Calculate the exact horizontal and vertical position of points on the Earth's surface.

“Calculate the exact horizontal and vertical position of points on the Earth's surface.” is a core task performed by Geodetic Surveyors. Among the occupation's 16 rated tasks, workers place it 15th by importance (#2 most important). About 100% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Assess characteristics of land or property. in Estimating the Quantifiable Characteristics of Products, Events, or Information

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E0. No direct exposure — current language models give little or no time savings on this task.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.00. Automation potential label: T3.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Analyze control or survey data to ensure adherence to project specifications or land survey standards. · importance 4.6
• Conduct surveys to determine exact positions, measurement of points, elevations, lines, areas, volumes, contours, or other features of land surfaces. · importance 4.5
• Maintain databases of geodetic and related information, including coordinate, descriptive, or quality assurance data. · importance 4.5
• Verify the mathematical correctness of newly collected survey data. · importance 4.4
• Compute horizontal and vertical coordinates of control networks, using direct leveling or other geodetic survey techniques, such as triangulation, trilateration, and traversing, to establish features of the Earth's surface. · importance 4.3
• Plan or direct the work of geodetic surveying staff, providing technical consultation as needed. · importance 4.2
• Assess the quality of control data to determine the need for additional survey data for engineering, construction, or other projects. · importance 4.2
• Distribute compiled geodetic data to government agencies or the general public. · importance 4.0
• Request additional survey data when field collection errors occur or engineering surveying specifications are not maintained. · importance 4.0
• Read current literature, talk with colleagues, continue education, or participate in professional organizations or conferences to keep abreast of developments in technology, equipment, or systems. · importance 4.0
• Provide training and interpretation in the use of methods or procedures for observing and checking controls for geodetic and plane coordinates. · importance 3.9
• Prepare progress or technical reports. · importance 3.8
• Review existing standards, controls, or equipment used, recommending changes or upgrades as needed. · importance 3.8
• Compute, retrace, or adjust existing surveys of features such as highway alignments, property boundaries, utilities, control and other surveys to match the ground elevation-dependent grids, geodetic grids, or property boundaries and to ensure accuracy and continuity of data used in engineering, surveying, or construction projects. · importance 3.7

See all tasks on the Geodetic Surveyors page.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-16298,
  title  = {Calculate the exact horizontal and vertical position of points on the Earth's surface.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-16298}
}