Surveying is .....

Robert I would like to get a copy of a deed of property in the French Quarter. Do you have a subscription to the clerk of court's office?

my two;
network design is more a science than an art, meaning a network is good or not based on the quality of measurements, shape of figure, etc. This can be determined by math and/or experience.

if there is an artful side, i would credit that to hand drawn plats and field notes

No.

Do you know the previous surveyor?

I would call them.
I venture very little on the Southshore. I did surveys for friends in the past and really do not want to that again so I refer them to the city surveyors that I know.

In the first class I had at college ,Surveying 101, our first lecture began "Surveying is the art of" as the Prof was reciting the textbook definition of surveying at that time.
B-)

As for plats, yes.
here is a link to the New Orleans Archives for examples of "Plat Book Plans". Thus style was carried to New Orleans by Caribbean surveyors who settled here.
No question that some were skilled in art.
Plan Plat Books

as for network design. Yes, it is a scientific (mathematical) process but some will have an artistic flare in design just as some art has a distinctive mathematical essence. artists like Escher and also Buddhist monks creating sand mandalas.
I guess there are some roadway and rail road design that could have elements of art also.

Robert

I don't need a previous surveyor.

this is for my own personal info. I was wanting to find out how much someone paid for some property in the FQ.

I agree. Surveying is an art for those that don't know the science or the law of it.

Not limited to surveying. There are artists everywhere masquerading as people of special knowledge.

Presentation of results in map or report is an art. Although, I suppose a gifted (or knowledgable) mapmaker or writer could argue that point on the same basis.

Yes, I have heard the surveying is art comments before and also have heard it many times here. I have seen the comment in 19th Century survey texts and later ones.

But..nobody explains what is the "Art" of surveying so it becomes some arcane concept.

The first time that I was shown how to create a back site from a stob for rural wood surveys, I thought that it was sort of a primitive art. Choosing the correct type of sapling wood, cutting the base for a good point, shaving the top to let the cut side shine to the instrument, notching the top to thread the flagging through then X wrap it around the stob, tying a nice knot and so on and so on. I saw it as art in someway and then took pride in making them every time that I had to set one.

Are we talking about the fine arts or the arts and sciences?

Or maybe Art Carney?

Art Vandelay

The "Art" of land surveying is in the research, data acquisition, and decisions that we make.

I believe that the "Art" is in the subjective decisions that we make based on the data we have acquired. It is not a science because there are multiple solutions, one must be chosen by you, the artist....

Boundary work is not an empirical science at all....

All three OK 😉

I have seen title descriptions that were written concisely and flowed smoothly for the reader to absorb the info.

Writing descriptions is purely a matter of technical writing per se but some are written at another level.

give an example. It seems to me that you are saying it is a logical deduction.
Show me the art.

"Philosophy of Measurement"

I agree with foggyidea, and for substantially the same reasons. Surveying is an art and a metaphysic, as well as a science.

There are any number of ways to accomplish a given surveying task elegantly. There are even more ways to screw it up. :pinch:

A long time ago, I got a promotion after my party chief asked me which centerline point to traverse through before we closed. I replied the one furthest away, because it added more distance to the traverse for the same number of angles, which would benefit the closure (all things being equal).
This showed him I had more "feel" for the process than the next guy.

The blues is 3 chords. Everyone plays it a little differently. That's art.

"Philosophy of Measurement"

So Seymour,

That goes back to my original quote. I am in agreement.

SURVEYING IS NOT AN ART BUT THERE IS ART IN PERFORMING A GOOD SURVEY.

The decision that you made enhanced the science (math) of the traverse.

Surveying is .....>Robert

Why don't you go ahead and define for me, "Art". Because I can say anything and without knowing your definition never hope to reconcile with you. You're just trying to make me argue in circles.

So, what is art to you? What is the definition?

Thanks

Don

Perhaps this will help you in your quest for understanding!
Define ART

"Philosophy of Measurement"

I agree mostly. Performance can very much be art.
I saw piece at the Whitney Museum called, "Shed Boat Shed". It was a wooden shed.

But the artists had bought the old shed, took it apart, built a boat out of it, sailed it down the Hudson River, and rebuilt the shed in another place.
The art was in the imagination involved in re-purposing the junky old shed, and the experience and performance of destruction, construction, navigation, redestruction, and reconstruction.

I thought it was actually pretty cool - the elevation of something mundane to "Performance Art". B-)

Surveying is .....>Don

The furthest thing that I am trying to do here is argue with anyone.
I know the topic may be lame but I hear the "art of surveying " mentioned often and read it in texts and articles.
As for a definition of art, sorry but I don't have one.

Do you?
Yes, one can study art and sciences, philosophy and the law.
I am just polling to see what surveyors consider what is the art in surveying.
I imagine in your area there is a science to surveying in tidal environments and there most definitely has to be an art to it also.
I don't know what the art is in the process.

Hopefully this doesn't come off as being too much of a d**k (having a bad day), but -

Surveying is surveying; all this "art of surveying" or "quasi-legal profession" talk is just so much omphaloskepsis.