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AI Automation Index
Will AI Replace Geodetic Surveyors?
Task-level automation exposure for Geodetic Surveyors: 16 O*NET tasks scored against their work activities, plus the simulator.
E-E-A-T Verified
Developed & audited by Gini Loh Automation Exposure
58%
weighted task index
16 of 16 tasks scored
Median Salary
$75,440 / year
BLS OEWS, May 2025 — this exact occupation
Employment Level
Medium
50,830 people hold this job — size, not growth
Projected 2025–35
+5.8%
employment change
3,100 openings a year · BLS line item
Pay by state
BLS OEWS publishes 52 state estimates for this occupation. Each is its own survey estimate, not the national median adjusted for local prices.
$44,870 – $105,330
Highest medians
California $105,330
Alaska $99,550
Oregon $97,070
Massachusetts $94,590
Washington $85,610
Lowest medians
Puerto Rico $44,870
Arkansas $51,800
Georgia $58,100
Mississippi $58,720
Texas $61,150
State figures come from the 17-1022 row in the May 2025 state panel. States where the estimate was suppressed or too small to publish are absent.
What the score is made of
Each task is mapped to its work activities, scored for AI automation potential, and weighted by how important those activities are to the job. These are the components.
Automation potential 58%
Importance-weighted mean of the scored tasks. This is the headline index.
Physical work 0%
Share of weighted tasks in hands-on or machine-operating work activities.
Judgment & influence 44%
Share in analysis, decisions, teaching, directing, advising, or caring for others.
Routine administration 13%
Share in documenting, recording, and administrative activities.
Rewritten by O*NET 6%
Share of weighted tasks O*NET rewrote in a recent update. Reported, not folded into the score.
Consequence of error 8/100
Low
O*NET's own rating of how serious an uncorrectable mistake would be here — respondents, not us. Deliberately not in the index: the score measures what AI can do with the task content, and multiplying it by stakes would be our judgment dressed as data.
Constituent Task Mix
16 tasks for this occupation, weighted by work-activity importance. Shares below are of total task weight, not task count.
High exposure (≥ 60% of the task is automatable) 63%
10 tasks
Medium exposure (≥ 35%) 12%
2 tasks
Low exposure (below 35%) 25%
4 tasks
How would you survive?
Move your week away from the high-exposure tasks and toward the ones that need judgment. The simulator recalculates the index as you shift the mix.
Simulate Upskilling →Emerging & rewritten tasks
Tasks O*NET added or rewrote for this occupation in its recent updates (05/2025 – 08/2026), with who proposed them. Additions are not in the scored task inventory — they are new work O*NET is still measuring, so they appear here and nowhere in the index. A Revision replaces a task that is scored, which is why only those move the "Rewritten by O*NET" share.
- Revision 05/2025 · AI/SME
Determine orientation of tracts of land, including position, boundaries, size, and shape, using theodolites, electronic distance-measuring equipment, satellite-based positioning equipment, drones, land information systems, or other geodetic survey equipment.
Replaced: Determine orientation of tracts of land, including position, boundaries, size, and shape, using theodolites, electronic distance-measuring equipment, satellite-based positioning equipment, land information systems, or other geodetic survey equipment.
Constituent Tasks
#16299 · Core · 72% automatable
Analyze control or survey data to ensure adherence to project specifications or land survey standards.
data analysis — Evaluates operations from data; human owns conclusions
Analyze operational data to evaluate operations, processes or products.
#16302 · Core · 18% automatable
Conduct surveys to determine exact positions, measurement of points, elevations, lines, areas, volumes, contours, or other features of land surfaces.
situated mobility — Field survey of land/water bodies
Survey land or bodies of water to measure or determine features.
#16298 · Core · 75% automatable
Calculate the exact horizontal and vertical position of points on the Earth's surface.
data analysis — Coordinate computation from survey data
Calculate geographic positions from survey data.
#16295 · Core · 75% automatable
Maintain databases of geodetic and related information, including coordinate, descriptive, or quality assurance data.
data analysis — Maintain records systems; human owns integrity
Maintain operational records or records systems.
#16292 · Core · 90% automatable
Verify the mathematical correctness of newly collected survey data.
data analysis — Arithmetic verification is deterministic and reliable
Verify mathematical calculations.
#16297 · Core · 75% automatable
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.
data analysis — Coordinate computation from survey data
Calculate geographic positions from survey data.
#16289 · Core · 30% automatable
Plan or direct the work of geodetic surveying staff, providing technical consultation as needed.
interpersonal — Directing field survey crews needs human oversight
Direct surveying activities.
#16300 · Core · 65% automatable
Assess the quality of control data to determine the need for additional survey data for engineering, construction, or other projects.
data analysis — Analyzes survey/physical data; human checks quality
Analyze physical, survey, or geographic data.
#16290 · Core · 55% automatable
Distribute compiled geodetic data to government agencies or the general public.
text generation — Explanatory content drafted; public engagement human
Explain project details to the general public.
#16293 · Core · 18% automatable
Request additional survey data when field collection errors occur or engineering surveying specifications are not maintained.
physical manipulation — Physical field survey requires hands-on measurement in situ
Gather physical survey data.
#16291 · Core · 80% automatable
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.
information retrieval — AI tracks technical updates; human validates depth
Update technical knowledge.
#16288 · Core · 40% automatable
Provide training and interpretation in the use of methods or procedures for observing and checking controls for geodetic and plane coordinates.
interpersonal — Operational procedure training needs live demonstration
Train personnel on proper operational procedures.
#16294 · Core · 80% automatable
Prepare progress or technical reports.
text generation — Generate operational reports from structured data
Prepare operational reports.
#16287 · Core · 60% automatable
Review existing standards, controls, or equipment used, recommending changes or upgrades as needed.
decision support — Design quality evaluation needs engineering judgment
Evaluate designs or specifications to ensure quality.
#16296 · Core · 75% automatable
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.
data analysis — Coordinate computation from survey data
Calculate geographic positions from survey data.
#16301 · Core · 18% automatable
Revision
Determine orientation of tracts of land, including position, boundaries, size, and shape, using theodolites, electronic distance-measuring equipment, satellite-based positioning equipment, land information systems, or other geodetic survey equipment.
situated mobility — Field survey of land/water bodies
Survey land or bodies of water to measure or determine features.
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How this was scored
- 1. Tasks. O*NET task statements for this occupation, from a release whose newest record is dated 08/2026.
- 2. Work activities. Each task maps to 1–5 Detailed Work Activities; each activity belongs to one of 41 Generalized Work Activities that O*NET rates for importance (1–5) in this occupation.
- 3. Automation potential. Every work activity carries one score for how far current AI can perform it end-to-end. Tasks inherit the mean of their activities.
- 4. Weighting. Task weight = 0.35 + 0.65 × (importance − 1)/4, scaled by how often the task is performed and by 0.7 for Supplemental tasks. Importance is the task's own O*NET rating where it exists (18,369 of 18,838 tasks); the rest inherit their work activities' importance. The index is the weighted mean.
Check: across the 910 occupations where O*NET also rates how far machine speed sets the pace, this index moves opposite to it (Spearman ρ = -0.49). The more a job is paced by equipment, the less of its task content AI can address — the relationship you would expect if the scoring is working.
Sources · O*NET 31.0 (task records to 08/2026) · BLS OEWS May 2025 · BLS projections 2025-2035 · rubric v2.1 · tasks for O*NET, not a forecast
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