Introduction to Surveying

This section provides information on surveying in Wisconsin primarily as related to

mapping. Here you will find directions and tools to locate and access survey data and
products (including geodetic control), the methods and tools used, monuments, geodetic
control networks, and the profession, as well as links to survey-related information about
the Public Land Survey System (PLSS), the Global Positing System (GPS), and
Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

(Coast Geodetic Survey party occupying the top of the Washington Monument at 4pm,
Monday, November 19, 1934. The theodolite is placed on a specially constructed stand
over the apex)

(David Doyle, NGS, using state-of-the-art GPS gear to get GPS readouts of the height of
the Washington Monument)

Overview
Surveying is a meld of science, art, and measurement technology used to determine and
record the relative positions of points on (or above or below) the earth's surface.
Surveying can involve anything from determining the position of a single point, to
establishing the boundary between adjacent land parcels, to mapping the terrain in a
stream valley, to modeling the size and shape of the entire earth.

With rapidly expanding residential and business developments, and the steady rise in land
value, a surveyor's measurements and decisions are increasingly important. Computing,
electronic field instruments including GPS, and GIS have brought new tools and
challenges to surveyors.

Surveying is done by a variety of people with various skills and backgrounds and
utilizing a range of equipment and methods. Issues of property boundaries are the venue
of the land surveyor.

Photogrammetrists use aerial photographs to map terrain and land features. Civil
engineers survey and analyze information for construction projects. Natural resource
specialists survey and map terrain and other land characteristics in the field to implement
programs in soil erosion, wetland management, forestry, and more. Some individuals are
qualified to work in more than one sub-area of surveying.

(Image courtesy of NOAA Photo Library)

A variety of survey outputs

The results of survey projects cover a wide range. Maps may be prepared, or temporary
stakes set in the ground, or a series of coordinate values may be recorded electronically to
document points along a route. Permanent markers (monuments) may be set into the
ground, targets may be painted on pavement to be visible in aerial photography or
opinions may be given regarding conflicting legal documents describing adjacent land
parcels. The elevation of a dam spillway may be determined, or the location of a property
corner may be documented relative to surrounding features.
The SCO staff members are not registered, professional land surveyors, and thus are not
qualified to offer specific advice on questions concerning property, structures or
surveying procedures.

Surveying or land surveying is the technique and science of accurately determining the
terrestrial or three-dimensional space position of points and the distances and angles
between them. These points are usually on the surface of the Earth, and are often used to
establish land maps and boundaries for ownership or governmental purposes. In order to
accomplish their objective, surveyors use elements of geometry, engineering,
trigonometry, mathematics, physics, and law.

An alternative definition, per the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping

(ACSM), is the science and art of making all essential measurements to determine the
relative position of points and/or physical and cultural details above, on, or beneath the
surface of the Earth, and to depict them in a usable form, or to establish the position of
points and/or details.

Furthermore, as alluded to above, a particular type of surveying known as "land

surveying" (also per ACSM) is the detailed study or inspection, as by gathering
information through observations, measurements in the field, questionnaires, or research
of legal instruments, and data analysis in the support of planning, designing, and
establishing of property boundaries. It involves the re-establishment of cadastral surveys
and land boundaries based on documents of record and historical evidence, as well as
certifying surveys (as required by statute or local ordinance) of subdivision plats/maps,
registered land surveys, judicial surveys, and space delineation. Land surveying can
include associated services such as mapping and related data accumulation, construction
layout surveys, precision measurements of length, angle, elevation, area, and volume, as
well as horizontal and vertical control surveys, and the analysis and utilization of land
survey data.

Surveying has been an essential element in the development of the human environment
since the beginning of recorded history (ca. 5000 years ago) and it is a requirement in the
planning and execution of nearly every form of construction. Its most familiar modern
uses are in the fields of transport, building and construction, communications, mapping,
and the definition of legal boundaries for land ownership.
Contents
[hide]

• 1 Origins
• 2 Surveying techniques
• 3 Surveying equipment
• 4 Types of surveys and applicability
• 5 Surveying as a career
o 5.1 Building surveying
• 6 Land surveyor
• 7 See also
• 8 References

• 9 External links

[edit] Origins

Surveying techniques have existed throughout much of recorded history. In ancient

Egypt, when the Nile River overflowed its banks and washed out farm boundaries,
boundaries were re-established by a rope stretcher, or surveyor, through the application of
simple geometry. The nearly perfect squareness and north-south orientation of the Great
Pyramid of Giza, built c. 2700 BC, affirm the Egyptians' command of surveying.

• The Egyptian land register (3000 BC).

• A recent reassessment of Stonehenge (c.2500 BC) indicates that the monument
was set out by prehistoric surveyors using peg and rope geometry[1].
• Under the Romans, land surveyors were established as a profession, and they
established the basic measurements under which the Roman Empire was divided,
such as a tax register of conquered lands (300 AD).
• The rise of the Caliphate led to extensive surveying throughout the Arab Empire.
Arabic surveyors invented a variety of specialized instruments for surveying,
including:[2]
o Instruments for accurate levelling: A wooden board with a plumb line and
two hooks, an equilateral triangle with a plumb line and two hooks, and a
reed level.
o A rotating alhidade, used for accurate alignment.
o A surveying astrolabe, used for alignment, measuring angles,
triangulation, finding the width of a river, and the distance between two
points separated by an impassable obstruction.
• In England, The Domesday Book by William the Conqueror (1086)
o covered all England
o contained names of the land owners, area, land quality, and specific
information of the area's content and habitants.
o did not include maps showing exact locations
 • Continental Europe's Cadastre was created in 1808
o founded by Napoleon I (Bonaparte)
o contained numbers of the parcels of land (or just land), land usage, names
etc., and value of the land
o 100 million parcels of land, triangle survey, measurable survey, map scale:
1:2500 and 1:1250
o spread fast around Europe, but faced problems especially in Mediterranean
countries, Balkan, and Eastern Europe due to cadastre upkeep costs and
troubles.

A cadastre loses its value if register and maps are not constantly updated.

Large-scale surveys are a necessary pre-requisite to map-making. In the late 1780s, a

team from the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain, originally under General William Roy
began the Principal Triangulation of Britain using the specially built Ramsden theodolite.

Because of the fundamental value of land and real estate to the local and global economy,
land surveying was one of the first professions to require Professional Licensure. In many
jurisdictions, the land surveyors license was the first Professional Licensure issued by the
state, province, or federal government.

[edit] Surveying techniques

Historically, distances were measured using a variety of means, such as chains with links
of a known length, for instance a Gunter's chain or measuring tapes made of steel or
invar. In order to measure horizontal distances, these chains or tapes would be pulled taut
according to temperature, to reduce sagging and slack. Additionally, attempts to hold the
measuring instrument level would be made. In instances of measuring up a slope, the
surveyor might have to "break" (break chain) the measurement- that is, raise the rear part
of the tape upward, plumb from where the last measurement ended.

Historically, horizontal angles were measured using a compass, which would provide a
magnetic bearing, from which deflections could be measured. This type of instrument
was later improved upon, through more carefully scribed discs providing better angular
resolution, as well as through mounting telescopes with reticles for more precise sighting
atop the disc (see theodolite). Additionally, levels and calibrated circles allowing
measurement of vertical angles were added, along with verniers for measurement down
to a fraction of a degree- such as a turn-of-the-century transit.

The simplest method for measuring height is with an altimeter — basically a

barometer — using air pressure as an indication of height. But for surveying more
precision is needed. Toward this end, a variety of means, such as precise levels, have
been developed. Levels are calibrated to provide a precise plane from which differentials
in height between the instrument and the point in question can be measured, typically
through the use of a vertical measuring rod.
With the triangulation method, one first needs to know the horizontal distance to the
object. If this is not known or cannot be measured directly, it is determined as explained
in the triangulation article. Then the height of an object can be determined by measuring
the angle between the horizontal plane and the line through that point at a known distance
and the top of the object. In order to determine the height of a mountain, one should do
this from sea level (the plane of reference), but here the distances can be too great and the
mountain may not be visible. So it is done in steps, first determining the position of one
point, then moving to that point and doing a relative measurement, and so on until the
mountaintop is reached.

[edit] Surveying equipment

Surveying by the Germans during the First World War, 1918

As late as the 1990s the basic tools used in planar surveying were a tape measure for
determining shorter distances, a level for determine height or elevation differences, and a
theodolite, set on a tripod, with which one can measure angles (horizontal and vertical),
combined with triangulation. Starting from a position with known location and elevation,
the distance and angles to the unknown point are measured. A more modern instrument is
a total station, which is a theodolite with an electronic distance measurement device
(EDM) and can also be used for leveling when set to the horizontal plane. Since their
introduction, total stations have made the technological shift from being optical-
mechanical devices to being fully electronic with an onboard computer and software.
Modern top-of-the-line total stations no longer require a reflector or prism (used to return
the light pulses used for distancing) to return distance measurements, are fully robotic,
and can even e-mail point data to the office computer and connect to satellite positioning
systems, such as a Global Positioning System (GPS). Though real-time kinematic GPS
systems have increased the speed of surveying, they are still only horizontally accurate to
about 20 mm and vertically accurate to about 30-40 mm.[3] However, GPS systems do not
work well in areas with dense tree cover or constructions. Total stations are still used
widely, along with other types of surveying instruments. One-person robotic-guided total
stations allow surveyors to gather precise measurements without extra workers to look
through and turn the telescope or record data. A faster way to measure large areas (not
details, and no obstacles) is with a helicopter, equipped with a laser scanner, combined
with a GPS to determine the position and elevation of the helicopter. To increase
precision, beacons are placed on the ground (about 20 km apart). This method reaches
precisions between 5-40 cm (depending on flight height).[4]
[edit] Types of surveys and applicability

An all-female surveying crew in Idaho in 1918.

• ALTA/ACSM Survey: a surveying standard jointly proposed by the American Land

Title Association and the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping that
incorporates elements of the boundary survey, mortgage survey, and topographic
survey. ALTA/ACSM surveys, frequently shortened to ALTA surveys, are often
required for real estate transactions.
• Archaeological survey: used to accurately assess the relationship of
archaeological sites in a landscape or to accurately record finds on an
archaeological site.
• As-Built Survey: a survey conducted several times during a construction project to
verify, for local and state boards (USA), that the work authorized was completed
to the specifications set on the Plot Plan or Site Plan. This usually entails a
complete survey of the site to confirm that the structures, utilities, and roadways
proposed were built in the proper locations authorized in the Plot Plan or Site
Plan. As-builts are usually done 2-3 times during the building of a house; once
after the foundation has been poured; once after the walls are put up; and at the
completion of construction.
• Bathymetric Survey: a survey carried out to map the seabed profile.
• Boundary Survey: a survey to establish the boundaries of a parcel using its legal
description which typically involves the setting or restoration of monuments or
markers at the corners or along the lines of the parcel, often in the form of iron
rods, pipes, or concrete monuments in the ground, or nails set in concrete or
asphalt. In the past, wooden posts, blazes in trees, piled stone corners or other
types of monuments have also been used. A map or plat is then drafted from the
field data to provide a representation of the parcel surveyed.
• Construction surveying (otherwise "lay-out" or "setting-out"): the process of
establishing and marking the position and detailed layout of new structures such
as roads or buildings for subsequent construction. Surveying is regarded as a sub-
discipline of civil engineering all over the world. All Degree and Diploma level
 Engineering institutions ,world wide, have detailed items of Surveying in the
curriculum for undergraduate courses in the discipline of Civil Engineering.
• Deformation Survey: a survey to determine if a structure or object is changing
shape or moving. The three-dimensional positions of specific points on an object
are determined, a period of time is allowed to pass, these positions are then re-
measured and calculated, and a comparison between the two sets of positions is
made.
• Engineering Surveys: those surveys associated with the engineering design
(topographic, layout and as-built) often requiring geodetic computations beyond
normal civil engineering practise.
• Erosion and Sediment Control Plan: a plan that is drawn in conjunction with a
Subdivision Plan that denotes how upcoming construction activities will effect the
movement of stormwater and sediment across the construction site and onto
abutting properties and how developers will adjust grading activities to limit the
depositing of more stormwater and sediment onto abutting properties than was
done prior to construction.
• Foundation Survey: a survey done to collect the positional data on a foundation
that has been poured and is cured. This is done to ensure that the foundation was
constructed in the location authorized in the Plot Plan, Site Plan, or Subdivision
Plan. When the location of the finished foundation is checked and approved the
building of the remainder of the structure can commence. This should not be
confused with an As-Built Survey which is not to be done until all work on the site
is completed.
• Geological Survey: generic term for a survey conducted for the purpose of
recording the geologically significant features of the area under investigation. In
the past, in remote areas, there was often no base topographic map available, so
the geologist also needed to be a competent surveyor to produce a map of the
terrain, on which the geological information could then be draped. More recently,
satellite imagery or aerial photography is used as a base, where no published map
exists. Such a survey may also be highly specialist - for instance focussing
primarily on hydrogeological, geochemical or geomagnetic themes. (Do not
confuse this term with Geological Survey, typically a government (national,
regional or local) body, charged with maintaining and improving the record of the
geology of the area in which it operates).
• Hydrographic Survey: a survey conducted with the purpose of mapping the
coastline and seabed for navigation, engineering, or resource management
purposes. Products of such surveys are nautical charts. See hydrography.
• Mortgage Survey or Physical Survey: a simple survey that generally determines
land boundaries and building locations. Mortgage surveys are required by title
companies and lending institutions when they provide financing to show that
there are no structures encroaching on the property and that the position of
structures is generally within zoning and building code requirements. Some
jurisdictions allow mortgage surveys to be done to a lesser standard, however
most modern U.S. state minimum standards require the same standard of care for
mortgage surveys as any other survey. The resulting higher price for mortgage
 surveys has led some lending institutions to accept "Mortgage Inspections" not
signed or sealed by a surveyor.
• Plot Plan or Site Plan: a proposal plan for a construction site that include all
existing and proposed conditions on a given site. The existing and proposed
conditions always include structures, utilities, roadways, topography, and
wetlands delineation and location if necessary. The plan might also, but not
always, include hydrology, drainage flows, endangered species habitat, FEMA
Federal Flood Insurance Reference Maps and traffic patterns.
• Soil survey, or soil mapping, is the process of determining the soil types or other
properties of the soil cover over a landscape, and mapping them for others to
understand and use.
• Subdivision Plan: a plot or map based on a survey of a parcel of land. Boundary
lines are drawn inside the larger parcel to indicated the creation of new boundary
lines and roads . The number and location of plats, or the newly created parcels,
are usually discussed back and forth between the developer and the surveyor until
they are agreed upon. At this point monuments, usually in the form of square
concrete blocks or iron rods or pins, are driven into the ground to mark the lot
corners and curve ends, and the plat is recorded in the cadastre (USA, elsewhere)
or land registry (UK). In some jurisdictions, the recording or filing of a
subdivision plat is highly regulated. The final map or plat becomes, in effect, a
contract between the developer and the city or county, determining what can be
built on the property and under what conditions. Always upon finally completion
of a subdivision an As-Built Plan is required by the local government. This is
done so that the roadway constructed therein will pass ownership from the
developer to said local government by way of a contract called a Covenant. When
this stage is completed the roadways will now be maintained, repaved, swept, and
plowed (if necessary for your geographic region) by the local government
• Tape Survey: this type of survey is the most basic and inexpensive type of land
survey. Popular in the middle part of the 20th century, tape surveys while being
accurate for distance lack substantially in their accuracy of measuring angle and
bearing. Considering that a survey is the documentation of one-half (1/2)
distances and one-half (1/2) bearings this type of survey is no longer accepted
amongst local, state, or federal regulatory committees for any substantial
construction work. However for determining the extent of your property
boundaries and for your peace-of-mind this type of survey is the least expensive,
least time consuming and least invasive, while being nowhere close to accurate
for the standards that are practised by professional land surveyors.
• Topographic Survey: a survey that measures the elevation of points on a particular
piece of land, and presents them as contour lines on a plot.
• Wetlands Delineation & Location Survey: a survey that is completed when
construction work is to be done on or near a site containing defined wetlands.
Depending on your local, state, or federal regulations wetlands are usually
classified as areas that are completely inundated with water more than two (2)
weeks during the growing season. (For USA only) Contact your local or state
Conservation Commission or Wetlands Regulatory Commission to determine
the particular definition for wetlands in your given geographical region. The
 boundary of the wetlands is determined by observing the soil colors, vegetation,
erosion patterns or scour marks, hydrology, and morphology. Typically blue or
pink colored flags are then placed in key locations to denote the boundary of the
wetlands. A survey is done to collect the data on the locations of the placed flags
and a plan is drawn to reference the boundary of the wetlands against the
boundary of the surrounding plots or parcels of land and the construction work
proposed within.

[edit] Surveying as a career

The pundit (explorer) cartographer Nain Singh Rawat (19th century CE) received a Royal
Geographical Society gold medal in 1876.

The basic principles of surveying have changed little over the ages, but the tools used by
surveyors have evolved tremendously. Engineering, especially civil engineering, depends
heavily on surveyors. Whenever there are roads, Railways, Reservoir, dams, retaining
walls, bridges or residential areas to be built, surveyors are involved. They establish the
boundaries of legal descriptions and the boundaries of various lines of political divisions.
They also provide advice and data for geographical information systems (GIS), computer
databases that contain data on land features and boundaries.

Surveyors must have a thorough knowledge of algebra, basic calculus, geometry, and
trigonometry. They must also know the laws that deal with surveys, property, and
contracts. In addition, they must be able to use delicate instruments with accuracy and
precision. In the United States, surveyors and civil engineers use units of feet wherein a
survey foot is broken down into 10ths and 100ths. Many deed descriptions requiring
distance calls are often expressed using these units (125.25 ft). On the subject of
accuracy, surveyors are often held to a standard of one one-hundredth of a foot; about
1/8th inch. Calculation and mapping tolerances are much smaller wherein achieving near
perfect closures are desired. Though tolerances such as this will vary from project to
project, in the field and day to day usage beyond a 100th of a foot is often impractical. In
most states of the U.S., surveying is recognized as a distinct profession apart from
engineering. Licensing requirements vary by state, however these requirements generally
all have a component of education, experience and examinations. In the past, experience
gained through an apprenticeship, together with passing a series of state-administered
examinations, was required to attain licensure. Nowadays, most states insist upon basic
qualification of a Degree in Surveying in addition to experience and examination
requirements. Typically the process for registration follows two phases. First, upon
graduation, the candidate may be eligible to sit for the Fundamentals of Land Surveying
exam, to be certified upon passing and meeting all other requirements as a Surveyor In
Training (SIT). Upon being certified as an SIT, the candidate then needs to gain
additional experience until he or she becomes eligible for the second phase, which
typically consists of the Principles and Practice of Land Surveying exam along with a
state-specific examination.

Registered surveyors usually denote themselves with the letters P.S. (professional
surveyor), L.S. (land surveyor), or P.L.S. (professional land surveyor), or R.L.S.
(registered land surveyor), R.P.L.S. (Registered Professional Land Surveyor), or P.S.M.
(professional surveyor and mapper) following their names, depending upon the dictates
of their particular state of registration.

In Canada Land Surveyors are registered to work in their respective province. The
designation for a Land Surveyor breaks down by province but follows the rule whereby
the first letter indicates the province followed by L.S. There is also a designation as a
C.L.S. or Canada Lands Surveyor who has the authority to work on Canada Lands which
include Indian Reserves, National Parks, the three territories and offshore lands.

In many Commonwealth countries, the term Chartered Land Surveyor is used for
someone holding a professional license to conduct surveys.

Typically a licensed land surveyor is required to sign and seal all plans, the format of
which is dictated by their state jurisdiction, which shows their name and registration
number. In many states, when setting boundary corners land surveyors are also required
to place survey monuments bearing their registration numbers, typically in the form of
capped iron rods, concrete monuments, or nails with washers.

[edit] Building surveying

Building Surveying emerged in the 1970s as a profession in the United Kingdom by a

group of technically minded General Practice Surveyors.[1] Building Surveying is a
recognized profession within Britain and Australia. In Australia in particular, due to risk
mitigation/limitation factors the employment of surveyors at all levels of the construction
industry is widespread. There are still many countries where it is not widely recognized
as a profession. The Services that Building Surveyors undertake are broad but include:

• Construction design and building works

• Project Management and monitoring
 • CDM Co-ordinator under the Construction (Design & Management) Regulations
2007
• Property Legislation adviser
• Insurance assessment and claims assistance
• Defect investigation and maintenance adviser
• Building Surveys and measured surveys
• Handling Planning applications
• Building Inspection to ensure compliance with building regulations
• Undertaking pre-acquisition surveys
• Negotiating dilapidations claims [2]

Building Surveyors also advise on many aspects of construction including:

• design
• maintenance
• repair
• refurbishment
• restoration [3]

Clients of a building surveyor can be the public sector, Local Authorities, Government
Departments as well as private sector organisations and work closely with architects,
planners, homeowners and tenants groups. Building Surveyors may also be called to act
as an expert witness. It is usual for building surveyors to undertake an accredited degree
qualification before undertaking structured training to become a member of a
professional organisation. Professional organisations for building surveyors include
CIOB, ABE, HKIS and RICS.

[edit] Land surveyor

This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards.
Please improve this section if you can. (March 2007)
F.V. Hayden's map of Yellowstone National Park, 1871. His surveys were a significant
factor toward establishing the park in 1872.

Cadastral land surveyors are licensed by State governments. In the United States,
cadastral surveys are typically conducted by the Federal government, specifically through
the Cadastral Surveys branch of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), formerly the
General Land Office (GLO). In the states that have been subdivided as per the Public
Land Survey System (PLSS), the BLM Cadastral Surveys are carried out in accordance
with said system. This information is required to define ownership and rights in real
property (land, water, mineral, easements, rights-of-way, etc.), to resolve boundary
disputes between neighbours, and for any subdivision of land, building development,
road boundary realignment, etc.

The aim of cadastral surveys is normally to re-establish and mark the corners of original
land boundaries. The first stage is to research relevant records such as land titles (deeds),
easements, survey monumentation (marks on the ground) and any public or private
records that provide relevant data.

Monuments are marks on the ground that define location. Pegs are commonly used to
mark boundary corners, and nails in bitumen, small pegs in the ground (dumpys) and
steel rods are used as instrument locations and reference marks, commonly called survey
control. Marks should be durable and long lasting, stable so the marks do not move over
time, safe from disturbance and safe to work at. The aim is to provide sufficient marks so
some marks will remain for future re-establishment of boundaries. Examples of typical
man-made monuments are steel rods, pipes or bars with plastic, aluminum or brass caps
containing descriptive markings and often bearing the license number of the surveyor
responsible for the establishment of such. The material and marking used on monuments
placed to mark boundary corners are often subject to state laws/statutes.

The job of a boundary surveyor retracing a deed or prior survey is to locate such
monuments and verify their correct position. Over time, development, vandalism and acts
of nature often wreak havoc on monuments, so the boundary surveyor is often forced to
consider other evidence such as fence locations, woodlines, monuments on neighboring
property, parole evidence and other evidence.

A total station or GPS is set-up over survey marks which were placed as part of a
previous survey, or newly placed marks. The bearing datum is established by measuring
between points on a previous survey and a rotation is applied to orientate the new survey
to correspond with the previous survey or a standard map grid.

The data is analysed and comparisons made with existing records to determine evidence
which can be used to establish boundary positions. The bearing and distance of lines
between the boundary corners and total station positions are calculated and used to set out
and mark the corners in the field. Checks are made by measuring directly between pegs
places using a flexible tape. Subdivision of land generally requires that the external
boundary is re-established and marked using pegs, and the new internal boundaries are
then marked.

A plat (survey plan) and description (depending on local and state requirements) are
compiled, the final report is lodged with the appropriate government office (often
required by law), and copies are provided to the client.

The Art of Surveying Many properties have considerable problems with regards to
improper bounding, miscalculations in past surveys, titles, easements, and wildlife
crossings. Also many properties are created from multiple divisions of a larger piece over
the course of years, and with every additional division the risk of miscalculation
increases. The result can be abutting properties not coinciding with adjacent parcels,
resulting in hiatuses (gaps) and overlaps. The art comes in when a surveyor must solve a
puzzle using pieces that do not exactly fit together. In these cases the solution is based
upon the research and interpretation of the surveyor, and following established
procedures for resolving discrepancies.

[edit] See also

• Cadastre
• Civil engineering
• Construction surveying
• Geodesy
• Geographic information system
• Land Registry
• Quantity surveyor
• Triangulation

[edit] References

1. ^ Johnson, Anthony, Solving Stonehenge: The New Key to an Ancient Enigma. (Thames
& Hudson, 2008) ISBN 978-0-500-05155-9
2. ^ Donald Routledge Hill (1996), "Engineering", pp. 766-9, in Rashed, Roshdi & Régis
Morelon (1996), Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, Routledge, 751-795,
ISBN 0415124107
3. ^ National Cooperative Highway Research Program: Collecting, Processing and
Integrating GPS data into GIS, p. 40. Published by Transportation Research Board, 2002
ISBN 0309069165, 9780309069168
4. ^ Toni Schenk1, Suyoung Seo, Beata Csatho: Accuracy Study of Airborne Laser
Scanning Data with Photogrammetry, p. 118

Notes

• Keay J (2000), The Great Arc: the dramatic tale of how India was mapped and Everest
was named, Harper Collins, 182pp, ISBN 0-00-653123-7.
• Pugh J C (1975), Surveying for Field Scientists, Methuen, 230pp, ISBN 0-416-07530-4
 • Genovese I (2005), Definitions of Surveying and Associated Terms, ACSM, 314pp, ISBN
0-9765991-0-4.

The measurement of dimensional relationships among points, lines, and physical features
on or near the Earth's surface. Basically, surveying determines horizontal distances,
elevation differences, directions, and angles. These basic determinations are applied
further to the computation of areas and volumes and to the establishment of locations
with respect to some coordinate system.

Surveying is typically used to locate and measure property lines; to lay out buildings,
bridges, channels, highways, sewers, and pipelines for construction; to locate stations for
launching and tracking satellites; and to obtain topographic information for mapping and
charting.

Horizontal distances are usually assumed to be parallel to a common plane. Each

measurement has both length and direction. Length is expressed in feet or in meters.
Direction is expressed as a bearing of the azimuthal angle relationship to a reference
meridian, which is the north-south direction. It can be the true meridian, a grid meridian,
or some other assumed meridian. The degree-minute-second system of angular
expression is standard in the United States.

Reference, or control, is a concept that applies to the positions of lines as well as to their
directions. In its simplest form, the position control is an identifiable or understood point
of origin for the lines of a survey. Conveniently, most coordinate systems have the origin
placed west and south of the area to be surveyed so that all coordinates are positive and in
the northeast quadrant.

Vertical measurement adds the third dimension to an object's position. This dimension is
expressed as the distance above some reference surface, usually mean sea level, called a
datum. Mean sea level is determined by averaging high and low tides during a lunar
month.

Horizontal control

The main framework, or control, of a survey is laid out by traverse, triangulation, or

trilateration. Some success has been achieved in locating control points from Doppler
measurements of passing satellites, from aerial phototriangulation, from satellites
photographed against a star background, and from inertial guidance systems. In traverse,
adopted for most ordinary surveying, a line or series of lines is established by directly
measuring lengths and angles. In triangulation, used mainly for large areas, angles are
again directly measured, but distances are computed trigonometrically. This necessitates
triangular patterns of lines connecting intervisible points and starting from a baseline of
known length. New baselines are measured at intervals. Trigonometric methods are also
used in trilateration, but lengths, rather than angles, are measured. The development of
electronic distance measurement (EDM) instruments brought trilateration into significant
use.

Distance measurement

Traverse distances are usually measured with a surveyor's tape or by EDM, but also may
sometimes be measured by stadia, subtense, or trig-traverse.

Whether on sloping or level ground, it is horizontal distances that must be measured. In

taping, horizontal components of hillside distances are measured by raising the downhill
end of the tape to the level of the uphill end. On steep ground this technique is used with
shorter sections of the tape. The raised end is positioned over the ground point with the
aid of a plumb bob. Where slope distances are taped along the ground, the slope angle
can be measured with the clinometer. The desired horizontal distance can then be
computed.

In EDM the time a signal requires to travel from an emitter to a receiver or reflector and
back to the sender is converted to a distance readout. The great advantage of electronic
distance measuring is its unprecedented precision, speed, and convenience. Further, if
mounted directly onto a theodolite, and especially if incorporated into it and
electronically coupled to it, the EDM instrument with an internal computer can in
seconds measure distance (even slope distance) and direction, then compute the
coordinates of the sighted point with all the accuracy required for high-order surveying.

In the stadia technique, a graduated stadia rod is held upright on a point and sighted
through a transit telescope set up over another point. The distance between the two points
is determined from the length of rod intercepted between two horizontal wires in the
telescope.

In the subtense technique the transit angle subtended by a horizontal bar of fixed length
enables computation of the transit-to-bar distance ( Fig. 1). In trig-traverse the subtense
bar is replaced by a measured baseline extending at a right angle from the survey line
whose distance is desired. The distance calculated in either subtense or trig-traverse is
automatically the horizontal distance and needs no correction.
 Subtense bar. (Lockwood, Kessler, and Bartlett Inc.)

Angular measurement

The most common instrument for measuring angles is the transit or theodolite. It is
essentially a telescope that can be rotated a measurable amount about a vertical axis and a
horizontal axis. Carefully graduated metal or glass circles concentric with each axis are
used to measure the angles. The transit is centered over a point with the aid of either a
plumb bob suspended by a string from the vertical axis or (on some theodolites) an
optical plummet, which enables the operator to sight along the instrument's vertical axis
to the ground through a right-angle prism.

Elevation differences

Elevations may be measured trigonometrically in conjunction with reduction of slope

measurements to horizontal distances, but the resulting elevation differences are of low
precision.

Most third-order and all second- and first-order measurements are made by differential
leveling, wherein a horizontal line of sight of known elevation is sighted on a graduated
rod held vertically on the point being checked ( Fig. 2). The transit telescope, leveled,
may establish the sight line, but more often a specialized leveling instrument is used. For
approximate results a hand level may be used.
 Theory of differential leveling.

Other methods of measuring elevation include trigonometric leveling which involves

calculating height from measurements of horizontal, distance and vertical angle;
barometric leveling, a method of determining approximate elevation difference with aid
of a barometer; and airborne profiling, in which a radar altimeter on an aircraft is used to
obtain ground elevations.

Astronomical observations

To determine meridian direction and geographic latitude, observations are made by a

theodolite or transit on Polaris, the Sun, or other stars. Direction of the meridian
(geographic north-south line) is needed for direction control purposes; latitude is needed
where maps and other sources are insufficient. The simplest meridian determination is
made by sighting Polaris at its elongation, as the star is rounding the easterly or westerly
extremity of its apparent orbit. An angular correction is applied to the direction of
sighting, which is referenced to a line on the ground. The correction value is found in an
ephemeris. See also Ephemeris; Topographic surveying and mapping.

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Dental Dictionary: surveying
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The procedure of studying the relative parallelism or lack of parallelism of the teeth and
associated structures to select a path of placement for a restoration that will encounter the
least tooth or tissue interference and provide adequate and balanced retention; locating
guiding plane surfaces to direct placement and removal of the restoration and to achieve
the best appearance possible.

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Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: surveying
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Method of making relatively large-scale, accurate measurements of the earth's surfaces.

Its principal modern uses are in the fields of transportation, building, land use, and
communications. Surveying is divided into the categories of plane surveying (mapping
small areas) and geodetic surveying (mapping large areas of the globe). The Romans are
said to have used the plane table, which consists of a drawing board mounted on a tripod
or other support and a straightedge along which lines are drawn. It was the first device
capable of recording or establishing angles. With the publication of logarithmic tables in
1620, portable angle-measuring instruments, called topographic instruments, or
theodolites, came into use; they included pivoted arms for sighting and could be used for
measuring both horizontal and vertical angles. Two revolutionary 20th-century
innovations were photogrammetry (mapping from aerial photographs) and electronic
distance measurement, including the use of the laser.

For more information on surveying, visit Britannica.com.

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Architecture: surveying
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That branch of engineering concerned with a determination of the earth’s surface features
in relation to each other, as the relative position of points, a determination of areas, etc.,
and their recording on a map.

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US History Encyclopedia: Surveying
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Using little more than a compass and a 66-foot chain, early American surveyors set out
early to chart the United States of America. Surveys determine boundaries, chart
coastlines and navigable streams and lakes, and provide for mapping of land surfaces.
Much of this work done in the early days of the United States used rudimentary, although
not necessarily inefficient, equipment.

For instance, surveyors set a 2,000-mile line for the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s
without the benefit of maps, aerial views, or precise knowledge of topographical features.
A century later, when surveyors set the line for Interstate 80 using everything their
predecessors had not, the route followed the railroad's route almost exactly.

The primary tool used by surveyors in North America from the 1600s through the end of
the 1800s was a "Gunter's chain," measuring 66 feet long, usually with 100 swiveled
links. A retractable steel tape to replace the chain was patented in 1860 by W. H. Paine of
Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

Surveyors relied on the compass to set the direction of their chain. Goldsmith Chandlee, a
notable clock and instrument maker, built a brass foundry in Winchester, Virginia, in
1783 and made the most advanced surveying compasses of his day.

The biggest breakthrough in surveying technology came in England in 1773, when Jesse
Ramsden invented the circular dividing engine, which allowed the manufacture of precise
scientific and mathematical instruments. The first American to develop a capability for
the mechanical graduation of instruments was William J. Young. Young built the first
American transit in Philadelphia in 1831, replacing the heavier, more inconvenient
theodolite, which measures horizontal and vertical angles. The transit has a telescope that
can be reversed in direction on a horizontal axis. The transit built by Young differs little
from the transit used in the early twenty-first century.

The increased demand for accuracy in railroad construction, civil engineering, and city
surveys led to the rapid acceptance of the transit. An influx of tradesmen from the
Germanic states in the 1830s and 1840s provided a means of manufacturing precision
instruments in volume.

To help with mathematical calculations, surveyors began experimenting with a number of

nonelectric calculators, including Thacher's Calculating Instrument, patented in 1881,
which was the equivalent of a 360-inch-long slide rule precise to 1:10,000. Slide rules
replaced calculating instruments, calculators replaced slide rules, and computers have
replaced calculators.

America's original thirteen colonies, as well as a few states such as Texas and Kentucky,
were originally surveyed by metes and bounds, which is the process of describing
boundaries by a measure of their length. On 7 May 1785, Congress adopted the
Governmental Land Surveys, which provided for the "rectangular system," which
measured distances and bearing from two lines at right angles and established the system
of principal meridians, which run north and south, and base lines, running east and west.

Under the Northwest Ordinance of 1787, Ohio served as the experimental site for the new
public lands surveying system. The lessons learned culminated in the Land Ordinance of
1796, which determined the surveying and numbering scheme used to survey all
remaining U.S. public lands.

The first government-sanctioned survey was the Survey of the Coast, established in 1807
to mark the navigational hazards of the Atlantic Coast. Under Superintendent Ferdinand
Hassler, the survey used crude techniques, including large theodolites, astronomical
instruments, plane table topography, and lead line soundings to determine hydrography.
Despite these techniques, the survey achieved remarkable accuracy.

By the time the Coast Survey was assigned to map Alaska's coast, after Alaska was
acquired in 1867, technological advancements had provided new kinds of bottom
samplers, deep-sea thermometers, and depth lines. A new zenith telescope determined
latitude with greater accuracy, and the telegraph provided a means of determining
longitudinal differences by flashing time signals between points.

Inland, surveys were more informal. Often under sponsorship from the Army, explorers
such as Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, Zebulon Pike, and Stephen H. Long went
out on reconnaissance missions, gathering geographic, geologic, and military
information.

After the Civil War (1861–1865), westward migration created a need for detailed
information about the trans-Mississippi West. Congress authorized four surveys named
after their leaders: Clarence King, F. V. Hayden, John Wesley Powell, and George M.
Wheeler. In addition to topography and geography, these surveys studied botany,
paleontology, and ethnology.

The U.S. Geological Survey was formed in 1879 and began mapping in the 1880s,
relying on the chain-and-compass method of surveying. By the early 1900s, surveyors
were working with plane tables equipped with telescopic alidades with vertical-angle
arcs, allowing lines of survey to be plotted directly from the field. Leveling instruments
have been used since 1896 to set permanent elevation benchmarks.
Aerial photography came into use as a survey tool following World War I (1914–1918),
and photogrammetry was widely used by the 1930s. Today, satellites enable surveyors to
use tools as sophisticated as the global positioning system (GPS), which can eliminate the
need for a line-of-sight survey.

Bibliography

Cazier, Lola. Surveys and Surveyors of the Public Domain, 1785–1975. Washington,
D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, 1993.

Thompson, Morris M. Maps for America: Cartographic Products of the U.S. Geological
Survey and Others. Reston, Va.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1979.

"Virtual Museum of Surveying." Ingram-Hagen & Co.; updated June 2002. Available at
http://www.surveyhistory.org

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Columbia Encyclopedia: surveying
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Columbia Encyclopedia
surveying, method of determining accurately points and lines of direction (bearings) on
the earth's surface and preparing from them maps or plans. Boundaries, areas, elevations,
construction lines, and geographical or artificial features are determined by the
measurement of horizontal and vertical distances and angles and by computations based
on geometry and trigonometry.

Types and Branches of Surveying

Hydrographic surveying deals with bodies of water and coast lines, is recorded on charts,
and records such features as bottom contours, channels, buoys, and shoals. Land
surveying includes both geodetic surveying, used for large areas and taking into account
the curvature of the earth's surface (see geodesy), and plane surveying, which deals with
areas sufficiently small that the earth's curvature is negligible and can be disregarded.
Plane surveying dates from ancient times and was highly developed in Egypt. It played
an important role in American history in marking boundaries for settlements; surveying
was a profession of distinction—both Washington and Jefferson worked for a time as
surveyors. Branches of surveying are named according to their purpose, e.g., topographic
surveying, used to determine relief (see contour), route surveying, mine surveying,
construction surveying; or according to the method used, e.g., transit surveying, plane-
table surveying, and photogrammetic surveying (securing data by photographs).
Instruments and Techniques

In surveying, measurements may be made directly, electronically, by the use of optical

instruments, by computations from known lines and angles, or by combination methods.
Instruments used for direct linear measurements include the Gunter's chain (known also
as the surveyor's chain), which is 66 ft (20 m) long and divided into 100 links; the
engineer's chain, 100 ft (30 m) long and also consisting of 100 links; the tape, usually of
steel, which has largely superseded chains; and the rod. Tapes and rods made of Invar
metal (an alloy of steel and nickel) are used for very precise work because of their low
coefficient of thermal expansion. In many situations electronic instruments, such as the
geodimeter, which uses light waves, and the tellurometer, which uses microwaves,
provide a more convenient and more accurate means of determining distance than do
tapes and rods.

The height of points in relation to a datum line (usually mean sea level) is measured with
a leveling instrument consisting of a telescope fitted with a spirit level and usually
mounted on a tripod. It is used in conjunction with a leveling rod placed at the point to be
measured and sighted through the telescope. The transit is used to measure vertical and
horizontal angles and may be used also for leveling; its chief elements are a telescope that
can be rotated (transited) about a horizontal and about a vertical axis, spirit levels, and
graduated circles supplemented by vernier scales. Known also as a transit theodolite, or
transit compass, the transit is a modification of the theodolite, an instrument that, in its
original form, could not be rotated in a vertical axis. A plane table consists of a drawing
board fixed on a tripod and equipped with an alidade (a rule combined with a telescope);
it is used for direct plotting of data on a chart and is suitable for rapid work not requiring
a high degree of precision.

The stadia method of measuring distance, a rapid system useful in surveying inaccessible
terrain and in checking more precise measurements, consists in observing through a
telescope equipped with two horizontal cross hairs or wires (stadia hairs) the interval
delimited by the hairs on a calibrated stadia rod; the interval depends on the distance
between the rod and the telescope.

Surveys based on photographs are especially useful in rugged or inaccessible country and
for reconnaissance surveys for construction, mapping, or military purposes. In air
photographs, errors resulting from tilt of the airplane or arising from distortion of ground
relief may be corrected in part by checking against control points fixed by ground surveys
and by taking overlapping photographs and matching and assembling the relatively
undistorted central portions into a mosaic. These are usually examined stereoscopically.

Bibliography

See W. H. Rayner and M. O. Schmidt, Fundamentals of Surveying (5th ed. 1969); R. F.

Spier, Surveying and Mapping (1970); J. Anderson and E. Mikhail, Introduction to
Surveying (1989); F. Bell, Surveying and Setting Out Procedures (1991).
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History 1450-1789: Surveying
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Home > Library > History, Politics & Society > History 1450-1789

Surveying, initially the geometrical and legal description of local lands and county seats,
gained importance throughout the early modern period as legal and economic arguments
came to rely on accurate descriptions and, increasingly, on measurement and "plotting."
By the late seventeenth century, surveying included the mapping of larger political units;
by the eighteenth, military leaders and colonial governors, as well as landed individuals,
employed surveyors and cartographers. Techniques and instruments developed
throughout the period produced a coherent body of theory and practice used for imperial
mapping in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

At the end of the fifteenth century, surveying consisted largely of written descriptions of
fields and estates based on visual inspection of an area. Although landmarks and natural
division points were more crucial for determining land ownership, these methods were
often accompanied by some sort of measurement. In the first half of the sixteenth century,
surveying was often restricted to "viewing" or chain-measuring, and the chain often
symbolized the surveyors' profession. As the century progressed, and more standardized
techniques of measurement were developed and surveying moved from linear and
geometrical methods to those based on angular or trigonometric measurement, surveyors
began to produce maps or "plots." Although such advanced mathematical methods were
developed by the end of the century, chain-measuring continued to be used into the
eighteenth century.

The introduction of triangulation methods, the plane table, and the theodolite, as well as
rules of acceptable practice, transformed surveying into an exact art. Leonard Digges's
Pantometria (1571), for example, introduced these techniques and instruments into
England. Throughout the seventeenth century the new surveying instruments were
refined, a number of surveying manuals were published, and surveyors were increasingly
trained in mathematics and astronomical techniques. Surveying, unlike mapping on a
larger scale or the later colonial and country surveys, such as the Ordnance Survey of
Ireland (1824–1846), did not require longitude and latitude placement, and therefore did
not use astronomical observations in order to achieve accuracy.

Part of the transformation in surveying that took place during the early modern period
was related to the changing awareness on the part of landowners of the desirability of
surveying and mapping their lands. As surveyors gradually convinced their patrons of the
utility of scale maps, this cognitive shift led to a cartographic revolution. Carefully
measured and drawn maps (as opposed to earlier sketch maps) began to be used by
landowners as evidence in court cases, by generals planning their military strategies, and
by governors interested in inventories and tax collecting. All of this was symptomatic of
the developing map culture, driven in part by the increasing study of geography at
schools and universities.

By the end of the early modern period, Europeans were surveying their own lands and the
other parts of the world they were conquering. They believed that, through measurement
and cartographic depiction, they could control the land and the people who lived there.
Only the impressive developments of surveying instruments and techniques, and the
conceptual acceptance of the scale map as an objective and controllable representation of
the land, made that idea plausible.

Bibliography

Bennett, James A. The Divided Circle: A History of Instruments for Astronomy,

Navigation and Surveying. Oxford, 1987.

Kain, Robert J. P., and Elizabeth Baigent. The Cadastral Map in the Service of the State:
A History of Property Mapping. Chicago, 1992.

Richeson, Allie Wilson. English Land Measuring to 1800: Instruments and Practices.
Cambridge, Mass., 1966.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is the federal agency

responsible for surveying and publishing maps of topography (giving
landscape relief and elevation), geology, and natural resources—including
minerals, fuels, and water. The USGS, part of the U. S. Department of the
Interior, was formed in 1879 as the United States began systematically to
explore its newly expanded western territories. Today it has an annual
budget of about $700 million, which is devoted to primary research,
resource assessment and monitoring, map production, and providing
information to the public and to other government agencies.
The United States Geological Survey, now based in Reston, Virginia,
originated in a series of survey expeditions sent to explore and map
western territories and rivers after the Civil War. Four principal surveys
were authorized between 1867 and 1872: Clarence King's exploration of
the fortieth parallel, Ferdinand Hayden's survey of the Rocky Mountain
territories, John Wesley Powell's journey down the Colorado River and
through the Rocky Mountains, and George Wheeler's survey of the 100th
meridian. Twelve years later, in 1879, these four ongoing survey projects
were combined to create a single agency, the United States Geological
Survey. The USGS' first director was Clarence King. In 1881 his post was
taken by John Wesley Powell, whose name is most strongly associated
with the early Survey. It was Powell who initiated the USGS topographic
mapping program, a project that today continues to produce the most
comprehensive map series available of the United States and associated
territories.
In addition to topographic mapping, the USGS began detailed surveys and
mapping of mineral resources in the 1880s. Mineral exploration led to
mapping geologic formations and structures and a gradual reconstruction
of geologic history in the United States. Research and mapping of glacial
history and fossil records naturally followed from mineral explorations, so
that the USGS became the primary body in the United States involved in
geologic field research and laboratory research in experimental
geophysics and geochemistry. During World Wars I and II, the USGS' role
in identifying and mapping tactical and strategic resources increased.
Water and fuel resources (coal, oil, natural gas, and finally uranium)
were now as important as copper, gold, and mineral ores, so the Survey
took on responsibility for assessing these resources as well as topographic
and geologic mapping.
Today the USGS is one of the world's largest earth science research
agencies and the United States' most important map publisher. The
Survey conducts and sponsors extensive laboratory and field research in
geology, hydrology, oceanography, and cartography. The agency's three
divisions, Water Resources, Geology, and National Mapping, are
responsible for basic research. They also publish, in the form of maps and
periodic written reports, information on the nation's topography, geology,
fuel and mineral resources, and other aspects of earth sciences and
natural resources. Most of the United States' hydrologic records and
research, including streamflow rates, aquifer volumes, and water
quality, are produced by the USGS. In addition, the USGS publishes
information on natural hazards, including earthquakes, volcanoes,
landslides, floods, and droughts. The Survey is the primary body
responsible for providing basic earth science information to other
government agencies, as well as to the public. In addition, the USGS
undertakes or assists research and mapping in other countries whose
geologic survey systems are not yet well developed.

Resources
Books
U.S. Geological Survey. Maps for America. Reston, VA: U.S. Government
Printing Office, 1981.
USGS Yearbook: Fiscal Year 1985. Washington, DC: U.S. Government
Printing Office, 1985.