Hi Allan:

Thanks for digging up the BBC’s Adam Hart Davies documentary series. Certainly, that does show some of the Roman’s surveying skills, but I think I must have conflated my memories of his programmes with another which was much more specifically about the Roman skills in measuring in the vertical plane (for aqueducts), not just the horizontal plane (for roads).

I must have seen another documentary, likely also from the BBC, specifically about aqueducts and the Roman “Chorobates” – see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorobates an)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groma_(surveying)d http://www.surveyhistory.org/roman_surveying1.htm. Moreover my memory had somehow managed to confuse the Chorobates with the Groma (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groma_(surveying))!

Cheers

Brian Randell

From: Allan Olley <allan.olley@alumni.utoronto.ca>
Date: Friday, 25 October 2024 at 03:58
To: herbert.bruderer@bluewin.ch <herbert.bruderer@bluewin.ch>, Brian Randell <brian.randell@newcastle.ac.uk>
Cc: Sigcis <members@sigcis.org>
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Surveying instruments in the 17th century

Hello,

A search reveals the show in Question is What the Romans Did for Us (a six episode series from 2000), episode 4 Arteries of the Empire.

"Adam Hart-Davis analyses the Romans' ingenious surveying methods that enabled them to build their arrow-straight roads."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fl5ptx (available in the UK on BBC iPlayer)

BBC Two - What the Romans Did for Us, Series 1, Arteries of the Empire

The Romans' ingenious surveying methods that enabled them to build arrow-straight roads.

www.bbc.co.uk

Yours Truly,

Allan Olley

From: Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Brian Randell via Members <members@lists.sigcis.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2024 9:14 AM
To: herbert.bruderer@bluewin.ch <herbert.bruderer@bluewin.ch>
Cc: Sigcis <members@sigcis.org>
Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Surveying instruments in the 17th century

Dear Herbert:

Many thanks – very interesting.

I’ve not paid much attention to the history of surveying instruments, but I do remember being impressed by a short program years ago on BBC TV in a series whose title was something like “What Did the Romans Do for Us?”. This particular program was about their surveying techniques and tools, in particular those used for planning and constructing impressively lengthy aqueducts.

Cheers

Brian

On 24/10/2024, 11:15, "Members" <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org> wrote:

Dear colleagues:

As these pictures show, surveying in the 17th century was very laborious:

Technical Marvels, Part 8: Historical Surveying Instruments – Communications of the ACM <https://cacm.acm.org/blogcacm/technical-marvels-part-8-historical-surveying-instruments/> Posted Oct 23 2024