§30-13A-10. Scope of Practice.

(a) A licensee may measure a parcel of land and ascertain its boundaries, corners and contents or make any other authoritative measurements and, in the case of measuring a parcel of land, the licensee shall offer to record the map or plat of the measurements of the survey, for a reasonable fee, for the client, in the office of the clerk of the county commission of the county in which the land is located. The practice of surveying can be any of the following, but not limited to:

(1) The performance of a boundary, cadastral, construction, geodetic control, hydrographic, land, mortgage/loan inspection, oil or gas well, partition, photogrammetry, retracement, subdivision or surface mine survey; or

(2) The location, relocation, establishment, reestablishment, laying out or retracement of any property line or boundary of any parcel of land or of any road or utility right-of-way, easement, strip or alignment or elevation of any fixed works by a licensed surveyor.

(b) Activities that must be performed under the responsible charge of a professional surveyor, unless specifically exempted in subsection (c) of this section, include, but are not limited to, the following:

(1) The creation of maps and georeferenced databases representing authoritative locations for boundaries, the location of fixed works, or topography;

(2) Maps and georeferenced databases prepared by any person, firm, or government agency where that data is provided to the public as a survey product;

(3) Original data acquisition, or the resolution of conflicts between multiple data sources, when used for the authoritative location of features within the following data themes: Geodetic control, orthoimagery, elevation and hydrographic, fixed works, private and public boundaries, and cadastral information;

(4) Certification of positional accuracy of maps or measured survey data;

(5) Adjustment or authoritative interpretation of raw survey data;

(6) Geographic Information System (GIS) - based parcel or cadastral mapping used for authoritative boundary definition purposes wherein land title or development rights for individual parcels are, or may be, affected;

(7) Authoritative interpretation of maps, deeds, or other land title documents to resolve conflicting data elements;

(8) Acquisition of field data required to authoritatively position fixed works or cadastral data relative to geodetic control; and

(9) Analysis, adjustment or transformation of cadastral data of the parcel layer(s) with respect to the geodetic control layer within a GIS resulting in the affirmation of positional accuracy.

(c) The following items are not included as activities within the practice of surveying:

(1) The creation of general maps:

(A) Prepared by private firms or government agencies for use as guides to motorists, boaters, aviators, or pedestrians;

(B) Prepared for publication in a gazetteer or atlas as an educational tool or reference publication;

(C) Prepared for or by education institutions for use in the curriculum of any course of study;

(D) Produced by any electronic or print media firm as an illustrative guide to the geographic location of any event; or

(E) Prepared by laypersons for conversational or illustrative purposes. This includes advertising material and users guides.

(2) The transcription of previously georeferenced data into a GIS or LIS by manual or electronic means, and the maintenance thereof, provided the data are clearly not intended to indicate the authoritative location of property boundaries, the precise definition of the shape or contour of the earth, and/or the precise location of fixed works of humans.

(3) The transcription of public record data, without modification except for graphical purposes, into a GIS- or LIS-based cadastre (tax maps and associated records) by manual or electronic means, and the maintenance of that cadastre, provided the data are clearly not intended to authoritatively represent property boundaries. This includes tax maps and zoning maps.

(4) The preparation of any document by any federal government agency that does not define real property boundaries. This includes civilian and military versions of quadrangle topographic maps, military maps, satellite imagery, and other such documents.

(5) The incorporation or use of documents or databases prepared by any federal agency into a GIS/LIS, including but not limited to federal census and demographic data, quadrangle topographic maps, and military maps.

(6) Inventory maps and databases created by any organization, in either hard-copy or electronic form, of physical features, facilities, or infrastructure that are wholly contained within properties to which they have rights or for which they have management responsibility. The distribution of these maps and/or databases outside the organization must contain appropriate metadata describing, at a minimum, the accuracy, method of compilation, data source(s) and date(s), and disclaimers of use clearly indicating that the data are not intended to be used as a survey product.

(7) Maps and databases depicting the distribution of natural resources or phenomena prepared by foresters, geologists, soil scientists, geophysicists, biologists, archeologists, historians, or other persons qualified to document such data.

(8) Maps and georeferenced databases depicting physical features and events prepared by any government agency where the access to that data is restricted by statute. This includes georeferenced data generated by law enforcement agencies involving crime statistics and criminal activities.