Surveying Merit Badge

1. First aid for a day in a field, and the local poisonous plants and animals Requirement

Cuts, scratches, snake bite, insect stings, tick bites, heat- and cold-related reactions and dehydration, plus why a surveyor should be able to identify the poisonous plants and animals found in your area. This is requirement 1 because requirements 2 and 4 are hours outdoors.

2. The field work: a five-sided lot your counselor lays out Often forgotten Requirement

An instrument set over one corner, angles and distances recorded to the other four corners and to five nearby features, then the same points measured again by GPS. The lot, the instrument and the direction all come from your counselor.

THIS BADGE CANNOT START UNTIL YOUR COUNSELOR ARRANGES A FIELD SESSION. The requirement says it twice: a five-sided lot LAID OUT BY YOUR COUNSELOR, measured AS DIRECTED BY YOUR COUNSELOR. It also needs a surveying instrument set over a corner and turning angles, and 2(b) needs GPS measurement accurate enough to compare against it. None of that is equipment a Scout owns. Ask about the field session at your first meeting rather than when you reach requirement 2.

2 parts

• 2(a). Set the instrument, sight a reference corner, and measure everything Often forgotten
• 2(b). Measure three of the same points by GPS, and compare

3. Draw the map: indoors, from the requirement 2 notes Requirement

Using a protractor and scale, plot the points and draw the survey to scale: north arrow, scale bar, title, date and a diagram of the lot. Submit a neatly drawn copy. Nothing about this happens in the field.

Usually comes after 2. The field work: a five-sided lot your counselor lays out.

4. Levelling: back at the lot, with the requirement 2 markers still in place Often forgotten Requirement

Use one of the corner markers from requirement 2 as a benchmark with an assumed elevation of 100 feet, then use a level and rod to collect and record measurements and determine the elevation of the other four corners. The markers have to still be there.

Usually comes after 2. The field work: a five-sided lot your counselor lays out.

DO THIS IN THE SAME SESSION AS REQUIREMENT 2. The benchmark is "one of the corner markers from requirement 2", and those markers are stakes your counselor put in the ground for your field session. Requirement 3, an hour of careful drawing at a table, is numbered between the two, and following that order literally means going home, drawing a map, and coming back to a lot that may well have been cleared. Measure and level in one visit; draw afterwards.

5. A deed from the courthouse, property approved first Often forgotten Requirement

Get a copy of the deed to a piece of property your counselor has approved, from the local courthouse or a title agency, then discuss the different parts of the deed and why each matters. Independent of everything else on the badge, and the slowest thing on it.

START THIS EARLY AND RUN IT ALONGSIDE EVERYTHING ELSE. It is two steps in one sentence. Agree with your counselor which property, then obtain the deed from the local courthouse or a title agency, which is a public office open on weekdays. It depends on nothing else on the badge and nothing else depends on it, and it has the longest lead time here. Queueing it behind the field work wastes the time it takes.

6. Drones and laser scanning: strengths and weaknesses of each Requirement

Emerging surveying technology, discussed with your counselor, with the strengths AND weaknesses of each.

7. What GPS is, and how it is changing surveying Requirement

Tell what GPS is, then discuss its importance and how it is changing the field. Requirement 2(b) has you actually use it, which makes this much easier afterwards.

8. Three careers, then one researched properly Requirement

Identify three career opportunities using surveying skills and knowledge, pick one, and research its training, education, certification requirements, experience and expenses, plus employment prospects, starting salary, advancement opportunities and career goals. Unusually, there is no hobby alternative.

Counselor signs it off Milestone

The completion date is the date you met the requirements, not the date of the signature.

Merit badge requirements are republished annually. A Scout beginning work uses the requirements as they stand then; a Scout already working may finish under the ones they started with. Guide to Advancement 7.0.4.3 governs which applies. This page records the date its copy was read. Check it against the official page before relying on it.