Land surveyors once used tape measures and transits to measure distances and positions. Since follow this link , electronic distance measurement, or EDM, devices have allowed for a lot more efficient and accurate measurements. These use a wave of energy that is shot between the EDM instrument and a reflector. Enough time the beam takes to come back 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, using the location of several satellites to pinpoint an exact location. A receiver can determine the latitude, longitude, and elevation of a point using four or more satellites; there are always a total of 24 Global Positioning System satellites currently in use. First developed by the U.S. Department of Defense as a navigational aid in 1994, today it really is found 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. Exact measurement of the positions is one of the fundamental elements of land surveying. The benefit of is that it's a lot more accurate than hand-measuring these locations. There is some extent of error in every land surveying measurements, because of human errors, environmental characteristics like variations in magnetic fields, temperature, and gravity, and instrument errors. GPS allows for much more precise measurements than previously open 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 ways of land surveying rely on measurements from other known locations, including the edge of the house line, the corner of a house, or another landmark. These locations could change as time passes, such as if a house is torn down or another obstacle is made between your structure and the measured point; a good surveyor's stake may be removed before the land is re-surveyed. The coordinate of confirmed location on the planet, however, remains exactly the same. Therefore, using GPS as a land surveyor produces measurements which will be accurate whatever happens to the surrounding land.
Although Global Position System receivers enable very precise measurements, there's still a degree of error involved. A receiver on a tripod will record the location slightly differently each time; when many measurements are taken, these data points will form a cluster round the actual location. Better-quality receivers, needless to say, reduce this amount of error. Survey-grade receivers, instead of those meant for non-surveying uses, may produce a band of measurements clustered in a matter of one centimeter of the specific location. Today's receivers are steadily gaining in use, but is probably not as accurate because the surveyor want, especially in areas which are heavily wooded or that 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.
