Land Surveying and GPS
Land surveyors once used tape measures and transits to measure distances and positions. Because the 1980s, electronic distance measurement, or EDM, devices have allowed for a lot more efficient and accurate measurements. These use a wave of energy that's shot between your EDM instrument and a reflector. Enough time the beam takes to come back is then calculated as distance. Today, such calculations can be carried out using sophisticated GPS systems.
The Global Positioning System uses a network of satellites to precisely pinpoint the device's location on the planet at any moment. GPS uses the principle of trilateration, using the location of several satellites to pinpoint a precise location. A receiver can determine the latitude, longitude, and elevation of a spot using four or even more satellites; there are a total of 24 Global Positioning System satellites currently in use. First developed by the U.S. click here of Defense as a navigational aid in 1994, today it really is used in many devices, tracking from cell phones and delivery vehicles to the movement of the tectonic plates of Earth's crust.
Land surveyors use Global Position Systems to note the complete coordinates of spatial locations. Exact measurement of these positions is one of the fundamental components of land surveying. The advantage of is that it is much more accurate than hand-measuring these locations. There's some degree of error in every land surveying measurements, due to human errors, environmental characteristics like variations in magnetic fields, temperature, and gravity, and instrument errors. GPS allows for a lot more precise measurements than previously available to land surveyors using measuring tape and an angle sight.
Another benefit of the usage of its use as a land surveyor is that the coordinates can be located precisely, while other methods of land surveying rely on measurements from other known locations, like the edge of the house line, the corner of a house, or another landmark. These locations could change over time, such as in case a house is torn down or another obstacle is built between the structure and the measured point; a good surveyor's stake may be removed prior to the land is re-surveyed. The coordinate of confirmed location on Earth, however, remains exactly the same. Therefore, using GPS as a land surveyor produces measurements that'll be accurate no matter what happens to the encompassing land.
Although Global Position System receivers allow for very precise measurements, there is still a degree of error involved. A receiver on a tripod will record the location slightly differently each and every time; when many measurements are taken, these data points will form a cluster around the actual location. Better-quality receivers, of course, reduce this amount of error. Survey-grade receivers, instead of those designed for non-surveying uses, may create a group of measurements clustered within just one centimeter of the specific location. Today's receivers are steadily gaining used, but will not be as accurate because the surveyor want, especially in areas that are heavily wooded or which have other large obstructions. However, the technology is rapidly advancing and gaining a foothold in the available equipment for land surveyors. Since 1994, the accuracy available when working with GPS units has improved steadily.