate positions for the boundaries of the property have been located a traverse is run around the property. While the control traverse is being run, ties should be measured and all details relevant to the boundaries should be acquired. This includes but is not limited to locating the property corners, monuments, fences, hedge rows, walls, walks and all buildings on the lot. The Surveyor then takes this data collected and compares it to the records that were received. When a solution is reached the property corners that are chosen as those that best fit all the data are coordinated and ties by direction and distance are computed from the nearest traverse point. Once this has been established the features on the lot can be drawn, dimensions can be shown from these features to the boundary line and a map or plat is prepared for the client.