Land surveyors are used to make accurate measurements of your land. You may have a land survey done before you purchase the property or as you decide to build on it. Clearly, it is important to have a qualified land surveyor working on the survey. A land surveyor’s accuracy requires that minimum standards must be met, in order to ensure that the survey is correct. The minimal standards for land surveying vary across states and countries. In the U.S., land surveyors are licensed on a state-by-state basis, meaning that the minimal standards may actually vary greatly.

Most states’ minimal standards for surveying require that the surveyor provides a complete and unequivocal definition of land boundaries with enough information to allow the description to be plotted. Generally, this legal description must follow one of several surveying standards, such as the Public Land Survey System, or the metes and bounds system, which describes how such measurements are to be taken and described. Between states, there is very little variation with regards to how this information is to be presented.

Although these are general rules for conducting a survey, the guidelines set forth by many states go into much greater detail. Most state requirements outline the minimal standards for conducting the actual land survey, as well. These may include searching thoroughly for past surveying monuments, cooperating with appropriate public officials, and making sufficient measurements to be able to verify that the work is accurate. In the course of the survey, a surveyor must often set monuments to record the boundaries on the physical property. Other requirements may outline exactly what material should be used for the monuments.

Land surveyors must be licensed in the state in which they work. The licensing requirements generally include a test, which will require knowledge of minimal standards of land surveying as they are set out in the laws for that particular state. These guidelines often include ethical statements, such as stipulations that the minimal requirements should not be accepted as the only standard for the practice of land surveying. Other professional conduct standards written for land surveyors may address issues such as conflict of interest or knowingly signing off on a survey that does follow minimum standards.