WHERE IS THE LAND SURVEYING PROFESSION HEADING IN A

CHANGING WORLD

ARTICLE BY:

NAME: NM MPITI

DATE: MARCH 2018

Senior Survey technician at Surveying & Land Information Department

Introduction

Land surveying is the process by which land is surveyed and measured using mathematical means. The history of land surveying dates back thousands of years and forms of land surveying have been around since ancient man in all major civilizations across the globe. Ownership of land has and still is a very significant part of the lives of everyone in the world.

What is a Profession?

A profession is something a little more than a job; it is a career for someone that wants to be part of society, who becomes competent in their chosen sector through training; maintains their skills through continuing professional development (CPD), and commits to behaving

ethically, to protect the interests of the public.

Land surveying has grown from a technical occupation into a profession.

Many developments over the past few decades have caused significant change in the land surveying profession. These developments include major advancements in technology, which has caused the use of different techniques and methodologies in the work of the professional land surveyor when compared to those used in past decades. Other professions appear to be encroaching into the providing of services that have traditionally been perceived to be within the practice of the land surveying profession.

History of Land Surveying Techniques

Hundreds of years ago land surveyors would use all sorts of means for measuring distances such as using chains with links that have a certain known length. Additionally land surveyors had to measure horizontal angles which in most cases was done using some form of compass. The quality and accuracy of compasses have increased as time has gone by. In the past, land surveying results were a lot less accurate, not due to the inabilities of the land surveyors themselves, but due to the inaccuracy of the tools that they had access to.

There were a lot of discoveries in relation to the surveying field. In 1787, Jesse Ramsden made great advances in the precision of the theodolite instrument. His actions made possible the creation of a tool used to measure angles in vertical and horizontal planes. Meanwhile, telescopes were also developed, hence the greater precision and new ways of measurement. In 1600 triangulation was birthed, it led to various changes in land mapping and surveying techniques. It was used for mapping entire countries

Optical vernier theodlite

Modern land surveying

As time has gone by, land surveying tools and techniques has advanced and the role of land surveyors is much broader than it was in the past. Although the fundamentals of land surveying haven’t changed, and the purpose is still the same, the techniques and methods have evolved drastically since the beginning of the history of land surveying. As we mentioned before, one of the key changes in land surveying is the accuracy of the tools that are available to land surveyors. While in the past (up until the early 1900’s) most land surveyors had access to little more than a level, tape measure and a theodolite – modern land surveyors have access to some of the most advanced tools in the world. Total Stations are

very commonly used in modern land surveying. These include an EDM (electronic distance measurement device) which allows for more precise land surveying.

Land Surveying at Present

Looking back at the whole history of land surveying, we can say that it has travelled miles and improved a lot. As time went by, the importance became higher. And as technology progressed, various developments came out, making the process easier and a lot more helpful. The surveying field will surely travel further and play more important roles in people life. Surveyors have been around for centuries. While their tools and techniques have changed over time, the underlying principles of measurement and mapping are still the same today.

GNSS Receiver

The technology and techniques land surveyors use have always been influenced by what’s going on in the world as a whole. Whether it’s collecting taxes, building roads and aqueducts, or pushing west into an unknown continent, land surveyors have always found ways to meet the needs of their employers, and things are no different today.

Today’s surveyors are able to work with technologies that those coming before them could only have dreamed of. This is not to suggest that today’s land surveyors are better or more capable than those of the past, they merely have a more advanced tool set, which allows them to create more accurate results

Like all other industries, professional land surveying is being assisted by the emergence of new technologies. These technologies allow surveyors to complete their work in better ways. Surveyors get to use highly-advanced equipment as technology continues to advance as well. 3D scanning and GPS have entered the picture, although a lot of basic surveying methods are still used. Today’s land surveyors are under a lot of pressure to work both quickly and accurately. That’s why they’ve come to rely on technologies like 3D Laser Scanning, GPS, GNSS and GIS.

What will professional surveying look like in the future?

There are always changes taking place that affect the way surveyors work. For example, it wasn't that long ago that GPS was a highly specialised tool only useful for survey work a few hours a day. Today surveyors use GPS daily and have access to an amazing toolbox of technologies, from GNSS to sophisticated optics, 3D scanning and imaging. Surveyors will need to be able to keep up to date with the technological advancements that are available. The skills that will set the surveyor apart is to know how to use the tools productively, the potential errors and limitations in their operation, and what specific data to collect to create deliverables. Finally, survey customers are beginning to expect highly graphical deliverables, most of the time in 3D. The surveyor of the future will need to know how to generate and manage this data. These rich deliverables will also provide the potential to work in new industries or markets where surveyors have not traditionally served.

Predictions that automation will make humans redundant have a long history, going back to the First Industrial Revolution, when textile workers, protested that machines and steam engines would destroy their livelihoods. The Fourth Industrial Revolution has started with billions of people connected by mobile devices, with unprecedented processing power, storage capacity, and access to information. The opportunities that this situation presents will be magnified by emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, new materials, energy storage, and quantum computing. The idea that manual work can be carried out by machines is already familiar; now the Fourth Industrial Revolution sees machines performing tasks done by information workers too. This is likely to usher in a period of disruptive change for all industries including surveying. In this article, we’ll be taking a look forward in an attempt to get a better understanding of what the surveying might end up looking like in the future.

1. UAVs Will Play a Greater Role

They have become increasingly affordable in recent years, opening the door for them to be used for a variety of industry applications that might have been considered cost prohibitive before.

First off, drones refer to unmanned aircrafts or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). They are also known as flying robots. They can either fly by themselves using flight plans or be remotely controlled. These aircrafts are most commonly known to be used for military tasks, but they can also be used in various activities that include surveillance, fire fighting, weather monitoring, traffic monitoring, search and rescue, and recreational activities. And of course, they are likewise currently used in surveying.

UAV’s allow land surveyors to operate from above, quickly gathering large amounts of information at a very high level of detail. This data can then be used to create multiple types of deliverables such as point clouds, digital elevation models, and ortho imagery. Surveying teams can enjoy a number of benefits over traditional land surveying techniques such as manned aircraft or terrestrial surveying teams. For one, UAVs can cover even very large areas relatively quickly. Also, they are able to fly over difficult terrain and capture up-close images, neither of which could be accomplished using traditional methods. The result is that organizations get accurate, complete data quickly, allowing them to proceed with confidence.

How the (UAVs) equipment can improve and transform surveying in the current and future times

• UAVs are safe to use in various situations. • Far and difficult locations have become possible and easier to be reached. • High-definition and highly precise maps can be developed and created. • UAVs make it possible to gather different types of data like photos, videos & lidar. • It is possible to instantly upload the gathered pieces of information to a server; and

any authorized person can have access to the uploaded information wherever they are. As you see, everything becomes easier through the use of drones. It is likewise safer to use; hence, more tasks can be done immediately and efficiently. This is an obvious indication of a great improvement in the survey industry. Expect to see drones becoming the industry standard over the next few years. As more land surveyors embrace the technology, it will

transition from “competitive edge” to “business necessity.” While traditional surveying will still factor into the process, much, if not most, of the surveying process will be handled by UAVs.

2. The paper map will become obsolete.

New advances in map making like Google Earth, Bing maps, etc. have already displaced the paper map as the primary source of information for both surveyors and non-surveyors. Coupled with new advances in computing facilities e.g. smart phones, I pad, etc.

3. Data Will Be Available Instantly

High definition 3D laser scanning, also called LiDAR (Light Definition and Range) is a form of high definition surveying that uses a laser to spotlight an object or target and then evaluates the reflection. The data collected from the scans is then used to create a map of the objects. With several LiDAR setups throughout a room or building, it is possible to create a complete 3D model of the existing conditions using the data gathered by the devices.

Having only been used in the surveying industry since 1988, this relatively new technology has quickly become a new industry standard in the surveying industry, as it is one of the best ways to collect accurate measurements in complicated environments. This technology allows the ability of the user to collect extremely large amount of data in a short amount of time and at a very high degree of accuracy and detail. In fact, the quality and volume of the data

collected is greater than that of traditional surveying methods. Surveyors may soon be able to produce point clouds in real time. Some LiDAR systems already have this capability, and we should expect to see it grow less expensive (and therefore more widely available) as time goes on

3. Cloud-Based Data Storage Will Become the Norm

Today’s land survey companies have to store survey results for thousands of different projects, with some of that data stretching back hundreds of years. As time goes on, each new project the company takes on will likely be more data intensive than the last one, especially with the amount of data that new technologies like drones generate.

Storing all of this data in a traditional on-premises data centre would be impractical. Every time the company outgrows their existing data storage capacity, they would have to manually add new capacity to their data centre, causing great expense and inconvenience.By adopting a cloud-based infrastructure, the land surveying company can simply scale up its storage capacity whenever they need to, and the CSP will handle it behind the scenes. The result is that the land survey company will never have to run out of capacity. In addition, they’ll also free themselves up to spend less time worrying about their storage infrastructure, and more time thinking about the work that actually matters for their business.

Construction project work is more distributed than ever before. Keeping everybody on the same page, whether they’re in the main office or out on the job site, is a key factor in

ensuring the project goes according to plan. Survey document files become more data intensive, and thus larger, sending them from person to person becomes time consuming and inefficient. With cloud data storage, users can simply pull the latest copy of a document from a centralized location. The cloud server can be accessed using any device. This includes mobile devices, so any worker in the field will have the same ability to access the documents they need as their counterparts back at the office. Land survey companies that take advantage of cloud data storage can provide an added level of value for their customers.

4. The mobile phone as a surveying instrument.

Currently all the latest models of mobile phones are equipped with GNSS capability to an accuracy of a few metres. In the near future mobile phones will be equipped with dual frequency capability meaning that anyone will be able to determine position using the phone and the numerous continuously operating stations especially in the developed countries. However, this will diminish the surveyor’s role as anyone with a mobile phone will henceforth be able to make very accurate and precise GNSS measurements.

6. One man fieldwork

New developments like robotic total stations, laser scanners, GNSS, etc. have already made much of land surveying fieldwork a one man process as the surveyor is now able to collect data without the need of a survey assistant. With more advances in technology, it may be possible for the surveyor to carry out his fieldwork while sitting in his office. In addition the new technology is so simplified that even non-surveyors are already collecting data which can later be processed by the surveyors. Of course the over reliance on technology will mean that the job market for surveying work will reduce significantly especially in the developed countries.

Conclusion

The surveying profession will in future be one of the most technological advanced professions in the world. This requires that surveyors must continually update their skills so as to acquire new competencies. Surveyors will also need to adopt the new technology and explore ways of harnessing this technology to deliver better services to the clientele. This is the only sure way of entrenching the surveyor’s role which is steadily being taken up by a number of non-surveying professionals.

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“The comments and views contained in this article are that of the author

only. They do not necessarily represent the views of the Surveying & Land

Information Department””