The border between the United States and Mexico has a long and often tumultuous history. After the end of the Mexican American War in 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave the U.S. over half of Mexico’s land. This area eventually became all of California, Nevada, Utah, and Texas, and parts of Colorado, Arizona, and […]

In the rich history of the state of Georgia, land surveying has played a large role since before its inception. From weathering the shifts in power and policy regarding land distribution to rebuilding the devastating destruction across the entire state in the wake of the Civil War, Georgia’s land surveyors have been instrumental in literally […]

Before purchasing a home, or indeed any piece of real estate, it is important to investigate the condition of the property. This does not simply mean walking around the property to take a look at it. In fact, most of the facts that comprise the condition of the property can’t actually be seen this way. […]

Although at first you may assume that there haven’t been any important or famous land surveyors or land surveys in the United States, the truth is that many of the borders that come into play in your daily life were set by land surveys. Though the boundary of each individual piece of property is usually […]

Land surveyors once used tape measures and transits to measure distances and positions. Since the 1980s, electronic distance measurement, or EDM, devices have allowed for much more efficient and accurate measurements. These use a wave of energy that is shot between the EDM instrument and a reflector. The time the beam takes to return is […]

The Maryland Society of Surveyors is a professional organization founded in 1948 for professional land surveyors and property line surveyors. Today the Society is part of the National Society of Professional Surveyors, which represents the interests of land surveyors nationwide. The purpose of this organization is to further the science of surveying and mapping, both […]

Eminent domain, also known as compulsory purchase expropriation, is the power of the state to seize a citizen’s land for public use. Monetary compensation is required in this situation, but the owner’s consent is not. In some jurisdictions, the government must offer to purchase the property at the owner’s price before resorting to eminent domain. […]

Subdivision platting is the process of splitting one larger piece of land into several smaller pieces of land. Generally, this plat, or map, is drawn to be used to sell off the smaller pieces of land. These pieces of land are often built upon before being sold, often by the same home builder, giving the […]

One of the challenges faced when using traditional land surveying methods is the necessity of surveying areas that are covered by thick vegetation. Some surveying projects require the measurement of such vegetation, while most applications require measurement of the terrain itself, rather than the vegetation covering this terrain. Topographic surveys may or may not require […]

Did you ever wonder why today’s towns look the way they do? The look of the downtown area, with its square blocks, originates centuries ago, when the country was first dividing what would eventually become a large portion of the United States. Beginning in the late eighteenth century, these unexplored lands were surveyed under the […]