Editing Surveying (section)

===Modern era===
[[File:Table of Surveying, Cyclopaedia, Volume 2.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Printed image of surveying equipment. | Table of Surveying, 1728 ''[[Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences|Cyclopaedia]]'']]

[[Abel Foullon]] described a [[plane table]] in 1551, but it is thought that the instrument was in use earlier as his description is of a developed instrument.

[[Gunter's chain]] was introduced in 1620 by English mathematician [[Edmund Gunter]]. It enabled plots of land to be accurately surveyed and plotted for legal and commercial purposes.

[[Leonard Digges (scientist)|Leonard Digges]] described a [[theodolite]] that measured horizontal angles in his book ''A geometric practice named Pantometria'' (1571). Joshua Habermel ([[Erasmus Habermehl]]) created a theodolite with a compass and tripod in 1576. Johnathon Sission was the first to incorporate a telescope on a theodolite in 1725.<ref name="turner">Turner, Gerard L'E. ''Nineteenth Century Scientific Instruments'', Sotheby Publications, 1983, {{ISBN|0-85667-170-3}}</ref>

In the 18th century, modern techniques and instruments for surveying began to be used. [[Jesse Ramsden]] introduced the first precision [[theodolite]] in 1787. It was an instrument for measuring [[angle]]s in the horizontal and vertical planes. He created his [[Ramsden theodolite|great theodolite]] using an accurate [[dividing engine]] of his own design. Ramsden's theodolite represented a great step forward in the instrument's accuracy. [[William Gascoigne (scientist)|William Gascoigne]] invented an instrument that used a [[telescope]] with an installed [[crosshair]] as a target device, in 1640. [[James Watt]] developed an optical meter for the measuring of distance in 1771; it measured the [[parallactic angle]] from which the distance to a point could be deduced.

Dutch mathematician [[Willebrord Snellius]] (a.k.a. Snel van Royen) introduced the modern systematic use of [[Triangulation (surveying)|triangulation]]. In 1615 he surveyed the distance from [[Alkmaar]] to [[Breda]], approximately {{convert|72|mi}}. He underestimated this distance by 3.5%. The survey was a chain of quadrangles containing 33 triangles in all. Snell showed how planar formulae could be corrected to allow for the [[curvature of the Earth]]. He also showed how to [[Free stationing|resect]], or calculate, the position of a point inside a triangle using the angles cast between the vertices at the unknown point. These could be measured more accurately than bearings of the vertices, which depended on a compass. His work established the idea of surveying a primary network of control points, and locating subsidiary points inside the primary network later. Between 1733 and 1740, [[Jacques Cassini]] and his son [[César-François Cassini de Thury|César]] undertook the first triangulation of France. They included a re-surveying of the [[meridian arc]], leading to the publication in 1745 of the first map of France constructed on rigorous principles. By this time triangulation methods were well established for local map-making.

[[File:1870 Index Chart to GTS India-1.jpg|thumb|alt=Map of triangulation network covering India.| A map of India showing the Great Trigonometrical Survey, produced in 1870]]

It was only towards the end of the 18th century that detailed triangulation network surveys mapped whole countries. In 1784, a team from General [[William Roy]]'s [[Ordnance Survey]] of Great Britain began the [[Principal Triangulation of Britain]]. The first Ramsden theodolite was built for this survey. The survey was finally completed in 1853. The [[Great Trigonometric Survey]] of India began in 1801. The Indian survey had an enormous scientific impact. It was responsible for one of the first accurate measurements of a section of an arc of longitude, and for measurements of the geodesic anomaly. It named and mapped [[Mount Everest]] and the other Himalayan peaks. Surveying became a professional occupation in high demand at the turn of the 19th century with the onset of the [[Industrial Revolution]]. The profession developed more accurate instruments to aid its work. Industrial infrastructure projects used surveyors to lay out [[canal]]s, roads and rail.

In the US, the [[Land Ordinance of 1785]] created the [[Public Land Survey System]]. It formed the basis for dividing the western territories into sections to allow the sale of land. The PLSS divided states into township grids which were further divided into sections and fractions of sections.<ref name=":0" />

[[Napoleon]] Bonaparte founded [[continental Europe]]'s first [[cadastre]] in 1808. This gathered data on the number of parcels of land, their value, land usage, and names. This system soon spread around Europe.
[[File:Camp of surverying party at Russel's Tank, Arizona, on eastern slope of Laja Range, 1,271 miles from Missouri River. (Boston Public Library) (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|A railroad surveying party at Russel's Tank, [[Arizona Territory|Arizona]], in the 1860s]]
[[Robert Richard Torrens|Robert Torrens]] introduced the [[Torrens system]] in South Australia in 1858. Torrens intended to simplify land transactions and provide reliable titles via a centralized register of land. The Torrens system was adopted in several other nations of the English-speaking world.
Surveying became increasingly important with the arrival of railroads in the 1800s. Surveying was necessary so that railroads could plan technologically and financially viable routes.