Land Surveyors Are Paying the Price of Progress
Once the sole purview of licensed professionals, drawing lines on a map is getting the startup treatment — and regulators aren’t happy about it.
Change is coming.
Photographer: Mark Wilson/Getty Images
If you decide to buy a house, part of the process likely involves a guy with a theodolite on a tripod heading out to the lot and mapping what the law calls the metes and bounds, just to be sure that what will soon be your fence isn’t encroaching on the neighbor’s property — or vice versa. If you’re borrowing money, the bank will require the survey. If you’re paying cash, you’ll probably want the survey for your own peace of mind.
This is pretty much how things have been going for decades, and if state regulators have their way, it’s how things will stay. That, at least, is the message of a peculiar case from Mississippi, where a startup called Vizaline LLC has gotten itself in trouble with state regulators.1