I'm not so certain the pit was exactly for what was as set out in the pic ..... 😉
"The pit over which the half-tonne theodolite (precision instrument used in surveys) was rested to measure with accuracy"
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/140821/lifestyle-offbeat/article/gps-we-had-gts
Interesting times tho' during the British Raj.
Cheers,
Derek
Yes "The Great Arc" was a good read. I thought that it was pretty cool when they realized that they had a deflection of the vertical near the Himalayas and their astronomical observations didn't agree with their terrestrial observations. Also when they wanted to calibrate their measuring rods they just built a level brick wall and polished the top smooth then laid their two rods next to each other, of course their crew was hundreds of men.
T.W.
the Great Arc is a fascinating read.
when I worked in India (early 90's), we recovered some triangulation stations to use for control. But, the actual coordinates had to be retrieved from an office in the Himalayan foothills...couldn't just call and get them. Someone else went, how I would have loved to visit there. I had planned on traveling north (I was in Dhanbad) to the himalayas after my work was done, but after a few weeks there I needed to get out of there and back to civilization! I stayed at a hotel that was $0.50/night, except the first and last days, when I stayed at a $150/night hotel in Calcutta.
I established a position for a CORS, nearest existing CORS at that time was in Taiwan, 3000km away if I recall correctly.
Here is a BM we recovered and occupied. We saw a level party nearby, 6 man crew: I man, 2 rodmen, umbrella man, notekeeper, and a guy to carry the tripod between setups (the I man was too senior for that, I guess). Biggest benchmark I have ever seen....
Very cool indeed. I forwarded that article to a couple pals who are more CAD guys, but significant sense of appreciation for us surveyor types. Both worked for engineering firms years ago and have helped me out whenever I could afford them.
