Surveyors Australia

AI and the Future of Surveying

Thursday 16, Oct 2025

Yes, Surveying Still Has a Future, Because It’s Changing

Last week I received a message that I suspect reflects what many young people, parents, and career advisers are wondering right now.

“With AI and tech advancements happening in the future, do you think it’s still worth getting into surveying and studying a degree? I’ve had a few people saying it would be best to steer clear, so just wanted to get your thoughts on it.”
– Anthony

It’s a fair question. When news headlines are filled with warnings about AI replacing jobs, it’s easy to question the future of any career, especially one as technical and skilled as surveying.

The reality, however, is that AI isn’t replacing surveyors, it’s transforming how they work. And that future is full of opportunity for those who are ready to evolve with the profession.

AI Will Augment Surveyors, Not Replace Them

A new report released in August by Jobs and Skills Australia, Our Gen AI Transition: Implications for Work and Skills, makes it clear: AI will change many jobs, but its greatest impact is not replacement, it’s augmentation.

In fact, the report finds that highly skilled, information-based professions like surveying are among those most likely to be enhanced, not automated. These are roles that require judgement, spatial reasoning, legal interpretation, and the ability to solve problems in the real world. None of which generative AI can do alone.

At Surveyors Australia, we see this every day. AI may speed up certain tasks, like data processing, mapping, or even writing reports, but it can’t go to the site, make decisions on boundary disputes, ensure the accuracy of measurements, or sign off on legal plans. Only a registered surveyor can do that.

The Future is Bright, But It Will Require New Skills

The Our Gen AI Transition report also emphasises the growing need for human-centred skills: communication, adaptability, ethics, and critical thinking. Combined with digital literacy and technical know-how, these are the very skills we teach through the Surveyors Academy and the Business Academy because these skills are the ones that will matter even more in future.

But the skills gap is real. As I’ve travelled around the country in the last few months, surveyors everywhere have confirmed what the Demand Study reported. Whilst Victoria and New South Wales seem to be managing this year, Queensland and Western Australia are crying out for more surveyors. And with a small gap in surveying immigration, we are certain that the predicted capability gap of over 1,400 surveying professionals, with demand continuing to rise through to 2032, is real.

This means surveying is not a career to steer clear of. It’s a profession that is urgently needed and evolving rapidly to meet the challenges of AI, digital engineering, and the infrastructure boom.

Surveyors Will Lead, Not Follow, in the AI Transition

Surveying is no longer just about theodolites and tape measures (though they remain the critical tools in the tool-box!). Our professionals are already using drones, LiDAR and 3D scanning, creating digital twins, and now AI-enhanced tools that accelerate modelling and data validation.

As the Jobs and Skills Australia report makes clear, workers who can harness AI and work alongside it will be more valuable, not less.

We’ve seen this trend in our Hourly Rate Survey and Salary Survey where specialist services involving new technology (like drone operations and scanning) attract some of the highest growth in rates nationally.

So, Is It Still Worth Studying Surveying?

Yes. And more than that, we need more students to choose surveying if we’re going to keep building the infrastructure, housing, and transport systems Australia relies on.

What AI is really doing is raising the bar. The next generation of surveyors won’t just be great at measurement. They’ll be analysts, strategists, spatial thinkers and technology leaders.

For students considering their future, surveying offers not only job security, but the chance to be part of something much bigger. The smart, spatially-enabled infrastructure of tomorrow.

It’s not a profession to steer clear of. It’s one to step into with purpose.

To find out more visit www.surveyingcareers.com.au

To start your education journey consider a Certificate IV in Surveying and Spatial Information with us – visit www.ita-au.edu.au

Keep an eye on our website for upskilling and further training on communications, AI and ethics – www.surveyorsaustralia.org.au