Study Areas

Surveying

Surveying has become a high tech industry using satellite technology, computers, laser scanners and computer-based equipment to produce high quality maps, plans or 3-D digital models of existing land features or proposed designs.

As a professional surveyor, you would be expected to be highly innovative and able to find unique solutions to problems; solutions which are expected to be both socially and environmentally responsible. You would use advanced knowledge and skills in analysis, measurement science and computing to complete surveying and spatial information projects.

Since the beginning of recorded history, people have needed to measure and map the world about them. In every scheme and project - from buildings and other structures on land, to pipelines and cables beneath the land and sea, or bridges and transmission lines above it - the surveyor is usually the first person on site and the last to verify that what was done is correct. Surveying is the vital link in the process which transforms ideas into plans, and plans into reality.

(Open up Your World, The Institution of Surveyors Australia, June 1997)

Career opportunities

There is strong demand for USQ graduates throughout Australia, especially in a fast-developing state such as Queensland.

Surveyors play a major role in the land development industry. They are involved in all stages of development from the subdivision of raw land into building allotments through to construction. The surveyor re-establishes the position of old boundary lines and then marks the position of new boundaries, as well as marking out the position of roads and other services. Only surveyors who are registered and licensed with a Surveyors Board may perform boundary surveys as it involves peoples' rights and interests in land.

Research opportunities

Research opportunities concentrate on the use and validation of new technology, and how to use it in the workplace. This has also opened research into the legal aspects, accuracies and costs of these systems and methods of application. Outside of universities, research is being done within many government departments, equipment vendors and the CSIRO.