SURVEYING TECHNOLOGY NEIL GERRARD speaks to companies at the forefront of digital surveying technology to understand how new technology is reshaping the role of construction surveyors
CAPTURING DATA USING A HANDHELD SCANNER IMAGE COURTESY OF LOOQ AI
coordination and decision-making. That shift is no longer just confined to large infrastructure projects. It is playing out daily on construction sites across the world, changing how surveyors divide their time between field and office, how they interact with contractors, designers and project managers, and what skills are now required – not just to enter the profession but to remain relevant in it.
CONTINUOUS DIGITAL CAPTURE
Lydia Walpole, senior director of account performance at Bentley NAVLIVE CEO CHRIS DAVISON
NAVLIVE IS SEEING A CLEAR SHIFT IN THE DAY-TODAY PRACTICES OF SURVEYORS, TOWARDS MORE DATA CAPTURE IN A SINGLE VISIT
IMAGES COURTESY OF NAVLIVE
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onstruction surveying has come a long way from the tape measure and the total station. Digital technology has had a fundamental effect on how the surveyor’s role on a construction project is defined, how it is performed, and how it is valued. From handheld scanners and drones to drone photogrammetry, mobile LiDAR, cloud platforms and increasingly autonomous workflows, digital tools are reshaping surveying. From a discipline centred primarily on manual measurement, it is becoming one focused on data management, validation,
Systems, highlights just how much things have changed. “I started my career in front line engineering – setting out and surveying major infrastructure projects,” she recalls. “The same core principles remain today as they did 10-15 years ago, but what has improved our working practices today is being able to visualise the environment – the risks, challenges, and reducing planning time. “We can go to site knowing exactly what needs to be done. We can now access all site documentation at a push of a button. Ten years ago, we were still printing paper drawings and taking them to site and hoping we had the correct revision, all the necessary drawings and that it wasn’t raining!” Chris Davison, chief executive of NavLive, a company that helps enable high-precision AI-powered building site scans with their own scanner and portal, describes a clear change. “We’ve certainly observed a shift from manual measurement to more continuous digital capture,” he says. “Thanks to innovation in handheld scanning technology, construction surveyors are now spending less time re-visiting sites and have more confidence
MARCH 2026 CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY 55