THE THREE WORLDS

OF SURVEYING

TONY NETTLEMAN, Instructor

www.cnettleman.netcharles.nettleman@gmail.com

©

IS SURVEYING A PROFESSION?

This question has been asked often, from medieval times until today

Under early English law there were only four recognized professions:

• Legal• Medicine• Theology• Ferrymen

WHY IS SURVEYING A PROFESSION?

THE THREE DISCIPLINES OF

SURVEYING

WHICH AREA IS YOUR FAVORITE?

Business

TechnicalLegal

conflict

THE THREE DISCIPLINES:

LEGALTraditional surveying is not about creating new boundaries, but retracing existing boundaries, then applying the proper legal principles

TECHNICALSome believe that surveying is nothing more than a technical avocation

BUSINESSSome of the most important skills in surveying include the ability to create and maintain business relationships

THE TECHNICAL

WORLD

EARLY COMPUTATIONS• The early surveyors relied on printed tables of numbers for

computations

• “Latitude and departure” tables were used early on and when calculators were developed, the cosine and sine tables became the standard

CHARACTERISTICS OF RANDOM ERROR ARE….

•Small errors occur more frequently than large ones

•Negative and positive errors occur with the same frequency (symmetry)

•Very large errors do not occur – counted as blunders if they do

THE BUSINESS WORLD

THE FIVE STAGES OF A BUSINESS’ LIFE CYCLE

WHAT METHOD OF BUSINESS DO YOU OPERATE UNDER?

IT REALLY MATTERS!!

TYPES OF BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS

1. SOLE PROPRIETORSHIP: individual owner, complete managerial control

2. PARTNERSHIP: two or more owners share profit/loss

3. CORPORATION: legal entity created to conduct business

4. LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY: hybrid of partnership and corporation

5. “Under the table moonlighting”

THE LEGAL WORLD

WHAT IS LAW

•A rule of reason promulgated by authority and supported by sanctions

•A prediction of what the courts will do

•A striving by force towards justice

THE SURVEYOR’S

ROLE IN LITIGATION

IDENTIFY PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS AND DETERMINE IF A “COMPETENT”

SURVEYOR BREACHED THOSE STANDARDS

• Did the land surveyors involved in the suit follow standard procedures?

• Did the land surveyors involved in the suit follow state law?

• Did the land surveyors involved in the suit breach any ethical duties?

QUALIFYING AS AN EXPERT

• The court serves as a “gate keeper” to determine which experts are, in fact, qualified to testify

• Purpose of the “gate keeping” function is to ensure that testimony is based on objective, well-established, scientific knowledge

• FRCP 702