Meaning of そくりょうし in Japanese

それからまもなく幾人かの測量士と自称する変な服装をした人たちが集落にやってきて、祖母の小屋の前を測っていきました。
Pretty soon along came to the village some strangely dressed people who called themselves surveyors; and they surveyed a line in front of my grandmother's little house.