Surveying facts for kids
Surveying is the technique and science of accurately finding out the position of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually, but not always, associated with positions on the surface of the Earth. They are often used to make land maps and boundaries for ownership of land. A person who does the surveying is called a surveyor. In order to find the information they need, surveyors use geometry, engineering, trigonometry, mathematics, physics, and law.
Surveying has been very important in the development of the human environment since the beginning of recorded history (ca. 5000 years ago) and it is a requirement planning of nearly every form of construction. Its most common uses are in the fields of transport, building and construction, communications, mapping, and the making of legal boundaries for land ownership.
Contents
Origins
Surveying has existed throughout much of our history. In ancient Egypt, when the Nile River overflowed its banks and washed out farm boundaries, the boundaries were recreated by surveyors using simple geometry. The construction of many of the pyramids, including the Great Pyramids of Giza, built c. 2700 BC, show us that the Egyptians' have always used surveying very efficiently.
Surveyor
A surveyor is a person who has the skills to accurately find out the position of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually, positions on the surface of the Earth. Finding these points is called "surveying". Surveyors are needed to make land maps and boundaries for ownership of land. In order to find the information they need, surveyors use geometry, engineering, trigonometry, mathematics, physics, and law.
There are different types of surveyor. A construction or building surveyor is the person who has to make sure that buildings are being put up in the correct place and fit in with planning and building laws. A quantity surveyor is the person who keeps track of costs on a building project. A hydrographic surveyor measures points to do with water, such as rivers, lakes and oceans. A marine surveyor is a person who inspects ships. A mine surveyor is the person who finds out the position of underground mines, for example gold mines or coal mines.
Related pages
Images for kids
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A surveyor at work with an infrared reflector used for distance measurement.
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A plumb rule from the book Cassells' Carpentry and Joinery
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A map of India showing the Great Trigonometrical Survey, produced in 1870
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A railroad surveying party at Russel's Tank, Arizona in the 1860s
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A German engineer surveying during the First World War, 1918
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A standard Brunton Geo compass, still used commonly today by geographers, geologists and surveyors for field-based measurements
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Example of modern equipment for surveying (Field-Map technology): GPS, laser rangefinder and field computer allows surveying as well as cartography (creation of map in real-time) and field data collection.
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Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services staff member conducts tide station leveling in support of the US Army Corp of Engineers in Richmond, Maine.
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A survey using traverse and offset measurements to record the location of the shoreline shown in blue. Black dashed lines are traverse measurements between reference points (black circles). The red lines are offsets measured at right angles to the traverse lines.
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The pundit (explorer) cartographer Nain Singh Rawat (19th century) received a Royal Geographical Society gold medal in 1876, for his efforts in exploring the Himalayas for the British
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Surveying students with their professor at the Helsinki University of Technology in the late 19th century
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F.V. Hayden's map of Yellowstone National Park, 1871. His surveys were a significant basis for establishing the park in 1872.
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See also
In Spanish: Agrimensura para niños
