Actually you explained it quite well, thank you! Although with a stock GPS (and some birds are still selling with a Rev A board) you may not even get off the ground.
I think the part about having to be a registered surveyor may not be something everyone knows. (I certainly didn't, but now that you mention it, it seems like a good point, I know the same is true of surveys regarding traffic patterns and the like).
One question I'd like answered (today at least, got 100 more for the other days) is that I've heard again and again people complaining that the GoPro is a terrible camera for doing Surveys. Is this simply because of the fisheye distortion? In which case, isn't it more accurate to say that the lens on the gopro is the issue and that a swap is needed? Or is there another reason isn't not suited to surveying?
I know some people are doing survey's with a stock gopro using a 70% overlap which does seem like it would add up in flight time depending on the size of the area, height it's been done at etc. So thinking that using a flatter profile lens would cut down on the overlap required. (make that a statement so it's not another question).