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 various types or surveys and surveying is easy when you know how.

Topographical Surveys or Topo surveying

Topographical Surveying may be the study and measurement of the Earth’s surface. This may reveal what natural or man-made geographical features exist in an area, large or small, the contours and shapes of the features themselves and also vegetation and the influence of human presence. The object of all this is to produce a three-dimensional map.

To be able to provide this kind of accurate detail of the many levels and contours of the land, aerial surveys are conducted, and at walk out survey teams with portable surveying equipment establish vertical and horizontal control points to confirm accuracy. In today’s world the data is collected and generated electronically.

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

Land Surveys and surveying

Land Surveying may be the measurement and accurate determination of the three dimensional positions of varied points on a terrain. The objective of this is generally to find out boundaries. Surveyors produce land maps marking out areas 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 region, 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 just about the most tricky and difficult types of exploration. Surveyors have to know what is underground and can’t be seen. Before any development can take place it has to be discovered what, if anything lies beneath the ground. These could be drains, electrical or gas cables, sinkholes, water pipes or water pockets or buried tanks.

The first level of exploration is to collect every drawing, plan or bit of electronic data designed for the area. Click hereClick here for info is not totally accurate, but gives a concept of what installations were situated in the immediate area.

Another level involves picking out visible features, such as 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 continually be totally relied on as rocks and other underground barriers can cause deviations, and sometimes the pipes or cables don’t run from the centre of every inspection element to the next, but slightly to 1 side or the other.

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