Georgia · Land Surveyor seal requirements
Georgia Land Surveyor seal requirements: size, wording, and the rule that sets them
As of
Land surveyors in Georgia seal under Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 180-12-.02 (Sealing of Documents), administered by the Georgia State Board of Registration for Professional Engineers and Land Surveyors. The rule allows “Registered Land Surveyor” or “Professional Land Surveyor”. Circular, with the outer circle 1½ inches in diameter and the inner circle 1 inch — the same geometry as the engineer's seal.
Georgia is unusual in specifying both circles: the outer at 1½ inches and the inner at 1 inch. The Board furnishes the seal design at licensure.
Georgia Land Surveyor seal
- Legend (any one)
- “Registered Land Surveyor” · “Professional Land Surveyor”
- Diameter
- Circular, with the outer circle 1½ inches in diameter and the inner circle 1 inch — the same geometry as the engineer's seal.
- Expiration date
- Surveyors seal under the same chapter as engineers. Rule 180-12-.01 fixes only the seal's circular form and diameters and leaves the design to the Board; it imposes no expiration date. The only expiry the rule requires is the firm's Certificate of Authorization expiry — the entity's, not the licensee's — and it goes on the document rather than on the seal.(Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 180-12-.01; r. 180-12-.02(2), (3))
- Signature date
- The registrant shall seal, sign and date all original final documents issued to a client or any public agency, and each drawing sheet. The clause placing the date of signature immediately under the seal is written for engineering documents.(Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 180-12-.02(3), (6))
- City on seal
- Rule 180-12-.01 prescribes only the seal's circular form and its two diameters and leaves the design to the Board; it puts no city or place of business on the seal. The name, address and contact information of the firm or sole practitioner required by r. 180-12-.02(7) go on the sealed document, not on the seal.(Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 180-12-.01; r. 180-12-.02(7))
- The Board's approved facsimile reads "REGISTERED LAND SURVEYOR", but the Board states you may change it to "Professional Land Surveyor" if you prefer. Either wording is acceptable.(Board seal guidance, PLS Seals and Stamps)
- The seal carries the complete license number including the prefix and all the numbers, for example LS999999. The "No." on the facsimile may be replaced with the LS prefix.(Board seal guidance, PLS Seals and Stamps)
- The name on the seal should be the name the Board has on file. Nicknames should be avoided, and a surveyor known by a middle name should include the first initial.(Board seal guidance, PLS Seals and Stamps)
- The seal may be a crimp embossing type, a rubber ink stamp, or computer generated.(Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 180-12-.02)
Georgia land surveyor seal questions
Should a Georgia land surveyor's seal say "Registered" or "Professional"?▾
Either is acceptable, which is unusual. O.C.G.A. § 43-15-22(a) names the legend "Professional Land Surveyor", while the facsimile the Board furnishes at licensure prints REGISTERED LAND SURVEYOR. The Board's own seal guidance resolves the tension by telling licensees they may change "Registered Land Surveyor" to "Professional Land Surveyor" if they prefer. The statute requires "a seal of the design authorized by the board", so the board's artwork — and the choice it offers — controls. (O.C.G.A. § 43-15-22(a); Board guidance, PLS Seals and Stamps)
What must appear alongside a Georgia land surveyor's seal?▾
The firm's Certificate of Authorization details. Rule 180-12-.02(3) requires the registrant to seal, sign, date and provide the COA name, authorization number and expiration date on all original final documents issued to a client or any public agency, and (7) requires every sealed document to carry the name, address and contact information of the firm or sole practitioner certifying the work. Under (2) a document does not even count as "issued" until the seal, signature, date and COA information are all present, so an otherwise finished plat without the COA block is short of the rule. (Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 180-12-.02(2), (3), (7))
Must a Georgia land surveyor strip the seal from an emailed file?▾
Usually yes. Rule 180-12-.02(8) requires the computer-generated seal to be removed from documents transmitted electronically beyond the licensee's direct control unless they are signed with a conforming electronic signature, and replaced with: "This document originally issued and sealed by (name of sealer), (license number), on (Date of sealing) and the entity's COA Information. This medium shall not be considered a certified document." Scanned digital files of certified hardcopy are outside the paragraph; CAD, vector and other files subject to easy editing are squarely inside it. (Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 180-12-.02(8))
Do Georgia's electronic seal rules apply to a surveyor's recorded plat?▾
Not the electronic signature paragraph. Rule 180-12-.02(9) states that it does not apply to property survey maps and plats governed by O.C.G.A. § 15-6-67, which may be submitted in an electronic file format regulated by the Georgia Superior Court Clerks Cooperative Authority. Paragraph (5) adds that a facsimile signature placed on such a map or plat may be a scanned image of an actual signature or a computer generated signature, and must be kept in the strict control of the land surveyor — an allowance the rule gives to no other Georgia document. (Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 180-12-.02(5), (9); O.C.G.A. § 15-6-67)
Generate a Georgia Land Surveyor seal to this specification
Board approved
Your Georgia Land Surveyor seal from pedigitalstamps.com meets every requirement on this page — the required wording, the layout and the diameter set out in Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 180-12-.02 (Sealing of Documents). Fill in your details and download it in seconds.
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