THE CHANGES IN SURVEY TEACHINGAND PRACTICE IN NINETEENTH CENTURY BRITAIN AND THE BRITISH EMPIRE

摘要

The methods available to a land surveyor in the nineteenth century changed very little over the course of the century. The exception was baseline measurement, which saw the introduction of compensating bars in the 1820s, and their replacement by invar tape in the 1890s. There were few changes in theodolites, which were used for control surveys. Other than the introduction of more compact designs, which made them more portable, and improvements in reading systems, they remained recognisably the same instruments. Most detail survey was carried out using plane tables, chain survey methods, or, where a quicker result was required, using the cavalry sketching board and compass. However, there were major changes in which methods were considered acceptable, which was to have a significant impact on the teaching of the subject. This paper examines the debates over the most appropriate methods and equipment to use and the impact of that debate on the teaching of surveying in Britain. The range of map scales produced by the Ordnance Survey, and their increasing use in administration, inevitably meant that decisions about methods within the survey had a major impact on the methods used by commercial surveyors. In India, wider practice was similarly influenced by the dominant position enjoyed by the Survey of India.