How to become Geodetic Surveyor in 2024

Geodetic Surveyor Measure large areas of the Earth's surface using satellite observations, global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), light detection and ranging (LIDAR), or related sources.

Geodetic Surveyor is Also Know as

In different settings, Geodetic Surveyor is titled as

  • Geodesist
  • Geodetic Advisor
  • Geodetic Engineer
  • Geodetic Survey Director
  • Geodetic Surveyor
  • Land Surveyor
  • Licensed Land Surveyor

Education and Training of Geodetic Surveyor

Geodetic Surveyor is categorized in Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Geodetic Surveyor

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Education Required for Geodetic Surveyor

Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

Degrees Related to Geodetic Surveyor

Training Required for Geodetic Surveyor

Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Geodetic Surveyor in different industries are

What Do Geodetic Surveyor do?

  • Review existing standards, controls, or equipment used, recommending changes or upgrades as needed.
  • Provide training and interpretation in the use of methods or procedures for observing and checking controls for geodetic and plane coordinates.
  • Plan or direct the work of geodetic surveying staff, providing technical consultation as needed.
  • Distribute compiled geodetic data to government agencies or the general public.
  • Read current literature, talk with colleagues, continue education, or participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in technology, equipment, or systems.
  • Verify the mathematical correctness of newly collected survey data.
  • Request additional survey data when field collection errors occur or engineering surveying specifications are not maintained.
  • Prepare progress or technical reports.
  • Maintain databases of geodetic and related information, including coordinate, descriptive, or quality assurance data.
  • Compute, retrace, or adjust existing surveys of features such as highway alignments, property boundaries, utilities, control and other surveys to match the ground elevation-dependent grids, geodetic grids, or property boundaries and to ensure accuracy and continuity of data used in engineering, surveying, or construction projects.
  • Compute horizontal and vertical coordinates of control networks, using direct leveling or other geodetic survey techniques, such as triangulation, trilateration, and traversing, to establish features of the Earth's surface.
  • Calculate the exact horizontal and vertical position of points on the Earth's surface.
  • Analyze control or survey data to ensure adherence to project specifications or land survey standards.
  • Assess the quality of control data to determine the need for additional survey data for engineering, construction, or other projects.
  • Determine orientation of tracts of land, including position, boundaries, size, and shape, using theodolites, electronic distance-measuring equipment, satellite-based positioning equipment, land information systems, or other geodetic survey equipment.
  • Conduct surveys to determine exact positions, measurement of points, elevations, lines, areas, volumes, contours, or other features of land surfaces.

Qualities of Good Geodetic Surveyor

  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Geodetic Surveyor

  • Absolute gravimeters
  • Alidades
  • Altimeters
  • Chain saws
  • Clinometers
  • Cone penetration test probes
  • Desktop computers
  • Dual-frequency global positioning system GPS survey units
  • Global positioning system GPS receivers
  • Gravitational field indicators
  • Hypsometers
  • Laptop computers
  • Laser imaging detection and ranging LIDAR systems
  • Laser levels
  • Laser rangefinders
  • Machetes
  • Magnetic locaters
  • Mechanical theodolites
  • Personal computers
  • Picks
  • Relative gravimeters
  • Robotic total stations
  • Seismic activity recorders
  • Shovels
  • Survey levels
  • Surveying gradiometers
  • Transit levels
  • Wireline samplers

Technology Skills required for Geodetic Surveyor

  • Advanced Graphics Technology ProCogo
  • Amazon Web Services AWS software
  • Autodesk AutoCAD
  • Autodesk CAiCE Visual Transportation
  • Bentley MicroStation
  • C#
  • C++
  • Carlson Civil Suite
  • Carlson Simplicity Sight Survey
  • CMT CogoCAD
  • Email software
  • ESRI ArcGIS software
  • ESRI ArcView
  • Geo-Plus
  • Geocomp Systems GeoCalc
  • Geographic information system GIS software
  • Hypertext markup language HTML
  • Linux
  • Microsoft Access
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Windows
  • Microsoft Word
  • MicroSurvey Software MicroSurvey CAD
  • National Geodetic Survey NGS Geodetic Toolkit
  • National Geodetic Survey NGS VERTCON
  • Object oriented programming software
  • Oracle Java
  • QuickCogo
  • SAP software
  • SiteComp Survey
  • Structured query language SQL
  • Traverse PC
  • Trimble Terramodel
  • Underhill Geomatics Copan
  • Virtual reality modeling language VRML software
  • Web browser software