Land surveyors once used tape measures and transits to measure distances and positions. Because 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's shot between your EDM instrument and a reflector. Enough time the beam takes to come back is then calculated as distance. Today, such calculations can be done using sophisticated GPS systems.
The Global Positioning System uses a network of satellites to precisely pinpoint the device's location on Earth at at any time. GPS uses the principle of trilateration, using the location of several satellites to pinpoint a precise 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 used. First developed by the U.S. Department of Defense as a navigational assist in 1994, today it really is used in many devices, tracking from cell 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 the positions is one of the fundamental components of land surveying. The benefit of is that it is much more accurate than hand-measuring these locations. There's Lidar Surveys Somerset of error in all 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 open 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 depend on measurements from other known locations, including the edge of the property line, the corner of a residence, or another landmark. These locations could change over time, such as if a house is torn down or another obstacle is made between the structure and the measured point; even a surveyor's stake may be removed before the land is re-surveyed. The coordinate of confirmed location on the planet, however, remains exactly the same. Therefore, using GPS as a land surveyor produces measurements which will be accurate whatever happens to the encompassing land.
Although Global Position System receivers allow for very precise measurements, there's still a degree 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 round the actual location. Better-quality receivers, of course, reduce this quantity of error. Survey-grade receivers, rather than those designed for non-surveying uses, may create a group of measurements clustered in a matter of one centimeter of the specific location. Today's receivers are steadily gaining used, but may not be as accurate as the surveyor want, especially in areas which 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 using GPS units has improved steadily.