History of Land Surveying
Land surveying is about the oldest professions in the world. Ever since man has decided that a part of land should belong to a tribe, the demand for surveying began.
Land surveying is fascinating. The techniques used seek to decide which part of land belongs to whom, hopefully ending arguments permanently.
In a nutshell, surveying is a process using mathematical ways to survey land.
The first accounts of surveying land goes back to ancient Egypt. Experts have discovered evidences which the ancient Egyptians used basic geometry to redraw the lines of boundary once the Nile River overflowed. An Egyptian land register going back 3000 BC have also been found.
Following Egyptians, the Romans – also among the most powerful civilizations belonging to the ancient world – practiced land surveying. They took it one step further and made “land surveyor” an official position inside the Empire. They had been called agrimensores, also known as Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum. Despite the fact that used very simple tools, these people were very thorough with their jobs and would create straight lines and proper angles with the aid of these tools. After the lines were measured, they would create shallow ditches to mark the lines. In fact, a lot of the furrows they created continue to exist today.
One of several recorded land surveying in the “modern” times belongs to William the Conqueror who wrote the Domesday Book in 1086. This book serves as a directory names of land owners, the number of land they owned in addition to other information about the land. While it was a great level of information during this time, the pieces of information were not 100% correct. The locations had not been accurate and the maps were not built to scale.
Amongst history’s greatest icons had also been an avid surveyor – Napoleon Bonaparte. The interest in surveying land was really merely a product of his wish to conquer the entire world. Napoleon Bonaparte founded a registry named the cadastre. This includes a registry of properties of a county, ownership details, locations and as many details concerning the land’s value. Yes, Napoleon Bonaparte can be regarded as a land surveyor – and also a very smart man.
The strategy put to use in land surveying also have evolved over the centuries, over time. Years back, people would use whatever may help them determine the space from one place to another. This simply means using chains with links as well as ropes. Naturally, this didn’t give accurate results but they did not have the technology we have back then.
Today, land surveyors enjoy the best technologies in order to help with their job. There’s GPS, or Global Positioning System, which is just about the most accurate technologies being used today. Total stations are also extremely important to a land surveyor, which employs the use of an EDM or Electronic Distance Measurement device along with a theodolite that enables for more precise angle and distance measurements.