Will AI replace Geodetic Surveyors?
AI reaches some of this job’s work, but most of it stays with people.
40/100
Moderate exposure
More exposed to AI than 66% of US workers.
- AI already used in
- 0% of the work
- As AI tools mature: up to
- 62% of the work
What the job involves
Measure large areas of the Earth's surface using satellite observations, global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), light detection and ranging (LIDAR), or related sources.
Where AI reaches the work
The job’s main tasks, heaviest first, by how far AI reaches them.
Within reach(10)
- Analyze control or survey data to ensure adherence to project specifications or land survey standards.
- Conduct surveys to determine exact positions, measurement of points, elevations, lines, areas, volumes, contours, or other features of land surfaces.
- Maintain databases of geodetic and related information, including coordinate, descriptive, or quality assurance data.
- Verify the mathematical correctness of newly collected survey data.
- Assess the quality of control data to determine the need for additional survey data for engineering, construction, or other projects.
and 5 more
Out of reach(6)
- Calculate the exact horizontal and vertical position of points on the Earth's surface.
- Compute horizontal and vertical coordinates of control networks, using direct leveling or other geodetic survey techniques, such as triangulation, trilateration, and traversing, to establish features of the Earth's surface.
- Plan or direct the work of geodetic surveying staff, providing technical consultation as needed.
- Request additional survey data when field collection errors occur or engineering surveying specifications are not maintained.
- Provide training and interpretation in the use of methods or procedures for observing and checking controls for geodetic and plane coordinates.
and 1 more
Also called
Geodesist · Land Surveyor · Geodetic Advisor · Geodetic Engineer · Geodetic Survey Director · Geodetic Surveyor · Licensed Land Surveyor · Aerial Photograph Interpreter
Related jobs
What these numbers mean
The score is the share of this job’s work, weighted by how important and frequent each task is, that AI could do in half the time: tasks an AI model could do alone count in full, tasks that need software built on AI count half.
“AI already used” is the share of the work in tasks where people are recorded using AI today. “As AI tools mature” counts every task AI could halve, with or without extra software.
The percentile compares the score with every job’s, weighted by how many people in the US do each one. Exposure means AI could change how the work is done, not that the job goes away. These are estimates for the typical job, not predictions.
Sources
- O*NET 31.0 Database, U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
- GPTs are GPTs: Labor market impact potential of LLMs (task labels), Eloundou, Manning, Mishkin & Rock (2023), OpenAI and University of Pennsylvania
- Anthropic Economic Index: labor market impacts (task penetration), Anthropic
- Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 (national and metropolitan areas), U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics