AI exposure: Surveyors
Make exact measurements and determine property boundaries. Provide data relevant to the shape, contour, gravitation, location, elevation, or dimension of land or land features on or near the earth's surface for engineering, mapmaking, mining, land evaluation, construction, and other purposes.
Reading this score
computed38.2% of this occupation's weighted task load is exposed, which puts Surveyors at the 67th percentile of 923 occupations. The capability is largely there. Its average task scores 2.3 out of 4 on what a current system can produce, and the frictions that hold other jobs in place are comparatively weak here.
What holds the line here is verification cost. Across this occupation's 24 tasks it averages 1.92 out of 3, the highest of the five friction dimensions. In plain terms, checking the output costs more than producing it. Where an undetected error is expensive, dangerous or irreversible, the economics change. Someone has to verify the work, and verifying can cost as much as doing it. This is the friction most likely to fall as tools for checking improve.
The most exposed thing this job does is Verify the accuracy of survey data, at 86.7%. The least is Locate and mark sites selected for geophysical prospecting activities, at 0.0%. A gap of 86.7% between two parts of the same job is the reason this index publishes at task level. An occupation-wide number would have hidden both.
Within architecture and engineering occupations, this one is more exposed than most. The median across the 56 roles in the group is 37.5%, and only 21 of them score higher than this. Occupational families are not uniform, and the spread inside them is often wider than the gap between them.
What would move this score. Of 24 tasks, 14 are currently banded exposed, 3 assisted and 7 untouched. For that distribution to shift materially would take a change in who is permitted to sign the work, which is a question for regulators rather than for engineers. The score is re-computed every quarter against a fresh capability reference, and the change is published rather than quietly applied.
Task by task
24 tasks, O*NET 31.0| Task | Exposed | Assisted | Untouched | Importance | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Verify the accuracy of survey data, including measurements and calculations conducted at survey sites. | 86.7% | 13.3% | 0.0% | 4.55 | exposed |
| Compute geodetic measurements and interpret survey data to determine positions, shapes, and elevations of geomorphic and topographic features. | 66.7% | 33.3% | 0.0% | 4.35 | exposed |
| Calculate heights, depths, relative positions, property lines, and other characteristics of terrain. | 66.7% | 33.3% | 0.0% | 4.35 | exposed |
| Determine longitudes and latitudes of important features and boundaries in survey areas, using theodolites, transits, levels, and satellite-based global positioning systems (GPS). | 66.7% | 33.3% | 0.0% | 4.20 | exposed |
| Conduct research in surveying and mapping methods, using knowledge of photogrammetric map compilation and electronic data processing. | 64.2% | 23.3% | 12.5% | 3.35 | exposed |
| Write descriptions of property boundary surveys for use in deeds, leases, or other legal documents. | 60.0% | 40.0% | 0.0% | 4.63 | exposed |
| Prepare, or supervise preparation of, all data, charts, plots, maps, records, and documents related to surveys. | 60.0% | 40.0% | 0.0% | 4.47 | exposed |
| Prepare and maintain sketches, maps, reports, and legal descriptions of surveys to describe, certify, and assume liability for work performed. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.67 | exposed |
| Establish fixed points for use in making maps, using geodetic and engineering instruments. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.21 | exposed |
| Coordinate findings with the work of engineering and architectural personnel, clients, and others concerned with projects. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 4.05 | exposed |
| Develop criteria for survey methods and procedures. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 3.75 | exposed |
| Determine specifications for equipment to be used for aerial photography, as well as altitudes from which to photograph terrain. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 2.88 | exposed |
| Develop criteria for the design and modification of survey instruments. | 50.0% | 25.0% | 25.0% | 2.33 | exposed |
| Analyze survey objectives and specifications to prepare survey proposals or to direct others in survey proposal preparation. | 45.0% | 30.0% | 25.0% | 4.00 | exposed |
| Train assistants and helpers, and direct their work in such activities as performing surveys or drafting maps. | 21.7% | 28.3% | 50.0% | 4.10 | assisted |
| Direct or conduct surveys to establish legal boundaries for properties, based on legal deeds and titles. | 16.7% | 33.3% | 50.0% | 4.89 | assisted |
| Direct aerial surveys of specified geographical areas. | 16.7% | 33.3% | 50.0% | 3.53 | assisted |
| Adjust surveying instruments to maintain their accuracy. | 11.7% | 13.3% | 75.0% | 3.93 | untouched |
| Search legal records, survey records, and land titles to obtain information about property boundaries in areas to be surveyed. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.53 | untouched |
| Record the results of surveys, including the shape, contour, location, elevation, and dimensions of land or land features. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.50 | untouched |
| Plan and conduct ground surveys designed to establish baselines, elevations, and other geodetic measurements. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 4.25 | untouched |
| Testify as an expert witness in court cases on land survey issues, such as property boundaries. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.94 | untouched |
| Survey bodies of water to determine navigable channels and to secure data for construction of breakwaters, piers, and other marine structures. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.73 | untouched |
| Locate and mark sites selected for geophysical prospecting activities, such as efforts to locate petroleum or other mineral products. | 0.0% | 0.0% | 100.0% | 3.33 | untouched |
Task text and importance ratings sourced from O*NET 31.0. Shares computed. The occupation score is the importance-weighted mean.
Where the score comes from
judgedEvery task is scored through the standardised work activities it maps to. These are this occupation’s averages on the six rubric dimensions. Capability is what AI can do; the other five are what stands in the way.
| Dimension | Mean | Scale |
|---|---|---|
| Capability | 2.31 | 0-4 |
| Embodiment | 1.12 | 0-3 |
| Presence | 0.67 | 0-3 |
| Accountability | 1.58 | 0-3 |
| Context | 1.56 | 0-3 |
| Verification cost | 1.92 | 0-3 |
What this means in practice
Where most of a role's weighted task load is exposed, the work that survives is usually the part of the job nobody wrote into the job description: deciding what should be produced rather than producing it, and being answerable for the result. The tasks lowest on this page are a better guide to where to spend your time than any general advice about the future of work.
Occupations either side of this one
The four closest scores in the same occupational family, then the four closest anywhere in the index.
Read this carefully. Exposure is not displacement. A high score means current AI systems can produce this work, not that anyone will stop paying a person to do it. Adoption depends on economics, regulation and inertia that this index deliberately does not model. How the score is built.