Construction surveying
practice of providing dimensional control for all stages of construction work
Construction surveying or building surveying (otherwise known as "staking", "stake-out", "lay-out", or "setting-out") is to provide dimensional control for all stages of construction work, including the stake out of reference points and markers that will guide the construction of new structures such as roads, rail, or buildings. These markers are usually staked out according to a suitable coordinate system selected for the project.
History
The nearly perfect squareness and north–south orientation of the Great Pyramid of Giza, built c. 2700 BC, affirm the Egyptians' command of surveying.
A recent reassessment of Stonehenge (c.2500 BC) suggests that the monument was set out by prehistoric surveyors using peg and rope geometry.
In the sixth century BC geometric based techniques were used to construct the tunnel of Eupalinos on the island of Samos.
Modern technology advanced surveying's accuracy and efficiency. For example, surveyors used to use two posts joined with a chain to measure distance. This technology could only account for distance and not elevation. Current technology uses Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) that can measure the distance from point A to point B as well as differences in elevation.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Construction surveying” is practice of providing dimensional control for all stages of construction work. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Construction, surveying and practice, not as a finished interpretation.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q811934. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Construction surveying” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.