Role of Surveyor in Urban Infrastructure Development

The successful planning and implementation of any project is governed by the degree of accuracy of site details made available to the planner. The details of the site, which enable determination of suitability and selection of site for any nature of project are the pre-requisite for planning at the conceptual stage itself. The surveyor plays an important role at the initial stage of conceiving any project whether rural or urban.

For property integration of infrastructure, the four main elements: Institutional, technical, spatial and financial should be considered. These elements should work in unison and should have proper cooperation, coordination and above all integration. However, the introduction of integrated approach will require at least one agency / professional team to be named as “Surveyors”.

Planning is a continuous process; responding to multifarious developments internal and external, any city has new roles to play and urban development needs new directions. For new directions of planning we require data, facts, information of present and past so that our planners can plan for future on the basis of information, data, and facts available to them. Keeping in view the comparative data of past, present and future a plan is prepared by the planner. For arranging or collecting various data, facts information we need services of a specialists, highly experienced and trained professional called surveyor. Surveyor should be very good in evaluation. It is a fact, Surveyor is very close to nature, Surveyor is very close to problem, Surveyor is very close to people, and Surveyor is very close to facts. It is not important that he should be qualified only but he should be trained and experienced for type and nature of survey to be conducted.

Surveyor should be very good in evaluation, estimation and observation with great deal of imagination. He should be governed by honestly to work and devotion to the nature. Surveyor’s basic role is to bring facts from ground, source, surrounding and nature and present the information in a manner to enable the planner to visualise the site without actually visiting. The facts collected by Surveyor are as good as legal documents. A surveyor by evaluation of cost and evaluation of quantities, based upon the “DREAM”(proposed plan) conceived by architect, planner or owner himself, helps in achieving success.

It is a universl truth that surveys must precede any project, be it development of land, construction, road, railway, industries etc. Even in the field of economics, census, development, proposals, collection of data for future study of demand, popularity, surveyor has a very strong link of demand, popularity, surveyor has a very strong link of demand and supply between present and future. Surveyor is a person who upgrades data bank with the help of new information, suggestion, changing situation, new requirements so that factual justification can be prepared between availability and achievement.

Surveyor helps in fixing boundaries for protection of natural resources i.e. land, from encroachments. He also provides detailed survey map of topography (a fact sheet or translation of ground), so that site can be visualised at a glance without actually going into field, by representing his survey plan by national/international legends. Before planning or acquiring any land for new project we must know shape, type, area, topography, existing infrastructure, existing services within the site and around the site. Topographical maps are essential for planning and in deciding the location of important proposal of new infrastructure, keeping in view facts brought/projected by surveyor. These maps also help in connecting proximity from one place to other place for communication system, transport system, etc. Input from the surveyor helps in development plan of city, village improvement plan, resettlement plans, land use plan, for future. It also gives identification of type of land i.e. rural, urban, agricultural, forest, waste land, rocky, hilly, sandy, marshy etc. On the other hand surveyor also prepares map for educational Atlas at various levels of schools and colleges. He also provides guide map for tourists.

Surveyor’s services are helpful to start thinking for new proposal, projects, introduction of new products in the market. All these require the vital information of the ground details/data.

Role of surveyor in day to day life is useful in identifying popularity among consumers for a particular product. The inter-relationship of surveyor-user or beneficiary depending upon type of information/data a consumer requires. So, before any survey is to be taken in hand, he must know the requirement of client, purpose of survey, type of survey period for which data/information is required.

Specially, the role of surveyor in urban infrastructural development is unlimited. A surveyor is a person who has specialised in and is practising in so many skills, side by side with planner, researcher, engineer, primarily with a view to facilitate the other by providing data collected by him. Surveyor is a first person who visits the site. Specialisation of surveyor may be in one or more fields.

Surveyor can help in preparation of environmental improvement scheme by providing physical survey of existing, J.J. Cluster, slum basti or encroached upon natural resources like land, river bunds, nallah-burms, forest etc.

In survey map, surveyor records natural resource like, area of land, shape of land, topography of land, land use, tree, water bodies, natural feature or any other details existing in the area to be surveyed. He classifies the type of land, forest, water bodies in survey plan which help our planner in preparation of design scheme with maximum protection to existing features and natural resources. In the absence of inventory of natural resources of area surveyed, no planner can prepare any proposal.

The surveyor is the first link between the “Dreams” (Proposed project) and its realisation.

(Published in Indian Buildings Congress 8th Annual Convention Souvenir)