THE EDUCATION AND PRACTICE OF THE GEODETIC SURVEYOR IN WESTERN EUROPE
Comité de Liaison des Géomètres Européens / The European Council of Geodetic Surveyors
 5.0  GLOSSARY

Surveyor The term Surveyor is virtually meaningless in the English language without a qualifying adjective, such as "land", "hydrographic", "quantity" for example. Words also have significant differences of meaning between US and UK usage. For example in the USA a "land surveyor" is restricted to mean a surveyor of land for cadastral purposes, whilst in the UK it has the much wider meaning ascribed here equivalent to "geodetic surveyor". Engineer The term "engineer" or "ingenieur" or "inzenier" etc does not translate directly across European languages, even though the word may appear the same. The connotation in English is of a mechanical device, whilst in other contries such as Germany, it connotes ingenuity. Civil engineer In many countries such as Norway, Sweden and Austria, the term "civil engineer" simply means non-military engineer, as it did originally in the UK, where it is now restricted to the branch of engineering dealing with public works , construction etc. Thus in Austria we find that a geodetic engineer is a subset of "civil ingenieur" and the English "civil engineer" translates as "bauingenieur". Geodesy The term Geodesy or its equivalents such as "geodesie" has a widely varying meaning across Europe. On the one hand it is confined strictly to the scientific study of the shape and size of the earth, and on the other hand it is used to cover all kinds of geometrical surveying and measurement. To distinguish these two meanings the terms "lower geodesy" and "higher geodesy" have to be applied. Geodetic surveying After much discussion, it was agreed that the most acceptable and correct term to apply to the branch of surveying covered by the activities of the member associations of the CLGEE is "Geodetic Surveying". Cadastre A cadastre is the official way in which the government of a country deals with problems of land delineation, its ownership and rights of users. Cadastres may be fiscal, legal or multipurpose. Historically the fiscal cadastres were set up to raise revenues through land taxation. Many have become legal cadastres because records of proprietary interests are also kept and guaranteed by the state. Increasingly attributes, other than those required for fiscal and legal purposes, are being recorded on a computerised multipurpose cadastre. Such attributes include spatial information about the service infrastructure: : roads, water supply and disposal, electricity , gas etc. Remembrement In countries where inheritance does not adhere to the principle of primogeniture as in the UK, land holdings became excessively fragmented and the land becomes unworkable.To rectify the land holding pattern, a complete legal and technical process of reallocation of lands , known as Remembrement, is commonly adopted. The management of the remembrement process provides work of a quasi judicial nature for some licensed geodetic surveyors, particularly in France, where the goverment has franchised the Orde du Géometres-Experts, to act solely on its behalf. Similar arrangements pertain in other countries. Diploma In many countries the academic status associated with a Diploma is very high, being equivalent to that of a good university degree at the Masters level. For example, the Dip.Ing. is the title conferred upon the University Geodetic Engineer in Germany, Finland and elswhere. In the UK by contrast, the word "diploma" alone has a lower connotation only a little higher than that of a "certificate". If it is associated with an adjective: such as "postgraduate" a much higher status is accorded. Organisations for surveying In most countries surveyors are organised into four types of group:

  1. Professional associations (PA)
  2. Trade associations (TA)
  3. Learned societies (LS)
  4. Umbrella organisations. (UA)

Although these groups have many overlapping characteristics and functions, they are generally categorised in the following ways:

(1) Professional association (PA) A Professional Association (PA) is a group of individual members who seek, inter alia, to maintain a high standard of service to the public by insisting on minimum education levels and quality service. Thus membership depends on reaching a personal minimum level of competence. Such associations may be state regulated, or self regulated and often have some legally defined status.
Example: the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) of the UK.
(2) Trade association (TA) A trade association (TA) is formed by a group of private firms providing services to the public.They too are concerned with quality and competence as well as financial matters.Membership depends on collective financial and technical competence of the firms.

Example: the Survey Association (TSA) of the U.K.
(3) Learned society (LS) A learned society (LS) is a group of individuals (members) and firms (corporate members) whose main purpose is to promote a technology or science for its own sake. Payment of the membership fee is the only criterion for membership.

Example: the Photogrammetric Society of the UK.
(4) Umbrella organisation (UA) An umbrella organisation (UA) is formed by the grouping together of a number of associations or societies under one administration to act with a common purpose on their behalf, whenever the need arises and with their prior permission.

Example: the Comité de Liaison des Géometes-Experts Européens (CLGEE) is composed of the FIG representative associations from each West European country and other invited observers. It has no power to act on policy matters without the consent of the member associations.
Published by the Comité de Liaison des Géometres Européens / The European Council of Geodetic Surveyors Back to Main Contents Back to Main Contents