Editing Surveying (section)

===Ancient history===
[[File:Cc&j-fig23--plumb rule.png|upright=0.4|thumb|alt=refer to caption |A plumb rule from the book ''Cassells' Carpentry and Joinery'']]
Surveying has occurred since humans built the first large structures. In [[ancient Egypt]], a [[rope stretcher]] would use simple geometry to re-establish boundaries after the annual floods of the [[Nile River]]. The almost perfect squareness and north–south orientation of the [[Great Pyramid of Giza]], built {{Circa|2700 BC}}, affirm the Egyptians' command of surveying. The ''[[Groma surveying|groma]]'' instrument may have originated in [[Mesopotamia]] (early 1st millennium BC).<ref>{{citation|title=International Symposium on History of Machines and Mechanisms: Proceedings of HMM 2008|author=Hong-Sen Yan & Marco Ceccarelli|publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]]|year=2009|isbn=978-1-4020-9484-2|page=107}}</ref> The prehistoric monument at [[Stonehenge]] ({{Circa|2500 BC}}) was set out by prehistoric surveyors using peg and rope geometry.<ref>Johnson, Anthony, ''Solving Stonehenge: The New Key to an Ancient Enigma''. (Thames & Hudson, 2008) {{ISBN|978-0-500-05155-9}}</ref>

The mathematician [[Liu Hui]] described ways of measuring distant objects in his work ''[[Haidao Suanjing]]'' or ''The Sea Island Mathematical Manual'', published in 263 AD.

The Romans recognized land surveying as a profession. They established the basic measurements under which the Roman Empire was divided, such as a tax register of conquered lands (300 AD).<ref name="Lewis2001">{{cite book|last=Lewis|first=M. J. T.|title=Surveying Instruments of Greece and Rome|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Izau5_ihmsC|access-date=30 August 2012|date=23 April 2001|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521792974}}</ref> Roman surveyors were known as ''[[Gromatici]]''.

In medieval Europe, [[beating the bounds]] maintained the boundaries of a village or parish. This was the practice of gathering a group of residents and walking around the parish or village to establish a communal memory of the boundaries. Young boys were included to ensure the memory lasted as long as possible.

In England, [[William the Conqueror]] commissioned the [[Domesday Book]] in 1086. It recorded the names of all the land owners, the area of land they owned, the quality of the land, and specific information of the area's content and inhabitants. It did not include maps showing exact locations.