I note this definition as per:
http://wiki.gis.com/wiki/index.php/Surveying
Types of surveys and applicability
• ALTA/ACSM Survey: a surveying standard jointly proposed by the American Land Title Association and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping that incorporates elements of the boundary survey, mortgage survey, and topographic survey.
• Archaeological survey: used to accurately assess the relationship of archaeological sites in a landscape or to accurately record finds on an archaeological site.
• As-Built Survey: a survey conducted several times during a construction project to verify, for local and state boards (USA), that the work authorized was completed to the specifications set on the Plot Plan or Site Plan.
• Bathymetric Survey: a survey carried out to map the seabed profile.
• Boundary Survey: a survey to establish the boundaries of a parcel using its legal description which typically involves the setting or restoration of monuments or markers at the corners or along the lines of the parcel, often in the form of iron rods, pipes, or concrete monuments in the ground, or nails set in concrete or asphalt. Surveying is regarded as a sub-discipline of civil engineering all over the world. All Degree and Diploma level Engineering institutions ,world wide, have detailed items of Surveying in the curriculum for undergraduate courses in the discipline of Civil Engineering.
• Deformation Survey: a survey to determine if a structure or object is changing shape or moving. The three-dimensional positions of specific points on an object are determined, a period of time is allowed to pass, these positions are then re-measured and calculated, and a comparison between the two sets of positions is made.
• Engineering Surveys: those surveys associated with the engineering design (topographic, layout and as-built) often requiring geodetic computations beyond normal civil engineering practise.
• Erosion and Sediment Control Plan: a plan that is drawn in conjunction with a Subdivision Plan that denotes how upcoming construction activities will effect the movement of stormwater and sediment across the construction site and onto abutting properties and how developers will adjust grading activities to limit the depositing of more stormwater and sediment onto abutting properties than was done prior to construction.
• Foundation Survey: a survey done to collect the positional data on a foundation that has been poured and is cured. This is done to ensure that the foundation was constructed in the location authorized in the Plot Plan, Site Plan, or Subdivision Plan.
• Geological Survey: generic term for a survey conducted for the purpose of recording the geologically significant features of the area under investigation. .
• Hydrographic Survey: a survey conducted with the purpose of mapping the coastline and seabed for navigation, engineering, or resource management purposes.
• Mortgage Survey or Physical Survey: a simple survey that generally determines land boundaries and building locations. [ not signed or sealed by a surveyor.
• Plot Plan or Site Plan: a proposal plan for a construction site that include all existing and proposed conditions on a given site. The existing and proposed conditions always include structures, utilities, roadways, topography, and wetlands delineation and location if necessary. The plan might also, but not always, include hydrology, drainage flows, endangered species habitat, FEMA Federal Flood Insurance Reference Maps and traffic patterns.
• Soil survey, or soil mapping, is the process of determining the soil types or other properties of the soil cover over a landscape, and mapping them for others to understand and use.
• Subdivision Plan: a plot or map based on a survey of a parcel of land. Boundary lines are drawn inside the larger parcel to indicated the creation of new boundary lines and roads As-Built Plan is required by the local government. This is done so that the roadway constructed therein will pass ownership from the developer to said local government by way of a contract called a Covenant. When this stage is completed the roadways will now be maintained, repaved, swept, and plowed (if necessary for your geographic region) by the local government
• Tape Survey: this type of survey is the most basic and inexpensive type of land survey. Popular in the middle part of the 20th century, tape surveys while being accurate for distance lack substantially in their accuracy of measuring angle and bearing. ards that are practised by professional land surveyors.
• Topographic Survey: a survey that measures the elevation of points on a particular piece of land, and presents them as contour lines on a plot.
• Wetlands Delineation & Location Survey: a survey that is completed when construction work is to be done on or near a site containing defined wetlands. Depending on your local, state, or federal regulations wetlands are usually classified as areas that are completely inundated with water more than two (2) weeks during the growing season.