The history of the Survey of India dates back to the 18th Century. Forerunners of army of the East India Company and sometimes in its wake Surveyors had onerous task of exploring the unknown. Bit by bit the tapestry of Indian terrain was completed by the painstaking efforts of a distinguished line of Surveyors such as Mr Lambton and Sir George Everest. It is a tribute to the foresight of such Surveyors that at the time of independence the country inherited a survey network built on scientific principles. The great trigonometric series spanning the country from North to South & East to West are some of the best geodetic control series available in the world. The scientific principles of surveying have since been augmented by the latest technology to meet the multi- disciplinary requirement of data from planners and scientists.

Organized into only 5 Directorates in 1950, mainly to look after the mapping needs of Defence Forces in North West and North East, the Department has now grown ...more