The principles of land surveying date back almost as far as the thought of land ownership. Since ancient man determined that certain piece of land would participate in one group, and the other piece to some other group, there was a have to mediate between land disputes. That's where land surveying came in, although today surveys are also used for a great many other purposes.
Since then, every major civilization in the history of the world has used some form of land surveying, although they have certainly become more sophisticated over the years both with changing laws and improved technologies. Today, GPS and other technologies allow for a much more exact survey than was possible a few short decades ago. Obviously, ancient maps and land surveys were even less accurate.
One of the first examples of a land survey using mathematical means was in ancient Egypt. THE https://ctxt.io/2/AACwZdOfFQ , built around 2700 BC at Giza, demonstrates Egyptians' understanding of surveying techniques. Ancient Egyptians also redrew boundary lines using basic geometry following the Nile River flooded the plains. An Egyptian land register existed as early as 3000 BC, or five thousand years back, to record the owners of varied pieces of land and their locations. These early surveying efforts by the Egyptians were years before other civilizations, as was true in many the areas of Egyptian technology aswell. These surveys were based on geometry as well as simple declarations that they believed these boundaries to be correct.
In the Roman Empire., the Romans actually established 'land surveyor' being an official position. These were called agrimensores. Texts describing their actions date back again to the first century AD. Thorough and precise, these were known for creating impeccably straight lines and right angles using simple tools. After measuring these lines, they would dig a shallow ditch to represent the lines. Amazingly, a few of these ditches still exist to the present day.
In eleventh century England, William the Conqueror wrote his now-famous Domesday Book. This book, covering all of England, meticulously covered the names of most land owners, the product quality and level of this land, and info on the people and resources in each area. Although Measured Building Surveys Hinckley of information within this book was quite impressive, this was not just a technical survey, and the maps weren't drawn to scale and were not very accurate.
Napoleon Bonaparte was the first ever to mandate a cadastre, in 1808. Sometimes, Napoleon even thought that the cadastre will be his greatest contribution to civil law. The cadastre is a thorough register of the property in confirmed county. The information it contains includes ownership details, location (as precisely measured as you possibly can given then-current technology), so when much information about the value and using the land as was available. This cadastre included scale maps at both 1:2500 and 1:1250. Cadastre use spread quickly, and indeed it was the foundation of today's cadastral surveys. However, it was difficult to produce a cadastre in rural areas or those where land was in dispute.
Today's surveys are much more accurate than those done in decades or centuries past because of sophisticated opportinity for measuring and recording boundaries and land features. There are various more applications of land surveys than recording land ownership