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Salary Ranges
Employment
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Boundary Surveyor
Boundary, or cadastral, surveyors measure,
mark, and map the boundary lines of land ownership. Cadastre is
a Latin word that means a public record or map for tax purposes.
Anyone who owns property will work with a boundary surveyor.
These surveyors trace deeds and other public records to
verify the measurements of a piece of property for which
the original survey could date back hundreds of years. Nearly
every piece of property has been surveyed in the United States,
except in some parts of Alaska.
Boundary surveyors have to verify the previous survey while
collecting data to draw a current map for the piece of property.
Each land parcel has several markers on it—often called
monuments’ by surveyors—to show the property
corners, or the delineation from a neighboring piece of property.
Many markers have detailed information to assist future surveyors.
Other property markers may be carved in tree trunks, be noted
by a specific pile of rock, or consist of metal spikes buried
in the ground. For this reason, as a surveyor retraces a
previous surveyor’s work, he or she essentially is
walking in a previous surveyor’s footsteps and
will wear several hats. For each project, a surveyor may
need to be
an historian, detective, and mathematician. He may also need
knowledge of geology, forestry, hydrology, or botany.
Every project is different.
Boundary surveyors can also serve as expert witnesses for
court cases involving boundary disputes.
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