Land surveying is one of the oldest professions on the globe. Since man has decided a portion of land should belong to a tribe, the necessity for surveying began.
Land surveying is fascinating. The techniques used seek to choose 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 initial accounts of surveying land dates back to ancient Egypt. Experts have discovered 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 to 3000 BC was also found.
Following the Egyptians, the Romans - also 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 called 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. After the lines were measured, they would create shallow ditches to mark the lines. In fact, 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 truly a list of names of land owners, the amount of land they owned along with other information about the land. While it was an amazing quantity of information during this time period, the bits of information were not 100% correct. The locations were not accurate and the maps were not made to scale.
Among Helpful site was also an avid surveyor - Napoleon Bonaparte. The fascination with surveying land was really just a product of his want to conquer the world. Napoleon Bonaparte founded a registry called the cadastre. This includes a registry of properties of a county, ownership details, locations and as much information regarding the land's value. Yes, Napoleon Bonaparte can be considered a land surveyor - and a very smart man.
The techniques useful for land surveying have also evolved on the centuries. In the past, people would use anything that may help them determine the length from one indicate another. This means 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 help them making use of their job. There's GPS, or Global Positioning System, which is probably the most accurate technologies used today. Total stations may also be essential 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.