How to become a Land Surveyor
Measures the position and shape of land accurately for civil engineering and building work.
Main tasks
- Planning field surveys to measure baselines, elevations and other geographic features
- Choosing suitable and cost-effective survey methods and steps
- Meeting the managers of public assets such as roads and rivers and checking records such as road registers
- Carrying survey points from national triangulation points to near the site with survey instruments and setting reference points for the work
- Measuring exact positions from reference points, fixing the positions of structural details and marking them so formwork can be built
- Measuring exact positions from reference points and marking finished centre lines and height levels for excavation
- Making notes, records and sketches of the survey work
- Operating high-precision survey instruments that use satellites and computers
- Setting fixed points for making maps
- Interpreting survey data to fix the position, shape and elevation of landforms
- Making maps from survey data or guiding others who make them
- Getting landowners and others to sign off the survey results
- Reporting survey results to clients such as construction engineers and advising them
- Measuring a river's yearly flow in flow surveys
- Carrying out cadastral surveys of land boundaries
- Monitoring ground heave during ground improvement works
- Checking and certifying control point surveys
- Investigating geology by methods such as boring
- Surveying for disaster recovery
- Ordering survey equipment and helping with this
- Managing the progress of survey work
Workers in this job say vocational college (senmon gakko), high school, or university is common. From job tag's survey of people in each job, who could give several answers. It shows what workers see as common, not how many workers hold each level.
How to become one
To become a surveyor or assistant surveyor you need knowledge of surveying and practical surveying skills. Building up surveying experience on site is essential. Basic surveying knowledge and calculation methods are learned as surveying subjects at a university, tanki daigaku (junior college) or kosen (college of technology) approved by the Minister of Education, or at a senmon gakko (vocational college) registered with the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Under the Survey Act, engineers who carry out basic or public surveys must hold the qualification of surveyor or assistant surveyor. Depending on your education and years of experience, you can gain the qualification either by application alone or by taking an exam. Some people first qualify as an assistant surveyor and later go on to qualify as a surveyor. Once qualified, you register with the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan to be recognised as a surveyor or assistant surveyor. Some people qualify as a surveyor while working for a survey firm, construction company or real estate company, gain experience and then open their own survey office. Some also gain the related land and house investigator qualification.
Ways in
- University: Engineering degrees, Offered by 95 universities in Japan
- University: Architecture & Built Environment degrees, Offered by 43 universities in Japan
- Vocational college, junior college, kosen and trade skills tests: Vocational college (専門学校) course: Surveying. 専修学校 courses in 測量 (工業関係) had 347 graduates in the 2024 school year, 274 of whom started work in a related field (School Basic Survey 2025, table 237). Course matched to the occupation by Peernovo.
- National licence or qualification: Listed by job tag as a qualification related to this job (関連資格): 土地家屋調査士. English name and classification by Peernovo.
- National licence or qualification: Listed by job tag as a qualification related to this job (関連資格): 測量士. Needed to do this job (Peernovo, from job tag's entry description). English name and classification by Peernovo.
- National licence or qualification: Listed by job tag as a qualification related to this job (関連資格): 測量士補. English name and classification by Peernovo.
Pay · Job openings · AI and this job
- Average annual income: ¥5,430,500 Private sector only: employers with 10 or more staff. Public servants, such as public school teachers and police officers, are not in these figures.
- Monthly base pay (before overtime and bonus): median ¥308,200, and the middle half earn ¥248,800 to ¥418,600 a month.
- 5.60 job openings per applicant at Hello Work (2025). A current demand signal, not a projection. It counts only the jobs and job seekers registered at Hello Work, Japan's public employment offices, and many graduate and professional hires never pass through it.
- Generative AI could change some tasks in this job, by the ILO's global estimate.
Related jobs
- Civil Engineering Designer
- Civil Engineering Construction Manager
- Solar Power System Designer and Installer
- Sewer Pipe Inspector
Not sure this is for you? Take the 2-minute career quiz
Questions people ask
How do I become a Land Surveyor?
To become a surveyor or assistant surveyor you need knowledge of surveying and practical surveying skills. Building up surveying experience on site is essential. Basic surveying knowledge and calculation methods are learned as surveying subjects at a university, tanki daigaku (junior college) or kosen (college of technology) approved by the Minister of Education, or at a senmon gakko (vocational college) registered with the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. Under the Survey Act, engineers who carry out basic or public surveys must hold the qualification of surveyor or assistant surveyor. Depending on your education and years of experience, you can gain the qualification either by application alone or by taking an exam. Some people first qualify as an assistant surveyor and later go on to qualify as a surveyor. Once qualified, you register with the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan to be recognised as a surveyor or assistant surveyor. Some people qualify as a surveyor while working for a survey firm, construction company or real estate company, gain experience and then open their own survey office. Some also gain the related land and house investigator qualification.
How much does a Land Surveyor earn in Japan?
Average annual income in the private sector, bonus included, is ¥5,430,500 (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare).
Do you need a degree to become a Land Surveyor?
Not always. In this job's census occupation group, 51% of workers are university graduates. Ways in include: Engineering degrees; Architecture & Built Environment degrees; Vocational college (専門学校) course: Surveying.
Will AI change the work of a Land Surveyor?
Generative AI could change some tasks in this job, by the ILO's global estimate.
Sources
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Basic Survey on Wage Structure (賃金構造基本統計調査) 2025: earnings by occupation (2025 survey (June 2025 pay, 2024 bonus), published 2026-03-24), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare: Employment Referrals for General Workers (一般職業紹介状況): Hello Work job-openings-to-applicants ratio by occupation (2025 annual (release of 2026-10-02)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- Statistics Bureau of Japan (MIC): 2020 Population Census (令和2年国勢調査) detailed sample tabulation: employed by occupation, sex, age and education (2020 Census (tables 9-1 and 15-1, published 2022-12-27)), Government Standard Terms of Use 2.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
- JILPT (職業情報データベース) via MHLW job tag: job tag download data: 解説系 (descriptions, how to become, related qualifications) and 簡易版数値系 (interests, tasks, education) (解説系 ver.7.01 (2026-06-04); 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00 (2026-03-17)), retrieved 4 October 2026
- International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026
独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 解説系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_description_7_01.xlsx）ver.7.01 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成
独立行政法人労働政策研究・研修機構（JILPT）作成 職業情報データベース 簡易版数値系ダウンロードデータ（IPD_DL_numeric_7_00.xlsx）ver.7.00 職業情報提供サイト（job tag）より2026年10月4日にダウンロード（https://shigoto.mhlw.go.jp/User/download）を加工して作成
Sources: JILPT Occupational Information Database download data via job tag (解説系 ver.7.01 and 簡易版数値系 ver.7.00, downloaded 4 October 2026), processed by Peernovo; MHLW, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025; Statistics Bureau of Japan, 2020 Population Census; MEXT, School Basic Survey 2025; MHLW, Employment Referrals for General Workers (Hello Work statistics). Figures processed by Peernovo. English job names, translations and the matching of jobs to statistical groups, schools and degree fields by Peernovo.
Updated 4 October 2026