My speciality

(для студентов специальности «Землейстройство и кадастры»)

I study at Altai State Agricultural University. I am a second-year student of the Faculty of Natural Resources Management. I am studying to be an engineer in the field of land surveying.

Called "Geomatics" in Canada and much of Europe, land surveying is known as the world's second-oldest profession. It dates back to ancient Egypt and Babylonia. Surveying is the art and science of measuring and mapping land. The main task of the surveyor is determining where people's land boundaries are located. Without this service, railroads could not be built, skyscrapers could not be erected, and individuals could not put up fences around their yards. We also stake out boundaries of roads to be built, monitor skyscrapers to make sure they are being erected vertically, and measure airports so that the runways are perfectly aligned and smooth.

Surveying is a vital part of the design and construction process. We perform boundary surveys to tell people where their property is, map the topography of land for engineering design, establish elevations of homesites for flood insurance, perform title surveys for real estate transactions, certify that structures are built according to design. We also map slopes and areas, river bottoms, write legal descriptions that are used to describe pieces of property, map and layout corridors for tunnels, roads, airports, pipelines, cellular networks and railroads, and split up properties into new lots, such as subdivisions.

In order to become qualified specialists the students of our faculty every summer get practice in the suburbs of Barnaul. There we learn how to use such devices as GPS or Global Positioning System, a distance meter, and a theodolite. GPS is a tool we use for precise positioning of points. It operates through satellites which send out signals to our receiver. The receiver then transmits those signals to our data collector, which stores the data. After we get it into the office, we download the data into the computer, and the computer software resolves from the data the exact position of our point within a few millimeters.

The primary function of the field surveyor is measuring, mapping, and observing. Our most important tool for these purposes is our total station. It's given this name because it incorporates a distance meter for measuring distances and a theodolite for measuring angles into one instrument.

I’m sure that my profession is a very promising one. I hope I’ll be able to find a good well-paid job when I graduate from the university in three years.