In old times, land surveyswould become more guess work than anything else. People were only able to judge distance by perception. The guess work of property surveyand the like have been narrowed greatly with cameras and other digital equipment. We no longer have to rely on what we perceive to be correct.
Because vision is unique in all of us, our perception of events differ greatly. When you look out across a lake, the picture you take in your mind will not capture the same detail as someone else. In your picture, there are ducks wading in the lake off in the distance. Someone else’s picture will have no ducks, but instead the focus is on the vastly colored sunrise reflecting off the lake.
With our new technology we can see things that we did not know where there when we first took the picture. As we survey a surrounding, people tend to look for points of reference which overshadow detail in grey areas. Take the lake image as a reference. You notice the large tree trunk sticking out of the water onto shore, but not the squirrel sleeping atop it.
When we take a picture we’re capturing everything. There’s no room for perceptive error unless we manipulate the images ourselves. But what about our perceptions of the image itself? Unless studied for a long period of time, there are still errors that we can make when viewing an image. It is at this point where an image is not enough. There needs to be physical measurements of distance and angle to get accurate representation of what we’re looking at.
Land surveys take the time to determine these angles and proportions. Upon completion we receive an accurate representation of the land that we’re surveying not based solely on perception. This is very important when drawing boundaries for property so the person that is paying for the service knows exactly where he can and cannot build. Getting as close and accurate as possible is the most crucial part of land surveys.
Drawing plans for a property survey have the same principal concept. The difference between a few inches over or under the correct mark for a boundary will cause emotional and financial stress if the person owning the property decides to build based on incorrect survey. As our technology advances, the more precise we have to be when it comes to laying out the boundaries. Before we could be off by a few inches because there weren’t tools to measure that closely (and thus the boundary could not be drawn).
