Notes on the annals of Land Surveying

Land surveying is among the oldest professions on the planet. Ever since man has decided a part of land should belong to a tribe, the necessity for surveying began.

Land surveying is fascinating. The techniques used seek to decide which part of land belongs to whom, hopefully ending arguments once and for all.


In a nutshell, surveying is really a process using mathematical means to survey land.

The first accounts of surveying land dates back to ancient Egypt. Check out the post right here have found evidences that the ancient Egyptians used basic geometry to redraw the lines of boundary when the Nile River overflowed. An Egyptian land register dating back to 3000 BC was also found.

Following a Egyptians, the Romans - also one of the most powerful civilizations of the ancient world - practiced land surveying. They took it one step further and made "land surveyor" an official position within the Empire. They were called agrimensores, also known as Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum. Although they used very easy tools, they were very thorough making use of their jobs and would create straight lines and correct angles with the use of these tools. Following the lines were measured, they might create shallow ditches to mark the lines. Actually, Daylight Surveyors New Barnet of the furrows they made remain today.

One of the recorded land surveying of the "modern" times is that of William the Conqueror who wrote the Domesday Book in 1086. This book is actually a set of names of land owners, the number of land they owned along with other information about the land. While it was an amazing level of information during this time, the pieces of information were not 100% correct. The locations weren't accurate and the maps were not made to scale.

One of history's greatest icons was also an avid surveyor - Napoleon Bonaparte. The fascination with surveying land was actually just a product of his want to conquer the world. Napoleon Bonaparte founded a registry called the cadastre. This consists of a registry of properties of a county, ownership details, locations and as much information regarding the land's value. Yes, Napoleon Bonaparte can be considered a land surveyor - and a very smart man.

The techniques useful for land surveying have also evolved over the centuries. A long time ago, people would use whatever may help them determine the distance from one point to another. This implies using chains with links and even ropes. Needless to say, this didn't give accurate results but they didn't have the technology we now have back then.

Today, land surveyors have the very best technologies to greatly help them with their job. There is GPS, or Global Positioning System, that is one of the accurate technologies used today. Total stations may also be very important to a land surveyor, which employs the utilization of an EDM or Electronic Distance Measurement device along with a theodolite which allows for more precise angle and distance measurements.

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Pub: 27 Mar 2024 03:41 UTC
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