HISTORY OF SURVEYING

1. INTRODUCTION

Surveying is one of the most important branches of engineering. It has its own history and evolution.
The growing need of maps, location and exact land boundaries has caused rapid development in this
field. Along with advancement in fields like transportation, mining, civil engineering, etc, surveying has
also evolved as it is an integrated part of all these sectors.

Figure 1: A symbolical representation of Evolution of Surveying.

The advancement of surveying is determined by the precision of instruments used. From early period of
chain and compass surveying to use of optical instruments like theodolite and further to satellite based
navigation based systems like GPS, surveying has always been an ever growing field.

2. THE BEGINNING OF SURVEYING

Evidence of surveying methods are recorded in many places of history. Actually, principles and necessity
of land surveying emerged along with the idea of land ownership. Surveying is believed to have started
from ancient Egyptian civilization. When the Nile River flooded the agricultural lands and settlements
near its banks, clearing the pre-set boundaries between them, these boundaries were re-established
through the use of simple geometrical concepts and instruments. In this time, the measuring device they
used was a knotted rope so surveyors were known as rope stretchers. Pyramids also show the ability of
surveying in ancient Egypt. Such massive structures have nearly perfect square base and north-south
orientation which would never have been possible without advancement in surveying. Also around 3000
BC, the first land ownership record is believed to have been established.

Around 1200 BC in ancient Babylon, a limestone tablet known as the 'Babylonian Kudurru' was inscribed
and set in the land. This was an earliest type of boundary stone, held the description of the property, the
name of the surveyor and the owner, and the ownership history. This early tablet is somehow similar to
one of today's land surveying methods, which is the placing of a boundary stone or other marker at the
corner of the property.
By 500 BC, the Greeks had adopted many Egyptian surveying techniques. It is known that
mathematicians including Thales and Pythagoras traveled to Egypt to study geometry, returning to
impart their knowledge on mathematicians and surveyors in Greece.

The Roman Empire is another civilization noted for its land surveying prowess. The Romans established
land surveying as an official profession; land surveyors in this time were known as agrimensores. Many
Roman surveying methods were based on those used in ancient Egypt and Greece.

The Chinese were also ahead in the field of surveying. In early 5 AD Chinese cartographers have been
developing maps for military and other various purposes. Pei Xiu' is considered father of Chinese
cartography. Sighting rods, water levels, ropes and set squares were some of the tools most commonly
used by Chinese surveyors. Furthermore, compass was also originated from here.

3. CHAIN AND COMPASS SURVEYING

The chain was invented in 1620 by Edmund Gunter, an Englishman. It was made of 100 iron or steel links
and was 66 feet long. Eighty chains made up one mile. Ten square chains made one acre. Also the
primary tool used by surveyors in North America from the 1600s through the end of the 1800s was a
"Gunter's chain". A retractable steel tape to replace the chain was patented in 1860 by W. H. Paine of
Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Early surveys were often grossly inaccurate. The iron chains stretched with use.
An error of one link (about 8 inches) in 3 to 5 chains was considered normal.

The compass, invented in 1511, was in wide use until 1894. 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 magnetic compass was a major source of error. It is subject to daily. annual and lunar variations in
the earth's magnetic field, solar magnetic storms, local attractions and static electricity in the compass
glass. A 19th century compass measurement that came within 60 seconds was acceptably accurate.

The solar compass is a compass with a very special purpose of easily determining "Latitude" and "True
North". The solar compass was invented in 1835 by William Austin Burt of Michigan after he had
discovered the iron deposits located in the state and concluded that a regular compass would give such
erroneous readings as to be almost useless. By making observations on the sun or other stars, the
latitude of the location can first be determined and then "True North" can be determined. The solar
compass also has the ability to measure horizontal angles much like a transit. The solar compass was
such an important invention that within a matter of a few years it was required by law to be used on the
surveys of the public lands. William Austin Burt also made another significant invention. In 1829 he
patented the first "typographer", or as we would refer to it today, the typewriter.

An 1813 surveying text notes that, in New England, most work was done with a magnetic compass and a
surveyor's chain.

4. OPTICAL TECHNOLOGY IN SURVEYING

4.1. Theodolites and levels

The transit was first made in 1831 by Philadelphian William J. Young. It was an adaptation of the
theodolite invented in 1720 by John Sisson of England. Sisson had combined a telescope (invented circa
1608), a vernier, a device for subdividing measurements by 10ths (1631) and a spirit level (1704) into a
single instrument.

Young's improvement was to permit the telescope to revolve, or transit, upon its axis, a useful feature
when prolonging straight lines or taking repeated readings to confirm accuracy. Improved versions of
Young's transit were still in use for land surveying in the 1950s and are still broadly used in the
construction trade. Optical glass varied in quality. There were no standards for equipment and many
manufacturers. And, of course, no way to re-calibrate equipment damaged 100 miles from nowhere.

Use of theodolites and levels is also quite popular in modern era. Now days also these instrument are
used as basic surveying tools. However, modern optical instruments are far more advanced,
sophisticated and accurate.

4.2. Plane table survey

The earliest mention of a plane table dates to 1551 in Abel Foullon's "Usage et description de
l'holomètre", published in Paris. However, since Foullon's description was of a complete, fully developed
instrument, it must have been invented earlier.

A brief description was also added to the 1591 edition of Digge's Pantometria. The first mention of the
device in English was by Cyprian Lucar in 1590.

Some have credited Johann Richter, also known as Johannes Praetorius, a Nuremberg

mathematician, in 1610 with the first plane table, but this appears to be incorrect.

The plane table became a popular instrument for surveying. Its use was widely taught. Interestingly,
there were those who considered it a substandard instrument compared to such devices as the
theodolite, since it was relatively easy to use. By allowing the use of graphical methods rather than
mathematical calculations, it could be used by those with less education than other instruments.

5.1. Total station

The total station was introduced in 1971 and for the first time distance and angle measurements could
be recorded by one instrument. The total station is a transit integrated with an EDM, electronic distance
meter, which can read slope distances from the instrument to a particular point of land.

5.2. GPS (Global Positioning System)

GPS has its origins in the Sputnik era when scientists were able to track the satellite with shifts in its
radio signal known as the "Doppler Effect." The United States Navy conducted satellite navigation
experiments in the mid 1960's to track US submarines carrying nuclear missiles. With six satellites
orbiting the poles, submarines were able to observe the satellite changes in Doppler and pinpoint the
submarine's location within a matter of minutes.
In the early 1970's, the Department of Defense wanted to ensure a robust, stable satellite navigation
system would be available. Embracing previous ideas from Navy scientists, the Department of Defense
decided to use satellites to support their proposed navigation system. Department of Defense then
followed through and launched its first Navigation System with Timing and Ranging (NAVSTAR) satellite
in 1978. The 24 satellite system became fully operational in 1993.

5.3. UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle)

UAVs are the most recent advancement is surveying field. The first aerial photograph was oblique and
taken of a French village in the late 19th century. The man who took it, photographer Gaspar Felix
Tournachon, patented the concept of using aerial photographs to compile maps; it was to prove much
more effective than the time-consuming ground surveys that had then been the more commonly-used
method of the national mapping organizations that developed throughout the 19th century (such as the
UK's Ordnance Survey). George R. Lawrence took aerial photographs of San Francisco in 1906 following
the devastating earthquake.

EnvironmentalScience.org. (n.d.). Principles and Applications of Aerial Photography. Retrieved October

14, 2016, from Enviromental Science: http://www.environmentalscience.org/principles-applications-
aerial-photography

⚫ Geodetic Survey, L. (n.d.). Retrieved October 06, 2016, from History of Surveying - Chicago Area Land
Surveying: http://gslandsurveying.com/history-of-surveying

Hoffman, A. (2013, March 22). The Total Station & Land Surveys: A Background Story. Retrieved October
13, 2016, from GODFREY HOFFMAN ASSOCIATES: http://www.godfreyhoffman.com/civil-engineering-
blog/bid/278047/the-total-station- land-surveys-a-background-story

⚫ Mai, T. (2012, October 27). Global Positioning System History. Retrieved October 14, 2016, from NASA:
http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/heo/scan/communications/policy/GPS_History.html
⚫ Point to Point Land Surveyors, I. (2009, October 25). Retrieved October 06, 2016, from Land Surveying
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surveying-in-ancient-times-egypt- greece-and-rome/

⚫ surveyhistory.org. (n.d.). The Surveyor's Basic Tools. Retrieved October 13, 2016, from Survey History:
http://www.surveyhistory.org/the_surveyor's_basic_tools.htm

⚫ Surveyors Historical Society. (n.d.). Changing Chains. Retrieved October 13, 2016, from Survey History:
http://www.surveyhistory.org/changing_chains.html