Okuzeka
Civil Engineering & Construction vocabulary · Surveying and Setting Out

Survey

Meaning in civil engineering & construction, with examples

/ˈsɜːrveɪ/nounCore term

In civil engineering & construction, survey means: The work of measuring and recording the position, height and shape of land, buildings or other features, or the report and drawings that result from it.

In Turkish: ölçüm, harita alımı, etüt

How it is used

Surveys are carried out before design and during construction: topographic, setting-out, as-built and condition surveys. A surveyor or a survey team does the work. As a verb, you survey a site.

Example sentences

  1. The survey shows a three-metre level difference across the plot.

  2. We need a condition survey of the neighbouring buildings before the piling starts.

Common collocations

  • carry out a survey
  • survey team
  • condition survey
  • survey data
  • survey control
  • topographic surveyA survey that records the shape and height of the ground and the position of existing features such as buildings, trees, roads, kerbs and utilities.
  • total stationAn electronic surveying instrument that measures horizontal and vertical angles and distances, then calculates the coordinates of points.
  • set outTo mark the exact positions and levels of a building, road or other work on the ground with survey instruments, so that construction starts in the right place.
  • benchmarkA fixed point on or near the site whose height is accurately known and which is used as the reference for measuring all other levels.
  • levelThe height of a point above a fixed reference, such as a site benchmark or sea level. It is also the name of the instrument surveyors use to measure heights.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Surveying and Setting Out

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: