Land Surveying and GPS

· 2 min read
Land Surveying and GPS

Land surveyors once used tape measures and transits to measure distances and positions. Since the 1980s, electronic distance measurement, or EDM, devices have allowed for a lot more efficient and accurate measurements. These work with a wave of energy that is shot between your EDM instrument and a reflector. Enough time the beam takes to return is then calculated as distance. Today, such calculations can be achieved using sophisticated GPS systems.



The Global Positioning System runs on the network of satellites to precisely pinpoint the device's location on Earth at at any time. GPS uses the principle of trilateration, utilizing the location of several satellites to pinpoint a precise location. A receiver can determine the latitude, longitude, and elevation of a point using four or more satellites; there are a total of 24 Global Positioning System satellites currently in use. First created by the U.S. Department of Defense as a navigational assist in 1994, today it is used in many devices, tracking everything from cell phones and delivery vehicles to the movement of the tectonic plates of Earth's crust.

Land surveyors use Global Position Systems to note the complete coordinates of spatial locations.  https://mead-dolan.mdwrite.net/getting-a-land-survey-1714297753  of these positions is one of the fundamental components of land surveying. The advantage of is that it is a lot more accurate than hand-measuring these locations. There's some extent of error in all land surveying measurements, due to human errors, environmental characteristics like variations in magnetic fields, temperature, and gravity, and instrument errors. GPS permits much more precise measurements than previously available to land surveyors using measuring tape and an angle sight.

Another benefit of the use of its use as a land surveyor is that the coordinates could be located precisely, while other methods of land surveying rely on measurements from other known locations, like the edge of the house line, the corner of a residence, or another landmark. These locations could change as time passes, such as if a house is torn down or another obstacle is built between your structure and the measured point; even a surveyor's stake may be removed before the land is re-surveyed.  Sunlight Surveyors London  of a given location on the planet, however, remains exactly the same. Therefore, using GPS as a land surveyor produces measurements which will be accurate regardless of what happens to the surrounding land.

Although Global Position System receivers allow for very precise measurements, there is still a qualification of error involved. A receiver on a tripod will record the positioning slightly differently every time; when many measurements are taken, these data points will form a cluster round the actual location. Better-quality receivers, of course, reduce this level of error. Survey-grade receivers, instead of those meant for non-surveying uses, may create a group of measurements clustered in a matter of one centimeter of the specific location. Today's receivers are steadily gaining in use, but might not be as accurate because the surveyor would like, especially in areas that are heavily wooded or which have other large obstructions. However, the technology is rapidly advancing and gaining a foothold in the available equipment for land surveyors. Since 1994, the accuracy available when working with GPS units has improved steadily.