SLF Sveriges Lantmätareförening

The Swedish Association of Geodetic Surveyors has 1650 members, of which some 200 are students and 150 pensioners. Membership is restricted to university educated Civil Engineers (branch of Surveying), ( Lantmätare) and to persons with comparable qualifications admitted by a special decision by SLF. Students can become junior members. Some 85% of all civil engineers educated in surveying are members of SLF.

Every second month SLF publishes a journal "Lantmäteritidskriften", with scientific contents. It is the only publication that covers all aspects within surveying. Members also receive a newsletter once a month, containing information about labour-market, events etc. The purpose of SLF is to

1. encourage cohesion and co-operation among its members

2. extend and intensify surveyors, knowledge and strengthen the standing of the profession in society

3. work in support of appropriate legislation.

SLF does not serve as a trade union for the surveyors. Most SLF members are members of the Trade Union of Civil Engineers.

SFF Samfundet för Fastighetsekonomi

The Swedish Association for Real Property Economics is another FIG. Many of the members of SFF are also members of SLF.

16.2 Other related organisations

There are other professional associations for surveying engineers and map technicians. Most of the members of those associations have a non-academic degree.

SKMF

The association for technician surveyors, with a membership of over 1500, organises conferences and other activities.

Kartografiska Sällskapet

Many land surveyors are also members of the learned society Kartografiska Sällskapet. (The Swedish Association for Cartography).

16.3 Relevant factors

The distribution of land use in Sweden is as follows:

LAND USE                           PERCENTAGE
Forests                                 54
Open land                                7
Settlements                              3
Unproductive land                       36

Fifty percent of the land ownership is family occupied, and 90% of farms are of 30/50ha including farmland and forest. Thus the geodetic surveyor has to be educated in farming and forest related topics.

Cadastral surveying in Sweden is a procedure with both technical and legal aspects. In comparison with colleges in most other European countries the cadastral surveyor has - according to the cadastral legislation - a substantial legal competence in cadastral cases, in some respects equivalent to that of a judge. Hence, the cadastral surveying is carried out by special state or - in 41 cities - municipal authorities. The state/municipality guarantees the quality of the procedure and its results. There is no chartering system for surveyors occupied in the cadastral surveying, except that it takes a minimum experience of two years in cadastral surveying to become a head of a cadastral authority.

The state cadastral organisation is also responsible for the basic national geodetic surveys (including level control), for the national mapping (1:10.000 - 1:1.000.000), and for development - and some research - in those fields. The cadastral organisation also assists the tax authorities by preparing basic assessment information for the real property taxation.

The responsibilities for mapping for town planning, and related purposes, at the scales of 1:400 - 1:5.000 lie within the municipalities, except for the cadastral index maps in the areas where the state cadastral authorities are responsible for the cadastre. In those cases, however, there is a co-ordination with the mapping for municipal purposes.

The private sector serves many state and municipal bodies in the mapping for town planning, construction activities, infrastructural purposes etc. Urban development, property management, property financing and property valuation are other examples of private activities occupying surveyors - during the last decades to a rapidly increasing extent.

16.4 Higher education
(See diagrams A16 and B16.1, B16.2, B16.3, B16.4, B16.5)

There are three levels of geodetic surveying education in Sweden.: at MSc, BSc, and at technician level.

16.4.1 Institutes of Technology

The education of surveyors (civil engineers) has a 4.5 years curriculum. The degree of Civil Engineer corresponds to a MSc. Geodetic surveying is a branch of "Civil Engineering", used in its original sense of "non military engineering". The education takes place at

• the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm (110 students a year);
• partly at Gävle University College (30 students a year - first two years of education, then they continue in Stockholm); and
• at the Institute of Technology in Lund (30 students a year).

In Stockholm the students specialise after approximately two years within either of five sectors:

   Specialisation                            Approx. number
                                             of students per
                                             year
   Land Surveying and Mapping                       20
   Land Development & Management                    30
   Real Estate & Building Economics                 60
   Regional Planning                                10
   Environmental Engineering                        20

The Environmental Engineering Programme is open to foreigners, and the education is in English. Each of the above mentioned programmes is ended by an individually chosen student thesis, relevant to the specialisation. Generally students work in pairs on this project and submit a single report which is defended before a jury. Written examinations are common with no formal control of quality. The average length of study is five years. The total number of students has increased from 90 to 170 a year during the last two years.

16.4.2 University colleges

Surveying engineers are educated according to a 2 or 3 year curriculum at University Colleges. Because of lack of space in Stockholm, two years are studied at Gävle, after which the students move to Stockholm. At present there are totally 60-70 students a year at four colleges and the number will probably increase.

16.4.3 Vocational schools

Surveying and map technicians are educated within the gymnasium school system.

16.5 Professional Practice
(See appendix C16)

The scope of the profession is illustrated in figures C1-3 and 6. The professional practice corresponding to the education in Regional Planning and Environmental Engineering is excluded, since those special study programmes have not been working long enough.

The members of SLF in professional practice are occupied at:

   State authorities and companies              650
   Municipal authorities and companies          390
   Private bodies                               260
   Education and research                        30

   TOTAL                                       1330

From those surveyors, occupied by the state, about 440 are within the National Land Survey, responsible for cadastral activities, national mapping and national geodetic surveying. Some 40 land surveyors are researchers and teachers at institutions for research and education.

The National Land Survey (NLS) is a government organisation with three main tasks:

1. Cadastral services (35%) involving real property formation and real property registration. The computerised Real Property Register and the Land Register are included in the Swedish Land Data Bank.(See 16.6 ref. (7))

2. National surveying and mapping (20%) and the production of a national map series from 1: 10 00 to 1: 1M scales.

3. Ancillary services (35%) include special project surveying and foreign consultancy work.

NLS has a staff of about 3000 persons including c 500 university engineers. Almost 40% of its income is derived from non governmental sources. In 1996 new management and financial arrangements will apply.

Approximately 100 surveyors in the municipal sector are working with cadastral matters, the rest with mapping and measurements, urban development, physical planning, environment and conservation issues , property management etc.

Estimated number and size of firms in the private sector, in which SLF members are employed:

    Surveyors     1-5       5-10     10-50   >50     Total
     Firms        127       12       3       -       260

Estimated number and size of departments in the state sector, in which SLF members are employed:

  Surveyors     1-5       5-10     10-50   >50     Total
    Depts.       37        6        6        1*    650

Note:
   * This is the National Land Survey with 110 surveyors at the
     central level and 320 at regional and local level. It is 33%
     of the national total.

Estimated number and size of departments in the municipal sector, in which SLF members are employed:

  Surveyors     1-5       5-10     10-50   >50      Total
    Depts.       75        25       1       1        390

Most of the surveyors in the real property economics field are employed in the private sector (construction firms, banks and other financial bodies, insurance companies, private property valuation firms). They are generally occupied with real property valuation, economic analysis and investment management. Most of those educated surveyors, who are not members of SLF, are real property economists, employed in the private sector. Property management is growing rapidly.

A few large private geodetic surveying firms have expertise over a wide field of technology : including photogrammetric plotting, image analysis, I.T. and GIS. One firm visited by the author has developed special applications for industrial measurement and other diversified products to tap new growing markets. They have also formed co-operative groups to finance large capital investments in computer software and GPS systems.

The surveying engineers, educated 2-3 years at university colleges, are usually employed in the state, municipal or private sector, and occupied with surveying and mapping.

16.6 References

(1) Mattsson, Hans: KTH - Royal Institute of Technology, School of Surveying. KART OG PLAN, Vol 54, pp199-202, 1994 (in Swedish)

(2) Lundgren, Ove: THL - Lund Institute of Technology - Real Estate Technology. KART OG PLAN, Vol 54, pp 203-205, 1994 (in Swedish)

(3) Silfvernagel, Christer: Engineer and Technician Level - Surveying. KART OG PLAN, Vol 54, pp 205-210, 1994 (in Swedish)

(4) Land Use Control and Property Registration in Nordic Countries- Erik Stubjaer (Editor) Report in Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish and synoptically in English. AUC: Aalborg University Press 1981.

(5) Ordbok for Kart og Oppmäling; Bjørn Geirr Harsson (Project leader). A multilingual dictionary of technical terms in Mapping and Surveying: Norwegian, Danish, German, English, French and Swedish. Published by Statens kartverk 1989. ISBN 82-90408-97-8.

(6) KTH: The School of Surveying. Prospectus in English.

(7) The Swedish Land Data Bank System ; Central Board for Real Estate Data, PO Box 1363, S-801 38 Gävle

(8) Metimur : Publicity material . Odinsgatan 9 S-411 03 Göteborg.

16.7 Acknowledgements

The author of this report is greatly indebted to the following persons for information and advice given during his visit in January 1995 and afterwards: Mats Carlson, Hans Mattson, George Stoimenov, Ian Brook, Jean-Marie Becker, Eva Quist, Margareta Petrusson, Gerturd Wiking, Bengt Adolfsson, Goran Erikson, and the contact man Sven-Arne Matson who has done much of the work.

16.8 Useful addresses

SLF and Lantmäteritidskriften
Sveriges Lantmätareförening Box 5324
S-102 46 Stockholm

NLS
National Land Survey of Sweden
Lantmäteriet
Lantmäterigatan 2
S-801 82 Gävle

KTH
Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan
(Royal Institute of Technology)
School of Surveying
S-1000 44 Stockholm

LTH
Lunds Tekniska Högskola
(Lund Institute of Technology)
School of Surveying
Box 118
S-221 00 Lund

HG/S
Högskolan Gävle/Sandviken
School of Surveying
Box 6052
S-800 06 Gävle