Hello! I'm getting back into land surveying after many years; sadly I gave away many of college text books to Goodwill when I sold my home in the Philly area years ago. One of them comes to my mind as a must read "Brown's Boundary Control and Legal Principles". We used an older edition of this book when studying the above topic at my surveying school at Penn State Mont Alto. There was also a Special Surveys Books I cannot recall exact title that covered topics such as determine Polaris, resection, intersection and other special techniques used in the field. Also an Elementary Surveying book that covered in general all the topics as well a PA Boundary Principles book by an author from Maine by the name of Knud Hermansen. Perhaps some of these books and techniques are outdated with the new equipment today but I'm looking at land surveying as well with a hobbiest perspective. I am a Licensed Professional Land Surveyor in Penna., I do see some online reading materials offered by the PA PSLS. Please advise on the must read land surveying books to buy. Thank You!
Tony?ÿ
Boundary Control and Legal Principles, Curtis Brown. 2nd edition is the best one and fairly common.
Writing Legal Descriptions, Gurdon H. Wattles.
The Manual of Surveying Instructions (AKA The Cookbook)
@dave-karoly Dave, Thank you for writing back and suggesting these! The Curtis Brown, The Boundary Control book, they are now I believe at the 7th edition; is it still recommended to buy the 2nd edition over the newer editions??
If you don't mind PDFs over paper, the USACOE and USDA have some free survey publications.?ÿ I am posting a couple links below....
https://directives.sc.egov.usda.gov/OpenNonWebContent.aspx?content=25276.wba
https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/army/fm/5-233/
@learner Thank you for the construction survey links, I don't mind reading online PDF's , everything helps!
Excellent links i'm reading online?ÿ from the USDA, government. Thanks!
@dave-karoly Hello! I've been looking for the following book you suggested:"The Manual of Surveying Instructions (AKA The Cookbook)" but cannot find it. What is the exact title, the author, the edition? Thanks! Tony
If they work, here are links to PDF versions of BLM Manual of Surveying Instructions for different years.?ÿ The guys who practice in those areas will be able to tell you in great detail why the publication year may matter in some instances.
Links didn't work, so just google "blm manual of surveying instructions" and you should have a few links to pdfs pop up.
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This might work, the link to the manual is on this page:
@jon-payne Thanks! The link works, quite a bit of material on the BLM site. Big help, appreciate it!
I like to recommend the 2nd (or 3rd) edition of Boundary Control & Legal Principles for people entering the profession and looking for a primer on boundary principles. People already licensed can judge for themselves whether the 7th edition is worth having. I believe that it is.
Same goes for Brown's companion piece Evidence and Procedures for Boundary Location.
Other books I include as essential to a good survey library are Ghilani's Elementary Surveying (a recent edition but not necessarily the most recent), Van Sickles' GPS for Land Surveyors (4th edition, the latest), Bergeron's Pocket Guide to Business for Engineers and Land Surveyors, and Wattles' Writing Legal Descriptions.
The 2009 BLM Manual of Survey Instructions is essential for the student everywhere in the USA and those practicing in PLSS states, but perhaps not for one already licensed in a colonial state.
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Add'l note: This is not a comprehensive list of all books that a surveyor might find useful. It is merely what I consider the core that should be included in every surveyor's library. My own library contains at least a dozen others.?ÿ
@norman-oklahoma Thanks for getting back and suggesting these books! I purchased yesterday the 3rd edition of?ÿBoundary Control & Legal Principles.?ÿI recall using an older version of the book back at Penn State, perhaps the first edition, it most defintely was a heavily used core textboook for our land surevying program there. I don't see it around online anymore. I will look into purchasing Brown's companion piece?ÿEvidence and Procedures for Boundary Location.
Ghilani's?ÿElementary Surveying?ÿI've been eyeing to purchase it yesterday but wanted some feedback from others here before doing so. I saw a 2008 version of the book, not sure if it's current enough? By the way Ghilani was a Professor of Land Surveying at our sister Penn State campus in Wilkes-Barre.?ÿ
Wattles'?ÿWriting Legal Descriptions" I purchased yesterday, a little pricey but decided I should have it. I will look into Van Sickles'?ÿGPS for Land Surveyors (4th edition, the latest), Bergeron's?ÿPocket Guide to Business for Engineers and Land Surveyors. The 2009 BLM?ÿManual of Survey Instructions I will hold off since I will practice in a colonial state Pennsylvania and do not see a need for it. For nostalgic reasons yesterday I purchased an old version of Elementary Surveying for $5, my very first land surveying book purchased at Penn State, see attached.?ÿ
Appreciate your input in suggesting these books. Thank again!
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Tony
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I saw a 2008 version of the book, not sure if it's current enough?
The reason for wanting a recent edition of this book is for the chapters on GNSS, Coordinate Systems, and Least Squares adjustments. The rest of the book is more or less unchanged for many editions.?ÿ
Same for GPS for Land Surveyors. It covers rapidly evolving topics.?ÿ
There's not much change from edition to edition of Elementary Surveying, but 2008 was a long time ago.?ÿ I'd recommend one that is only one or two editions behind, and still a lot cheaper than current.
Most of the changes will be improvements, but I did find that they dropped most of the information on astronomical methods a few editions back, so I need to make sure that I get back the one I loaned out.
Boundaries and Adjacent Properties, Ray Hamilton Skelton (1930).
Old but insightful.
@norman-oklahoma Will the 2008 edition cover those topics or need more up to date.
