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Boston Career Explorer

Architecture and Engineering

Surveying and Mapping Technicians

Perform surveying and mapping duties, usually under the direction of an engineer, surveyor, cartographer, or photogrammetrist, to obtain data used for construction, mapmaking, boundary location, mining, or other purposes. May calculate mapmaking information and create maps from source data, such as surveying notes, aerial photography, satellite data, or other maps to show topographical features, political boundaries, and other features. May verify accuracy and completeness of maps.

Also called: Field Surveyor, Land Survey Technician (Land Survey Tech), Land Surveyor, Mapping Editor, Mapping Technician (Mapping Tech), Photogrammetric Technician (Photogrammetric Tech)

Median pay in Greater Boston
$59,820
$28.76/hr
Jobs in Greater Boston
560
Massachusetts 2024–2034
−1.4%
80 openings a year
Typical U.S. entry requirement
High school diploma or equivalent
plus Moderate-term on-the-job training

Greater Boston: Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH metro area, May 2025. Growth and openings: Massachusetts statewide projection.

Pay range in Greater Boston

Yearly pay in Greater Boston by percentile
10th25thMedian75th90th
$49,450$52,790$59,820$76,940$99,990

10% of workers earn less than the first figure and 10% earn more than the last.

What you’d do

  • Set out and recover stakes, marks, or other monumentation.
  • Search for section corners, property irons, or survey points.
  • Calculate latitudes, longitudes, angles, areas, or other information for mapmaking, using survey field notes or reference tables.
  • Enter Global Positioning System (GPS) data, legal deeds, field notes, or land survey reports into geographic information system (GIS) workstations so that information can be transformed into graphic land descriptions, such as maps and drawings.
  • Adjust and operate surveying instruments such as prisms, theodolites, electronic distance measuring equipment, or electronic data collectors.
  • Check all layers of maps to ensure accuracy, identifying and marking errors and making corrections.

AI and this job

AI exposure: how much of this job’s work AI tools can do or help with, based on national research. It is not a forecast of job loss.

Moderate exposure56 of 100

The index averages three national research measures, each shown as a percentile of all jobs:

  • AIOE 49
  • Language-model AIOE 38
  • GPTs-are-GPTs 81

Observed AI use today: Little or none (Anthropic Economic Index)

AI exposure for this job is moderate, though workers report little or no AI use so far. AI tools can help with calculating map data and entering GPS and field notes into mapping software. Fieldwork, like setting stakes, finding survey points, and running instruments outdoors, stays with people. Massachusetts job numbers are projected to dip slightly.

Likely to change

  • Calculating angles, areas, and map coordinates
  • Entering GPS and field data into mapping software

Still relies on people

  • Setting stakes and finding survey points outdoors
  • Setting up and running surveying instruments

Written with AI from the data on this page. Check with a career coach before making a decision.

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Training near Boston

College and school programs in the Boston metro area that lead to this job, with 2023-24 completions (IPEDS).

6 programs near Boston (plus 1 graduate)

Related occupations

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