The use of geophysical methods in Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering has significantly grown over the past years, and continues to grow due to lower costs, which is a consequence of the greater knowledge by specialists, as well as more access to information on its benefits by engineers, usually the ones to define the survey methods. This piece presents some of the most used methods of shallow investigation, analyzing them based on their applicability on linear structures. Some real cases are presented and studied, and a suggestion of workflow is made based on the lessons learnt on those cases.