Land Surveyor Blogs

As the largest community body of land surveyors anywhere in the world with close to 9000 members, we have a responsibility. We must do all that we can to educate the public regarding our importance to society in order to pave the way for those who come after us.  One way to accomplish this would be for each of us to record a short PSA sharing the nature of surveying jobs in the places where we live.  

For Example, this PSA was submitted by Kennedy Komla of Ghana

For those who do not know,  PSA or Public Service Announcement  is a message created in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge, with the objective of raising awareness, changing public attitudes and behavior towards a social issue.  Our social issue is simply a lack of public understanding regarding what it is that surveyors do and how they serve the public.  So I have created a tool which can record your PSA within the browser directly to your Youtube Channel, which can then be embedded into Land Surveyors United for worldwide distribution during Survey Earth in a Day 4D on June 21st.  With International Surveyors Week 2015 coming up in just 3 weeks, we need surveyor representation from as many areas of the world as possible.   Of course you can record your PSA from the field with your cellphone, but for those who would rather record from the browser, this new tool will do the trick in under 5 minutes.   It connects automatically with your Youtube account which signed in and it is dead simple to use.

First, I'll cover a few tips for what you might like to say in your PSA, just to get your mind going.  Then I'll tell you how to use the tool to create PSA magic. (quick tutorial and walk through video in comments below on how to use the tool)

Keep the Following In Mind when Recording Your PSA:

1) You'll ideally want to address the public in your location, country or city.  So at the beginning, state your name and company, how long you have been a surveyor, where you live and the type of surveying you do.  If you are a student, tell the public why you chose surveying as a profession.  Stating your location is very important.

2)  Address any misconceptions that you have noticed the public hold regarding the nature of a surveyor's job and how it is in the best interest for them to understand your purpose.

3) Demonstrate something if you can.  Let the public know that your work is complex and interesting.  You work as a surveyor is one of the most important in any development scenario and the public should know how valuable it is.  

4) Try to keep your PSA under 3 minutes so that you do not lose interest.  Remember that we are hoping to showcase hundreds of these during International Surveyors Week.

You will be able to see your PSA in the network in videos and showcased on our Facebook Page , our Youtube Channel and @SurveyEarth Twitter account, so make sure you are following them.  We will also have a dedicated page on Survey Earth in a Day website for this wall of PSA announcements fromland surveyors around the world.

The Tool To Use is Here

Step One:  After Logging into Your Youtube Channel, Go to This page to Record Your PSA

* You should see your name appear in the top left of record applet.

* if you mess up a couple of times, that is ok.  You can simply delete those you do not use on your Youtube Dashboard.

Step Two:  When you have the PSA that you like recorded, simply head over to your Youtube Dashboard and Change the Title, Description and Location of your video in the editor.  

Step Three:  Go to the Video's page and Click Share >  Embed (copy the embed code) and then go to the embed Video page on Land Surveyors United.  Paste it there.

Some of The Ideas Behind This:

In many cases, surveyors are seen as the guys who bring bad news. We are always on the side of the road using equipment which is too complex for the general public to understand. For these and many other reasons, the public do not truly understand why they should value a land surveyor.  We can change this, together.  All it takes is five minutes of your time.

In the future, Surveyors could be worth more to society and even possibly paid more if the general public simply understood their purpose, principles and position in respect to them.   

And as a final note, I have been speaking with an international television station which has agreed to air our PSA announcements during International Surveyors Week, if enough of you participate.  So let's once and for all, tell the world about the importance of land surveyors.   June 2015 is going to be a time for celebration of the Surveying Profession and what better way than to send your message to the world during this time.