Land Survey & Types of Land Survey

Surveying is a vital process for determining the usability of a land. In this article, Mr. Rajnish Shukla, Survey Manager at FGS Engineers & Innovators, pens down some basic aspects of land survey.

Survey?or?land survey?is the technique, profession, and science of measuring the shape of a land area and gathering data for civil engineering and construction projects.?Land surveying involves measuring and determining property boundaries, which are used as the basis for all property dealings including buying, selling, mortgaging, and leasing. A?surveyor?is a professional person with the academic qualifications and technical expertise for?land surveying. Surveyors have a major role in guiding construction and development projects.

Types of Land Survey

Engineering Land Survey:

Engineering Survey?is the broad term used to describe the work of surveyors on civil engineering work. Engineering land surveying?is an important disciplinary field that helps construction projects.

Layout Marking/Demarcation:

Layout marking or Demarcation helps property owners to identify the boundaries of their property and separate them into various plots. The demarcation is mandatory for real estate developers to define the square feet area used as part of their sales formulations.

Contour Survey:

In the property world, a contour survey is an outline of a mass of land. A contour survey or detailed survey is done by a land surveyor and required before one can start on the design of projects like tunnel, building, road, bridge, etc.

Boundary?Survey:

A?boundary survey?is a procedure carried out to determine property lines and define true property corners of a parcel of land described in a deed. This?survey service?is also known as a?boundary survey service?or plot of?survey service.

Construction Survey:

Construction survey is done to stake out reference points & markers that will guide the construction of new structures such as roads or buildings. These markers are commonly staked out according to a suitable coordinate system selected for the project.

Location Survey:

Location surveying?illustrates any proposed or existing on-site improvements in a particular land area for the purpose of ensuring that all new developments are within the boundaries of the land property and do not block any easements or other regulatory limits. This?type of land survey?is similar to a boundary survey but with extra information on the location of interior improvements.

Site Planning Survey:

A Site Planning Survey is a survey that contains a combination of a?Boundary survey?and a?Topographic survey and is used for the preparation of a site plan or other documents which shall represent proposed improvements to a plot of land.

Subdivision Survey:

Subdivision Survey?is the division of a piece of land into two or more lots, plots, sites, or other divisions of land for the purpose of sale or construction work, whether immediate or in future.

Topographic Survey:

A?Topographic Survey?is carried out to gather data about the elevation of points on a portion of land and represent them as contour lines on a plot.

Digital Elevation Model (DEM) from Topographic Survey using LiDAR (Source: theengineeringcommunity.org)

Reference:

• N.N. BASAK, Surveying, Volume-I, McGraw Hill Education