3/9/2013
1
ENGR 235 - Surveying
Introduction
Definition
Surveying can be defined as
“The art and science of performing distance,
elevation, and direction measurements of the
relative positions of natural and man-made
features on the earth’s surface, and displaying
this information in a graphical and/or
numerical context”
Evolution
The practice of surveying is as old as man’s
cultural evolution. Surveying was practiced as
far back as there was a need to establish
boundary lines and to take measurements for
building structures.
•Heron (a Greek mathematician who lived in
Alexandria, Egypt) in the first century AD,
provided the first series of surveying
techniques practiced at the time
•Even before that, surveying was practiced to
build structures, such as the pyramids, and to
re-establish boundary lines after river floods.
Plane and Geodetic Surveying
•Plane Surveying deals with relatively small
areas, and thus, it is assumed that the earth is
flat (over this small area)
•Geodetic Surveying deals with large areas on
the earth’s surface, and takes into account the
curvature of the earth.
