Time Line
1802
On April 10, the actual work of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India (GTS) commences by measurement of a baseline near Madras.
1812
The development of German Geography begins with the publication of ‘Atlas geographique et physique’, as a result of the travel and studies in New Spain of Alexander von Humboldt.
1815
The first Surveyor General of India is appointed having authority over all the surveyors in the three Presidencies.
1817
The first fascicule of the famous ‘Hand-Atlas’, under the direction of Justus Perthes’ son Wilhelm is issued.
1820
A project is established to compile an Atlas of India at the medium scale of four miles to an inch (1: 253,440). The GTS is tied to the production of the atlas.
1823
Colonel Sir George Everest becomes the Superintendent of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India (GTS).
1830
Colonel Sir George Everest becomes the Surveyor General of India and retains it till 1843.
1841
The magnetic observatories are set up at Simla, Madras and Singapore and observations are taken from 1841-45, and after that, these are closed down temporarily.
1851
Arrival of Thomas Oldham in Calcutta marks the establishment of the Geological Survey of India.
1852
P. W. Simmis prepares the maps of the City and Environs of Calcutta.
1859
 The ‘Royal Atlas’, the German sheets is published, prepared by Alexander Keith Johnston. A French photographer and balloonist Gaspard Felix Tournachon, also known as Nadar, who carried his bulky cameras aloft, starts aerial photography and remote sensing.
1861
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is established.
1871
Great Trigonometrical Survey (GTS) on 16 inches to a mile and the Landuse Maps form the basis of Cadastral (settlement) surveys.
1872
The first census of India is carried out by the Registrar General of Census of India.
1874
The Marine Survey of India is established, that carries out systematic hydrographic surveying.
1875
The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) is established.
1878
International Federation of Surveyors is established in Paris.
1891
At the International Geographical Congress, Berne, Professor Albrecht Penck advances the idea of an International Map of the World on a scale of 1:1 million.
1895
J. G. Bartholomew publishes the Royal Scottish Geographical Society’s ‘Atlas of Scotland’.
1899
The first edition of the ‘Soumen Kartaso: Atlas of Finland’ is published.
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Aerial Photography
Gaspard Felix Tournachon (1859), also known as Nadar, was a famous French photographer and ballonist who carried big cameras aloft. His goal was to make land surveys from aerial photographs. Although not fully succesful in his attempt, he set the stage for the future of remote sensing. His photographic observation did, however, catch the attention of the military. In April 1861, Professor Thaddeus Lowe went up in a balloon near Cincinnati, Ohio, to make a weather observation. Later on he was appointed as the in-charge of the US Army Balloon Corps. In 1903, realising the danger involved in the use of balloons, a very light camera was attached to a carrier pigeon. These cameras took a picture every 30 seconds as the pigeons winged its way along a straight course to its home shelter. Pigeons were certainly faster than balloons, but their flight paths were unpredictable. Wilbur Wright was the first pilot in remote sensing history who took photographs from an aeroplane. The first photograph from an aircraft was taken by Wilbur’s passenger, L. P. Bonvillain, on a demostration flight in France in 1908. In 1909, the first aerial motion pictures were taken by him in Italy.
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The GTS
Colonel William Lambton in December 1799 put forward the proposal of the Great Trigonometric Survey (GTS) of India. On February 6, 1800 formal orders were issued for the commencement of the survey. The actual work of the GTS of India was started on April 10, 1802 by the measurement of a base line near Madras. From this base line, a series of triangles were carried up to the Mysore plateau and a second base was measured near Bangalore in 1804. The series was taken across the peninsula from this place. Having connected the two sides of the peninsula, Major Lambton measured an arc of the meridian, and the series of triangles that were measured for this purpose were known as the "Great Arc Series". In 1818, Sir George Everest joined with Lambton. Both Lambton and Everest considered their work to be of global importance -- the measurement of the arc had contributed to British, French and Swedish attempts to mathematically compute the exact shape of the earth.
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