The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the United States military have requirements for design, location, and construction of compass calibration pads (compass roses), these having been developed through collaboration with US Geological Survey (USGS) personnel. These requirements are detailed in the FAA Advisory Circular AC 150/5300-13, Appendix 4, and in various military documents, such as Handbook 1021/1, but the major requirement is that the range of declination measured within 75 meters of the center of a compass rose be less than or equal to 30 minutes of arc. The USGS Geomagnetism Group has developed specific methods for conducting a magnetic survey so that existing compass roses can be judged in terms of the needed standards and also that new sites can be evaluated for their suitability as potentially new compass roses. First, a preliminary survey is performed with a total-field magnetometer, with differences over the site area of less than 75nT being sufficient to warrant additional, more detailed surveying. Next, a number of survey points are established over the compass rose area and nearby, where declination is to be measured with an instrument capable of measuring declination to within 1 minute of arc, such as a Gurley transit magnetometer, DI Flux theodolite magnetometer, or Wild T-0. The data are corrected for diurnal and irregular effects of the magnetic field and declination is determined for each survey point, as well as declination range and average of the entire compass rose site. Altogether, a typical survey takes about four days to complete. ?? 2006 Springer.