Like discussing the difference between fantasy and science fiction.......
Perhaps surveying expertise should be defined by "skill" rather than "art".
Art consists of two things....form and content. The form is what materials you used to achieve what you want to show. Content is how well did you do it, and does it convey the meaning to other people that you intended?
Art is subjective, it's evaluation is often based upon opinion....skill is not. Either you can do something or you can't.
Playing a musical instrument is a skill....making music that moves people is an art.
Being able to paint a scene or a portrait is a skill....creating a masterpiece is art.
Having the skill does not necessarily mean that you can create the art.
There are different definitions of "art". Visual art and creative skill is a pretty conventional standard, and it is not so much in the world of Surveying. The type of "art" I think some of those textbooks are referring to are in relation to "skill".
Here are some definitions that I think apply more to the "art:" of surveying:
4 a skill at doing a specified thing, typically one acquired through practice
: an occupation requiring knowledge or skill
Synonyms: art1, craft, expertise, knack, know-how, technique
These nouns denote skill in doing or performing that is attained by study, practice, or observation: the art of rhetoric; pottery that reveals an artist's craft; political expertise; a knack for teaching; mechanical know-how; a precise diving technique.
7. the principles or methods governing any craft or branch of learning: the art of baking.
12. skilled workmanship, execution, or agency, as distinguished from nature
each of these are from different sources I found on line.
I can't say as I've ever heard it put better. Skill is not art, but art requires skill. Excellent.
:star:
I think that you are correct using art as a learned skill and applying it in a crafty way.
I know that the first "art' of surveying that I learned was picking locations for traverse points/control points in suspect or challenging terrain that benefitted both the geometry and ease of the survey. It was a 'knack' to develop so I guess a knack for doing some skill could be called art
But is there really a true definition of art in this case.
I have presented different types
LOL
I did not think of surveying being a 'performance' art but I guess that it can be.
I remember a crew that I had where there was me as PC who dressed in a big canvas hat, cargo pants, jungle shirt and boots. Then there was the I-man who had just returned from the Persian Gulf Desert Storm who wore mostly white with a white linen keffiyeh on his head and he was extremely tanned and looking very Arabic, then one rod person who was tall and slim, long curly blond Robert Plant like hair with multiple ear piercing and cool hip looking shirts and then there was a young black kid who was a Jehovah Witness and wore clean pressed pants and shirt along with very clean white Nikes on his feet and a nice gold watch on his wrist.
I now wonder what passerby's thought when they saw this crew surveying in the heat of Summer here in Louisiana.
The jungle explorer looking guy, Arab sheik, rock star and jehovah witness kid performing a survey.
Art, like music, is math.
In the philosophical realm, art is subjective. I've always viewed what I personally do as a technical skill, in that it can be reliably reproduced by another technician. Whether that occurs next week or next century, the art of what I do is the ability to make the technical exercise simple for the next person.
> Art, like music, is math.
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