Three Forms of Surveying

There are many different types of surveys but three of the additionally used ones are topographical surveying, land surveying and underground utilities surveys. Exploring and understanding the different types or surveys and surveying is simple when you understand how.

Topographical Surveys or Topo surveying

Topographical Surveying is the study and measurement of the Earth's surface. This can reveal what natural or man-made geographical features exist within an area, large or small, the contours and shapes of the features themselves and even vegetation and the influence of human presence. The thing of all that is to make a three-dimensional map.

In order to provide this kind of accurate detail of the various levels and contours of the land, aerial surveys are conducted, and then at walk out survey teams with portable surveying equipment establish vertical and horizontal control points to verify accuracy. Nowadays the info is collected and generated electronically.

Fed with all the current data, computers combine distances, angles, and elevations and produce pictures, using contour lines, hypsometric tints and relief shading.

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Land Surveying may be the measurement and accurate determination of the 3d positions of various points on a terrain. The purpose of this is generally to determine boundaries. Surveyors produce land maps marking out regions of private, communal or government ownership limits. That is constantly being done when there are serious property rights disputes or changes are planned for the area, such as for sub-dividing properties, new residential or town-planning layouts, when roads or other engineering structures are planned, or for the determination of ancient boundaries for historical or archaeological purposes.

Underground Utilities Surveys (electricity, Gas, Water and Television)

Underground Utilities Surveying must be one of the tricky and difficult forms of exploration. Surveyors need to know what is underground and can't be seen. Before any development may take place it must be discovered what, if anything lies under the ground. These may be drains, electrical or gas cables, sinkholes, water pipes or water pockets or buried tanks.

The first level of exploration would be to collect every drawing, plan or bit of electronic data designed for the area. This is often not totally accurate, but gives an idea of what installations were located in the immediate area.
Another level involves picking out visible features, such as for example manholes, inspection hatch covers, meters, electrical poles, etc. Straight lines showing the shortest distance between them are drawn, and this narrows down the search. However these lines cannot always be totally relied on as rocks and other underground barriers could cause deviations, and sometimes the pipes or cables don't run from the centre of every inspection element to another, but slightly to one side or the other.

An indirect survey involves the most recent technology, such as for example radar that penetrates the ground, X-rays, and frequency resonance. If uncertainty still persists, the final step is drilling or digging potholes at regular intervals to verify any of the data collected by the aforementioned methods.