Knowing where you are in the world or where
you want to go has always been important to the traveller, land
owner and surveyor. The early explorers and navigators took
advantage of the earth's magnetic field by using the compass to
determine direction. The
stars, sun and moon were also used to determine both direction
and location. A
simple example of determining direction is to accept the fact
that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. This
means that if you look towards the sun at noon, you will be
facing south.
Most of the early property grants and
communities in Nova Scotia were positioned by the use of the
compass but astronomic observations using Polaris (the north
star) or the sun to obtain direction were also common for
surveyors. Just
think of communities that have a North, South, East or West
Street. These
streets were either positioned to run in the directions in which
the streets were named or, in the case of North Street and South
Street in Halifax, they marked the most northerly and southerly
limits of the community in the early days of settlement.
The latest technology also has us looking
towards the heavens but using man made satellites. The
arrangement of satellites that we use to obtain position and
direction is known as a "global positioning system", or better
known by the initials GPS. For
a few hundred dollars anyone can buy a small hand held receiver
that will generally provide better than 30 meter accuracy. The
survey community uses GPS but requires results to centimetre
accuracy for various projects. The
equipment required to obtain this high level of accuracy
generally increases in price as the speed and precision of
results increases. Costs
can approach $100,000 for equipment that will provide centimetre
accuracy results within seconds.
GPS is now being used for all facets of the
military, transportation industry, recreational boating,
forestry, camping and the uses are increasing, it seems, daily
The next step is that cell phones will also act as GPS
receivers. You
will always know where you are if you have your phone on. The
potential down side of this development is that the phone
company will also know where you and your phone are. So
much for privacy.
Surveyors, however, are very excited about
GPS since it can provide reliable results, all weather
operation, 24 hour availability, direction between non-visible
points on the ground, increased speed of location and total
computer compatibility. The
surveyor can now locate that old wooden post a mile back in the
woods and relate it to the one at the side of the road. A
line can then be marked on the ground from the road directly to
the old post.
You can learn more about GPS by searching the
Internet. The
results, however, will likely number several million ... more
than enough information for anyone to become an expert.
Fred Hutchinson was the Executive Director of the Association of Nova Scotia Land Surveyors from 1999 to 2019 and a Past President of the Association. Mr. Hutchinson was licensed in 1971, employed by municipal government for nearly six years and spent over twenty-two years in private practice.
