Land surveying has been important since the dawn of recorded history. Even before it was known by its current title, the task of surveying has shaped the way we see the world around us and how we comingle and communicate with other populations. This has remained consistent throughout time, but one aspect of the job has changed drastically between the surveyors of yesterday and those of today – land surveying equipment.
Yesterday’s Basics – Inspiration for Today’s Tools
Surveyors have always been important people in our society. Doubt that? Consider the fact that our nation’s first president, George Washington, was a land surveyor. Abraham Lincoln was too! It’s safe to say the tools and techniques they used were pretty different than those we employ today, though.
Modern surveying equipment companies rely on computer technology, whereas yesterday’s map makers depended on tools that were far simpler and often far less accurate. Some resources of the past include:
• The compass, for navigation and spatial reasoning
• The chain, a set of links of a specific measurement, used a tape measure or ruler
• The level, a device used to give steady visuals and determine elevations
• The transit and theodolite, devices used together to measure horizontal and vertical angles.
These tools were the ones that shaped our early nation and helped us spread civilization from one shore to the next.
The Next Generation
Modern surveyors use a different set of tools to do their jobs. Today, we put GPS technology to work to determine our position, and mobile imaging software into play to capture the images we need to catalogue. Information is automatically relayed to software that can compile, catalogue, analyze and provide readings on it in fractions of the time it once took to collect this data. It truly is a modern process to match a modern world!
It only makes sense that the mapping of the globe has changed along with the societies that call it home. Today’s technology has made the world seem smaller by bringing people together, and that’s just as true when it comes to surveying the planet. We now know more about our world than ever before, and that knowledge will only increase as surveyors continue to employ better and more effective technology in their land surveying equipment! Learn more by visiting Frontier Precision.
