SURCON Professional study guide
SURCON Professional · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The SURCON Professional Examination is the assessment route through which the Surveyors Council of Nigeria admits candidates into the registered surveying profession. SURCON - established following the promulgation of Decree No. The SURCON Professional study guide has 5 sections and about 1,471 words.
01Cadastral Surveying and Land Registration
A cadastral survey does not merely measure land; it creates a legally referenceable record: beacons coordinated and tied to geodetic control, a survey plan showing bearings, distances, coordinates and areas, and a parcel identifier linking the spatial unit to a register entry. Distinguish the cadastre (the spatial and attribute record of parcels, whether fiscal, legal or multipurpose) from the land registry (the record of rights, owners and encumbrances).
288 words, about 1 min02Geodesy and Geodetic Positioning
Keep separate the topographic surface , the geoid (an equipotential surface approximating mean sea level) and the reference ellipsoid (a mathematical surface). The link is h (ellipsoidal height) = H (orthometric height) + N (geoid undulation).
289 words, about 1 min03Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
Scale is S = f / (H - h ground), where f is focal length and H is flying height above datum , so flying height above terrain must be used and the scale therefore varies with relief. Relief displacement is d = r x h / H, measured radially from the principal point, and is zero at the nadir.
304 words, about 2 min04Cartography and Geographic Information Systems
Every layer sits on a coordinate reference system: a datum plus a projection. Geographic coordinates in degrees cannot be used directly for area, distance or buffer operations.
291 words, about 1 min05Surveying Law, Ethics and Professional Practice
Professional practice rests on a registration statute that creates a council empowered to register practitioners, discipline them and prescribe standards, together with subsidiary regulations on survey records, plan format and submission. Underpinning land law determines what may be surveyed and for whom; in Nigeria, for example, the Land Use Act 1978 vests land in the Governor, and rights of occupancy are evidenced by a certificate.
299 words, about 1 min