Land surveying is one of the oldest professions in the world. Since man has decided a portion of land should participate in a tribe, the necessity for surveying began.

Land surveying is fascinating. The techniques used seek to choose which section of land belongs to whom, hopefully ending arguments forever.

In a nutshell, surveying is really a process using mathematical means to survey land.

The initial 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 once the Nile River overflowed. An Egyptian land register dating back to to 3000 BC was also found.

Following Utility Surveyors Goole , the Romans - also one of 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, often known as Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum. Although they used very easy 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 set of names of land owners, the number of land they owned and other information regarding the land. Although it was an amazing amount of information during this time period, the pieces of information weren't 100% correct. The locations weren't accurate and the maps weren't made to scale.

Among history's greatest icons was also a devoted surveyor - Napoleon Bonaparte. The interest in surveying land was actually just something of his want 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 and as much information regarding the land's value. Yes, Napoleon Bonaparte can be considered a land surveyor - and an extremely smart man.

The techniques useful for land surveying also have evolved on the centuries. In the past, people would use anything that may help them determine the distance 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 now have back then.


Today, land surveyors have the best technologies to help them making use of their job. There's GPS, or Global Positioning System, that is one of the most accurate technologies used today. Total stations are also essential to a land surveyor, which employs the use of an EDM or Electronic Distance Measurement device along with a theodolite that allows for more precise angle and distance measurements.