Land surveyors once used tape measures and transits to measure distances and positions. Since the 1980s, electronic distance measurement, or EDM, devices have allowed for much more efficient and accurate measurements. These use a wave of energy that's shot between the EDM instrument and a reflector. The time the beam takes to return is then calculated as distance. Today, such calculations can be done using sophisticated GPS systems. The Global Positioning System runs on the network of satellites to precisely pinpoint the device's location on the planet 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 is used in many devices, tracking everything from mobile phones and delivery vehicles to the movement of the tectonic plates of Earth's crust. Land surveyors use Global Position Systems to note the precise coordinates of spatial locations. Exact measurement of these positions is one of the fundamental elements of land surveying. The advantage of is that it's much more accurate than hand-measuring these locations. There's Land Surveys Southam of error in every land surveying measurements, due to human errors, environmental characteristics like variations in magnetic fields, temperature, and gravity, and instrument errors. GPS permits a lot more precise measurements than previously available 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 rely on measurements from other known locations, like the edge of the house line, the corner of a house, or another landmark. These locations could change over time, such as in case a house is torn down or another obstacle is built between your structure and the measured point; a good surveyor's stake may be removed before the land is re-surveyed. The coordinate of confirmed location on the planet, however, remains the same. Therefore, using GPS as a land surveyor produces measurements that'll be accurate regardless of what happens to the surrounding land. Although Global Position System receivers enable very precise measurements, there's still a qualification of error involved. A receiver on a tripod will record the location slightly differently each time; when many measurements are taken, these data points will form a cluster around the actual location. Better-quality receivers, needless to say, reduce this level of error. Survey-grade receivers, instead of those meant for non-surveying uses, may produce a group of measurements clustered in a matter of one centimeter of the actual location. Today's receivers are steadily gaining used, but might not be as accurate as the surveyor want, especially in areas that are heavily wooded or that 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 working with GPS units has improved steadily.
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