GLOBAL SURVEYORS DAY
March 21 is officially declared Global Surveyors Day.
A good reason to take a closer look at the history and background!
ABOUT THE HISTORY OF SURVEYING
THE BEGINNINGS
The beginnings of surveying can be traced back to the construction of the pyramids, where property boundaries were defined using hemp ropes and knots. Greek philosophers such as Pythagoras and Aristarchus of Samos were investigating the shape of the earth and the movement of the planets. During the Roman Empire, surveying played an important role in the development and administration of conquered territories.
During the Middle Ages, surveying was simplified and geometry was regarded as one of the liberal arts. The rediscovery of ancient writings in the 15th century, including Ptolemy’s “Geographia” led to an upswing in cartography. The Age of Discovery required more accurate maps and instruments, which led to the development of new surveying techniques.
MODERN ERA
Surveying experienced a further upswing in the 18th century. Following the French Revolution, the surveying and archiving of all properties was achieved with the introduction of the land tax register. In almost all of Europe, the introduction of the metric system in the second half of the 19th century put an end to the variety of different units of measurement.
Nowadays, modern technologies such as GPS, laser scanning and photogrammetry make it possible to measure our world comprehensively, digitally and with high precision.
GLOBAL SURVEYORS DAY
NATIONAL SURVEYORS WEEK IN THE USA
The first “National Surveyors Week” was proclaimed on February 13, 1984, by the American Congress on Surveying and Mapping (ACSM). In addition, the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, signed a proclamation calling on citizens to recognize the achievements of professional surveyors. The proclamation therefore acknowledged the important role of land surveyors, who were instrumental in establishing settlements in North America. George Washington, the first recognized surveyor, is probably the most famous among them.
National Surveyors Week starts every year on the third Sunday in March and is historically one of the first official events to regularly celebrate the achievements of surveyors.
GLOBAL SURVEYORS DAY
Global Surveyors’ Day has been officially celebrated since 2018, which conveniently coincides with National Surveyors Week, which has existed for some time.
Global Surveyors’ Day was first introduced and celebrated on March 21, 2018, at the Conference on Land and Poverty at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, DC, USA.
The day is supported by many organizations, including the CLGE, NSPS, and FIG.
DIFFERENT SURVEYORS DAYS AROUND THE WORLD
Although “Global Surveyors Day” was officially declared in Washington DC in2018 and supported by the Council of European Geodetic Surveyors (GLGE), in Germany, for example, Surveying Day is often still celebrated on March 5 instead of March 21. The reason for this is that the GLGE already proclaimed March 5 as Surveying Day in 2012, the birthday of the famous cartographer and globe maker Gerhard Mercator.
In Iran, on the other hand, the day falls on September 4 – the birthday of the Iranian surveyor and astrologer Al-Biruni.
Regardless of when the day is celebrated where in the world, everyone seems to agree on one thing: surveyors and geodesists make incredibly important contributions to the well-being of mankind and therefore deserve our attention and recognition.
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