EXPOSED
The modal worker splits time between field data collection with GPS/total stations and office work reducing that data in CAD/GIS — and the office half is being eaten by automated point-cloud processing, drone photogrammetry pipelines, and AI-assisted feature extraction from imagery. Field work still requires a body holding a rod on uneven ground, locating monuments, and setting stakes, which is why this isn't COOKED, but crew sizes are shrinking as one operator plus a drone or scanner replaces a three-person party. The technician holds no license and doesn't sign the plat; the licensed surveyor above them owns the liability, so there's no regulatory moat protecting this rung.
Mixed — a routine tier and a judgment tier. The field half — chaining through brush to recover a rebar-and-cap monument, setting grade stakes on a cut slope, holding the rod where GPS loses fix under canopy — still needs a person on site, but the office half (traverse reduction, point-cloud registration, breaklines and contours in Civil 3D) is exactly the repetitive work robotic total stations, drone flight-planning software, and automated feature extraction already do, which is what puts this at 9 rather than mid-teens.
Hands-on in uncontrolled environments. A 14 reflects that a typical day is spent on active construction sites, road right-of-way, and raw parcels — walking uneven terrain hauling a tripod and data collector, dealing with traffic, weather, ticks, and locked gates — with only the CAD reduction happening at a desk, so the environment is uncontrolled but the crew isn't doing structural or confined-space work that would push it higher.
No licence, no signature requirement. State surveying statutes license the PLS who seals the plat; the technician's field notes and CAD drafting carry no legal weight on their own, and while some hold NSPS certified survey technician credentials, no jurisdiction requires it to run a rod or a scanner, hence a 4 rather than zero.
Anonymous artifact production. The client hires the survey firm and knows the licensed surveyor's name, not the technician's; you may see the same site super for months and get called back because your stakes hold, but the deliverable is an anonymous sealed drawing, which caps this at 5.
Meaningful discretion. There is genuine call-making in the field — deciding a found pipe is the original corner rather than a fence post, choosing where to set control so the traverse closes, flagging that the deed call doesn't match the occupation line — but the boundary determination itself goes up to the PLS, so the discretion is procedural and reversible, landing at 7 rather than low teens.
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