You are on page 1of 5

Professor

HANS MATTSSON
Real Estate Planning, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)
Stockholm

THE EDUCATION AND PROFESSION OF LAND SURVEYORS


IN WESTERN EUROPE
THE SWEDISH LAND SURVEYOR EUROPE PRESENTS GREAT His research method was to ask informed re-
FROM A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE presentatives from each country to complete
CULTURAL SIMILARITIES BUT ALSO
The birth of the Swedish land surveyor is put charts of the skills conferred by the university
at 1628, when Anders Bure was instructed to ESSENTIAL HISTORICAL AND study programmes. The respondents were also
appoint land surveyors to map the villages of asked to judge whether skills in a range of
Sweden, so as to provide a sounder basis for INSTITUTIONAL DIFFERENCES, AND subjects were elementary/non-existent, core
tax assessment. Later, in the mid-18th cen- SO IT IS INTERESTING TO COMPARE or advanced, using a scale from 0 to 3. In the
tury, the land surveyors inaugurated large- present paper, this rating has been articulated
scale land consolidation projects (skiften) cor- THE PROFILES OF EDUCATION by means of a white/grey/black scale (see Fig.
responding to Englands enclosure movement. PROGRAMMES AND PROFESSIONS IN 2).
These projects continued into the 20th cen- Allan also prepared similar charts for the
tury. THE VARIOUS COUNTRIES. IN THIS professional fields of qualified land surveyors,
Initially, the professional skills of the land using the same information-gathering techni-
ARTICLE A COMPARISON OF WES-
surveyor comprised measurement and map- que as for the education programmes. In this
ping. Land consolidation required him to plan TERN EUROPEAN LAND SURVEYORS present study the professional profiles are tre-
new, rational working units for agriculture ated in the same way as the education profiles,
and forestry, the aim being to gather different IS ATTEMPTED. THE COMPARISON IS i.e. articulated by means of the white/grey/
landowners fragmented holdings into one or BASED ON THE HISTORY OF THE black colour scale (see Fig. 4). It is worth
a few parcels. The land surveyor also had to noting that the fields of activity and the de-
comply with statutory provisions, i.e. be lear- SWEDISH LAND SURVEYOR, THIS grees of skill in Allans report are not the same
ned in the law. In addition, he had to be BEING THE HISTORY WITH WHICH for the profession as for the universities (cf.
capable of valuing the productive capacity of Figs 2 and 4).
land, so as to estimate the value of the land THE AUTHOR IS MOST FAMILIAR, However, when comparing countries, the
both taken from, and allotted to, landowners. lack of any objective methods of measure-
AND ON PROFESSOR ALLANS
In the 20th century, Sweden was increa- ment makes it very difficult to determine ex-
singly divided up into independent property REPORT (1996). actly what is represented by Allans data on
units, at the same time as there was a growing education and practice. It is reasonable to
need for coping with other encumbrances. assume that the opinions and ratings of the
Subdivision, reallotment, amalgamation etc. togrammetry, real estate economics, land law respondents were based largely on knowledge
all required an extensive knowledge of law, and GIS-technology followed subsequently. of the situation in their own countries, rather
especially as, under the Swedish system, the The economics chair made it possible for eco- than on what existed elsewhere. There is thus
land surveyor had extensive powers of decisi- nomic studies to become more advanced and a risk that what was regarded as superficial
on-making. The need for valuation skills grew also expand so as to include real estate mana- knowledge in one country could have been
steadily as the land surveyor acquired more gement. As a result, young land surveyors could considered advanced in another, even though
and more professional responsibility for valua- now enter the property sector, adding yet an- the context was the same in both cases. The
tions of a quasi-expropriatory character. other field of activity to those already in exis- same objections can be made about the assess-
Knowledge of land legislation and proper- tence. ments of professional profiles.
ty valuation made him, in municipal develop- Thus the development of the profession in However, despite these drawbacks, it is
ment offices, suitably qualified to take charge Sweden can be summed up in a simple arrow possible to use Allans report as the basis for
of municipal housing supplies and of munici- diagram; (see Fig.1). Similarities and dissimi- attempting to create a profile, or more cor-
pal land supply. This responsibility came to larities in the education and activities of Wes- rectly, a number of profiles, for the Western
the fore during the major housing construc- tern European land surveyors will be analysed European land surveyor in respect of both
tion programmes in and around 1970 when with reference to the skills indicated in this education and profession. First, though, the
previous planning expertise in connection with diagram. The basic data for the analysis comes material in the report requires further com-
agriculture and forestry was increasingly su- from Professor A. L. Allans report The Edu- ment.
perseded by an expertise in urban develop- cation and Practice of the Geodetic Surveyor In a number of countries, land surveyor
ment. in Western Europe (1996). The report will education programmes have been diversified
Swedish land surveyors have been trained be commented on as an introduction to the to such an extent that two or three main
at university level since 1932, when a School analyses in the article. specialities have been created. This is true of
of Surveying was established at the Royal In- Norway and Finland, both of which have two
stitute of Technology (KTH). Two professor- ALLANS REPORT main specialities, and of Sweden and Den-
ships were instituted to begin with, one in Professor A. L. Allan, University College, Lon- mark, which have three. These main speciali-
geodesy and the other in real estate planning. don, collated information on the education ties are identified in Fig. 2, since they provide
Professorships in agricultural hydrotechnics, and professional duties of land surveyors in interesting aspects of education and professi-
(later renamed land and water resources), pho- the EU and also in Norway and Switzerland. on. The Danish planning speciality, however,

Measure- Classification Planning of Land law Valuation Land Real Estate


ment for tax Properties Develop- Economics
purposes ment and
Management

FIGURE 1. HISTORIC EVOLUTION OF SWEDISH


LAND SURVEYOR COMPETENCE.

1
has been excluded, because its profile is virtu- are: les places heavy emphasis on technique so
ally identical with that of land management. Measurement that other subjects are largely supplementary.
According to Allans report, students in Maps and GIS The other main profile focuses on law and on
Germany are able to take options, i.e. not Law planning and development, with a reduced
alternative specialities, rather variants in the Planning and Development quota of technical skills. Even though the
end profile. The profile including urban deve- Valuation second profile is typical of the Nordic
lopment and valuation has been chosen as Economic Real Estate Management countries, one can see that Switzerland, the
representative of Germany. The other option Construction and Cost Control. Netherlands, Germany and France are not far
leads to higher geodesy. If, instead, in Fig. 2, The next step is to produce an educational from it.
this technical variant was to be chosen as profile using the main subject groupings in Another profile appears among the divi-
representing Germany, it would have the ef- such a way that the black diagonal in Fig. 2 ded study programmes, namely the economics
fect of moving Germany slightly to the left in shows the primary focus of different national profile in Sweden and Finland. This profile
the figure. Options are probably available in education programmes. also includes certain elements of construction
other countries too, even though this is not Two categories of country appear in Fig. 2. subjects. The element of measurement and
apparent from Allans report. Firstly, there are countries with only one core mapping subjects has been reduced.
In his 1996 report, Allan excluded the study programme, and then there are the Thus three main groups of educational
large group of General Surveyors with specia- Nordic countries, where studies are divided. profiles emerge:
list knowledge of real estate economics and The Nordic divisions can be taken as an indi- 1. The technical land surveyor, often, though
law, as well as five other groups of British cation that the duties of the land surveying not always, with a good knowledge of law
surveyors affiliated to the RICS (Royal Insti- profession have expanded to such a degree, as and sometimes also of planning and deve-
tute of Chartered Surveyors). The reason, pre- previously happened in the UK, that the basic lopment. The emphasis of the skills prof-
sumably, is that they did not fit in with the mass of knowledge required for the practising ile, however, is on geodesy, measurement
definition of land surveyor in which the CLGE land surveyor can no longer be held together and mapping subjects, GIS techniques in-
(the European Council of Geodetic Survey- in one and the same educational profile. cluded. Geomatics or geoinformatics is pro-
ors) is interested. This is perhaps only to be If attention is confined to countries with bably an appropriate collective term to
expected since Allans report was published in one main profile, the following pattern emer- cover the curricular subjects included.
association with the CLGE. ges. The study programmes may be purely tech- 2. The land management surveyor, with an ex-
Finally it should be mentioned that Allans nical (Ireland and Portugal), technical with a tensive knowledge of law, planning and
report deals with conditions in the mid-1990s, greater or lesser element of law, presumably development. A certain amount of valua-
which is a drawback as new conditions may related to property formation (the UK, Greece, tion is included, compensatory valuation
have supervened since then. Spain and Austria), technical, with strong especially. The technical skills have been
elements of law and some knowledge of plan- reduced. The main land management re-
LAND SURVEYOR EDUCATION ning and development (Switzerland, the flects the aim of the land surveyor in hel-
PROGRAMMES Netherlands, Germany and France) and, fi- ping to clarify legal rights where land and
If, as a first step, the curricular subjects in nally, disparate study programmes with no development are concerned.
Allans report are grouped into main subject particularly strong profile in any respect (Italy 3. The real economics surveyor (general prac-
areas, essentially complying with the descrip- and Belgium). tice in UK) with a high level of theoretical
tion given earlier of the historical develop- Turning next to consider the Nordic competence in economic subjects. The le-
ment of the skills of the Swedish land survey- countries, where study programmes have been gal element is conspicuous. Property or
or, this gives us a tool for analysing national divided into several main profiles, the follo- real estate management is the main focus
education profiles. The main subject areas wing pattern emerges. One of the main profi- of this education, and its main purpose is

NOR SWE FIN DEN DEN SWE NOR SWE FIN


Specialization IRL POR UK (SM) GRE (SM) (SM) ESP (SM) AUT SUI NED GER FRA (LM) (LM) (LM) (Ec) (Ec) ITA BEL
Geodesy 2 3 2,5 3 3 3 2,5 2,5 2,5 3 2,5 3 2 2,5 2 1,5 1 1,5 1,5 1,5 2
Instruments 2 2 2 3 2,5 2,5 2,5 2,5 3 2,5 2,5 3 2,5 3 2 1,5 2 1,5 1 1,5 2
Mining/Engineering Surveying 2 1 2 1 2 1 2,5 3 3 2,5 2 2 1 2 2 0 1 0 1 1 1

Maps and GIS 2,5 2,5 2 3 3 3 3 2,5 3 3 3 3 3 2,5 2 1,5 2 1,5 1,5 2 3

Law 0 1 2 2 2 1,5 2 2 2 3 2,5 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 1 3

Planning 1 1 1 1 2 1 0 1 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 1,5 1,5 1 2


Urban Development 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 1,5 2 2 2 3 3 2 1,5 1,5 1,5 1,5
Rural Development 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 2 2 3 3 2 3 0 1 2 1

Valuation 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 2 1 2 2 3 3 2 2

Finance and Taxation 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 3 3 0 2


Building Economics and Management 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 3 2 1 1
Marketing 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1,5 1,5 0 1
Land and Farm Management 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 1 2 1 1 2 0

Building Design 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 2 3
Construction Technology 1 0 0 1 1 1,5 1 2 0 1 2,5 0 1 1 0 1,5 1 2 1 2 2
Building Quantities 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 1
Cost Control 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 1,5 1,5 2 1

SM=Mapping and Surveying/Geodesy specialization Advanced knowledge (2,5-3)


LM=Land Management, Land Development and Cadaster specialization Core knowledge (1,5-2)
Ec=Economic specialization Elementary knowledge or non-existent (0-1)

FIGURE 2. PROFILES OF SURVEYING EDUCATION


IN WESTERN EUROPE.

2
Specialization IRL POR UK GRE ESP AUT SUI NED GER FRA DEN NOR SWE FIN ITA BEL
Geodesy 2 3 2,5 3 2,5 3 2,5 3 2 2,5 2 1 1,5 1,5 1,5 2
Instruments 2 2 2 2,5 2,5 2,5 2,5 3 2,5 3 2 2 1,5 1 1,5 2
Mining/Engineering Surveying 2 1 2 2 3 2,5 2 2 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1

Maps and GIS 2,5 2,5 2 3 2,5 3 3 3 3 2,5 2 2 1,5 1,5 2 3

Law 0 1 2 2 2 3 2,5 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 1 3

Planning 1 1 1 2 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 1,5 1,5 1 2


Urban Development 0 1 0 0 1 1 1,5 2 2 2 3 2 1,5 1,5 1,5 1,5
Rural Development 0 1 1 1 0 1 0 2 2 3 3 3 2 1 2 1

Valuation 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 2 1 2 3 3 2 2

Finance and Taxation 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 3 3 0 2


Building Economics and Management 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 3 2 1 1
Marketing 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1,5 1,5 0 1
Land and Farm Management 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 2 0 2 1 1 2 1

Building Design 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 2 3
Construction Technology 1 0 0 1 2 1 2,5 0 1 1 0 1 2 1 2 2
Building Quantities 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 2 1
Cost Control 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 1,5 1,5 2 1

Advanced knowledge (2,5-3)


Core knowledge (1,5-2)
Elementary knowledge or non-existent (0-1)

FIGURE 3. AMALGAMATED EDUCATION PROFILES.

to confer a knowledge of economic real sional profiles of the land surveyors. ned, the picture becomes more fragmented.
estate management. Planning and development are essential tasks in
It is difficult to speculate as to why country THE PROFESSIONAL PROFILES OF France, Germany and the four Nordic
profiles can be so different, but one explana- THE LAND SURVEYOR countries. So too is real estate valuation. Also
tion can perhaps be found in the responsibili- In order to make more manageable the mass of in these countries, economic real estate mana-
ty of land surveyors for complicated property information on professional duties contained gement is to some extent an important field of
formation activities. In countries with palpa- in Allans charts, the activity fields of land activity. The Danish land surveyors, howe-
ble responsibility of this kind, the land survey- surveyors have been classified into main groups ver, have so far not become involved in pro-
or has been forced to cope with law and some- corresponding to the main groups of the study perty valuation or property management. Nor-
times also with valuation in order to achieve programmes. These main groups are as fol- wegian land surveyors are weak in the area of
property formation, especially in complicated lows: property management.
situations. Land consolidation in the Nordic Measurement and mapping Building and construction is a carried out in
countries, Umlegung and Flurbereinigung in Cadastre and Remembrement some countries, but on a relatively modest
Germany and remembrement in France are ex- Planning and Development scale except in Italy.
amples of this kind of advanced activity. The Valuation Some conclusions can thus be drawn. Only
same knowledge has then been put to more Property Management in a few countries is a land surveyor essential-
general use in land development activities. Building and Construction. ly a measurement and mapping person, but
The move towards a predominance of eco- Fig. 4 shows the results of this professional almost without exception, the profession is
nomic subjects is a recent occurrence, which grouping. Countries are shown in the same responsible for property formation. In half
may be why it has happened in so few countries. order as in Fig. 3 with teaching content. the countries, however, duties are wider still
In the UK it has resulted in such a wide In all countries except Belgium, measure- and also include planning, development, va-
divergence between subjects taught that eco- ment and mapping is a core area for land sur- luation and property management. The ex-
nomic study programmes have been comple- veyors. This is very much what might be ex- tent of these activities, it is true, varies from
tely separated from measuring and mapping. pected, since, in purely historical terms, sur- one country to another, but the pattern is
A similar tension can be observed in Sweden veying, defines in one way or another, the clear. To fail to take into account all these
and Finland, even though economic program- land surveyors profession. activities that occur in addition to measure-
mes there still include measurement and map- In nearly all countries, professional practi- ment and cadastre would produce far too nar-
ping subjects. tioners are also influential in cadastre and re- row a definition of the European profession of
In certain countries, then, the study pro- membrement, i.e. property formation is a cen- land surveyor.
grammes have acquired such breadth as to be tral field of activity for land surveyors almost
divided into different educational profiles. The everywhere in Western Europe. Here measu- EDUCATION AND PROFESSION
aggregate educational profile of each country rement and mapping activities are combined Due to the subjective nature of the respon-
has been worked out in Fig. 3; that is to say, with the formation and alteration of proper- dents ratings for both education and practi-
the profiles in Fig. 2 have been added together ties. Ireland and the UK, however, do not ce, comparisons on the basis of Allans report
in countries with more than one study pro- conform to this pattern, nor does Portugal. In are difficult to make. Nor is it clear what
gramme, with the most advanced university these countries, land surveyors probably have university qualifications are needed in order
education being representative of the educa- only a limited responsibility for property for- to be responsible for different areas of practi-
tional profile of land surveyors. This aggregate mation. ce, i.e. whether black fields in the education
profile will later be compared with the profes- Where other fields of activity are concer- correspond to black fields in the profession,

3
Specialization IRL POR UK GRE ESP AUT SUI NED GER FRA DEN NOR SWE FIN ITA BEL
Geodetic Surveying 2,5 3 3 3 2,5 3 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2
Topographical Surveying 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2,5 3 3 3 3 3 1
Engineering Surveying 2,5 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 2 1 1

Cadastre and Remembrement 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

Urban Development 0 2 0 2 2 1 2 2 3 3 3 2 3 2,5 0 2


Physical Planning 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 1 3 2 3 3 3 3 1 1
Planning Control and Administration 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 2 0 3 3 2,5 2,5 0 0
Economics of Planning and Development 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 1 2 1 2 3 2,5 2,5 0 0

Property Valuation 0 1 0 2 2 1 0 2 3 3 1 2 3 2,5 3 3


Agricultural Valuation 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 3 2 1 3 2 0 3 2

Property Marketing and Investment 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 0 1 3 2,5 1 2


Urban Property Management 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 3 0 1 3 2,5 1 3
Rural and Recreational Land Management 0 1 0 0 0 2 3 2 2 3 3 3 2 2 1 2
Forestry and Woodland Management 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 2 2 2 1 0

Farm Building and Equipment 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 3 0


Building Design 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 2 1
Construction Economics 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 2 2 2 2
Building Maintenance and Construction 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 2

Project design, financial and legal responsibility (2,5-3)


Project execution (1,5-2)
Routine operations or nothing (0-1)

FIGURE 4. PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES IN WESTERN EUROPE.

and so on (Figs. 3 and 4). A comparison will, The gulf between education and professio- there are countries where the universities are
however, be attempted, if only to arouse inte- nal activity appears to be even greater in eco- well abreast of events and have even moved
rest in the question. nomic real estate management than in valuation ahead of professional practice. This ought to
Education and professional activity are pro- although Sweden and Finland are exceptions be the goal for all universities involved in
minent in measurement and mapping in all in this respect. educating professional surveyors.
countries. The element of university subjects With building and construction, there is rea- There is, however, a still more important
in law corresponds to the activity field of sonable congruence between study program- conclusion to be drawn from these compari-
cadastre and remembrement. mes and practice. sons, namely that a European perspective can
A more complicated picture emerges where Education and practice, then, are on the be applied to the study programmes and the
planning and development are concerned. In whole interconnected, as one might expect in profession. Are the study programmes to be
some countries (Switzerland, the Netherlands professional study programmes and indeed it narrowed down to purely technical ones but
and perhaps Belgium and Italy too), study would be rather surprising if this were not the with responsibility for property formation in-
programmes appear to be somewhat more ad- case. The universities, however, tend to have cluded (on the lines of the least common de-
vanced than professional practice. If so, we different subject priorities to those preferred nominator)? Or should countries with less di-
may ask whether this is due to the skills needed by practitioners. Indeed, influential academics versified study programmes and sometimes also
for cadastre activities or whether this is an or administrators can ignore or downgrade the narrower fields of activity learn from those
attempt by academia to find new niches for needs of practitioners or be deterred from in- which have wider fields of activity, and in this
land surveyors. In other countries (France, troducing new subjects through lack of skills way broaden the basis of a profession necessa-
Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden), or resources. Then too, with the consequenc- ry to society (the expansion principle)? If the
education and professional duties appear to be es of choosing one speciality as opposed to expansion principle is accepted, a study should
mutually adapted in the field of planning and another becoming apparent only in the long be made of developments in Germany, France
development. term, it is very easy to misjudge the future and the Nordic countries. But at the same
In real estate valuation there is a gulf bet- direction of the profession. Guidance of prac- time it may be interesting to ponder the pro-
ween teaching systems and professional prac- titioners may also be difficult because they blems of incongruity between education and
tice and it would seem that university study tend to be more concerned with solving todays practice in Germany and France. Why are the
programmes fail to provide the depth of edu- problems rather than tomorrows. Thus there universities failing to keep up with professio-
cation needed by the practitioner. Sweden are a number of reasons as to why education nal developments in the economic field as
and Finland, with their strong emphasis on and profession do not always share the same they have in Finland and Sweden? It would
economic subjects, are exceptions. profiles. also be interesting to carry out a more in-
Denmark poses an interesting question. Is Where differences occur, it is usually the depth study of the UK, where the gap between
the Danish weakness in economics due, for universities that fail to adapt their study pro- technically and economically oriented sur-
some reason, to the failure of professionals to grammes in time to meet the needs of practi- veyors has become so wide that these two
penetrate this field, and the university there- tioners. Everyone is likely to lose out by this, groups are now separate from each with enti-
fore seeing no justification for committing including teachers and researchers of the exis- rely different forms of education.
itself to economics and, above all, to valua- ting subjects, be they scientifically advanced It may also be rewarding from a land sur-
tion? Or is it the unavailability of university or otherwise. The existent subjects can be veyor perspective to examine the Danish edu-
education in economics, valuation especially, called into question if universities are not cational and professional profile as everything
which results in Danish land surveyors having capable of establishing realistic overall priori- about it is integrated and clear (Enemark
such a lack of involvement in valuation? ties in their study programmes. Nevertheless, 1999). However, it does seem rather inappro-

4
priate to have neglected property valuation in CONCLUSIONS
the way the Danes have done although there When we think of a land surveyor, it is easy to
is undoubtedly a risk that concentrating on conclude that measurement (or surveying) is
economic subjects could create a radical di- the common activity and that geodesy is per-
vergence in education profiles as has happe- haps the common science. However, this may
ned in the UK. The Finnish and Swedish not be such a good approach and even a wrong
study programmes, as is practice, are showing one, especially if we look at the profession
clear tendencies towards subdivision. If this over Western Europe as a whole. What we
happens, technical land surveying risks beco- then see is that only in a few countries is
ming a marginalised profession, at least in measurement the one specialisation and that
demographically small countries. Or, is it the work common to most European land sur-
enough to rely on the increasing need for new veyors also incorporates evaluation, land and
GIS-competencies? property management in a range of different
situations, and the creation of new, real pro-
DEFINITION AND NAME perty units. Furthermore, we have to acknow-
Lastly, it may be of interest to consider the ledge the increasing importance of geoinfor-
naming of the profession, since the resolution matics both in the education of professionals
of this issue can, just as much as education, and for the profession itself. Not only is it able
influence development and regression. Inter- to link together all the different areas of the
nationally, land surveyors are represented by profession but it can also help to widen it.
the FIG (International Federation of Survey- In most countries it is also possible to ob-
ors) and in Europe to some extent by the serve that there is a broad field of study activi-
CLGE (European Council of Geodetic Sur- ties that can be categorised under the heading
veyors). FIGs definition of land surveyor (or of technique, law and economics or, better
surveyor) seems to show a greater awareness still, under measurement, planning, land law
of the breadth of the profession than the and land economics. However, in contem-
CLGEs (FIG 1991 a, b and CLGE 1997). FIG porary scientific language, perhaps the use of
includes all the competencies included in the geomatics and property rights are more
arrow chart above (Fig. 1). The CLGE, by appropriate as these terms are almost identi-
contrast, has put a surprising emphasis on cal in meaning to surveying and land.
measuring and mapping. It is vague, to say the The figures in this article, even if uncer-
least, about the other areas of work underta- tain in detail, show us that the scope of the
ken by land surveyors, although in its policy profession in many countries is wider than the
document it does state that its geodetic survey- training provided by their respective universi-
or can also work with land management, valu- ties. The differences in university curricula
ation etc. If, then, the CLGE aspires to repre- could, however, provide valuable opportuni-
sent European land surveyors, it should clear- ties for universities to learn from each other
ly take into account (and perhaps also learn and to expand and develop the training they
from) the 50 per cent of countries where land offer. With communication throughout Euro-
surveyors have more varied duties than those pe being so readily accessible to all, it ought to
of the geodetic surveyors. National associa- be relatively simple, but nonetheless challen-
tions of land surveyors would then derive more ging, to develop academic teaching networks
benefit from their affiliation to the CLGE. for surveying schools in parallel with professi-
Nomenclature is also a problem. Narro- onal networks.
wing the name down to geodetic surveyor, as
the CLGE has done, seems an unwise strategy
in the light of the Dutch experience, if only Hans Mattsson
from the marketing viewpoint. The change mattsson@recm.kth.se
from a partly misleading name (landmeter) to
one that was completely unknown to the ge-
neral public (geodeet) did nothing to improve
the profile of a profession struggling to make
itself visible in society. With this situation
reflected throughout Europe, the adoption of
an unknown professional designation can only
be ill-advised. REFERENCES
The historical content of the old term land Allan, A. L. 1996. The Education and Practice of
surveyor would seem to encompasses more ade- the Geodetic Surveyor in Western Europe.
quately the full breadth of knowledge posses- University College London.
sed by surveyors. True, the name can mislead CLGE 1997. The Establishment of the Profile and
persons unfamiliar with history, but no more Definition of the Geodetic Surveying Profession
than the misunderstandings likely to result to the requirements of the General Public and
from the term geodetic surveyor. This latter the Commission of the European Union. Uni-
term is in fact wholly misleading in the Nordic versity College London. (See Internet un-
countries and would also appear inappropriate der CLGE.)
in Germany and France, in view of the profes- Enemark, S. 1999. En uddannelse i stadig forny-
sional profiles in those countries. else. Landinspektoren 1999:3. Danmark.
The words land and surveyor are also FIG 1991a. Definition of a Surveyor. The Interna-
included in several other, sometimes earlier, tional Federation of Surveyors. Publication
national names for land surveyor, namely land- No 2. Finland.
messer (Germany), landmeter (the Nether- FIG 1991b. The Surveyors Contribution to Land
lands), lantmtare (Sweden), maanmittari (Fin- Management. The International Federation
land) and also, partly in landinspektr (Den- of Surveyors. Publication No 4. (See Inter-
mark) and jordskiftekandidat (Norway). net under FIG.)

You might also like