A recent reassessment of Stonehenge (c. 2500 BC) suggests that the monument was set out by prehistoric surveyors using peg and rope geometry. Surveying techniques have existed throughout much of recorded history in ancient Egypt, when the Nile River overflowed its banks and washed out farm boundaries, boundaries were re-established by a rope stretcher, or surveyor, through the application of simple geometry. The nearly perfect squareness and north-south orientation of the Great Pyramid of Giza, built c. 2700 BC, affirm the Egyptians' command of surveying.

Land surveying is the art and science of establishing or reestablishing corners, lines, boundaries, and monuments of real property (land) based upon recorded documents, historical evidence, and present standards of practice. Land Surveying also includes associated services such as analysis and utilization of survey data, subdivision planning and design, writing legal descriptions, mapping, construction layout, and precision measurements of angle, length, area, and volume.

One of the primary roles of the land surveyor is to find the boundary of a person's property. That boundary is described in legal documents and the land surveyor follows that description and locates the boundary on the physical land and marks it, so the owner knows what land he/she owns.

Land surveying is a part Archeology and part Private Investigator. This combination provides independent information that protects your property rights.