Welcome to the Recent Past Surveying Page! Surveying allows communities to create an inventory of their historic resources. Surveys provide the information about individual properties needed to evaluate and access them for possible designation on a local, state, or national level. There are two basic types of surveys: reconnaissance and intensive. Reconnaissance surveys are more general while intensive surveys are in depth and focused. The goal of completing a survey within a local community is not to save every historic property surveyed, but to document all historic resources. Surveys provide communities with the information needed to begin preserving their most promising resources.