Topics For The Exam

1. Geodesy.

2. The history of land surveying.

3. Cartography.

4. Surveying definitions.

5. Land surveyor?s job and tasks.

6. Types of land surveys.

7. Surveying equipment.

8. Old surveying equipment.

9. New surveying equipment.

10. How to choose a land surveyor.

11. Land surveying.

12. Map.

13. Types of maps.

14. Latitude and longitude.

15. GIS.

16. Topographic map symbols.

17. Landforms and topographic maps.

18. Property tax.

19. Property rights.

20. Landforms.

Geodesy, also named geodetics, a branch of earth sciences, is the scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation of the Earth, including its gravitational field, in a three-dimensional time-varying space. Geodesists also study geodynamical phenomena such as crustal motion, tides, and polar motion. For this they design global and national control networks, using space and terrestrial techniques while relying on datums and coordinate systems.

Geodesy is divided into "Higher Geodesy", which is concerned with measuring the Earth on the global scale, and "Practical Geodesy" or "Engineering Geodesy", which is concerned with measuring specific parts or regions of the Earth, and which includes surveying.

What is Land Surveying?

Called "Geomatics" in Canada and much of Europe, land surveying is known as the world's second-oldest profession. It dates back to ancient Egypt and Babylonia. Surveying is essentially the art and science of measuring and mapping land. While the entire scope of our profession is vast, it all eventually boils down to determining where people's land boundaries are located. Without this service, railroads could not be built, skyscrapers could not be erected, and individuals could not put up fences around their yards, for fear of trespassing on someone else's land. Would you like an interstate highway to be built in your backyard, one you've paid for, maintained, and paid taxes on for years, without your permission? Of course, how would you know it was in your backyard without a surveyor to tell you where your property even was? We also stake out boundaries of roads to be built, monitor skyscrapers to make sure they are being erected vertically, and measure airports so that the runways are perfectly aligned and smooth. So, if you see a guy in the road looking through an instrument on a tripod, that is a surveyor, now you know that he is doing more than taking pictures.

Cartography (in Greek chartis = map and graphein = write) is the study and practice of making maps (also can be called mapping). Combining science, aesthetics, and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality can be modeled in ways that communicate spatial information effectively.

The fundamental problems of traditional cartography are to:

- set the map's agenda and select traits of the object to be mapped. This is the concern of map editing. Traits may be physical, such as roads or land masses, or may be abstract, such as toponyms or political boundaries.

- represent the terrain of the mapped object on flat media. This is the concern of map projections.

- eliminate characteristics of the mapped object that are not relevant to the map's purpose. This is the concern of generalization.

- reduce the complexity of the characteristics that will be mapped. This is also the concern of generalization.

- orchestrate the elements of the map to best convey its message to its audience. This is the concern of map design.

History

Land Surveying has been an indispensable part in the development of human civilization since the beginning of recorded history and it is needed in the planning and execution of almost every form of construction. Not only were surveyors needed in the layout of the Great Pyramids but they were more commonly used in ancient Egypt to re-establish lost land boundary markers whenever the Nile River overflowed its banks. Around 3000 B.C. the Egyptians established a register of land ownership. During the Roman Empire, Land Surveying was established as a profession and their expertise was essential in the construction of the vast Roman infrastructure. William the Conqueror of England established The Doomsday Book (1086 A.D.) which included the names of land owners, the area of the lands they owned and the quality of the land. Napoleon I created Continental Europe's Cadastre which contained numbers of the plots of land, usage and ownership.

Date: 2016-06-13; view: 351