Like most in his profession, land surveyor John Libby never planned on making a career of it. In his case, it started with an Army mix-up.
Libby joined the military nearly a half century ago on the Army’s promise that he’d be able to attend drafting school. But when the Army informed him later that there were no spaces in the class, he settled for surveying school.
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“It’s the best thing that happened to me,” said Libby, president of the Rhode Island Society of Professional Land Surveyors.
Surveyors say their duties are indispensable in the planning and execution of nearly every form of construction, from plotting residential subdivisions to constructing roads and buildings. Using a mix of math, science, legal knowledge and detective work, surveyors establish land maps and boundaries for ownership.
Yet the majority of surveyors stumble into the work because few people know much about it before they enter the profession. Now, with many of the state’s 250 registered surveyors nearing retirement, the surveying society and others are not leaving things up to chance.
“We’re trying to get it more structured,” Libby said.
To that end, the Community College of Rhode Island is launching an associate’s degree program this fall in applied science for land surveying, the only degree program in the field in the state, according to Peter Woodberry, CCRI’s dean of business, science and technology.
The surveying society is also focusing on promoting the profession to high school students, with, for example, a recent equipment demonstration at a career day sponsored by the R.I. Department of Transportation.
“We’re making a big push on education because there’s no new blood coming in,” Libby said. “Ask a kid about surveying, and they know nothing about it.”
Surveying is an ancient profession. As early as 3000 B.C., Egyptians used surveying techniques to track land boundaries along the Nile River in the wake of flooding. They also employed surveying in building the pyramids.
The profession has evolved rapidly in recent years with the use of such technology as satellite global positioning systems, laser scanning and aerial photography for 3-D mapping.
“We’ve got all the Star Wars stuff the kids want,” Libby said. “They just don’t know it’s there.”
Becoming a registered land surveyor in Rhode Island once was just a matter of gaining experience in the field, said Louis Federici, secretary of the State Board of Registration for Professional Land Surveyors. If a surveyor had 12 years’ experience and could pass a series of exams, he could get a license.
But as of 2002, state law requires at least an associate’s degree in land surveying or a related field. After gaining two years’ experience, there is an exam to become a surveyor-in-training. After another four years, there are two more exams before licensure.
A licensed surveyor can earn more than $65,000 annually, according to Libby.
Federici said he’s been working since 1988 to establish a degree program in the state. Roger Williams University did have one for some time, but dropped it years ago.
Students who enter CCRI’s two-year program will take general education classes in technical writing, algebra and trigonometry as well as directly related courses on computer-aided design, land surveying and the law of contracts and property, estates and trusts.
Woodbury said one course, Land Surveying I, will be available at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston. And the CCRI program is designed so the credits can be applied toward a URI degree in civil engineering, Federici said. They will also be accepted by the University of Maine, the only school in New England that offers a four-year land surveying degree.
Both Libby, owner of John L. Libby Consulting in New Bedford, and Federici, owner of Louis Federici & Associates in Providence, acknowledge that the real estate downturn has somewhat dampened the demand for surveyors.
But Federici said that’s only temporary, considering that the real estate market is sure to rebound and existing surveyors are aging.
Libby is still working at 67. Over his career, he’s surveyed multi-million-dollar projects, but now he works mostly for lawyers and title companies determining the location of property boundaries.
He said the job is rewarding because it’s not just about mathematical calculations and measurements. He uses the law, historical information and research of municipal documents to get to the bottom of any discrepancies. It takes a lot of logical thinking.
“We don’t have formulas to solve all our problems,” Libby said. “For us, it’s like a puzzle. It’s solving puzzles all day long. And every job is different.”
