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How to be a licensed surveyor in Wisconsin

Posted by Pedro J. Ortiz on August 24, 2012 at 5:42pm

Hello dear colleagues,

I join you at this group with the aiim to learn from your licensing system.

In Spain we are living a difficult time due to lack of employment but we are looking further trying to promote another step behond of the licensing system for land surveyors.

Please leave some words about the steps, and procedures to become a RLS or PLS in the state of Wisconsin, and therefore perhaps some comments of what you would change on your system.

Thank you, and a pleasure to share this great network

Best regards from Spain

Pedro 

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Tags: pls, rls, procedures, regulation
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  • Land Surveyor
    Scott D. Warner, PLS August 24, 2012 at 6:08pm

    Part 2 of 2:

    A-E 6.05  Examination.
    (1)  Land surveyor examination required. Applicants for registration as a land surveyor shall take and pass an examination. The examination parts are the national fundamentals of surveying examination, the national principles and practice of surveying examination and the state jurisdictional examination, which is relative to Wisconsin specific practice. Each of the 3 required examinations is scored separately.
    (2) Scope of written examination.
    (a) The fundamentals of land surveying examination requires an understanding of mathematics, physics, surveying methods for measuring horizontal, vertical and angular values, topographic and photogrammetric mapping, notekeeping, property surveys, computations, descriptions and plats.
    (b) The national principles and practice examination and the state jurisdictional examination require an ability to apply principles and judgment to problems involving the U.S. system of public land surveys, Wisconsin plane coordinate surveys, the relocation of lost and obliterated corners, the legal essentials of resurveys, disputed boundaries, defective deed descriptions, riparian rights, adverse possession, the Wisconsin statutes relating to land surveying including the preparation and filing of plats, the writing and interpreting of land descriptions, the technical essentials of land surveying and subdivision of lands including practical problems requiring a knowledge of the basic theory and fundamental concepts of field astronomy, geometry of curves, topography and photogrammetry.
    (3) Requirements for entrance to examinations.
    (a) Prior to July 1, 2000, to be eligible to take the "fundamentals of land surveying" examination, an applicant shall have complied with s. A-E 6.04 (1), or have at least 4 years of practice in land surveying, or a combination of work and training in a course in land surveying and practice in land surveying which totals at least 4 years.
    (b) Prior to July 1, 2000, to be eligible to take the "principles and practice of land surveying" examination, an applicant shall have complied with s. A-E 6.04 (1) and have at least 2 years of approved practice in land surveying, or have at least 5 years of approved practice in land surveying, or a combination of at least 5 years of approved work and training in a course in land surveying and practice in land surveying.
    (c) After June 30, 2000, to be eligible to take the "fundamentals of land surveying" examination, an applicant shall have done one of the following:
    1. Complied with s. A-E 6.04 (2).
    2. Complied with s. A-E 6.04 (1).
    3. Have at least 5 years of practice in land surveying, or a combination of work and training in a course in land surveying and practice in land surveying which totals at least 5 years.
    4. Have completed an apprenticeship training course in land surveying prescribed by the department of workforce development, and engaged in a period of additional land surveying of a satisfactory character that, when added to the period of apprenticeship, totals at least 6 years of land surveying practice.
    (d) After June 30, 2000, to be eligible to take the "principles and practice of land surveying" examination, an applicant shall have done one of the following:
    1. Complied with s. A-E 6.04 (2) and have at least one year of approved practice in land surveying.
    2. Complied with s. A-E 6.04 (1) and have at least 3 years of approved practice in land surveying.
    3. Have at least 9 years of approved practice in land surveying, or a combination of at least 9 years of approved work and training in a course in land surveying and practice in land surveying.
    4. Have completed an apprenticeship training course in land surveying prescribed by the department of workforce development, and engaged in a period of additional land surveying of a satisfactory character that, when added to the period of apprenticeship, totals at least 7 years of land surveying practice.
    (4) Application for examination. An application for examination must be filed with the board no later than 2 months before the scheduled date for the examination.
    Note: An otherwise qualified applicant with a disability shall be provided with reasonable accommodations.
    (5) Time, date and site of examinations. The examinations shall be held at the time, date and site designated by the board.
    (6) Examination and refund fees. The fee for land surveyor examinations and requirements for refund of fees are specified in s. 440.05, Stats., and ch. SPS 4.
    (7) Examination grading. The passing scores set by the board represent the minimum competency required to protect public health and safety. Experience rating may not be weighed as part of the examination grade.
    (8) Reexamination procedure. An applicant for a land surveyor examination who fails an examination or any part of an examination may retake any part of the examination failed at a regularly-scheduled administration of the examination. If an applicant fails to pass on reexamination of the parts failed, or the current examination parts equivalent to the parts failed, within 4 years from the date of receipt of the results of the first failure of the examination or any part of the examination, the applicant is required to take and pass the entire examination. If the applicant retakes the entire examination, the applicant shall pay the original examination fee under s. 440.05 (1), Stats. The board shall determine which parts of a current examination are equivalent to the examination parts failed by an applicant.
    Note: A list of all current examination fees may be obtained at no charge from the Office of Examinations, Department of Safety and Professional Services, 1400 East Washington Avenue, P.O. Box 8935, Madison, WI 53708.
    (9) Examination review.
    (a) One-year limitation. An applicant for a land surveyor examination may review questions on any part of an examination failed by the applicant within one year from the date of the examination, as specified in s. 443.09 (6), Stats. An applicant may review the examination only once.
    (b) Review procedure. Failing candidates shall be notified of the procedure to schedule a review of the appropriate examination parts. The applicant may take notes on the examination questions reviewed. No notes may be retained by the applicant following the review. The review may not take place within 30 days prior to a scheduled examination. If the section confirms the failing status following its review, the application shall be deemed incomplete, and the applicant may be reexamined under sub. (8).
    Note: Subsection (9) was invalidated by the repeal of s. 443.09 (6), Stats., and will be removed in future rule-making by the Board.
    (10) Cheating. Any applicant for registration who receives aid or cheats in any other manner in connection with the examination shall be barred from completing the examination or shall not be given a passing grade, or both.
    History: Cr. Register, February, 1987, No. 374, eff. 3-1-87; am. (1) and (6), Register, January, 1993, No. 445, eff. 2-1-93; am. (8), Register, June, 1994, No. 462, eff. 7-1-94; am. (9) (b), Register, March, 1996, No. 483, eff. 4-1-96; am. (9) (a), Register, October, 1996, No. 490, eff. 11-1-96; rn. (7) (a) to be (7) and am., r. (7) (b), cr. (10), Register, January, 1999, No. 517, eff. 2-1-99; am. (1), (3) (a) and (b), cr. (3) (c) and (d), Register, November, 2000, No. 539, eff. 12-1-00; CR 04-118: am. (1) and (2) (b) Register December 2005 No. 600, eff. 1-1-06; correction in (6) made under s. 13.92 (4) (b) 7., Stats., Register November 2011 No. 671.
    A-E 6.06  Application contents. An application for registration shall include all of the following:
    (1) Transcripts verifying the applicant's education.
    (2)  References from at least 5 individuals having personal knowledge of the applicant's experience in land surveying, 3 of whom are registered land surveyors.
    (3) A chronological history of the applicant's employment.
    (4)  Any additional data, exhibits or references indicating the extent and quality of the applicant's experience which the land surveyor section may require.
    History: Cr. Register, February, 1987, No. 374, eff. 3-1-87; renum. and am. (2), Register, January, 1993, No. 445, eff. 2-1-93; correction made under s. 13.93, (2m) (b) 1., Stats., Register, March, 1993, No. 447; am. (intro.) to (3), Register, January, 1999, No. 517, eff. 2-1-99.
    A-E 6.07  Temporary permits.
    (1)  An applicant for registration to practice land surveying in this state who has paid the required fee and who holds an unexpired certificate of registration as a land surveyor in another state with requirements for registration which, in the opinion of the land surveyor section, are substantially equivalent to the requirements for registration in this state may be granted a temporary permit to practice land surveying pending the applicant's completion of the state jurisdictional examination.
    (2) Subject to sub. (3), a temporary permit granted under this section expires on the date of the next scheduled state jurisdictional examination if the applicant fails to appear for the examination. If the applicant appears for the examination, a temporary permit granted under this section expires on the date upon which the applicant is notified that he or she has passed or failed the state jurisdictional examination.
    (3)  The section may grant an extension of the temporary permit if the applicant is prevented by exigent circumstances from sitting for the next regularly scheduled examination, and may in those circumstances permit the applicant to sit for the examination on a date other than the date of the regularly scheduled examination.
    (4) The temporary permit is revocable by the section at its pleasure, pursuant to s. 443.06 (3), Stats.
    History: CR 02-090: cr. Register December 2002 No. 564, eff. 1-1-03; CR 04-118: am. (1) and (2) Register December 2005 No. 600, eff. 1-1-06.
  • Land Surveyor
    Scott D. Warner, PLS August 24, 2012 at 6:07pm

    Pedro,

    This is how: 

    Chapter A-E 6  http://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/code/admin_code/a_e/6
    LAND SURVEYOR REGISTRATION
    A-E 6.01 Authority and purpose.
    A-E 6.02 Application for registration.
    A-E 6.03 Land surveying experience.
    A-E 6.04 Educational requirements for land surveyors.
    A-E 6.05 Examination.
    A-E 6.06 Application contents.
    A-E 6.07 Temporary permits.
    A-E 6.01  Authority and purpose. The rules in this chapter are adopted under authority in ss. 15.08 (5) (b), 227.11, 443.01 (4) and 443.06, Stats. The purpose of rules in this chapter is to interpret basic education, experience and examination requirements for registration as a land surveyor as specified in s. 443.06, Stats.
    History: Cr. Register, February, 1987, No. 374, eff. 3-1-87.
    A-E 6.02  Application for registration. Any applicant who files an application but who does not comply with a request for information related to the application within one year from the date of the request shall file a new application and fee.
    Note: Applications are available upon request to the board office located at 1400 East Washington Avenue, P.O. Box 8935, Madison, Wisconsin 53708.
    History: Cr. Register, February, 1987, No. 374, eff. 3-1-87; am. Register, January, 1999, No. 517, eff. 2-1-99.
    A-E 6.03  Land surveying experience.
    (1) To qualify as "practice in land surveying work of a satisfactory character which indicates that the applicant is competent to be placed in responsible charge of such work" under s. 443.06, Stats., the experience of an applicant shall be in areas of land surveying practice designated under pars. (a) and (b), or other areas which, in the opinion of the board, provide the applicant with knowledge of practice of land surveying at least equivalent to that which is generally acquired by experience in the areas listed. An applicant need not have experience in all areas listed below. However, all applicants shall have experience in the areas listed in par. (a) 1. and 2. Academic coursework which provides the applicant with knowledge and skills in some areas of practice listed in pars. (a) and (b) may be claimed as equivalent to experience.
    (a) At least two-thirds of an applicant's experience shall be acquired in all of the following:
    1. Locating land boundaries and land boundary corners including all of the following services:
    a. Researching public and private records and interpreting legal descriptions, deeds, and survey maps.
    b. Locating lost and obliterated corners and United States public land survey system corners and reestablishing or perpetuating monuments of the corners.
    c. Establishing, reestablishing and perpetuating survey monuments.
    d. Subdividing sections.
    e. Establishing or retracing property lines to determine length and bearing.
    f. Reestablishing obliterated property lines.
    g. Preparing descriptions of real property from data acquired by field measurements and other evidence of property location.
    h. Conducting resurveys.
    2. Preparing maps including all of the following:
    a. Maps of sections or portions of sections or townships as established by the original public land survey and subdivisions of those sections in accordance with the statutes of the United States and the rules and regulations made by the secretary of the interior in conformity thereto.
    b. Subdivision plats prepared in accordance with the Wisconsin statutes or local ordinances.
    c. Certified survey maps prepared in accordance with the Wisconsin statutes or local ordinances.
    e. Official plats or maps of land in this state in accordance with ch. A-E 7.
    (b) Not more than one-third of an applicant's experience may be acquired in:
    1. Preparing highway and railroad rights-of-way maps.
    2. Construction staking for highways, roads, streets or similar projects within the boundaries of established rights-of-way.
    3. Performing topographic surveys.
    4. Developing control networks for aerial photography unless property lines are used for control.
    5. Performing new building layout or construction surveys.
    6. Transportation project plats in accordance with s. 84.095, Stats., and ss. Trans 233.03 and 233.04.
    7. Condominium plats prepared in accordance with s. 703.11, Stats.
    (2) Not more than one year of satisfactory experience credit may be granted for any calendar year.
    History: Cr. Register, February, 1987, No. 374, eff. 3-1-87; am. (1) (a) (intro.) to 1. h., 2. (intro.) to c. and (b) 1. to 4., Register, January, 1999, No. 517, eff. 2-1-99; CR 06-057: am. (1) (a) 1. a., b., c., and g., and 2. e., r. (1) (a) 1. i. and 2. d., cr. (1) (b) 6. and 7., Register May 2007 No. 617, eff. 6-1-07; CR 09-030: am. (1) (a) 2. e. and (b) 7. Register December 2009 No. 648, eff. 1-1-10.
    A-E 6.04  Educational requirements for land surveyors.
    (1) To meet the educational requirements of s. 443.06 (2) (a) and (bm), Stats., an applicant for registration as a land surveyor shall have satisfactorily completed at least 60 semester credits in a civil engineering or land surveying curriculum including no less than 12 semester credits in land surveying which shall be in the following categories of study:
    (a) No less than 8 of the 12 credits may be in courses concentrating on the legal principles of land surveying and the technical aspects of land surveying. These courses shall include areas of study such as research of public and private records, principles of evidence and the interpretation of written documents used in boundary determination, the study of the legal elements of land surveying including those involving resurveys, boundary disputes, defective descriptions, riparian rights and adverse possession, the study of the professional and judicial functions of a land surveyor, the study of surveying methods for measuring distance and angular values, note keeping, computation and writing descriptions and the study of the Wisconsin Statutes and local ordinances relating to the preparation of subdivision maps and plats.
    (b) No more than 4 credits may be in courses related to land surveying such as "engineering surveying," "municipal surveying," "route surveying," "highway surveying," "topographic surveying," "geodetic surveying," "photogrammetry," "cartography," "construction surveying," "air photo interpretation," "artillery surveying," "geographic information systems," "land information systems" and remote sensing systems."
    (2) To meet the educational requirements of s. 443.06 (2) (am), Stats., an applicant for registration as a land surveyor shall have done either of the following:
    (a) Received a bachelor's degree in a course of study in land surveying of not less than 4 years duration from a college or university accredited by a regional accrediting agency approved by the state where the college or university is located; or
    (b) Received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering of not less than 4 years duration from a college or university accredited by a regional accrediting agency approved by the state where the college or university is located. The curriculum shall include no less than 16 of 24 semester credits in courses concentrating on the legal principles of land surveying and the technical aspects of land surveying. These courses shall include areas of study such as research of public and private records, principles of evidence and the interpretation of written documents used in boundary determination, the study of the legal elements of land surveying including those involving resurveys, boundary disputes, defective descriptions, riparian rights and adverse possession, the study of the professional and judicial functions of a land surveyor, the study of surveying methods for measuring distance and angular values, note keeping, computation and writing descriptions and the study of the Wisconsin statutes and local ordinances relating to the preparation of subdivision maps and plats, other land divisions and real property creation. The applicant may be allowed to receive up to 8 credits in certain other courses relating to surveying. These courses may include "engineering surveying," "municipal surveying," "route surveying," "highway surveying," "topographic surveying," "geodetic surveying," "photogrammetry," "cartography," "construction surveying," "air photo interpretation," "artillery surveying," "geographic information systems," "land information systems" and "remote sensing systems."
    History: Cr. Register, February, 1987, No. 374, eff. 3-1-87; am. (intro.), Register, January, 1999, No. 517, eff. 2-1-99; renum. (intro.), (1) and (2) to be (1) (intro.), (a) and (b) and am. (1) (intro.), cr. (2), Register, November, 2000, No. 539, eff. 12-1-00; CR 01-092: am. (2) (b) Register June 2002 No. 558, eff. 7-1-03; CR 06-057: am. (1) (b) and (2) (b), Register May 2007 No. 617, eff. 6-1-07.

    This is part 1 of 2.  See next reply for part 2 of 2.

    Wisconsin Legislature: Chapter A-E 6
    Professional Land Surveyor Licensure
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