In-depth research of ownership, minerals, liens and easements in Texas and New Mexico. Land surveying is an all-important aspect of real estate, property development, and landownership. Land surveying establishes accurate maps for real estate purposes, using complex elements of engineering, geometry, physics, and mathematics.
Land surveying is an ancient practice that dates back at least to 1, B. Four thousand years ago, Egyptians used measuring ropes, plumb bobs, and other instruments to gauge the dimensions of plots of land. The information we know about land surveying in ancient Egypt is limited, and stems from only a handful of hieroglyphs and artifacts. However, we do know their techniques were incredibly accurate — the Great Pyramid of Giza built 2, B.
The Romans and Greeks used the Groma in land surveying as early as B. This surveying instrument came from Mesopotamia. This tool was used by the Romans, and it helped establish land surveying as a profession for the first time in history.
The Groma established basic terms of measurements the Romans used to divide the Roman Empire for taxation. The Romans regarded land surveying as a true, even noble profession. They referred to Terminus as the god who protected boundaries. In the Qin dynasty in China, around B. The Chinese invented the magnetic compass using an iron oxide mineral that aligns itself north to south lodestone.
They fashioned the lodestone into a spoon shape, with a handle that would always point south. They used the first compass to mark constellations and map out important points and boundaries. Around B. This was a portable tool that used a culmination of a cogwheel and water level to measure terrestrial and astronomical figures on a property. The Greeks developed the first standardized methods for land surveying. Fast-forward to , when the next important milestone for land surveying came about in England, under the reign of William the Conqueror.
The Domesday Book placed greater importance on mapping the boundaries of owned property. Formed using a vertical staff with horizontal cross-pieces mounted atop and four weighted ropes, the groma gave its user a greater chance to survey straight lines, right angles and rectangles. One item the Ancient Greeks were certainly responsible for was the diopter. Similar in effect to the theodolite, set to emerge centuries later, the diopter was more accurate again than the groma.
It may have been sophisticated enough to aid with the construction of the Eupalinian aqueduct. The Greeks also used their formidable geometry knowledge to push the art of surveying further forward, even going so far as to standardising surveying practices. Surveying was seen as a noble pursuit, with boundaries and measurements assigned their own celestial figure in the Greek god Terminus. There is a lot more information about surveying in the Ancient world on this website; explore here.
Jumping forward well over a thousand years, we come to a significant event in the year This was a massive undertaking, defining the exact boundaries on personal property. This encompassed more than rural land parcels, although that was certainly the focus: other records transcribed included the boundaries of whole counties and towns.
Having a record like this was deemed of particular importance during the years of feudalism in England, when the king was considered the only true owner of land in the nation. Accounting for the land occupied by his underlings was key when approaching the subject of tithes. So too did the role of the surveyor, with many scientific discoveries impacting the surveying world. By the late 18th century, British mathematician Jesse Ramsden was revolutionising the profession with high accuracy surveying instruments — including a perfected version of the theodolite.
At the dawn of the industrial revolution in the 19th century, surveying was booming, as the demand for road, railway, canal, building and city constructions grew like never before.
They used a simple surveying tool called a Groma. The Groma was comprised of a vertical staff with horizontal cross-pieces mounted at right angles on a bracket. Each cross piece had a plumb line hanging vertically at each end. It was used to survey straight lines and right angles, thence squares or rectangles.
They were stabilized on the high ground, and pointed in the direction it was going to be used. The helper would step back steps and place a pole. The surveyor would tell him where to move the pole and the helper would set it down. Captain James Cook. Captain James Cook is one of the most famous surveyors in the world because he is one of the first who sailed into every ocean and surveyed all the areas he discovered.
He mapped lands from New Zealand to Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean in greater detail and on a scale not previously charted by Western explorers. He surveyed and named features, and recorded islands and coastlines on European maps for the first time.
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