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the Student
Posts: 1
Joined: 3/6/2009
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What is a Surveyor? |
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The range of skills, responsibilities, and tasks that fall into the profession of surveying is very broad. The modern surveying student is being taught to be an engineer, a mathematician, a computer programmer, a lawyer, and an expert on how to measure anything on God's green earth in any way imaginable. Most people when asked, "What is a surveyor?" can't come up with much more than, "those guys in vests on the side of the road with the scope things."
Please reply with your own personal definition of a surveyor. I don't care what Wikipedia says - I want what actual practicing professionals think. All personal opinions and impressions are welcome!
Thanks.
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Friday, March 06, 2009 at 12:56:56 PM |
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Deward Bowles
Posts: 17
Location: Houston, Harris
Joined: 3/29/2009
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Re: What is a Surveyor? |
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Chain!
It is human nature to choose a course and then stick with it. Tenacity and stanch conviction are qualities we all admire and traditionally seek in those who are leaders in our society.
However professional land surveying is as much of a science as it is an art. Evaluating evidence and forming opinions are vital aspects in executing a proper survey.
Forming an opinion before the facts are known is the definition of a bias opinion and is the death knell for a professional surveyor's credibility. In order to be a professional land surveyor one must be willing to change one's opinion as the facts become known. I am reminded of a quote of Curtis Brown's from his first edition, Boundary Control & Legal Principles text.
"To William C. Wattles, an authority and dean of title matters, is my dedication for his oft-repeated sage counsel-to most legal principles the statement "the contrary may be shown" should be added."
This painful but nonetheless true fact must be kept in mind by the professional land surveyor when performing a survey. As a professional land surveyor you must be able to reverse your position if facts become available that would lead to different conclusions. Professional land surveying is not a political endeavor nor is it an exercise of advocacy or ego. Professional land surveying is the art and science of evaluating evidence as the concerned parties and the law would evaluate it. This is what makes our practice a profession. Much to my chagrin I have seen far too many examples of the former mind set in some surveyors philosophy and practice.
If you wish to practice as a professional be aware that you must be willing to make exhaustive searches for evidence to the satisfaction that your conclusions can be supported. The risk of coming to a conclusion and giving an opinion is that this will never prevent other evidence and facts from being found and your conclusions rendered irrelevant or untenable. This is simply a function of the science and art that is our profession. The true professional can change their opinion and often do, a politician, advocate or egotist often can't.
Come ahead!
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Isleno
Posts: 40
Location: Gonzales, La USA
Joined: 10/20/2008
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Re: What is a Surveyor? |
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The great American Philosopher, Will Rogers, once said:
“The trouble ain’t so much the things we don’t know,
It’s the things we do know, that just ain’t so.”
Every professional land surveyor has the duty to uncover and evaluate as much information as possible pertaining to the location of corners. Mass producing surveys is a disaster waiting to happen.
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