Notes on the annals of Land Surveying
Land surveying is among the oldest professions on the globe. Since man has decided that a part of land should participate in a tribe, the necessity for surveying began.
Land surveying is fascinating. The methods used seek to decide which part of land belongs to whom, hopefully ending arguments forever.
The bottom line is, surveying is really a process using mathematical means to survey land.
The first 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 when the Nile River overflowed. An Egyptian land register dating back to to 3000 BC was also found.
Following 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 referred to as Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum. Although they used very simple tools, these were very thorough with their jobs and would create straight lines and correct angles with the use of these tools. Following the lines were measured, they would create shallow ditches to mark the lines. In fact, some 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. Land Surveyors Cheltenham is actually a list of names of land owners, the quantity of land they owned and other information regarding 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.
Among history's greatest icons was also a devoted surveyor - Napoleon Bonaparte. The fascination with surveying land was really just something of his desire to conquer the world. Napoleon Bonaparte founded a registry called the cadastre. This includes a registry of properties of a county, ownership details, locations so when much information regarding the land's value. Yes, Napoleon Bonaparte can be considered a land surveyor - and an extremely smart man.
The techniques used for land surveying have also evolved over the centuries. In the past, people would use anything that could help them determine the length from one indicate another. This implies using chains with links and even ropes. Of course, this didn't give accurate results however they didn't have the technology we now have back then.
Today, land surveyors have the best technologies to help them with their job. There's GPS, or Global Positioning System, that is just about the most accurate technologies being used today. Total stations are also very important to a land surveyor, which employs the application of an EDM or Electronic Distance Measurement device along with a theodolite which allows for more precise angle and distance measurements.