Notes on the annals of Land Surveying
Land surveying is among the oldest professions on the planet. Since man has decided a part of land should belong to a tribe, the necessity for surveying began.
Land surveying is fascinating. The methods used seek to choose which section of land belongs to whom, hopefully ending arguments forever.
The bottom line is, surveying is a process using mathematical means to survey land.
The first accounts of surveying land goes back to ancient Egypt. Experts have discovered evidences that the ancient Egyptians used basic geometry to redraw the lines of boundary when the Nile River overflowed. Helpful resources dating back to to 3000 BC was also found.
Following a Egyptians, the Romans - also one of the powerful civilizations of the ancient world - practiced land surveying. They took it one step further and made "land surveyor" the official position within the Empire. These were called agrimensores, also known as Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum. Although they used very simple tools, they were very thorough with their jobs and would create straight lines and correct angles by using these tools. After the lines were measured, they might create shallow ditches to mark the lines. Actually, a few 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 list of names of land owners, the quantity of land they owned along with other information regarding the land. While it was an amazing level of information during this time period, 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 a devoted surveyor - Napoleon Bonaparte. The interest in surveying land was actually just something 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 so when much information about the land's value. Yes, Napoleon Bonaparte can be considered a land surveyor - and an extremely smart man.
The techniques used for land surveying also have evolved over the centuries. In the past, people would use whatever could help them determine the length from one point to another. This means 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 best technologies to greatly help them making use of their job. There's GPS, or Global Positioning System, which is just about the most accurate technologies being used today. Total stations are also essential to a land surveyor, which employs the application of an EDM or Electronic Distance Measurement device plus a theodolite which allows for more precise angle and distance measurements.