Surveying

The City Surveyor is responsible for review and approval of major and minor subdivisions as part of the Development Review Board (DRB) approval process, providing information to the City, private sector and general public.

The major emphasis of the Section is placed on maintaining the horizontal and vertical control network that serves a variety of users in the Albuquerque area. The survey information provides a single homogenous coordinate system for the orderly development and positioning of subdivisions, roads, power lines, and all the other components of the City infrastructure. It consists of over 1500 control monuments established and maintained by the City with high-accuracy surveying methods. The associated geodetic data is provided to both public and private sector users through the City website. The Albuquerque Geodetic Reference System (AGRS) provides a common foundation for the coordination of all mapping, surveying and engineering projects and ensures that the components of the City infrastructure will be positioned with accuracy commensurate with the coordinated and orderly growth of the City.

Additionally, Survey Section personnel, when requested, provide construction surveying services for various City projects, including Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) and private development projects related to City infrastructure, per Development Process Manual (DPM) policy. Property and easement surveying services enable the City to locate, describe, monument and convey or acquire various interests in land. As-constructed and infrastructure location information provides the City and other organizations with data for use in planning and design. Other services provided by the Survey Section include monitoring for deformations, quality assurance of survey and mapping digital data, special surveys, street name reviews, and office support for all field projects.

Specifically, the Section regularly provides information for and accomplishes:

• City agency requests for right-of-way, survey and street name information
• private surveyor requests for survey, r/w and monument information
• updating and maintenance of the Geodetic Control Website
• public inquiries regarding survey, street name and related information
• computer support for all in-house surveying projects

The AGRS provides the common foundation and coordination for mapping, surveying, engineering, and GIS applications for both the public and private sectors.