Work : Some Details About Surveying

The tasks of surveying have been highly important for thousands of years. Even the ancient Egyptians used surveyors to establish boundary lines between farms. There have been many famous surveyors throughout history, including both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Surveying is a fascinating profession with many applications, but there are types of surveying that you might not have known about.

You probably knew that surveyors often have the important tasks of defining exactly where land boundaries should be set, but you might not have known that this type of surveying is known as cadastral surveying. Determining who owns a specific piece of land or where a city or country’s boundary exists has been a hugely important task since the earliest civilizations existed.

There are several different tools that surveyors use to accomplish boundary-related tasks, as well as many other surveying and construction tasks. The theodolite is helpful for measuring angles, whether they are horizontal or vertical. In the earliest times, a groma was an ancient sighting instrument that both the Mesopotamians and Egyptians used among other groups. Egyptians also used measuring ropes and plumb bobs to help with surveying jobs, including the monumental task of designing and building the Pyramids.

Setting up boundaries and producing accurate maps of the land and sea are just part of the job of a surveyor. Surveyors also have to work under the surface to create underground surveys and oceanographic surveys. There are many reasons for this, and surveyors have been needed for many centuries to help with the mining of coal, as well as to help drill for oil and natural gas.

When it comes to surveying under the sea, it is important for many industries to know what is down at the bottom of the ocean floor. Submersibles and submarines cannot navigate safely without knowing where there are canyons, mountain ranges and other obstacles. Drilling for oil and constructing of offshore oil rigs also require the services of a trained surveying engineer. When working beneath the surface of the land or sea, surveyors use a device called a total station, which incorporates a theodolite and a distance meter, both of which are electronic.

The task of cartography or mapmaking has been a huge job of surveyors and is certainly related to the task of setting boundary lines. Surveyors such as Lewis and Clark, for example, traveled throughout the Louisiana Purchase to create maps of this newly purchased portion of the United States. This was a monumental task, and not only did they create maps, they also had to provide a detailed account of the flora and fauna of the area and determine the best areas as to where settlements could be built.

Carey Bourdier enjoys blogging about precision scientific instruments. To get more information about surveying instruments like a surveyor compass, or to find other alignment instruments, check out the Warren Knight site today.

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