Notes on the History of Land Surveying

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

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

The bottom line is, surveying is really a process using mathematical methods to survey land.

The initial accounts of surveying land goes back to ancient Egypt. Experts have found evidences that the ancient Egyptians used basic geometry to redraw the lines of boundary once the Nile River overflowed. An Egyptian land register dating back to 3000 BC was also found.

Following Egyptians, the Romans - also just about 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 simple 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 https://castlesurveys.co.uk/ were measured, they might create shallow ditches to mark the lines. Actually, a number of the furrows they made still exist today.

Among 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 volume of land they owned along with other information about the land. While it was an amazing level of information during this time, the bits of information weren't 100% correct. The locations were not accurate and the maps were not made to scale.

One of history's greatest icons was also an avid surveyor - Napoleon Bonaparte. The interest in surveying land was really just a product of his desire to conquer the planet. 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 about the land's value. Yes, Napoleon Bonaparte can be viewed as a land surveyor - and a very smart man.

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

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

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Pub: 27 Nov 2023 07:42 UTC
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