An ALTA/NSPS Land Title Survey is the detailed survey standard used in commercial real estate transactions. It is jointly set by the American Land Title Association and the National Society of Professional Surveyors, which is where the name comes from.
If you are an owner, you have usually not chosen this: a title company or a lender has required it as a condition of closing.
What makes it different from a boundary survey
A boundary survey answers where the lines are. An ALTA survey answers that and then reconciles it against the title work. The surveyor works from the title commitment and its Schedule B exceptions, and shows how each recorded easement, encroachment and restriction relates to the property on the ground.
That reconciliation is the point. It is why the title company is the one asking.
Table A is a menu, and it drives the price
The standard has a core set of requirements, then a list of optional items called Table A that the client selects from: flood zone designation, utilities, building dimensions, parking counts and more.
Which Table A items are requested is one of the largest factors in what an ALTA survey costs, so the quote you get depends on what the title company actually asked for. Sending the firm the Table A list with your request saves a round trip.
Precision is defined, not assumed
The standard sets a measurable accuracy requirement called Relative Positional Precision. Under the 2026 ALTA/NSPS standards it is 0.07 feet plus 50 parts per million, at 95% confidence. Surveyors usually just call it "precision" in conversation.
You do not need to evaluate that number. It matters because it means an ALTA survey has a defined standard behind it rather than a general expectation of care.
What to send when you ask for a quote
The property address or legal description, the title commitment if you have it, and the Table A items the title company requires. A firm can price an ALTA survey properly with those three and is mostly guessing without them.