Yes — an online surveying degree exists, but the completely online list is one program long.
As of October 9, 2026, ABET's database flags exactly one accredited US surveying bachelor's — the University of Maine's Surveying Engineering Technology BS — as delivering all content by distance learning, and a second group as half or more online.
The hard part is fieldwork, and licensing boards decide what counts toward licensure.
Can you get a surveying degree completely online?
Exactly one accredited US surveying bachelor's program carries a fully distance-delivered flag in ABET's database: the University of Maine's BS in Surveying Engineering Technology, accredited by ABET's Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission (ETAC).
ABET records a distance-education flag alongside a program's accreditation status, and UMaine's is the only US surveying program on the list marked "All content."
The context matters.
ABET's database listed 32 currently accredited US surveying and geomatics programs with NSPS as lead society as of October 9, 2026 — 25 bachelor's and 7 associate — and a second group of those carries a "half or more content, but not all" online flag.
So "completely online" describes one program, and "mostly online" describes several more, listed in the next section.
Two cautions before you treat any flag as permanent.
The snapshot is dated: programs gain, lose and change accreditation, and every figure in this guide is ABET's database as of October 9, 2026.
And delivery format is recorded separately from accreditation status, so a distance label tells you how a program teaches — not whether your licensing board will count it.
That question has its own section below.
Which accredited online surveying degrees exist?
ABET flags a second group of accredited programs as "half or more content, but not all" online.
As of October 9, 2026, that list reads:
- Idaho State University — Surveying and Geomatics Engineering Technology, BS (ETAC-accredited).
- North Carolina A&T State University — Geomatics.
- New Mexico State University — Geomatics BS, including an online NMSU Global Campus option.
- Cincinnati State — a BAS and an AAS.
- Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico.
- East Tennessee State University — Surveying and Mapping Science, BS (ANSAC-accredited).
Two of those deserve a closer look.
Idaho State's BS is accredited by ETAC, the same commission as UMaine's.
East Tennessee State's program lists 128 total credits for freshmen and is delivered mostly online: nearly all coursework can be completed online with the exception of Physics, and lab classes require fieldwork.
Graduate study is where the fully online options multiply.
The University of Maine offers fully online graduate surveying options in four credentials: a 12-credit Graduate Certificate in Surveying Engineering, a 30-credit non-thesis MS in Engineering Technology with a surveying concentration, a 30-credit PSM, and a 42-credit Doctorate of Engineering.
ETSU adds a 36-credit online Surveying & Mapping certificate for people who already hold a bachelor's degree, with a fieldwork requirement of its own.
Names range wider than "surveying": the NCEES Model Law counts surveying, surveying engineering, mapping, geodesy and geomatics as degrees in surveying, so a Geomatics-titled program sits inside the group the template reads as surveying education.
For how these levels compare across the whole market, not just the online slice, see the page where surveying degrees are compared, and the deeper dive on the bachelor's in surveying.
What this list deliberately leaves out is price and rank.
Our research collected no tuition figures, and no source here ranks one program over another — compare cost and delivery details on ABET's Accredited Program Search and each university's own catalog.
How do online programs handle field labs?
Field labs are the piece a distance format cannot stream, and the one program whose arrangements are published here solves them through fieldwork.
East Tennessee State's mostly-online BS is that documented example.
Nearly all of its coursework can be completed online with one exception — Physics — and its lab classes require fieldwork on top of that.
ETSU's published arrangements show what "fieldwork from an online program" means in practice.
Online students can arrange to complete lab assignments with a Professional Licensed Surveyor.
For a crew member, the licensed surveyor they already work under is the obvious candidate for that arrangement — worth confirming with the program before you enroll.
The program also runs three project classes each summer that are exclusively labs — the university calls them semi-internships — with proctors for tests.
Its 36-credit online certificate carries a fieldwork requirement of its own.
For a working crew member, that shape matters in two ways.
First, the licensed surveyor who supervises your field work is the natural host for lab assignments arranged under ETSU's model — worth raising with your employer and the program before you apply, not after.
Second, the exclusively-lab project classes run in the summer, three of them each summer, so you can plan crew season around those.
This is one program's published answer, not an industry template — other programs handle labs their own way.
Before you enroll anywhere, ask three questions: how labs are delivered and proctored at a distance, whether a licensed surveyor at your current firm can host them, and which terms carry the field-heavy classes.
Do licensing boards accept online surveying degrees?
Licensure is the frame for the whole question: BLS states that all 50 states and the District of Columbia require surveyors to be licensed before they can provide services to the public, and each state board writes its own education rule.
So whether a board accepts an online degree has no single national answer — the board that will license you decides.
What the research can show is the education criteria the NCEES Model Law sets out.
The Model Law is NCEES's template for states, not law by itself, and its qualifying education is defined around three things: the degree, its accreditation and its surveying coursework.
A bachelor's in surveying — a group that includes surveying, surveying engineering, mapping, geodesy and geomatics degrees — qualifies when accredited by any of ABET's three commissions.
A bachelor's in any field also qualifies with 30 or more semester hours of core surveying topics.
A non-accredited surveying-related degree qualifies only if the education meets the NCEES Surveying Education Standard.
Those cited criteria key on the degree, its accreditor and its surveying coursework — and the sourced rows show a distance-delivered program carrying ordinary accreditation: UMaine's fully distance BS is ETAC-accredited, ETSU's mostly online BS is ANSAC-accredited and Idaho State's is ETAC-accredited.
But the Model Law is a template boards adopt or ignore, so how your board reads an online program is the board's own call.
Put the specific program in front of the board before you enroll.
The PLS license guide explains the license itself; the board's own pages hold its current education rule.
Keep the rest of the route in view too, because the degree is only its first piece.
Under the Model Law, licensure also takes a record of 4 years of progressive surveying experience, plus passing the NCEES FS and PS exams and any exam the jurisdiction adds.
The experience figure shortens to 3 years with an acceptable master's in surveying, and to 2 with an earned doctorate plus a passed FS exam.
And a caution on short credentials: standalone surveying courses count toward the education requirement only as part of a bachelor's with 30 or more semester hours of core surveying, so no certificate counts for licensure until a board says it does.
Ask your board before you enroll
Can you study online while working on a survey crew?
Under the Model Law, the education requirement and the 4-year experience record are separate requirements — the experience does not replace the degree, though an acceptable master's or doctorate shortens the experience figure, as the licensing section above sets out.
Our research did not establish whether field years logged before graduation count toward that record; that is a state-by-state question, so ask your board before you plan around it.
BLS describes how the working version goes: some surveyors start as surveying technicians and become licensed after many years of experience under a licensed surveyor, with requirements varying by state.
Entry-level surveyors often spend several years in that supervised stretch, sometimes through an internship or apprenticeship.
That supervised stretch is the ladder the land surveyor career guide maps end to end; online coursework can run alongside the crew work, whatever your board decides about counting those years.
The education entry bar for crew work is low, which leaves room to study.
BLS lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education for surveying and mapping technicians, so coursework you add online is advancement, not catch-up.
On the surveyor track itself, BLS lists the bachelor's as the typical entry education and notes that some employers hire candidates with an associate degree plus additional training.
Treat the coursework like a season, not a sprint.
A program such as ETSU's runs three project classes each summer that are exclusively labs — summers you can plan crew season around — and delivers nearly all its other coursework online, with Physics the exception.
ETSU's 128-credit bachelor's taken part-time around full-time field hours takes as long as your pace allows — the research has no sourced typical duration, so build your own timeline from the credit total and the pace you can hold.
Bring your employer in early.
Whether a firm helps pay for job-related coursework is that firm's own policy — our research found no industry rule on it, so ask before you enroll.
If a licensed surveyor at your company can host your lab assignments, say so when you do: it gives the firm a stake in the plan.
When you want to see what employers ask for at each rung of the ladder, browse the land surveyor jobs board.
Online associate vs online bachelor's: which to choose?
Start from the goal, because the two credentials feed different targets.
If the license is the goal, the bachelor's is the credential the Model Law's education routes are all built around: its listed qualifications are bachelor's or graduate degrees, with no associate-degree route and no experience-only route.
Two-year routes exist only where an individual state's law keeps them, and the Model Law's surveying-intern step likewise starts from that bachelor's-level education plus a passed FS exam.
States can depart from the template, so the deciding document is your own board's rule — the surveying degrees comparison walks the levels side by side.
If the crew seat is the goal, a degree is not the entry credential: BLS lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical entry-level education for surveying and mapping technicians.
An online associate can still earn its keep: ABET's list held 7 accredited surveying associate programs as of October 9, 2026, and Cincinnati State's AAS carries the half-or-more-online flag.
BLS also notes some employers hire surveyor candidates with an associate degree plus additional training, so the two-year degree can sit on the surveyor track at the right employer.
Three checks separate a good online pick from an expensive detour, whichever level you choose.
First, accreditation: confirm a program's current status on ABET's own dated database, not on a school's marketing page.
Second, the board: a short certificate or a run of standalone courses is skill-building, not automatic licensure credit.
Under the Model Law they count toward the education requirement only inside a bachelor's with 30 or more semester hours of core surveying, and each board decides what counts.
Third, fieldwork: the labs decide whether an online program actually fits a working schedule, so get that arrangement in writing before you pay.
Asked as "what is the best online land surveying degree?", the honest answer is conditional.
The best program is the one your state board counts toward licensure, whose fieldwork you can actually complete, and whose pace survives a crew season.
The research collected no tuition figures and no rankings, so compare programs on ABET's own dated database and the universities' own catalogs.
Career information, not legal, tax or licensing advice — education and licensure rules are set state by state, so confirm the current requirements with your state licensing board before you enroll, sit for an exam or apply.