Baseline (surveying)

Okay kiddo, have you ever played with blocks or legos before? Well, imagine you have a really long straight line of blocks. You want to measure how long this line is and where it starts and ends.

In surveying, which is like giant Lego building for grown-ups, we also have really long straight lines called baselines. These baselines are used as a starting point for measuring things like distances and angles on land.

To make sure we know exactly where the baseline starts and ends, we do something called a baseline survey. This is when a team of surveyors uses special tools to measure the exact length and location of the baseline.

Just like you might count how many blocks are in your line, surveyors use things like lasers, GPS systems, and total stations (which are kind of like fancy rulers) to measure the length and position of the baseline.

Once they have this information, they can use the baseline as a reference point for future surveys. So, when they measure the distance between two points on the land, they can use the baseline as a starting point to know exactly where those points are located.

So, in short, a baseline survey is like making sure the starting line for a race is in the right place, so everyone knows exactly where to start and finish the race.