Competencies

New land surveying specialist competencies

Katie Holt, Development Manager

CICES and industry leaders collaborate to revise the land surveying specialist competencies

SURVEYING is an industry at the forefront of technology, and while core geospatial principles remain the same, the ways in which we capture survey data constantly evolves.

The land surveying specialist competencies for membership of CICES have recently been reviewed and updated to reflect changes in how survey data is captured, processed and delivered to the client.

This update was carried out by a small group of survey specialists, and then reviewed and verified by peer groups. Fellows of CICES, Richard Cooper, geomatics and examinations director at Bridgeway Consulting and Steven Thurgood, business development manager at Hexagon developed the revised specialist competencies on behalf of the Geospatial Engineering Practices Committee.

The revised land surveying specialist competencies have been validated by the geospatial competencies steering group, and are intended to reflect the real life challenges and considerations when undertaking land surveying tasks in today’s world including:

• Ability to undertake topographic surveys – planning and executing survey tasks with specific reference to survey control considerations and the selection of the most appropriate methodologies.
• Use and understanding of surveying instruments – focusses on the use and maintenance of various types of equipment, from widely used total stations and levels, to more specialist tools including drones and ground penetrating radar.
• Application of geometric principles – addressing the core concerns around survey quality, including assurance processes, redundancy and management of error. 
• Geospatial data processing and the production of deliverables – addressing the outputs of our field work. The module covers areas from downloading, processing, checking, and presenting survey data, and also has a focus on data management and security.

Applicants working towards CICES technical member and member grades will need to demonstrate experience within these specialist competencies, as well as completing the general and core geospatial competencies.

Katie Holt, Development Manager kholt@cices.org