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Professionals · code 2165

Cartographers and surveyors

Cartographers and surveyors determine the exact position of, or prepare and revise digital, graphic and pictorial maps, charts or other visual representation of, natural and constructed features and boundaries of land, seas, underground areas and celestial bodies, applying scientific and mathematical principles. Tasks include - (a) surveying, measuring and describing land surfaces, mines, underground surfaces, sea, river and lake beds; (b) noting exact position of various features and recording survey data in digital form; (c) making charts and maps to be used in determining navigable waters and channels and in planning construction of marine structures; (d) planning and conducting aerial photographic surveys; (e) designing, compiling and revising maps and charts using aerial and other photographs, satellite imagery, survey documents and data, existing maps and records, reports and statistics; (f) undertaking research and development of surveying and photogrammetric measurement systems, cadastral systems and land information systems; (g) studying and advising on technical, aesthetic and economic aspects of map production; (h) maintaining technical liaison and consultancy with other relevant specialists. Examples of the occupations classified here: - Aerial surveyor - Cadastral surveyor - Cartographer - Hydrographic surveyor - Land surveyor - Mine surveyor - Photogrammetrist Some related occupations classified elsewhere: - Quantity surveyor - 2149 - Building surveyor - 3112 - Marine surveyor - 3115

A good share of the tasks are affected. It ranks 349 of 427 for holding up against AI.

Also known as

  • land surveyor
  • geographic information systems specialist
  • cadastral technician
  • cartographer

Job titles from the EU's ESCO list. Search for any of them on the jobs page and you'll end up here.

56.1
Holds up
against AI Exposed: Gradient 2

AI could take on 43.9 of 100, on average
so it holds up at 100 − 43.9 = 56.1

That's the whole sum, and you can check it against the ILO's study.

38.1
How hands-on
out of 100

From O*NET, averaged across 3 US jobs

29.9
How fiddly
and cramped

finger skill 40.7 · hand skill 31.3 · cramped spaces 17.7 · averaged

Kind of hands-on work · hands-on under 50 Less than half hands-on

Less than half of this job is hands-on. Robots still matter, but for a smaller part of the work, so we don't sort it any further.

estimated O*NET 31.0 BLS occupational crosswalk chain ISCO-08 to 2010 SOC (Aug 2012, rev. Jun 2015); 2010 to 2018 SOC (Nov 2017); O*NET-SOC 2019 taxonomy data 0.7-work-setting measures chosen by Frey & Osborne (2017) · the grouping is a sorting, not a measurement

What this number leaves out This job rates 38.1 out of 100 for how hands-on it is. The score above only looks at AI tools, not robots, but for work this far from the physical that matters less.

The tasks behind the score

The score is the average of these. A job is really a bundle of tasks, and an average can hide how uneven that bundle is.

The task AI could do most of scores 60, while the average is 43.9. A big gap means some of this job is wide open to AI and some of it barely at all. That's quite different from a job where everything sits somewhere in the middle, even when the averages match.

  1. 60

    Noting exact position of various features and recording survey data in digital form

    Medium
  2. 53

    Designing, compiling and revising maps and charts using aerial and other photographs, satellite imagery, survey documents and data, existing maps and records, reports and statistics

    Medium
  3. 50

    Studying and advising on technical, aesthetic and economic aspects of map production

    Medium
  4. 49

    Undertaking research and development of surveying and photogrammetric measurement systems, cadastral systems and land information systems

    Low
  5. 41

    Making charts and maps to be used in determining navigable waters and channels and in planning construction of marine structures

    Low
  6. 38.5

    Maintaining technical liaison and consultancy with other relevant specialists.

    Low
  7. 38

    Planning and conducting aerial photographic surveys

    Low
  8. 21.5

    Surveying, measuring and describing land surfaces, mines, underground surfaces, sea, river and lake beds

    Very Low

8 tasks · the High to Very Low labels are the ILO's

from the source Working Paper 140, Generative AI and Jobs 2025 index data 0.7-work-setting

Helped, or replaced?

The score above can't tell a tool that makes you faster from one that does the task instead of you. Jobs and Skills Australia looked at those two things separately, and this is their result, matched to this job.

One Australian job matches, but only partly: not everyone in it does this job. Treat the numbers as a rough guide.

AI helps you
76
AI does it for you
40

Helping wins by 36 points.

estimated Our Gen AI Transition (Gen AI Capacity Study) September 2025 detailed data release data 0.7-work-setting matched to Australian jobs 2322

Compared with similar jobs

There are 92 jobs in the “Professionals” group, averaging 61.4. This one is below that.