Surveying - The action of assessing the conditions or state of land or a building visually or with instruments.
Hence the expressions:
- to survey land;
- to survey a site (dam or canal or road);
- to survey a building.
The verb “to survey” should not be used when only the dimensions of a room or structure are to be determined. The phrase “to measure the dimensions” is more appropriate in this case.

Preparation of plan - Action of preparing a plan from the data provided by the survey.

Cartography - Action of preparing a map from the data provided by the survey.

Photogrammetry - Action of collecting data by pho­tographical process (aerial or on the ground) and of preparing a map or plan or any digital or graphical documents (listing of coordinates, orthophotoplan) from these data.

Global positioning system (GPS) - All-weather, 24- hour positioning system based on earth-orbiting satellites, which provides sufficiently accurate posi­tion in terms of coordinates and level for certain purposes, as well as other information, to users, any­where in the world.