Geodesists, Hydrographers, Photogrammetrists, LiDAR Specialists, Boundary Connoisseurs: a diverse ecosystem of unique practitioners, yet we are all forced to grow in a single, rigid trunk. Our current regulatory landscape dictates a single path to licensure. Why does our professional tree have no branches?
Organizations such as NSPS, ASPRS, and THSOA offer specialized certifications, but you can’t practice until you pass the singular exam. Defying logic, we rely on 100 questions to determine “minimal competence” across the vast spectrum of our profession. Must a hydrographer master the intricate poetry of property deeds? How much “junior/senior rights” knowledge should a Geodesist be expected to demonstrate to protect the public? Because that’s what a professional license is for, protection of the public.
A breakthrough is coming. Beginning in October 2027, NCEES will introduce a standalone Public Land Survey System exam, allowing states to choose whether to require the PLSS module, thus finally acknowledging that a surveyor in a colonial state, Texas or Hawaii shouldn’t be penalized for not knowing how to subdivide a township they will never encounter. It is a vital first step, but it shouldn’t be the last. If we can create a branch for the PLSS, why not for geodesy, hydrography and photogrammetry?
Many oppose a multi-tiered system, but we are advocating for branches, not tiers. We propose a “common trunk” comprising foundational geomatics, ethics, and professional practice that are common to all areas of surveying, followed by specialized branches. Failure to adapt risks a fracture from the outside. Drone operators and GIS professionals are rapidly gaining the political capital to remove these specialties from our exclusive purview. We might even find the U.S. Supreme Court doing the pruning for us, if the Institute for Justice finally wins a case.
Geodesy is being pulled into the orbit of GIS and ESRI. Are you truly prepared for the new National Spatial Reference System (NSRS) and time-dependent locations? LiDAR practitioners are being absorbed into remote sensing and maybe for good reason. Have you thought about buying a Small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS)? Do you feel competent identifying the multitude of sources of error in a point cloud? Meanwhile, contractors now perform the lion’s share of site development staking. Where construction staking doesn’t require a license, why is it still taking up valuable space on a licensing exam? LiDAR and Construction Layout – separate branches?
We have seen the cost of fragmentation before. As an NSPS Director during the dissolution of the ACSM, one of us voted for changes intended to save us from economic hardship. NSPS did not want to lose our sister groups, but the infrastructure—including the SaLIS Journal—had become a luxury we couldn’t afford. In hindsight, we may have underappreciated the loss of the one forum where different surveying disciplines could find common ground. Today, we need that forum more than ever.
Looking to our engineering colleagues; with over 20 different PE exam types, they prove that specialization doesn’t weaken a profession—it fortifies it. It is time to move past the “one size fits all” license. We need a system that accurately reflects the expertise of the modern professional.
We’d like to see some debate on this topic. After all, if we can’t agree on the branches, we’re all just barking up the same tree.