Surveying engineering and surveying engineering technology are two degree names that point into one field: the engineering side of land surveying, mapping and geomatics.
The distinction between them is read from the ABET commission that accredits the program — engineering, engineering technology, or applied and natural science — not from the title alone.
For licensure the split is quiet: under the NCEES Model Law, a surveying bachelor's accredited by any of the three commissions is a qualifying degree.
What is surveying engineering?
Surveying engineering is a degree name for one defined field — and the definition is written down.
The NCEES Model Law — the licensure template state boards adapt, not a law itself — defines a degree in surveying to include surveying, surveying engineering, mapping, geodesy and geomatics.
That definition is why the degree titles blur together: a bachelor's named Surveying Engineering, Geomatics Engineering, Geomatics or Geospatial Science can all be accredited programs in this one field.
What the field covers, and the careers it feeds, is the what is geomatics guide's subject.
The job those degrees feed — what a geomatics engineer does, the employers and the pay — belongs to the geomatics engineer career guide.
This page stays on the degrees: what separates the two program names, which schools hold each, and what either one does for a PLS or PE license.
Surveying engineering vs surveying engineering technology
The line between the two names is read from the ABET commission that accredits the program — not from the title, as the examples below show.
Under the NCEES Model Law, a bachelor's degree in surveying qualifies through accreditation by any of three commissions: EAC, the Engineering Accreditation Commission; ETAC, the Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission; or ANSAC, the Applied and Natural Science Accreditation Commission.
For licensure the split is quiet: the model treats the three commissions identically.
For choosing a program it is not — of the 25 accredited US bachelor's programs on ABET's NSPS-lead-society list, 6 sit under EAC, 5 under ETAC and 14 under ANSAC.
Read the commission, not the title.
New Mexico State University's degree named Surveying Engineering held EAC accreditation until September 30, 2019; its currently accredited program is the BS in Geomatics, under ANSAC since October 1, 2019.
Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi's accredited program is titled Geospatial Science — a program on ABET's surveying list whose name carries no surveying word.
"Technology" in a program name is not a level marker either.
The University of Maine's Surveying Engineering Technology is a Bachelor of Science, and Idaho State's Surveying and Geomatics Engineering Technology is a BS — both ETAC-accredited bachelor's degrees.
ABET's surveying list also holds 7 associate-level programs, so the level is worth checking in each entry.
What the commissions do not tell you is what a program actually teaches: our research captured titles, commissions, credit totals and delivery formats, not a syllabus comparison, so read each catalog.
For the wider degree field — certificates, associate degrees and master's programs beside the bachelor's — the surveying degrees compared guide lays out the range.
Which schools offer each?
ABET's Accredited Program Search listed 32 currently accredited US surveying and geomatics programs with NSPS as lead society as of October 9, 2026: 29 in the 50 states, 3 in Puerto Rico, 25 at the bachelor's level and 7 at the associate level.
That count moves as programs gain and lose accreditation, so check the current Accredited Program Search before you shortlist schools.
The examples below are drawn from that search, grouped by commission — a few from each, not the full 32.
Engineering (EAC) — four of the six accredited bachelor's programs.
| School | Accredited program |
|---|---|
| Ferris State University | Surveying Engineering (BS) |
| California State University, Fresno | Geomatics Engineering (BS) |
| Florida Atlantic University | Geomatics Engineering (B.S.G.E.) |
| The Pennsylvania State University | Surveying Engineering (BS) |
Engineering technology (ETAC) — two of the five.
| School | Accredited program |
|---|---|
| University of Maine | Surveying Engineering Technology (Bachelor of Science) |
| Idaho State University | Surveying and Geomatics Engineering Technology (Bachelor of Science) |
Applied and natural science (ANSAC) — four of the fourteen.
| School | Accredited program |
|---|---|
| Oregon Institute of Technology | Geomatics – option in Surveying (BS) |
| New Mexico State University | Geomatics (BS in Geomatics) |
| East Tennessee State University | Surveying and Mapping Science (BS) |
| Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi | Geospatial Science (Bachelor of Science) |
Credit totals are set program by program.
Penn State's BS in Surveying Engineering requires a minimum of 127–128 credits, the University of Florida's BS in Geomatics requires 120, and East Tennessee State's BS in Surveying and Mapping lists 128 credits for freshmen.
At UF, only the Surveying and Mapping specialization of the Geomatics BS is ABET-accredited, so check whether accreditation covers a whole program or one track.
Delivery varies as well.
Ferris State holds its Surveying Engineering classes on the Big Rapids campus, online, or in mixed delivery.
ABET flags the University of Maine's ETAC bachelor's as delivering all content by distance learning — the only program in the list so flagged.
ABET flags half or more online delivery for programs at Idaho State, North Carolina A&T, New Mexico State, Cincinnati State, the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico and East Tennessee State.
Online still means fieldwork somewhere.
East Tennessee State's program is delivered mostly online — nearly all coursework except Physics — and its lab classes still carry fieldwork.
The university says online students can arrange lab assignments with a Professional Licensed Surveyor, and the program runs three summer project classes that are exclusively labs.
Can either lead to PLS and PE licenses?
On the surveying side, the two names sit on the same route.
Under the NCEES Model Law, a surveying bachelor's accredited by EAC, ETAC or ANSAC is a qualifying degree, and that education plus a pass on the FS exam is what the model requires for surveying intern certification.
The model lists two more qualifying educations: a bachelor's in any field with 30 or more semester hours of core surveying topics, and a bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree from a non-accredited surveying-related program that meets the NCEES Surveying Education Standard.
From there, the model's professional-surveyor route adds a specific record of 4 years of progressive surveying experience and passes of the NCEES FS and PS exams plus any jurisdiction-specific exam.
The education list is all bachelor's or graduate degrees: the current Model Law has no experience-only route and no associate-degree route — those exist only where an individual state's law provides them.
The engineer side is where the education list changes.
Under the same Model Law, engineer intern (EIT/EI) certification names ABET engineering (EAC) or engineering technology (ETAC) degrees — or education meeting the NCEES Engineering Education Standard — plus a pass on the FE exam.
Surveying intern and engineer intern are separate certifications on separate exams.
Nothing in the model prevents holding both, though whether a state lets one person hold the two certificates is that state's rule.
How an ANSAC-accredited surveying degree fits a state's engineer route is the state engineering board's call.
A PE license, like the PLS, comes from a state board, not from NCEES — and the Model Law is a template, so each state adopts its own education, exam and experience rules.
Confirm the rule where you plan to practice before you enroll or apply; the land surveyor license guide is the starting point, with the state pages under it.
Career information, not legal, tax or licensing advice — confirm degree details with the school and licensure requirements with your state licensing board.
Licensure is the board's call