Other surveyors provide data relevant to the shape, contour, location, elevation, or dimension of land or land features. Surveying technicians assist land surveyors by operating survey instruments and collecting information. Cartographers compile geographic, political, and cultural information and prepare maps of large areas. Land surveyors manage survey parties that measure distances, directions, and angles between points and elevations of points, lines, and contours on the earth's surface. They plan the fieldwork, select known survey reference points, and determine the precise location of important features in the survey area.
Surveyors research legal records and look for evidence of previous boundaries.
They record the results of the survey, verify the accuracy of data, and prepare plots, maps, and reports. Surveyors who establish boundaries must be licensed by the State in which they work. A survey party gathers the information needed by the land surveyor. A typical survey party consists of a party chief and several surveying technicians and helpers. Surveying technicians or assistants position and hold the vertical rods, or targets, that the theodolite operator sights on to measure angles, distances, or elevations.