Origins of Land Surveying

· 2 min read
Origins of Land Surveying

The principles of land surveying date back almost as far as the idea of land ownership. Since ancient man determined that certain piece of land would participate in one group, and the other piece to another group, there was a need to mediate between land disputes. This is where land surveying came in, although today surveys may also be used for many other purposes.

Since then, every major civilization in the annals of the planet has used some form of land surveying, although they have certainly become more sophisticated over the years both with changing laws and improved technologies. Today, GPS and other technologies allow for a much more exact survey than was possible just a couple short decades ago. Obviously, ancient maps and land surveys were even less accurate.

One of the first examples of a land survey using mathematical means was in ancient Egypt. THE FANTASTIC Pyramid, built around 2700 BC at Giza, demonstrates Egyptians' knowledge of surveying techniques. Ancient Egyptians also redrew boundary lines using basic geometry following the Nile River flooded the plains. An Egyptian land register existed as early as 3000 BC, or five thousand years back, to record the owners of various bits of land and their locations. These early surveying efforts by the Egyptians were years ahead of other civilizations, as was true in lots of other areas of Egyptian technology aswell. These surveys were predicated on geometry and simple declarations they believed these boundaries to be correct.

In the Roman Empire., the Romans actually established 'land surveyor' being an official position. These were called agrimensores. Texts describing their actions date back again to the first century AD. Thorough and precise, they were known for creating impeccably straight lines and right angles using simple tools. After measuring these lines, they would dig a shallow ditch to represent the lines. Amazingly,  https://blackacresurveyorslondon.co.uk/best-affordable-housing-valuations-london/  of these ditches still exist to the present day.

In eleventh century England, William the Conqueror wrote his now-famous Domesday Book. This book, covering all of England, meticulously covered the names of all land owners, the quality and quantity of this land, and home elevators individuals and resources in each area. Although the amount of information contained in this book was quite impressive, this was not just a technical survey, and the maps were not attracted to scale and were not very accurate.



Napoleon Bonaparte was the first to mandate a cadastre, in 1808. Sometimes, Napoleon even thought that the cadastre will be his greatest contribution to civil law. The cadastre is really a thorough register of the property in confirmed county. The information it contains includes ownership details, location (as precisely measured as possible given then-current technology), so when much information about the worthiness and usage of the land as was available. This cadastre included scale maps at both 1:2500 and 1:1250. Cadastre use spread quickly, and indeed it was the foundation of today's cadastral surveys. However, it had been difficult to make a cadastre in rural areas or those where land was in dispute.

Today's surveys are a lot more accurate than those done in decades or centuries past because of sophisticated opportinity for measuring and recording boundaries and land features. There are plenty of more applications of land surveys than simply recording land ownership