Introduction to Surveying

This section provides information on surveying in Wisconsin primarily as related to mapping. Here you will find directions and tools to locate and access survey data and products (including geodetic control), the methods and tools used, monuments, geodetic control networks, and the profession, as well as links to survey-related information about the Public Land Survey System (PLSS), the Global Positing System (GPS), and Geographic Information Systems(GIS).

(Coast Geodetic Survey party occupying the top of the Washington Monument at 4pm, Monday, November 19, 1934. The theodolite is placed on a specially constructed stand over the apex)

(David Doyle, NGS, using state-of-the-art GPS gear to get GPS readouts of the height of the Washington Monument)

Surveying is a meld of science, art, and measurement technology used to determine and record the relative positions of points on (or above or below) the earth's surface. Surveying can involve anything from determining the position of a single point, to establishing the boundary between adjacent land parcels, to mapping the terrain in a stream valley, to modeling the size and shape of the entire earth.

With rapidly expanding residential and business developments, and the steady rise in land value, a surveyor's measurements and decisions are increasingly important. Computing, electronic field instruments including GPS, and GIS have brought new tools and challenges to surveyors.

Surveying is done by a variety of people with various skills and backgrounds and utilizing a range of equipment and methods. Issues of property boundaries are the venue of the land surveyor.

Photogrammetrists use aerial photographs to map terrain and land features. Civil engineers survey and analyze information for construction projects. Natural resource specialists survey and map terrain and other land characteristics in the field to implement programs in soil erosion, wetland management, forestry, and more. Some individuals are qualified to work in more than one sub-area of surveying.

(Image courtesy of NOAA Photo Library)

A variety of survey outputs

The results of survey projects cover a wide range. Maps may be prepared, or temporary stakes set in the ground, or a series of coordinate values may be recorded electronically to document points along a route. Permanent markers (monuments) may be set into the ground, targets may be painted on pavement to be visible in aerial photography or opinions may be given regarding conflicting legal documents describing adjacent land parcels. The elevation of a dam spillway may be determined, or the location of a property corner may be documented relative to surrounding features.

The SCO staff members are not registered, professional land surveyors, and thus are not qualified to offer specific advice on questions concerning property, structures or surveying procedures.