California Surveyors Forums

There has been considerable discussion about what is most important to the profession. If you have a moment, please consider voting on the three most important topics. Thank you.

Slow extinction from apathy, indifference and under nourishment. (I wish I thought of that phrase.)

Apathy would be palpable in here, if one could somehow descry the void.

Even I fell prey to not thinking too independently for a moment, because, my god, several county surveyors and professional practices committee people etc. are in the audience and responding snarkily. I better not upset them too much by having a disagreeable opinion or respond in kind, lest I find myself on their... radar.

Wrongheaded peer pressure at work. I think that may fall under the concept of ethics. Conflict of interests possibly.

Done.

TT, PLS

Accountability, standard of care............... If such a thing existed there would not be need for Board enforcement.

Good read when considering legislating ethics.
There are many more to look into.

https://doorcountypulse.com/legal-brief ... nbelievers.

"Lack of uniform standards for land surveying"

Isn't this more properly stated as "lack of uniform understanding of PLS Act" ? Clearly we have uniform standards for land surveying in California. The way those standards are understood and applied varies from one surveyor to another. This creates a problem and erodes the public trust in the profession.

"Accuracy standards"

0 votes, surprising. I think the more pertinent issue here is "technical skills in the land surveying community". I would vote for that.

"Lack of mentorship training"

Yes, this is an issue.

Technology continues to make number 6 in the poll an ever growing problem. However, BPELSG is limited on what level of punishment they can render on unlicensed offenders. Might stop the little guy playing pretend surveyor, but not the huge construction contractors or major drone data processing service providers.

Other than policing the minimum, what can we do to create environment which will motivate people to grow?
Something I hear among my colleagues is "Oh, I forgot CLSA Exists", and what else is there to do after getting your LS?

Biggest Challenges

This comes from my point of view which is a 5 surveyor company specializing in boundary and topo surveys with a few condos and lot line adjustments sprinkled in. We also work all over the state so we deal with multiple Counties.

First i want to say this profession has been for me a source of satisfaction and enjoyment and i would not trade being a land surveyor for just about any other profession (archaeologist and physicist seem cool too)
So i am NOT complaining here.

I still occasionally see wood hubs and lath at property corners with no tags.

Cities and Counties that still accept Site Plans based on architects who do their own surveys by measuring off fences.

I see a need for better training and consistency in Boundary determination which is to me our primary source of our professional status.

Some County Surveyors (and map checkers) are going beyond their authority by insisting on things beyond the law. It's OK with me to suggest something on the first check because "that's the way we do it here" but we surveyors have our own methods too. Be more flexible on minor drafting differences.

Lot line adjustment process. Every city and county has their own method. But maybe thats good because the harder it is the more we can charge (joking here).

Reviews of legal descriptions. No standards.

Just want to say thank you to all who share on this forum. Its a great source of information and interesting subjects.

Ken Wilson

I want to vote for more than one ! ! !
Sorry, I can't pick just one here, lol.

kwilson wrote: Tue Jan 04, 2022 1:40 pm Some County Surveyors (and map checkers) are going beyond their authority by insisting on things beyond the law. It's OK with me to suggest something on the first check because "that's the way we do it here" but we surveyors have our own methods too. Be more flexible on minor drafting differences.

This one used to bother me a lot, so many jurisdictions want to have their maps drawn differently... Felt like they were doing it just to make your life miserable.
At one point in time someone said "If you don't draw a map in a way local surveyors who are likely to use it to establish your neighbors boundary can understand it, it can possibly affect the technical correctness of your map. It is your responsibility to prepare a map where you care cutting down on possibility of misinterpretation." It needs to be communicated in an understandable fashion.

I am still making up my mind how much I want to agree or disagree with this statement, or where to place the transitional gray area, but on the surface I can see its point. I suppose it could be argued that surveying too far outside of your area of expertise can include geographical locations (within your state of licensure).

CBarrett that is a good point - we definitely want to convince other surveyors to accept our boundary determination. In fact that is as crucial as convincing property owners that our boundary resolution is correct and maybe more so since the property owners usually defer to their surveyor for technical advice. And going into an area where there are local methods and conditions that are unusual (Marin County, San Francisco to name a couple) that we are not familiar with could cause problems.

And in general most counties are reasonable in their requests. I have just run into a few outliers that seem to stand out when it comes to local drafting styles and peculiar requests that don't affect the boundary determination.

Interesting: