Online Help System

Submit a New Independent Survey Project

If you have an architectural or archaeological survey that is conducted outside of the consultation process, you may submit it to SHPO in an independent survey project. Surveys provide information to SHPO reviewers and researchers about buildings, structures, objects, sites, and districts throughout New York State.

Note: If you have a survey that was conducted for a consultation project under New York State Historic Preservation Act Section 14.09 or National Historic Preservation Act Section 106, you must submit it in response to SHPO’s survey request for the existing consultation project. Submitting a consultation-related survey through an independent survey submission may delay SHPO’s review of your consultation project.

You can submit a building survey, an archaeological survey, or a Trekker survey proposal independently. To begin a new independent survey project, click Submit in the top navigation bar to go to the Submit page. From the Submit menu, select the Independent Survey option. A dialog window will open as shown below with the following menu options:

The Independent Survey Project Submit window, showing the menu on the left and the project type description on the right.

For more details about each survey type and the steps involved, please see the Archaeology Survey, Building Survey, or Trekker Survey Proposal sections below.

When you are ready to send your submission to SHPO, click the Submit to SHPO button in the lower right corner to send the submission to SHPO’s processing queue. A thank-you message will pop up in CRIS and an “Initial Submission Received” email will be sent to the contacts you entered at Step 1. If you are an authenticated user, the submission will appear in the My Completed Submissions view of the My Submissions tab on your dashboard.

If SHPO needs more information or revisions before they will accept your submission, they will send an “Initial Submission Found Insufficient” email to the submission’s contacts. This email will include SHPO’s comments on what needs to be changed or added.

Please note that if you edit a submission, it will be removed from SHPO’s processing queue until you resend it to SHPO. If you resend the submission to SHPO, its Date Received will reset to the current date. If you wish to view the submission’s contents without making changes, use the View an In-Progress Initial Submission option on the Submit page.

When SHPO accepts your submission, an “Initial Submission Accepted” email will be sent to the project contacts. The submission will receive a Project (PR) Number and it will be entered in CRIS as a new consultation project record. If you are an authenticated user, the project will appear under the My Projects tab on your dashboard, from which you may open the project details.

Archaeology Survey

If you select the Archaeology Survey option and click the Start button in the left sidebar, the Independent Archaeological Survey form will open in a new tab.

There are 5 steps in the Independent Archaeological Survey form. For help with specific steps in this form, please read the in-context help sidebars on the form or email CRISHelp@parks.ny.gov for further assistance.

  1. Contact Information: The primary and secondary contacts for the independent survey project. These contacts will receive email notifications about the project.
  2. Survey Details: The basic information about the archaeological survey, including type, title, and abstract. If you are submitting an underwater survey, check the box marked Is a Submerged Survey. This will allow you to submit submerged resources at Step 4.
  3. Survey Area: The survey’s location and boundary.
  4. Resources: Any archaeological resources that were identified or investigated.
  5. Report Documents: Attachments pertaining to the survey, including the report. You can also upload a GIS polygon shapefile that represents your survey area in .zip format.

Building Survey

If you select the Building Survey option and click the Start button in the left sidebar, the Independent Building Survey form will open in a new tab.

There are 5 steps in the Independent Building Survey form. For help with specific steps in this form, please read the in-context help sidebars on the form or email CRISHelp@parks.ny.gov for further assistance.

  1. Contact Information: The primary and secondary contacts for the independent survey project. These contacts will receive email notifications about the project.
  2. Survey Details: The basic information about the building survey, including type, title, and sponsor.
  3. Survey Area: The survey’s location and boundary.
  4. Resources: Buildings, structures, objects, above-ground sites, or districts that were surveyed.
  5. Report Documents: Attachments pertaining to the survey, including the report. You can also upload a GIS polygon shapefile that represents your survey area in .zip format.

Trekker Survey Proposal

If you select the Trekker Survey Proposal option and click Start, the Independent Trekker Survey Submission form will open in a new tab.

Note: You must be an authenticated CRIS user to submit a Trekker survey proposal.

There are 5 steps in the Independent Trekker Survey Submission form. For help with specific steps in this form, please read the in-context help sidebars on the form or email CRISHelp@parks.ny.gov for further assistance.

  1. Contact Information: The primary and secondary contacts for the project. These contacts will receive email notifications about the project.
  2. Trekker Lead Contact Information: The contact information for the person who will manage the project’s field technicians and the data they collect.
  3. Survey Details: The basic information about the survey, including type, name, and sponsorship.
  4. Survey Area: The survey’s location and boundary.
  5. Methodology: Attachments describing the proposed survey methodology, to be reviewed by SHPO prior to field data collection.

For more information about the Trekker survey process, please see the Trekker Workflow page in the Trekker Online Help System.