in 1852 clockmaker Edward Dent set out to construct the largest and most accurate public clock in the world. It took seven years to build a testament to a very human need. Our modern day lives are completely driven by precise measurement. Take Big Ben.

 

For over 150 years, it's been ringing out the correct time to the people of London. When built, it was an engineering marvel, accurate to an incredible one second an hour. But times have changed. Today we can build clocks, which lose one second in 100 and 38 million years.

 

And now there are plans for a clock accurate to within one second over the lifetime of the universe. What is it that drives us to such extremes of ever greater precision? Why do we feel the need to quantify and measure to impose order on the world around us? Since our ancestors first began to count the passing of the seasons, successive civilizations have used measurement to help master the world around them.

 

It's taken us to the moon and split the atom, and it fascinates me. Ever since I was young, I've been obsessed with measuring things trying to make sense of the world around me. Where do those measurements come from? I mean, who decided that a kilo was a kilo and a second a second?

 

What we measure, how we measure it and how accurately we can measure it are surprisingly complex. Questions, questions which have obsessed generations of great minds and created a system that describes everything in our world with just seven fundamental units of measurement. And the quest to define those seven units with ever greater precision has changed our world. In this series, I want to explore why we measure what drives us to try and reduce the chaos and complexity of the world to just a handful of elementary units.

 

In this first programme, I'm gonna be looking at two of the most fundamental measurements, namely the metre and the second. It's likely that time and distance were the first things people ever tried to measure. They seem closely linked in our minds. We even talk about length of time, and as we'll see, time and distance are inextricably connected by modern science.

 

Being able to measure time actually means spotting patterns, and that's actually a very mathematical way of looking at the world. In fact, measuring time is an incredibly sophisticated act. So where did it all begin? Our ancestors would have first picked up on the patterns of the seasons, marking time as the leaves turned brown or the days got shorter when rivers flooded or Berries ripened.

 

These very practical observations would have helped them in the daily struggle to survive. One of the first examples of humans attempts to measure was discovered here in southern France by four teenagers near a dog called Robot. It was 1940 the 18 year old Marcel Rada was exploring these woods when he came across a hole where a tree had been uprooted by a storm. He needed some tools to make the hole bigger, so he came back four days later with his three friends, and they uncovered the entrance to a huge system of unexplored caves.

 

But what they discovered inside was even more exciting. Wow, the boys must have been absolutely staggered to come in here and see these images painted on the wall. I mean, these are some of the oldest cave pain. Oh, look at this.

 

It's all over the wall.

Beginning with looking at the ancient skill of accurate surveying, without an accurate surveyor there is no accurate ancient building. Without a surveyor there is no archeoastronomy. From ancient Egypt through the ancinet past and across the ancient world surveying would have been a fundamental. That brings us to the power of water and what has to the most remarkable achievement in regards to ancient water management. The Roman Aqueduct. The Great Pyramid is rightfully marveled for the accuracy of it's construction (Thanks to the ancient surveyors as much as the actuall construction teams) however it is often said that the Great Pyramid was the most accurately surveyed building until the modern era. Well, it's turns out that isn't necessarily the case. The Great Pyramid is an amazing 0.05 degrees from true north, it might be argued that was intentional or that because the rotational axis of the Earth has shifted by 0.05 degrees. However supposing it was 100% accurate that alignemnt is along the ground while the internal shafts and other features don't quite reach 0.05 degreees in their accuracy. Yet the Roman Aqueducts were colossal projects, of the major aqueducts into Rome the volume of stone cut for the tunnels, or the stone quarried and moved to make the arches is massive. I didn't run the numbers but each aqueduct is at the very least comparable in volume to the Great Pyramid. Since they are powered by gravity the aqueducts needed to maintina a constant angle over massive distances to deliver their water to distant urban centres and industrial sites. The Nimes Aqueduct in France for instance was built to maintain an angle of less than 0.02 degrees over it's 50 kilometre , 31 mile length. This length is not essentially long as far as the aqueducts go! 0.02 degrees in simple terms is more accurate than 0.05 degrees in simple terms but the Great Pyramid is aligned to North along the ground and it is less than 0.25 kilometres in base length. The Aqueducts are very very long, individually the volume of stone is comparable, if not greater, than the Great Pyramid. While they constructed to higher level of accuracy than 0.05 degrees and they do this THROUGH THE AIR. Not along the ground to a fixed point but THROUGH THE AIR for vast distances. More so the aqueducts not only provide fresh water while also taking away sewage they were also harnessed for industrial purposes. To master water management one must survey accurately!! Civilization is nothing without the mastery of water. Water is life and with a few clever tweaks with simple machines water is also power, industrial power. How far of a leap is it to assume that the ancestors of Roman civilization were applying the same simple genius? If you appreciate what I do and would like to support this channel: https://www.paypal.me/SGDSacredGeometry​ LOST ANCIENT HIGH TECHNOLOGY Granite Cutting MACHINE IN ACTION!! by Historymaze Reconstruction of ancinet water powered machines to cut stones. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi2nC...​ Unlocking the Pyramids - part 1 has a focus on the importance of surveying in Egypt https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...​ For more information on Seshat, the ancient Egyptian goddess of science and knowledge, as well as the importance of scribes, schools and bureaucratic administration in ancient Egypt https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...

This is just a quick visual introduction to many of the instruments and equipment used by land surveyors past and present. Learn more and ask questions on http://landsurveyorsunited.com

For 1/2 century the digital landscape of the land surveying industry - at first revolutionary - then evolutionary, but unfortuantely the last two decades most new technologies have seriously damaged the surveying profession. This video will explain why this situation happened and how we can remedy the situation.

Landmetingen en gegevens(posities) werden in de jaren ’50 mondeling doorgegeven aan een collega die alle informatie in logboeken opschreef. Deze informatie kwam vervolgens terecht in rapportages van het Laboratorium voor Landmeetkunde.

Geodesy is a field of study that deals with the measurement and representation of the Earth, and it all started when a clever human named Eratosthenes discovered that you could measure the circumference of the Earth by looking down a well. Over time, the field of geodesy has expanded and evolved dramatically, and NASA uses technology like radio telescopes, ground surveys, and satellites to contribute! Learn more about geodesy in this video! This video is public domain and can be downloaded at: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?10910

Dominick from Tiger Supplies recants a few memories of what it was like working on ground zero following the aftermath of 9-11. His job as a surveyor was to monitor the buildings for movement in case of collapse. His crew and himself watched over every single firefighter, police, EMS, and person involved in the rescue and clean up efforts on Ground Zero. If a building was about to collapse, it was his responsibility to blow the horn to alert the workers so they can get to safety. He took some remarkable pictures which most have never seen.

With close to 200 years of pioneering solutions to measure the world, Leica Geosystems products and services are trusted by professionals worldwide to help them capture, analyze, and present spatial information. Leica Geosystems is best known for its broad array of products that capture accurately, model quickly, analyze easily, and visualize and present spatial information.

Visit the Leica Geosystems Support Hub on Land Surveyors United

Those who use Leica products every day trust them for their dependability, the value they deliver, and the superior customer support. Based in Heerbrugg, Switzerland, Leica Geosystems is a global company with tens of thousands of customers supported by more than 2,600 employees in 23 countries and hundreds of partners located in more than 120 countries around the world.

Farber Surveying is a full service land-use and surveying firm utilizing experience, extensive training, and the latest technology. Our dedication to your needs includes research, completing applications on your behalf, working closely with approval agencies to ensure a successful conclusion, and performing the survey work to accomplish the conditions of approval. www.farbersurveying.com

This 13 part series, known as Fractured Land Patterns, is the history of BLM. It was created in the mid 1980's as an interpretation of BLMs colorful history. The historical perspective presented centers around the uses, federal laws, and landmark events on Americas public lands which contributed to the fractured land ownership patterns that remain today. The series is divided into 2 broad sections the first is called The Public Disposal Era and consists of videos 1 - 6. The second is called Conservation and Beyond and covers videos 7 -13. The thirteen chapters in this chronology trace the settlement of the West from colonial times through the passage of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA), which provides BLM with its multiple use mission. Set against the backdrop of dynamic economic, social, and environmental change, and with shifting national priorities, this series explains how the missions of the General Land Office and the U.S. Grazing Service were merged with a stroke of the pen by President Harry S. Truman in 1946 to create the Bureau of Land Management Disclaimer: The opinions and statements of non-BLM personnel are included to illustrate alternative points of view at the time and do not necessarily represent the official position of the BLM.

Farber Surveying is a full service land-use and surveying firm utilizing experience, extensive training, and the latest technology. Our dedication to your needs includes research, completing applications on your behalf, working closely with approval agencies to ensure a successful conclusion, and performing the survey work to accomplish the conditions of approval. www.farbersurveying.com

Learn more about a transit scope that has been in the Kilcher family for decades. Otto and Eivan use this carefully maintained surveying tool to plot the line of a new fence the family is building on their Alaskan homestead. Much like the Kilchers' frontier lifestyle, this transit scope has to be used by someone "who knows what they are doing." | F

A roundtable discussion, chaired by Jordana Dym (NEH Fellow, 2011-12), on how cartographic scholarship fits into broader scholarly and pedagogical agendas. Jordana Dym, John E. (Jack) Crowley, Susan Danforth, Matthew Edney, Carla Lois, Heidi Scott.

This 13 part series, known as Fractured Land Patterns, is the history of BLM. It was created in the mid 1980's as an interpretation of BLMs colorful history. The historical perspective presented centers around the uses, federal laws, and landmark events on Americas public lands which contributed to the fractured land ownership patterns that remain today. The series is divided into 2 broad sections the first is called The Public Disposal Era and consists of videos 1 - 6. The second is called Conservation and Beyond and covers videos 7 -13. The thirteen chapters in this chronology trace the settlement of the West from colonial times through the passage of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (FLPMA), which provides BLM with its multiple use mission. Set against the backdrop of dynamic economic, social, and environmental change, and with shifting national priorities, this series explains how the missions of the General Land Office and the U.S. Grazing Service were merged with a stroke of the pen by President Harry S. Truman in 1946 to create the Bureau of Land Management Disclaimer: The opinions and statements of non-BLM personnel are included to illustrate alternative points of view at the time and do not necessarily represent the official position of the BLM.

The film is about the first fully airborne survey in BC. It was done in the Bowser Lake region, 100 kilometers north of Stewart. The second half of the film very much focuses on the work done by the Bell 47 B3 helicopter of Okanagan Air Services. . Bill Macleod was the pilot of the Bell 47 B3 CF-FZX The airplane used for the airphoto survey is an Avro Anson At 8:55 of the video there is footage of a Norseman Story and Photography by Paul W.H.G. Johnson Commentary by Eric Druce Produced for the Topograhic Division of the Surveys and Mapping Service of the BC Department of Lands and Forests Produced by the Public Relations and Education Division of the BC Forest Service This production is one of a collection of historical films and videos that were digitized as part of the celebration of the centenary of the BC Forest Service in 2012. Digitization was done through a grant from the UBC Ike Barber Learning Centre and funding from the BC Forest Service Centenary Society.

Lecture, "How Did They Make Those Maps?", given by Dr. Robert Karrow on February 13, 2011 at the McClung Museum. For most people looking at a world map from 1500 that shows land masses more or less the way we know they look, the first question to come to mind is likely to be "How did they do that?" This talk will try to answer that question by examining the basics of earth measurement from antiquity to the 19th century. Robert W. Karrow, Jr. is Curator of Maps and Curator of Special Collections at the Newberry Library in Chicago. He has a doctorate in history, has published and lectured widely in the history of cartography and has a particular interest in the history of surveying.

This presentation was recorded Sunday May 6th 2017 at the Revolutionary War weekend at the Mount Vernon estate. This Unit is called the Department of the Geographer to the Army.

Do you know these famous individuals who were also Land Surveyors?

WH History of Land Surveying Lecture

Lecture, "How Did They Make Those Maps?", given by Dr. Robert Karrow on February 13, 2011 at the McClung Museum. For most people looking at a world map from 1500 that shows land masses more or less the way we know they look, the first question to come to mind is likely to be "How did they do that?" This talk will try to answer that question by examining the basics of earth measurement from antiquity to the 19th century. Robert W. Karrow, Jr. is Curator of Maps and Curator of Special Collections at the Newberry Library in Chicago. He has a doctorate in history, has published and lectured widely in the history of cartography and has a particular interest in the history of surveying.

Excellent presentation ! The volume is very low, so, crank up your speakers or put on some headphones. Original found here - https://youtu.be/D4NFvqkhug0 fro...

This documentary was created as part of National Reconciliation Week 2016 to highlight cultural heritage survey activities on the iconic Lake Hindmarsh in western Victoria. These are stories to celebrate, and relationships to grow.