What Is Involved in Land Surveyor Training?

Land surveyor training involves a combination of education and field experience. The educational requirement can sometimes be satisfied with an associate's degree in applied science in surveying technology, though it is more common for employers to require a bachelor's degree in surveying engineering. Field experience will typically start with internships held during the last two years of a person's college education and progress into on-the-job training after graduation. This practical component can also involve a formal training program by an entity accredited through a land surveyors trade association.

Historically, surveying was a critical job with a high level of prestige attached to the few who were entrusted with the position. Land surveyors were the people who went into new territories and determined where the official boundary lines were for privately owned property and property owned by government entities. The maps that are in use today and the official descriptions of parcels of land that the law relies on to validate transfers of property exist because a land surveyor established the metes and bounds of the property at some point in the past.

Instruments used by land surveyors to take land measurements were historically constrained by the technology of the times. Modernly, the instruments used are complex electronic and optical engineering equipment that takes precise measurements of distance, elevations and angles. A land surveyor needs training in the use of these instruments to collect data, as well as the knowledge of what to do with that data once it is collected.

The educational component of land surveyor training at the associate's or bachelor's level teaches students math, physics and technical drafting and writing. Students also learn the computer applications used in the profession. This coursework teach students how to measure distances and elevations between points and compute land mass areas, averages and angles that are required to establish the boundaries of land, air and water spaces.

Field experience is also a significant part of land surveyor training. Employers expect new hires to have had some hands-on experience with surveying equipment, even if the candidate for a job does not have previous paid experience in the position. This initial experience is usually gained through school internships. Another way to obtain field experience is to enroll in an official land surveyor training program that is operated by a trade association or accredited proprietary school.

Land surveyors are typically licensed by the jurisdiction in which they operate and credentialed by a governing trade association. After completing a required number of educational courses and a certain number of experience hours, land surveyor training typically concludes with a licensing exam. Once licensed, the surveyor can apply for trade credentials acknowledging his qualifications to work in the field.