Go to this website 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 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 any moment. GPS uses the principle of trilateration, utilizing 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 even 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 assist in 1994, today it really is used in many devices, tracking everything from mobile 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 these positions is one of the fundamental components of land surveying. The benefit of is that it's much more accurate than hand-measuring these locations. There is some degree 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 a lot 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 house, or another landmark. These locations could change over time, such as if a house is torn down or another obstacle is built between the structure and the measured point; even a surveyor's stake may be removed prior to the land is re-surveyed. The coordinate of a given location on the planet, however, remains exactly the same. Therefore, using GPS as a land surveyor produces measurements that'll be accurate whatever happens to the surrounding land.
Although Global Position System receivers allow for very precise measurements, there's still a qualification of error involved. A receiver on a tripod will record the location slightly differently each and every time; when many measurements are taken, these data points will form a cluster around the actual location. Better-quality receivers, needless to say, reduce this amount of error. Survey-grade receivers, rather than those meant for non-surveying uses, may create a band of measurements clustered within just one centimeter of the actual location. Today's receivers are steadily gaining used, but will not be as accurate as 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.