If you’ve ever seen a couple of men or women in orange vests, mounting what looks like tiny telescopes on tripods and pointing them across a tract of land at one another, you’re familiar with surveying in the field! This technique of mapping land is used for numerous different facets and in fact, land surveying services in Floresville, TX are essential to a number of industries, including construction, municipal development and real estate.
But, the intricacies of land surveying run deeper than just pointing a couple of lasers at each other and measuring the distance between them! Today, two distinct types of surveying practices are used to map everything from elevation above sea level, to the overall topography of a landscape. Take a look at these techniques and how they’re best used in the world today:
Geodetic surveying
For larger plots of land, geodetic surveying takes into account the theoretical size and shape of the Earth to provide exceptional results when it comes to measuring the overall lay of the land. Generally, this method of surveying is used on a grand scale—covering surface areas of hundreds of miles at a time.
Geodetic surveying also utilizes the invisible latitude and longitude lines that we’re familiar with on a globe to determine exact positions when it comes to laying down boundary lines and borders. Generally, GPS is used as a primary tool to help record precise positions.
Plane surveying
Plane surveying assumes that the area being surveyed is a flat plane. Typically, this is the most common of all land surveying services in Floresville, TX and can be used to tremendous accuracy when it comes to plotting smaller land areas. A residential developer may call upon a plane surveyor to determine the land of a new development site, while a property surveyor might also use this technique in regards to legal property disputes.
Using geometry and some trigonometry, plane surveying uses the connection between two points to plot a distance, from which the area in question can be triangulated to find the overall total surface area.
In practice and in principle
Really, the two differences regarding these land surveying services in Floresville, TX are simple: they’re best used depending on the scale of a job. Surveying for bridges, roads and other municipal developments is generally considered smaller-scale work, which would fit perfectly with the plane surveying model. On the other hand, tracking the border of a region of the state might span hundreds of miles, which would fall under the gaze of geodetic surveying.
Land surveyors understand the appropriate tools and methods needed to ensure accuracy when it comes to any job, big or small, and being able to employ the right surveying skill appropriately ensures accuracy and quality in the measurements being provided.
Both of these surveying methods are rooted in scientific theories and provide the type of results needed for developers, legislative bodies and more to do their jobs better overall. To learn more about the difference between geodetic surveying and plane surveying, contact Pollok & Sons Surveying Inc.