Jun 29 2007
SouthernPhoto.com, the internet's leading supplier of surveyor's equipment, announces the publication of "A Brief History of Surveyors' Tools" which traces the history of surveyor's tools.
Surveying, like so many industries has benefited greatly from the innovations of the digital age. Using lasers and mirrors rather than natural light can produce incredibly accurate measurements over distances and when this raw data is fed into a computer a great deal of useful information can be extracted from it.
But how did surveyors ply their trade before the revolution of ones and zeros? In the beginning the most obvious of tools were used: a length of chain to measure, some poles and a bit of math were enough to roughly determine property lines. The theodolite, simply described as a small telescope on a pole, was one of the first real innovations in the surveyor's tool bag. Looking back from our computer-dependant perspective today it might be surprising to learn how much information could be gleamed from light, lens and the human eye. "A Brief History of Surveyors' Tools" explores the evolution from the theodolite to today's total stations.
This article is part of the new articles section at SouthernPhoto.com dedicated to exploring the technology, history, and some of the issues facing the surveying industry today.