What are the two primary divisions of surveying?

Plane surveying and geodetic surveying

Land surveying and marine surveying

Chain surveying and compass surveying

Control survey and detail survey

Which is a classification according to the nature of the field?

Land, marine (hydrographic) and astronomical surveying

Engineering, military and mine surveying

Chain, compass and plane table surveying

Triangulation, traversing and trilateration

A cadastral survey is carried out to

measure depths of rivers and tides

Which set lists surveys classified according to the method?

Triangulation, traversing and trilateration

Reconnaissance, preliminary and location

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Classification of surveying

Short answer

Plane surveying ignores curvature for small areas; geodetic includes it for large areas. Primary divisions are plane and geodetic. Further classifications include by field (land, marine, astronomical), purpose (engineering, military, mining), instruments (chain, total station), method (triangulation, traversing), and position (ground, aerial, satellite).

Distinguish between plane and geodetic surveying and explain how surveying is classified (primary divisions and secondary classifications/disciplines).

Plane and geodetic surveying

Basis	Plane surveying	Geodetic surveying
Earth's curvature	Neglected; earth taken as a plane	Considered; earth taken as a spheroid
Area	Up to about 250 km $^2$	More than 250 km $^2$
Triangle	Plane triangle, sum $180^\circ$	Spherical triangle, sum $> 180^\circ$
Methods	Chain, compass, plane table, theodolite, level	Precise triangulation, trilateration, astronomical observations
Accuracy	Lower	Very high
Use	Local engineering works	Control networks, national maps

Primary divisions

Plane surveying (small areas, curvature ignored).
Geodetic surveying (large areas, curvature considered).

Secondary classifications

1. According to the nature of the field

Land surveying: topographic, cadastral (property boundaries), city surveying.
Marine or hydrographic surveying: coastlines, rivers, lakes, depths and tides.
Astronomical surveying: positions of points from the sun and stars.

2. According to the object (purpose)

Engineering surveying: for roads, railways, canals, dams, bridges, buildings.
Military surveying: for defence and strategic planning.
Mine surveying: underground and surface mine work.
Geological surveying: rock structures and mineral deposits.
Archaeological surveying: ancient remains.

3. According to the instruments used

Chain (tape) survey, compass survey, plane table survey, theodolite (transit) survey, tacheometric survey, levelling, total station/GNSS survey, photogrammetric survey (from aerial photographs), remote-sensing survey.

4. According to the method

Triangulation (network of triangles), traversing (series of connected lines), trilateration.

5. According to the purpose of the result

Control survey (fixing control points) and detail survey; route survey; construction (setting-out) survey; reconnaissance, preliminary and location surveys.

6. According to the position of the instrument: ground, aerial and satellite surveying.

✓ Answer checked by Claude Opus 5.5 (high effort)

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