Land Surveying
A permit, design, or property transaction needs a boundary, topographic, or ALTA/NSPS survey that the city, lender, and title company will accept.
Boundary, topographic, ALTA/NSPS, and construction surveys prepared per California Professional Land Surveyor standards. We coordinate with local jurisdictions on permit requirements, title company specifications, and construction staking.
You send
- Property address or APN (assessor's parcel number)
- Purpose of the survey: permit, design, sale, or financing
- Title report, and for ALTA/NSPS the required Table A items
- Lender, title, or jurisdiction requirements you already have
You receive
- Topographic and boundary surveys
- Stamped survey plats via licensed CA PLS partner
- ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey (PDF, stamped by PLS partner)
- Construction staking layout coordinates (CSV/DWG)
- AutoCAD Civil 3D Topographic base maps (DWG)
Timeline depends on
- Record research: deeds, maps, and corner records
- Field work: site size, terrain, and vegetation
- Review and stamp by our licensed California PLS partner
- Confirmed in the written scope before you commit
Boundary, topographic, ALTA/NSPS, and construction surveys, stamped through our licensed California PLS partner. FieldScan manages the fieldwork and deliverables; the PLS signs and seals.
How FieldScan delivers surveying
California law requires that land surveys be signed and sealed by a licensed Professional Land Surveyor. FieldScan is not the licensee — we are the field and data partner. We run the capture using modern robotic total stations, GNSS RTK, and where useful, laser scanning and drone data; our licensed California PLS partner reviews, signs, and stamps the deliverables that legally require it.
For you, that means one point of contact, modern capture technology, and a properly licensed, stamped survey at the end — without managing two separate vendors.
Surveys we deliver
ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys. The standard commercial transaction survey that lenders and title companies require. Prepared to the current ALTA/NSPS standard, with the Table A items your title company specifies, and stamped by our PLS partner.
Boundary surveys. Establishing or confirming property lines, easements, and encroachments — the legal answer to “where exactly does this parcel begin and end.”
Topographic surveys. Existing-grade elevation and feature mapping for site design, drainage, and grading work. We frequently combine ground survey with drone capture to cover large or difficult terrain efficiently.
Construction staking. Translating design drawings into marked field positions so crews build to the right location and grade, tied into the project’s design coordinate system.
ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys
An ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey is a standardized property survey used in commercial real estate transactions to secure title insurance. FieldScan manages the field measurements using robotic total stations and GNSS RTK, while our licensed California PLS partner handles the final review, Table A fulfillment, and official stamp. For detailed specifications, see our full ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys guide.
Construction Staking Services
Construction staking is the physical placement of survey markers on a site to translate digital design blueprints into real-world construction limits and elevations. We deploy field crews to lay out precise coordinates, and our California PLS partner provides the professional oversight required for municipal compliance. Establishing this tight field control allows subsequent 3D laser scanning or Scan-to-BIM documentation to tie directly into the project’s design coordinate system.
Below is an overview of the primary surveys we manage:
Why pair surveying with scanning
Traditional surveying answers legal and design questions. Laser scanning and drone capture answer existing-conditions questions at far higher density. On complex projects, the two reinforce each other: the survey sets the legal control framework, and the scan or drone data fills in the rich as-built detail — all in one coordinate system. FieldScan is set up to run both rather than forcing you to choose.
Working with local jurisdictions
Survey requirements vary by jurisdiction across San Diego County, Orange County, and the Inland Empire — permit conditions, monumentation requirements, recording procedures. We coordinate with the relevant agency and your title company so the stamped deliverable meets the specific requirements of your transaction or permit, not just a generic standard.
Related services
Land surveying anchors projects that also need 3D laser scanning for interior as-builts or drone surveying for site and topographic capture. Tell us what your project requires and we’ll confirm exactly which surveys need a PLS stamp and which can be handled as capture deliverables.
FieldScan combines these disciplines under one roof precisely because that’s the problem we set out to solve — see why we started FieldScan.