Registered Surveyor case studies
Registered Surveyor · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Registered Surveyor credential - also called Professional Land Surveyor (PLS) or Licensed Land Surveyor depending on the jurisdiction - is the license that authorizes a surveyor to sign and seal boundary surveys, plats, and legal descriptions and to take professional responsibility for them. It is intended for surveyors who have completed the required education and supervised field and office experience and who are ready to be accountable for their work to clients, courts, and the public. The Registered Surveyor case studies are 5 cases and about 3,911 words.
1Two Original Pipes, One Fence, and a Lender's Deadline
In 1938 a 22-lot subdivision was platted and monumented with 3/4-inch iron pipes at every lot corner. You are retracing Lot 14 for a buyer's lender.
865 words, about 4 min2Grid, Ground, and a State Plane Zone That Won't Hold Still
You are establishing horizontal control for a 3.1-mile gas pipeline corridor that crosses a state plane zone diagonally. Project datum is NAD83(2011), epoch 2010.0.
749 words, about 4 min3A Level Loop That Passes the Test but Fails the Reasonableness Check
You are running a 5.2-mile closed differential leveling loop for a drainage design: 44 setups, a 32× automatic level, and a 25-ft fiberglass rod with a circular bubble. The loop miscloses +0.086 ft.
743 words, about 4 min4A LiDAR DEM That Checks Out Poorly on the Ground
A 240-acre floodplain study uses a 2019 LiDAR-derived 1-m DEM, classified to bare earth, with a stated RMSEz of 0.10 ft in open terrain and metadata citing NAVD88 (GEOID12B). You check it against 62 independent RTK shots on open pasture distributed across the site.
746 words, about 4 min5A One-Foot Bust, a Certificate of Compliance, and a Large Client
You are the surveyor of record for a 12-lot residential subdivision platted and recorded 14 months ago. While preparing an as-built for Lot 6, your crew finds that the house's west wall stands 6.8 ft from the lot line as staked.
808 words, about 4 min