I am working on a project in a very rural area in the southwestern part of the state. I've spoken to most of the adjoiners and met with one of the last ones I need to today. My client has also spoken with him. The man told my client he had a survey and that he could have a copy of it. He pulled the "survey" out of a ziplock bag that also contained a number of deeds. He unfolded it and proceeded to explain it to me.
This "survey" was a portion of the quad map with his deed drawn on there with an ink pen. The only "call" listed on this "survey" was "POB". There were no bearings, no distances, no bounds, just lines drawn on the quad. I asked him who his surveyor was. He told me the guy's name and said he surveys in the mine down the road. I looked up the man's name on the board website and, surprise! not listed.
Now, if the results of my thoroughly researched and properly performed survey disagree with his "survey", I am going to have a fight on my hands.
> This "survey" was a portion of the quad map with his deed drawn on there with an ink pen.
Analog GIS strikes again.
If there are no calls, what will you compare it to? Do you consider plotting a deed on a map surveying? If your client doesn't agree with your boundary, he can march on down to his friendly neighbor (non)surveyor and let the fun begin!!!!
Advise the guy he doesn't have a survey. Sounds to me like a friend just marked the approximate location on the map as a favor to the guy. If he paid more than the price of a quad map, he should turn the originator in to the board.
Sounds like it kinda falls in a 'grey' area.
What surprises me is that you say he surveys in a mine down the road. In Oklahoma subterranean (mining) surveys falls into what our statutes consider "Practice of Land Surveying"; meaning it requires a license. Does West Virginia not require licensure for mining surveys?
Last time I checked West Virginia required not only a professional surveyor registration but also an additional endorsement for underground work.
This sounds like a case where an underground survey crew member tried to "help" out a friend.
> Last time I checked West Virginia required not only a professional surveyor registration but also an additional endorsement for underground work.
>
> This sounds like a case where an underground survey crew member tried to "help" out a friend.
Right on both counts
What fight?
The other surveyor does not have any legal grounds to appear in court. Without a license he is merely another friend of the neighbor with no facts to tell.
I don't see what the problem is. It appears that this survey is not in the title. I'd survey as if the other survey didn't exist, and if I happened to agree with it, fine. If not, that's fine too.
I agree. This person doesn't have a real survey. I wouldn't treat him any differently than the person who hands me a copy of a tax map thinking it is a survey. I would survey it properly and explain to him that what he has is not a legal survey. Hopefully that will be enough to make him understand.
:good: That sounds like the likely answer. What kind of survey are you going to get with an ink pen on a 1:24K scale ?
This sounds like quite an opportunity for Dave to dispel any local misconceptions of what qualifies as professional land surveying.
Don't know what the guy told the Land Owner, he probably knows what his legal limits are and after some hounding went out and explained the deed description with the warning that it was not a survey, Land Owners often don't honor such information or the intent it was provided. Have had some calls from owners asking me to come out and without a survey, look at the conflicting evidence and render an opinion as to where the property lines lie. If I did that the adjoiners would be told that a Surveyor said the line is right here. When I was an LSIT was very careful about doing favors, even a Licensed Surveyor must be very careful about what he says to a Land Owner or what types of drawings he may provide as an explanation of a deed description. Might be the mine surveyor was innocent of wrong doing.
jud
> Might be the mine surveyor was innocent of wrong doing.
> jud
I agree. We don't know the facts just possibly what a guy thought he had. I "surveyed" before I had a license; in fact I had to in order to become licensed. If I work under a pls, and go out in the field every day and work on a survey crew I am a "surveyor". The only question is, did the guy claim to be a licensed land surveyor and did he charge for his services as though he were?
Otherwise, I see nothing wrong with plotting the approximate location on a quad map and working down in the mine next door.
I wouldn't even go that far. There is no need to explain to the guy that he doesn't have a legal survey. I'd let the other "surveyor" do that when the guy goes to him wanting to know why you disagree, and that he might be needed in court.