Property Engineering Survey-Site Plan

We perform Engineering Surveys-Site Plans and if needed we use the help of a Professional Land Surveyor to perform Boundary Property Survey

Engineering Surveying Definition

ASCE Policy Statement 333

Approved by the National Engineering Practice Policy Committee on March 8, 2007
Approved by the Policy Review Committee on March 9, 2007
Adopted by the Board of Direction on April 24, 2007

Policy

Engineering surveying is defined as those activities involved in the planning and execution of surveys for the location, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of civil and other engineered projects.


Such activities include:

• The preparation of survey and related mapping specifications;
• Execution of photogrammetric and field surveys for the collection of required data, including topographic and hydrographic data;
• Calculation, reduction and plotting of survey data for use in engineering design;
• Design and provision of horizontal and vertical control survey networks;
• Provision of line and grade and other layout work for construction and mining activities;
• Execution and certification of quality control spatial measurements during construction;
• Monitoring of ground and structural stability, including alignment observations, settlement levels, and related reports and certifications;
• Measurement of material and other quantities for inventory, economic assessment and cost accounting purposes;
• Execution of as built surveys and preparation of related maps and plans and profiles upon completion of construction; and
• Analysis of errors and tolerances associated with the measurement, field layout and mapping or other plots of survey measurement required in support of engineering projects.

Engineering surveying may be regarded as a specialty within the broader professional practice of engineering and, with the exception of boundary, right of way, or other cadastral surveying, includes all surveying and mapping activities required to support the sound conception, planning, design, construction, maintenance and operation of engineered projects. Engineering surveying does not include surveys for the retracement of existing land ownership boundaries or the creation of new boundaries.

Issue

A number of recent developments have created some confusion with respect to the role of engineers in the practice of surveying. These developments have included:

• The development of land surveying as a profession separate and distinct from engineering;
• The development of separate curricula and degrees at certain universities in support of land surveying as a separate profession;
• The reduced number of courses in surveying within engineering curricula; and,
• The development of disputes before state registration boards concerning the right of engineers to practice surveying, given separate registration for the practice of land surveying.

This confusion is further marked by a lack of understanding on the part of certain engineering disciplines, other than civil, of the importance of surveying to the practice of civil, aeronautical, mechanical, and mining engineering, among others.

Rationale

Engineering surveying is one of the necessary skills of an engineer. An engineer may specialize in engineering surveying, thereby developing the necessary expertise in the execution and analysis of measurements to the highest level practicable. The engineering surveyor, as a specialist, supports and serves other engineers in their task of designing and constructing manmade works for the benefit of mankind. While an engineer may not engage full time in engineering surveying and may not be considered an expert on all aspects of engineering surveying, they must be well qualified to perform those aspects of surveying relevant to their professional activities.

Types of surveys and applicability

• ALTA/ACSM Survey: a surveying standard jointly proposed by the American Land Title Association and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping that incorporates elements of the boundary survey, mortgage survey, and topographic survey.
• Archaeological survey: used to accurately assess the relationship of archaeological sites in a landscape or to accurately record finds on an archaeological site.
• As-built survey: a survey carried out during or immediately after a construction project for record, completion evaluation and payment purposes.
• Bathymetric survey: a survey carried out to map the topography and features of the bed of an ocean, lake, river or other body of water.
• Boundary survey: a survey to establish the boundaries of a parcel using its legal description which typically involves the setting or restoration of monuments or markers at the corners or along the lines of the parcel, often in the form of iron rods, pipes, or concrete monuments in the ground, or nails set in concrete or asphalt.
• Deformation survey: a survey to determine if a structure or object is changing shape or moving. The three-dimensional positions of specific points on an object are determined, a period of time is allowed to pass, these positions are then re-measured and calculated, and a comparison between the two sets of positions is made.
• Engineering surveys: those surveys associated with the engineering design (topographic, layout and as-built) often requiring geodetic computations beyond normal civil engineering practise.
• Foundation survey: a survey done to collect the positional data on a foundation that has been poured and is cured. This is done to ensure that the foundation was constructed in the location, and at the elevation, authorized in the plot plan, site plan, or subdivision plan.
• Geological survey: generic term for a survey conducted for the purpose of recording the geologically significant features of the area under investigation. 
• Hydrographic survey: a survey conducted with the purpose of mapping the coastline and seabed for navigation, engineering, or resource management purposes.
• Measured survey : a building survey to produce plans of the building. such a survey may be conducted before renovation works, for commercial purpose, or at end of the construction process "as built survey"
• Mortgage survey or physical survey: a simple survey that delineates land boundaries and building locations. In many places a mortgage survey is required by lending institutions as a precondition for a mortgage loan.
• Soil survey, or soil mapping, is the process of determining the soil types or other properties of the soil cover over a landscape, and mapping them for others to understand and use.
• Structural survey: a detailed inspection to report upon the physical condition and structural stability of a building or other structure and to highlight any work needed to maintain it in good repair.
• Tape survey: this type of survey is the most basic and inexpensive type of land survey. Popular in the middle part of the 20th century, tape surveys while being accurate for distance lack substantially in their accuracy of measuring angle and bearing. Standards that are practiced by professional land surveyors.
• Topographic survey: a survey that measures the elevation of points on a particular piece of land, and presents them as contour lines on a plot 

Surveying or land surveying is the technique and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the surface of the Earth, and they are often used to establish land maps and boundaries for ownership or governmental purposes.

In order to accomplish their objective, surveyors use elements of geometry, engineering, trigonometry, mathematics, physics, and law.

An alternative definition, per the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM), is the science and art of making all essential measurements to determine the relative position of points and/or physical and cultural details above, on, or beneath the surface of the Earth, and to depict them in a usable form, or to establish the position of points and/or details.

Furthermore, as alluded to above, a particular type of surveying known as "land surveying" (also per ACSM) is the detailed study or inspection, as by gathering information through observations, measurements in the field, questionnaires, or research of legal instruments, and data analysis in the support of planning, designing, and establishing of property boundaries. It involves the re-establishment of cadastral surveys and land boundaries based on documents of record and historical evidence, as well as certifying surveys (as required by statute or local ordinance) of subdivision plats/maps, registered land surveys, judicial surveys, and space delineation. Land surveying can include associated services such as mapping and related data accumulation, construction layout surveys, precision measurements of length, angle, elevation, area, and volume, as well as horizontal and vertical control surveys, and the analysis and utilization of land survey data.

Surveying has been an essential element in the development of the human environment since the beginning of recorded history (about 5,000 years ago). It is required in the planning and execution of nearly every form of construction. Its most familiar modern uses are in the fields of transport, building and construction, communications, mapping, and the definition of legal boundaries for land ownership.

A land survey is made for the Title Company and/or Lender with the survey and location data needed for the issuing of title or mortgage insurance. For this purpose a map is drawn to “ALTA” specifications. “ALTA” stands for American Land Title Association. ALTA specifies the data to be shown on the survey and this includes boundary lines, location of the main building including improvements, location of ancillary buildings, the identification of easements (access rights by service companies such as water, gas, telephone, railways and other utilities). ALTA surveys are very complex surveys and can cost upwards of a thousand dollars and take weeks to complete. For that reason most ALTA surveys are performed on commercial properties.

An ALTA Land Survey guarantees to meet the requirements for an ALTA/ACSM Land Title Survey as detailed by the American Land Title Association, National Society of Professional Surveyors and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping.