Land surveyors: career at a crossroads
“One of the things that I really enjoy is the opportunity to look for what we call ‘original evidence’ out in the field,” says Ontario Land Surveyor (OLS) Mark Tulloch, MASc., OLS, P.Eng. “It’s always a bit nostalgic when you come across a wood post or a stone cairn that you know the original surveyor set there back in the 1800s – and it’s your job to go and find it.”
Land surveying is very much at a crossroads. The profession will officially be 125 years old this year, coinciding with the 150th anniversary of Confederation. It is steeped in history.
“It was the surveyors who were the first ones on the ground, that divided up the lots that they were giving away to people from overseas,” notes Chris Oyler, B.Sc.(Eng.), OLS. The work that those early surveyors did is still evident to this day. “All you have to do is go up in an airplane and look down and you’ll see the lines of straight roads, concessions and intersections. Those didn’t just magically appear there.”
“The sacrifices that they made,” Oyler continues, “going out in the woods for months at a time, living in camps, really is a testament to the strength and dedication of those early settlers.”
As much as it has one foot in the past, land surveying is also shaping the future. Technology is the driving force. “Five years ago, we entered into the mobile LIDAR [light detection and ranging] indus- try”, says Tulloch. “We can do topographic surveys much quicker with orders of magnitude more data.”
Land surveyors are now using 3D laser scanners to measure buildings, underwater mapping to figure out best routes for cabling and tunnels, and drones for surveying large areas that would have been challenging in the past. “GPS is a huge benefit to our day-to-day operations,” notes Oyler. “You can plot a point related to any other point on the planet, with millimetre accuracy.”
These cutting edge technologies are driving greater precision and efficiency, helping land surveyors develop land, position high-rises, and shape the face of our communities like never before.
The profession must now look ahead as it faces an unprecedented brain drain due to shifting demographics. “76 per cent of our members are over age 50, so you’ve got this aging population of surveyors and not enough young people coming in behind to fill the void,” says Oyler. “It’s great for someone like myself. I’m 37. Opportunities are there for self-employment. The numbers really speak for themselves in that respect.”
Tulloch agrees. “When I was commissioned as an OLS in 2008, there were over 700 licensed surveyors in Ontario. Today, there are under 500. There is a huge opportunity for young people. It will be a highly in-demand profession for many years because of the current demographics.”
So, what is it about land surveying that attracted them? For Tulloch, it’s “the ability to work outdoors. The combination of doing physical activities, being outside measuring, searching for artifacts or cutting line in the bush one day, then maybe calculating, drafting, doing business development, and working with other professionals in the office the next. There’s a lot of variety. The third thing would be the opportunity to see different communities across Ontario and Canada.” He continues, “I started as a summer student in 1997 in my father’s survey practice. I knew within two or three weeks that this was the career I wanted for myself.”
For others, it’s the opportunity to have an impact on the development and shaping of our cities, and our country going forward.
To mark the 125th year of the profession, the Association of Canada Lands Surveyors, the Association of Ontario Land Surveyors, and l'Ordre des arpenteurs-géomètres du Québec planned a joint conference this year. “All surveyors, coming together with common interests to celebrate important milestones in Canada’s capital,” says Tulloch, “I don’t think you could have scripted it any better.”
More information on a career in land surveying is available at www.surveycareer.ca.