Weâre Not Just Writing About SurveyingâWeâre Writing Toward It
Thereâs no shortage of noise in the surveying world these daysâautomation this, AI that, another software company promising the end of fieldwork as we know it. At the same time, public understanding of what surveyors actually do seems to be fading fast. Ask ten people on the street, and half will tell you itâs something to do with construction. The other half wonât be sure at all.
For many surveyors, this disconnect isnât just frustratingâitâs personal. We see corners being cut. Field time shrinking. Boundaries being redrawn by people whoâve never even set foot on the land. Meanwhile, fewer and fewer professionals are being asked what they think, or what they know.
Thatâs where this article series comes in. Not as a solution to all of thatâbut as a response. A steady one.
Weâre not here to shout into the void. Weâre here to document whatâs happening, connect the dots, and preserve what matters while we still have time. Each article is meant to mark a specific shiftâsomething thatâs already changing the profession or is about to.
But more than that, each one is designed to plant a seed.
At the end of every article, we donât just wrap up the conversationâwe offer a next step: a potential course title or learning path. Something that could be built from the insights within. Something that could be taught. Something that should be taught.
Because most of the problems surveyors face today? They arenât just technicalâtheyâre educational. There are gaps. Not just in the next generationâs training, but in the professionâs ability to organize what it knows and pass it on.
Weâre writing these articles because we believe surveyors have more to sayâand more to teachâthan the industry currently makes room for.
This project is about changing that.
The Real Point of These Articles: What If This Was a Course?
Every article we publish in this series ends with a simple but deliberate question:
âWhat if this was a course?â
Not because weâre pushing anyone to turn fieldwork into PowerPoint slides. But because if something is affecting the professionâreally affecting itâthen chances are itâs something we should be teaching.
Letâs say we write about AI-generated maps being labeled âsurvey-grade.â That article will break down how those claims are made, where the liability lands, and what surveyors need to watch for. But it wonât stop there. Itâll close with a course idea: maybe âSurvey-Grade Isnât a StyleâItâs a Standard: Defining Professional Accuracy in the Age of AI.â
Same with the erosion of field time. That article might end with a concept like âFrom Dirt to Data: How to Train Judgment in a Software-First Profession.â
Why do we do this? Because most of what surveyors really need right now doesnât exist in a textbook. Itâs in the heads of the people whoâve been through itâthe ones whoâve walked a site where something didnât add up, or sat in a room full of decision-makers relying on a model that ignored half the story.
And if those peopleâyouâdonât teach it, that knowledge disappears.
So weâre using each article as a way to surface problems and pair them with educational blueprints. Itâs not about turning every reader into an instructor. Itâs about reminding this profession that knowledge doesnât just belong in a boundary surveyâit belongs in a curriculum.
Every problem we raise is a prompt. A reason to pause and say, âSomeone should be explaining this.â
And more often than not, that someone is already out thereâboots on, data collector in hand, full of stories that the profession canât afford to lose.
This series is how we start turning those stories into structure.
Why This Matters More Than Ever
Letâs step back for a second and look at the bigger picture.
Surveying has always been a profession built on transmissionâknowledge passed down from one generation to the next. Sometimes that came from a mentor on a crew. Sometimes from a grizzled LS who had seen a hundred property disputes play out. Sometimes from working a thousand corners until your instinct got as sharp as your instrument.
But lately, that chain feels like itâs been stretched thin.
Field time is shrinking. Software is replacing hands-on learning. And in a lot of firms, the opportunity to really teachâthe way people used to learn in this fieldâis getting lost in the pace of production. Add to that the rise of AI, the pressure to automate, and the slow erosion of licensure protections, and weâre left with a profession thatâs starting to drift away from its foundations.
And hereâs the kicker: weâre not just losing knowledgeâweâre losing the habit of organizing and sharing it.
Thatâs what makes this series different.
Weâre not writing articles just to explain whatâs wrong. Weâre writing them to point toward whatâs teachable. Weâre mapping out the problemsâbut also drawing the outlines for the courses that could help fix them.
Because whether itâs boundary law falling behind tech, or surveyors being scapegoated when AI gets it wrong, the solution is always going to come back to the same thing: making knowledge visible, accessible, and defensible.
And the only people who can do that are the ones whoâve lived it.
Thatâs why we donât just want readers. We want contributors. People who can look at a problem and say, âYeah, Iâve seen that happen. Hereâs what they need to know.â
The world isnât slowing down. But we can still make time to build what lasts.
And the way we do that?
We teach it.
Hereâs the Flow: Article â Course â Canon
Thereâs a rhythm to what weâre building hereâand itâs intentional.
Every article in this series follows the same basic arc:
We take a real-world issue surveyors are facing, break it down, and then ask, âWhat would it look like to teach this?â
That question isnât rhetorical. Itâs the start of something practical.
At the end of each article, we propose a course titleâa working idea for how the topic could become part of the professionâs evolving body of knowledge. That course doesnât exist yet. But the article lays the foundation. And the next step is simple: we invite surveyors whoâve experienced the issue firsthand to help build it out.
Maybe youâve been in court when bad drone data was used in place of a certified boundary. Maybe youâve had to explain to a developer why âAI accuracyâ isnât a substitute for legal responsibility. Or maybe youâve trained a crew that had never set rebar before being handed a data collector.
If youâve lived the issue, you probably already know how to teach itâyou just havenât been asked to.
Thatâs where the LEARN Program comes in. It gives structure to the process. You bring the experience, and we help turn it into a course: something others can learn from, reference, and build on.
This approach isnât about creating endless content. Itâs about creating a canonâa growing collection of knowledge that reflects what surveyors are actually facing today, not just what was true twenty years ago.
The idea is simple:
- Every article reveals a knowledge gap.
- Every gap points to something that should be taught.
- And every course we build together closes that gap for the next generation.
Thatâs how we turn todayâs uncertainty into tomorrowâs standard.
Weâre not waiting for someone else to define what matters in this profession.
Weâre doing it ourselvesâone issue, one course, one article at a time.
What These Articles Will Cover (And Why Theyâre Built This Way)
Weâre not picking topics at random. Every article in this series is written with purposeâand with a course in mind. The issues weâre choosing to highlight are the ones that are already reshaping the profession, often quietly and without much warning.
Theyâre the topics that come up in field trucks, licensing board meetings, courtrooms, and client calls. The ones that donât always get talked about publicly, but sit just beneath the surface of everyday practice.
Hereâs a taste of what weâre writing about:
- The Death of Field Time â What happens when surveyors are trained in software but never get a feel for the dirt?
- AI-Generated Titles â When land ownership is built on code instead of corner evidence, whoâs responsible when things go wrong?
- Boundary Law Falling Behind Technology â How outdated legal frameworks are clashing with new methods of measurement and automation.
- Erasure of Cultural Sites â Why machine-made maps are ignoring sacred places, and what role surveyors play in protecting them.
- The Liability Gap â What surveyors need to know before signing off on AI-generated deliverables they didnât create.
These articles arenât just meant to informâtheyâre structured to highlight the teachable moment. Each piece identifies whatâs happening, why it matters, and whatâs missing from the current conversation or curriculum.
Then, we close with a course concept. Something like:
âDefending Licensure: Advocacy Strategies for Surveying Professionalsâ
âCultural Stewardship in the Field: Protecting What the Dataset Canât Seeâ
âLiability and Linework: What Surveyors Must Know in the Age of Automationâ
Each title could be the start of a course. A workshop. A conversation. A framework.
Thatâs the point. Weâre not just writing to raise awarenessâweâre writing to build structure. These articles are designed to move. To lead somewhere. To become something.
And most importantly, theyâre built for the people whoâve been living this work all along.
Who Weâre Writing For (And With)
Weâre not aiming these articles at the usual audience. This isnât for marketing departments, or startup founders trying to âdisruptâ surveying from outside the profession. Itâs not for people who see the land only as a spreadsheet, or who think boundaries can be drawn from behind a desk.
Weâre writing for working surveyors.
The ones whoâve stood at a corner and knownâby instinct and experienceâthat something in the deed just didnât add up.
The ones whoâve trained new crew members and seen how much field knowledge is getting lost between generations.
The ones whoâve shown up to a planning meeting and realized no one in the room had actually read the survey before making a decision.
If that sounds like you, then these articles are being written with you in mindâand, ideally, with you involved.
Because this isnât just about writing to the profession. Itâs about writing with it.
Each piece is designed to open the door to collaboration. You donât need to be a published author. You donât need to be an educator by trade. You just need to care enough about this profession to say, âYeah, thatâs something Iâve seen. And hereâs what people need to know.â
Whether itâs a story from the field, a framework youâve built, or a lesson you wish someone had taught you earlier in your careerâitâs all valid, and itâs all needed.
And if youâre not sure where to start? Thatâs what the article structure is for. It gives you a foundation. It shows how a problem becomes a teachable moment. It offers a next step.
You donât have to write it alone. You donât even have to write it all. You just have to bring what youâve got.
Because the future of surveying wonât be written by people outside the profession.
It will be writtenâand taughtâby the people still walking the line.
Where It All Leads: LEARN and the Futurist Membership
These articles arenât just stand-alone reads. Theyâre part of something bigger.
Every time we publish a piece, weâre adding to a growing collection of real-world insight thatâs meant to go somewhereâto become something. That âsomethingâ is the LEARN Program and the Futurist Membership behind it.
LEARN is where we take the course ideas from each article and turn them into actual, useful content for the surveying community. Itâs a platform where surveyorsânot outside consultantsâcan build, share, and teach what they know. From short how-to lessons to full CE-accredited courses, itâs designed to help preserve and pass on knowledge that too often stays in someoneâs notebook or never leaves the jobsite.
And it doesnât stop at the courses themselves.
The Futurist Membership is the engine that drives this entire project. Itâs a network of surveyors who care about the direction the profession is headingâand want to be a part of shaping it. Futurists get access to early course-building tools, project collaborations, and a community space where these article conversations can continue long after publishing.
Itâs not about titles or tenure. Itâs about mindset. If you see whatâs changing in the industry and feel the need to respondânot just with concern, but with ideas and actionâyouâre already in the right place.
This is how we start building a canon for modern surveying.
Not by waiting for someone else to organize it, but by starting with what we already knowâand putting it to use.
So, whether youâre just reading along, offering your insight, or ready to turn your experience into something others can learn from, thereâs a role for you in this.
The profession needs stronger tools. Clearer boundaries. Better public understanding.
But more than anything, it needs a community of professionals willing to writeâand teachâwhat comes next.
Letâs build it.
Thoughts