During the 1830s Galbraith became interested in the surveying problems of Scotland. In 1831 he pointed out that Arthur's Seat had a strongly magnetic peak. In 1837 he pointed out the impact of anomalies in measurement, work that received recognition; it was topical because of the 1836 geological map of Scotland by John MacCulloch, with which critics had found fault on topographical as well as geological grounds. A paper on the locations of places on the River Clyde was recognised in 1837 by a gold medal, from the Society for the Encouragement of the Useful Arts for Scotland.