Land Surveyors
Thursday, October 2, 2008
"... And among the throng that lined along the path he'd followed on and on, he spied a place he named "anon", and surveyed his Kingdom come ..."An excerpt from "The Travels Of A Broken Man" by Paul Simon. I'm not sure however that Mr Simon was particularly concerned with creating a layered drawing produced in AutoCAD LT2800 to ensure latest compatibility as he was with simply looking at and taking in the land he saw before him. So what does it mean to actually be land surveyors like ourselves?
Some people have made claims that land surveyors are members of the second oldest profession of all time (let's not dwell on what the oldest profession is considered to be). These claims come from evidence to show the first forms of surveying being performed in ancient Egypt and Babylonia. As we have mentioned before on these pages the main objective of surveying land is to measure, quantify and map its area. The applications of this are numerous; from the determination of land boundaries to use in the assessment of risk from flooding or other environmental factors. Indeed without land surveyors such as us it would be impossible for our towns to grow, and for the roads and railways to be created in order link towns and cities without it all collapsing in on itself.
Another important aspect of a land surveyors role is to ensure buildings are being built in a straight line. Despite the level of tourism that can often be created from bad design such as The Leaning Tower Of Pisa, it goes without saying that such things cannot be repeated. I recently was able to see a cinema screening of Man On Wire, a documentary and recreation of Frenchman Philippe Petit's amazing tightrope walk between the two World Trade Centre buildings shortly after they were first erected. Right there you have a prime example of why a land surveyors job is so crucial. We all know what eventually happened to those buildings but in order for them to even be built and to exist for the couple of decades they did they needed to be built under strict measurements which were only possible through surveying the area and the towers as they were going up.
By the way the film was excellent and highly recommended for anyone interested in such things!
If you have any questions about what we do or how we can help you with your building plans then please don't hesitate to contact us.
Labels: land surveyors
