What is Civil Engineering Surveying?

The civil engineering industry involves the design and construction of the facilities that shape the world we live in. From roads, railways and bridges to water supply pipes and power stations, this is all civil engineering.

Civil EngineeringCivil Engineering Surveyors are involved in every stage of the project from initial concept through design and construction, to monitoring the condition and performance of the completed structure.

Within this profession you could choose to work within Commercial Management (Quantity Surveying) or Geospatial Engineering (Engineering Surveying).

Commercial Management

Commercial Managers, or quantity surveyors, are the financial managers of the civil engineering industry. They work alongside other professionals in preparing the documents on which projects are based, measuring the work completed on site and ensuring that the companies carrying out the construction are paid a fair price for it. Their responsibilities include:

This profession also includes the following functions:

Geospatial Engineering Surveying

Geospatial Engineers work within construction on the measurement and monitoring of projects, as well as producing maps, plans and charts of different features. The main profession within civil engineering is engineering surveying (sometimes known as land surveying). Engineering surveyors are generally responsible for:

The term Geospatial Engineering includes the following specialist areas:

    * Engineering surveying: preparation of maps and plans for the planning and design of structures, as well as ensuring that the construction takes place to the dimensions and tolerances required;
    * Hydrographic surveying: measuring and mapping the earth's surface that is covered by water;
    * Photogrammetry: involves obtaining information from photographic images in order to produce a plan of an area;
    * Geographic Information Systems: involves collecting and manipulating geographic information and presenting the information in the form required;
    * Cartography/Visualisation: accurately and precisely producing maps or plans and representing the information in two or three dimensions.


Have you got what it takes?

    * Ambition
    * Financial Sense
    * Leadership Skills
    * Communication Skills
    * Numeracy
    * Organisational Skills

The civil engineering surveying profession provides an exciting and demanding working environment with the potential to develop a challenging and rewarding career. Many jobs involve working in the open air, with opportunities for travel both in the UK and abroad.

Qualifications

Most people start their career in civil engineering surveying by taking a degree in one of a number of subject areas. On the commercial management side, degrees are available in civil engineering quantity surveying, and civil engineering commercial management. Within Geospatial Engineering, degrees are in Engineering Surveying, Surveying and Mapping Sciences and Topographic Science.

One of these degrees would lead to careers in the financial and project management aspects of civil engineering, or within the mapping and monitoring of land and water features, as listed in the sections above.

In order to gain a professional qualification, it is necessary to take the required academic qualifications and then undertake a period of training whilst in employment. A degree-level qualification is required, which can be a full- or part-time degree; alternatively, a combination of further examinations or post-graduate qualifications may be sufficient.

Surveying

    * Associate Degree in Spatial Science (Surveying)
    * Bachelor of Spatial Science Technology (Surveying)
    * Bachelor of Spatial Science (Surveying)

Surveying has become a high tech industry using satellite technology, computers, laser scanners and computer-based equipment to produce high quality maps, plans or 3-D digital models of existing land features or proposed designs.

As a professional surveyor, you would be expected to be highly innovative and able to find unique solutions to problems; solutions which are expected to be both socially and environmentally responsible. You would use advanced knowledge and skills in analysis, measurement science and computing to complete surveying and spatial information projects.

Since the beginning of recorded history, people have needed to measure and map the world about them. In every scheme and project - from buildings and other structures on land, to pipelines and cables beneath the land and sea, or bridges and transmission lines above it - the surveyor is usually the first person on site and the last to verify that what was done is correct. Surveying is the vital link in the process which transforms ideas into plans, and plans into reality.

Career opportunities

There is strong demand for USQ graduates throughout World. There are plenty of  land surveyor in Bismarck

Surveyors play a major role in the land development industry. They are involved in all stages of development from the subdivision of raw land into building allotments through to construction. The surveyor re-establishes the position of old boundary lines and then marks the position of new boundaries, as well as marking out the position of roads and other services. Only surveyors who are registered and licensed with a Surveyors Board  like Bismarck ND surveyors may perform boundary surveys as it involves peoples' rights and interests in land.

Research opportunities

Research opportunities concentrate on the use and validation of new technology, and how to use it in the workplace. This has also opened research into the legal aspects, accuracies and costs of these systems and methods of application. Outside of universities, research is being done within many government departments, equipment vendors and the CSIRO.

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