What is Surveying?

Surveying is the process of analyzing and recording the characteristics of a land area span to help design a plan or map for construction.

Total Station is the currently preferred Surveying equipment in the industry. Find out What is a Total Station? here and about Survey camp using Total Station workshop here.

Categories of Surveying are:

• Geodetic Surveying:

  Surveys are carried out on a large scale with the help of control networks spanning over long distances.

• Cadastral Surveying:

  Surveys are carried out to define land ownership and boundaries.

• Topographical Surveying:

  Surveys are carried out to determine land structure along with variation in land heights.

• As Built Surveying:

  Surveys are carried out after completion of a construction project to check variance from proposed design.

• Photogrammetry (Aerial Surveying):

  Surveys are carried out by taking photographs from elevated ground stations.

• LiDAR (Aerial Surveying):

  Surveys are carried out using remote sensors and light reflected by lasers to measure distances.

Fundamental techniques used for Surveying are:

• Triangulation:

  In this technique numerous triangles are inter-connected and overlapped to measure angles from a surveying station.

• Trilateration:

  It follows the same technique as in Triangulation with additional use of Electronic Distance Meter (EDM).

• Traverse:

  In this technique multiple lines of pre-measured lengths are inter-connected to measure angles and distances.

• Leveling:

  In this technique the difference in heights in a terrain are measured with the help of graduated rods.

• Radiation:

  In this technique radiating lines are drawn from a focal point to defined boundaries converted to a small scale surveying sheet.

Surveying finds multiple industrial applications across various domains. It is an integral part of Civil Engineering Discipline.