This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
This Website Uses Cookies
By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Learn More
This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
Point of Begining Logo
search
cart
facebook twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Point of Begining Logo
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Digital Edition
    • Classifieds
    • Subscribe
    • POB eNewsletter
  • Columns
    • GeoDataPoint Blog
    • Kline: Unmistakable Marks
    • Lucas: Traversing the Law
    • Solo Notes
    • Editor's Points
    • Turner: Surveyor's Footsteps
    • The Business Side
  • News
  • Products
  • Tech
    • GeoDataPoint
    • LiDAR/Laser Scanning/3D
    • Photogrammetry
    • GIS
    • GPS/GNSS
    • Hardware
    • UAS/UAV
    • Data Collection
    • Remote Sensing
    • Software
    • Total Stations
  • Industry
    • Aerial
    • BIM
    • Boundary & Topo
    • Construction
    • Energy & Utilities
    • Environmental
    • Forensics
    • Government
    • Marine/Hydrography
    • Mining
    • Transportation
  • Reports
    • Laser Scanning & 3D
    • Salary & Benefits
    • Surveying & Mapping Industry Software
    • Archives & Additional Reports
  • Education
    • Professional Knowledge
    • Continuing Education
    • GeoLearn
  • Online
    • Events
    • Webinars
    • Classifieds
    • POB Store
    • POB Point and Shoot
    • Photo Galleries
    • Videos
    • Polls
    • FARO Webinars
    • Industry Links
  • Directory
    • GeoLocator
  • Contact
    • Editorial Staff
    • Advertise
    • Clear Seas Research
    • Custom Content Marketing Services
    • List Rental
    • Store
  • POB Premium
Home » Blogs » Point of Beginning Blog » Sight Lines: How Much Education Do Surveyors Need?
Pob_christine_grahl_200px
Christine Grahl was the editor of POB and GeoDataPoint from August 2008-May 2013. She is now content marketing manager at Leica Geosystems. She can be reached at Christine.Grahl@leicaus.com.

Sight Lines: How Much Education Do Surveyors Need?

January 16, 2013
Christine Grahl
34 Comments
Reprints
Earlier this week, a reader sent me a link to a story about a Florida initiative to try to attract students into education programs for science, engineering and technical fields.

Earlier this week, a reader sent me a link to a story about a Florida initiative to try to attract students into education programs for science, engineering and technical fields. Audio from the interview with the former head of the governor's Education Task Force, Dr. Dale Brill, was posted with the article, and land surveying was one of the fields specifically mentioned as a high-demand career that could benefit from education reforms.

This is good news. However, the interview seemed to indicate that the emphasis in land surveying education, which was mentioned in the same breath as welding and other technical trades, should be shifted away from a four-year bachelor’s degree to an associate degree or certificate.

Brill, an education proponent and business advocate, said his comments were misconstrued. What he was trying to highlight, he said, was the flexibility provided by the state college programs, which offer four-year degrees as well as associate and certificate programs but are often overlooked in favor of the top-tier universities. With Florida’s licensing requirements mandating a minimum four-year degree in surveying and mapping or a four-year degree in another course of study with at least 25 semester hours in surveying and mapping subjects, it would be difficult to conceive that associate and certificate programs alone would allow the state to meet its needs for land surveyors. Brill emphasized that suggesting such an idea was not his intent.

Still, for the reader who sent me the link, it wasn’t a stretch to make that inference. A storm has been brewing in the surveying profession for quite some time. Some might say it has already struck, leaving a field strewn with struggling businesses and frustrated practitioners. Land surveying has long been a noble profession handed down through generations, from father to son or daughter, from mentor to apprentice. The education movement in some regions has been slow to catch on, in part due to a shortage of surveying programs that offer a four-year degree, but also, in some cases, due to a lack of perceived need. Do land surveyors really require a bachelor’s degree? Professionals remain divided on this topic.

Advocates of advanced education point to the increasing complexity of the field as a result of technological innovation. Understanding all the nuances of a changing profession clearly requires a broad-based approach that would be difficult-if not impossible-to obtain through an associate or certificate program. Opponents believe the education system is taking the profession in the wrong direction by emphasizing science over art, and technology over history.

This is a crucial time for a profession that must define itself in order to secure its place in the future. Although education is just one aspect of the debate, it’s an important one. Can the land surveying profession survive with the current approach to education? What else is needed to help the profession thrive with the next generation? How can education programs be tailored to attract more students and adequately prepare them for a successful career in surveying?

Professionals must come to a consensus on these issues, or there may soon come a day when land surveying truly is equated with welding. The future is at stake.

Recent Comments

Complete Survey Solutions

FYI

[No title]

To understand cul de sac design we must...

Mr. Gaiennie, what you've just said is one...

Pob_christine_grahl_200px
Christine Grahl was the editor of POB and GeoDataPoint from August 2008-May 2013. She is now content marketing manager at Leica Geosystems. She can be reached at Christine.Grahl@leicaus.com.

You must login or register in order to post a comment.

Report Abusive Comment

Subscription Center
  • Subscribe
  • My Account
  • Renew
  • Create Account
  • Change Address
  • Pay My Bill
  • Free eNewsletters
  • Customer Care

More Videos

Popular Stories

SAM

SAM Acquires JMC Professional Surveying and Mapping, LLC

Stonexnews4Dec19

Stonex Announces Camera Add-on

LeicaZenoPOBnews20Nov19

Leica Geosystems Enables GIS Data Capture

POBnews22May19BlueSky

Bluesky Launches 3D City Mapping Service in U.S.

LeicaBLK3Dnewsletter27Nov19

Leica Geosystems Launches “BLK3D Web”

Poll

Surveyor Outreach Opportunities

What kind of community outreach do you perform on behalf of the survey/geospatial profession?
View Results Poll Archive

Products

POB Top 100 Report

POB Top 100 Report

We began by creating a survey as a cooperative effort between several high level geospatial leaders, POB staff, and Clear Seas Research market research experts. The survey was sent out to more than 25,000 geospatial professionals who subscribe to POB and/or are members of MAPPS.
See More Products

FARO webinar series

POB

POB December 2019 cover

2019 December

In the December 2019 issue of POB, learn how GNSS field mapping played a crucial role in creating the Port of New Orleans first enterprise GIS. Also in this issue, find out how a recent regulatory proposal could restrict UAV flights.
View More Subscribe
  • Resources
    • Construction Group
    • List rental
    • Survey And Sample
    • Associations & Industry Links
    • Subscribe
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Editorial Guidelines
    • Order Reprints
    • Want More
    • Connect
    • Privacy Policy
  • Advertise With Us
    • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • Subscribe
    • Subscribe
    • My Account
    • Renew
    • Create Account
    • Change Address
    • Pay My Bill
    • Free eNewsletters
    • Customer Care

Copyright ©2019. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing