Geodetic Surveyor Career Guide: What Geodetic Surveyors Do and How to Become One

O*NET defines Geodetic Surveyors (17-1022.01) as the occupation that measures large areas of the Earth's surface using satellite observations, global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), light detection and ranging (LiDAR) or related sources.

BLS names geodetic surveyors among its example types of surveyor, describing them as the ones who use high-accuracy technology, including aerial and satellite observations, to measure large areas of the Earth's surface.

The work travels under several job titles.

O*NET's sample titles for the occupation include Geodesist, Geodetic Advisor, Geodetic Engineer and Geodetic Survey Director — useful to know when you search postings, because O*NET treats them as sample titles for one occupation.

The science underneath the job is geodesy.

NOAA defines geodesy as the science of accurately measuring and understanding the Earth's geometric shape, orientation in space and gravity field.

NOAA explains that geodesists model the Earth with the ellipsoid, a smooth mathematical surface, and — for more detail — the geoid, which closely resembles global mean sea level.

Geodesists are measurement scientists themselves.

NOAA notes that they historically measured distances between points with Earth-based surveying tools and today use space-based tools such as GPS.

That reference work is infrastructure.

Building roads and bridges, conducting land surveys and making maps all depend on the spatial reference system geodesists create, according to NOAA's geodesy tutorial.

O*NET's task list for the occupation centers on geodetic control.

Geodetic surveyors compute the 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.

They also maintain geodetic databases and distribute geodetic data to agencies and the public.

A control network is the shared skeleton other positioning hangs on: a set of precisely coordinated reference points that boundary crews, mappers, engineers and GIS offices can all tie into when their own measurements need to agree.

In the United States, the framework those points live in is the National Spatial Reference System (NSRS), which NGS maintains.

NGS says the current NSRS is realized by over 1,000 continuously operating GNSS stations and an aging network of over 1,000,000 geodetic survey marks.

The NSRS's official datums are still NAD 83 for horizontal position and NAVD 88 for heights.

NGS plans to replace both: NAD 83 is misaligned to the Earth's center by about 2.2 meters, and NAVD 88 is biased by about one-half meter and tilted about 1 meter coast to coast.

That replacement program, NSRS modernization, reshapes the specialty's daily work.

NGS will replace NAD 83's three reference frames with four plate-fixed terrestrial reference frames — NATRF2022 (North America), PATRF2022 (Pacific), CATRF2022 (Caribbean) and MATRF2022 (Mariana) — each defined relative to ITRF2020.

On the vertical side, leveling-based datums such as NAVD 88 will give way to a gravity-based geopotential datum, NAPGD2022, with GEOID2022 as its time-dependent geoid model; orthometric heights will be derived from GNSS ellipsoid heights and a geoid model.

The shift is large.

NGS says every existing latitude, longitude, ellipsoid height and orthometric height in the United States, as reported in the current NSRS, will change by as much as four meters.

Access changes too.

NGS describes reaching the modernized NSRS primarily through GNSS referencing of the CORS network via OPUS as a paradigm shift from accessing NAD 83 and NAVD 88 through the direct occupation of geodetic survey marks.

One naming note: NGS says the 2022 in names like NATRF2022 and GEOID2022 carries no scientific meaning, and the names will stay.

Timing is the open question.

NGS's published timeline rolls the modernized components out for public beta testing over 2024-2026, with testing continuing at least 6 months after the final component.

The current NSRS remains official until the Federal Geodetic Control Subcommittee votes to approve the new datums.

As of the NGS pages read in October 2026, that vote had not been announced, so NAD 83 and NAVD 88 are still the datums to work in.

The daily work still feeds the current system.

NGS's deadline for submitting OPUS Projects and differential leveling projects to create or update geodetic control in the current NSRS is January 13, 2027.

Downstream, NGS says the State Plane Coordinate System of 2022 (SPCS2022) is how most surveyors will use and reference the modernized NSRS, and new datasheets will publish epoch-dependent coordinates — survey epoch and reference epoch values, with 2020.00 as the first reference epoch.

Geodetic skill shows up in two broad settings: the agencies that own reference systems, and the firms that build work on top of them.

On the agency side, the federal government staffs geodesy directly.

The Office of Personnel Management maintains a dedicated Geodesy series, GS-1372, for federal geodesist positions.

NGS maintains the NSRS and its datasheets — the reference framework and the mark records the specialty works in — and the national CORS network, whose stations supply GNSS data surveyors use to tie work to the NSRS, is now called the NOAA CORS Network.

O*NET's sample titles — Geodetic Advisor, Geodetic Engineer and Geodetic Survey Director alongside Geodesist — reflect the range of roles the work goes by.

On the firm side, geodetic work sits inside the surveying and engineering industry.

For surveyors overall — the occupation geodetic surveying is a specialty within — BLS reported 71% of 2025 jobs in architectural, engineering and related services, with 10% in construction and 9% in government.

Inside those firms, geodetic surveyors establish and verify the control that boundary, construction and mapping crews then work from.

NOAA's framing holds here: roads, bridges, land surveys and maps all depend on the reference system behind them.

The data moves outward too.

O*NET lists distributing geodetic data to agencies and the public among the occupation's tasks, which is one way a county GIS, a contractor's layout and a firm's plats can all end up tied to the same reference framework.

The specialty also stretches across societies right now: NSPS, AAGS and NGS developed a legislative template for states whose laws name NAD 83 and NAVD 88, and NSPS assists state legislatures in drafting the legislation.

Two questions sit behind this section: what employers expect of a new hire, and what a state requires before you can practice surveying there.

On the employer side, O*NET's education survey for the occupation shows 81% of respondents saying a new hire needs a bachelor's degree.

Federal hiring writes the expectation down.

The basic requirement for OPM's Geodesy Series, GS-1372, is a degree in geodesy, or 30 semester hours in any combination of geodesy, mathematics, physics, astronomy, engineering science, surveying, geodetic surveying, photogrammetry or geophysics, with course work in differential and integral calculus.

An equivalent combination of education and experience can also qualify, per the standard.

Licensure is the other half, and geodetic surveying sits inside the surveying profession rather than beside it.

BLS names geodetic surveyors among its example surveyor types, and BLS reports that all 50 states and the District of Columbia require surveyors to be licensed before providing services to the public.

The NCEES Model Law — a template states adapt, not a law itself — includes geodetic surveys in its definition of the practice of surveying.

That definition covers determining the size and shape of the Earth or the position of any point by geodetic surveys, along with determining the position of, establishing or replacing any survey monument.

The Model Law, revised in August 2026, treats Professional Land Surveyor, Professional Surveyor and Mapper and Geomatics Professional as equivalent names for one professional surveyor license.

Each state's own statute sets the actual title and the actual rules where you work.

BLS adds that entry-level surveyors often work under a licensed surveyor for several years before qualifying for a license, and that requirements vary by state.

BLS describes both titles as surveyors — geodetic surveyors appear among its example surveyor types right beside boundary/land surveyors and pipeline surveyors.

The difference lies in what the work positions.

Geodetic surveyors measure large areas of the Earth's surface with satellite observations, GNSS and LiDAR, compute control-network coordinates, and distribute geodetic data.

Land surveyors work at the scale of property and the legal record.

BLS's typical duty list for surveyors includes searching legal records, survey records and land titles; measuring distances and angles; establishing official land and water boundaries; preparing or supervising plots, maps and reports; and testifying in court regarding survey work.

O*NET's surveyor task list adds writing boundary descriptions for deeds and leases, and preparing sketches, maps, reports and legal descriptions that certify the work and assume liability for it.

Licensing connects the two titles rather than separating them.

The Model Law's practice-of-surveying definition covers geodetic surveys and survey monuments in the same profession that sets boundaries, and its Professional Surveyor license is one license carrying several equivalent names.

Practically, the careers differ more in emphasis than in kind.

Geodetic work skews toward large-scale positioning, reference frames and data distribution; land surveying centers on boundaries, records and court testimony.

A surveyor can move between the two kinds of work over a career.

We found no stand-alone employment count for the geodetic surveyor title: O*NET catalogs Geodetic Surveyors as sub-occupation 17-1022.01 inside the Surveyors occupation, and BLS publishes its employment and projection figures for Surveyors (17-1022) as a whole.

For surveyors overall, BLS's Employment Projections — the series behind its Occupational Outlook Handbook, which includes the self-employed — counted about 52,000 jobs in 2025.

BLS projects surveyor employment to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, from about 52,000 to about 55,000 jobs — faster than the 3% projected for all occupations.

Turnover drives the openings more than growth does.

BLS projects about 3,100 openings for surveyors each year on average over the period, mostly to replace workers who change occupations or retire.

Federal geodesist seats are classified under OPM's GS-1372 Geodesy series, while firm-side openings surface under titles like Geodetic Surveyor, Geodetic Engineer and Geodesist.

NSRS modernization spans years of program work.

As of NGS's Track Our Progress page read in October 2026, beta public feedback periods were complete for NAPGD2022, the four 2022 terrestrial reference frames and SPCS2022.

The Data Delivery System, new mark pages, NCAT Beta 2 and modernized OPUS products were still pending beta release.

The mandate covers the agencies themselves.

Under Section 2809 of the Geospatial Data Act of 2018, federal civilian agencies handling geospatial data must use the new reference frames within 5 years of adoption, and state agencies receiving federal funds for geospatial data must conform.

Everyone else follows state and local law or contract terms.

Geodetic roles surface under titles like Geodetic Surveyor and Geodesist — search geodetic surveyor jobs on SurveyorHires.

Hiring for a control-heavy project or a geodesist seat?

Firms and agencies can post a surveying job on SurveyorHires.

Career information, not legal, tax or licensing advice — confirm current licensure requirements with your state licensing board and program details with NGS or the agency named.