Certainly a professional surveyor with modern equipment and access to nearby benchmarks and trig points [fixed known geographical positions, used as certain datum to extrapolate the precise position of another nearby point or boundary] could very accurately place the entire adjoining property boundary or just one or two points on it for you. Surely the local authorities know its position anyway, or how else would they even know that you've encroached by just a couple of feet? If you haven't already i'd simply ask them where it is, maybe you'll have to pay for some petty functionary to come out and bang a stake or two in the ground.
But paying for a survey was not what i was referring to in the post you've quoted. I mean using the type of equipment utilised by the construction industry to set out the profiles for buildings etc. Dumpy levels and associated equipment are much more basic/primitive than the modern theodolites used by the land survey industry, but for smallish areas they're very accurate when carefully used and relatively cheap and easy to buy [here at least]:
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Triangulation has many 'levels' of accuracy depending on it's purpose and it's meaning can also vary with it's purpose. The term is used in surveying and large-scale triangulation was used extensively for very accurate surveying until recently. At the other end of accuracy it's used for course checking/relocating position during cross-country navigating. Basically as i was referring to it, it's a method of determining the position of a point on the earth or an object by shooting bearings to or from at least 3 know geographical points then using back bearings to plot 3 lines which theoretically will intersect at that point on a map or chart from which it's grid reference/coordinates can be read. Of course, the scale of the chart and the accuracy of the bearings will have great influence on the final accuracy. If the three lines don't precisely intersect they will form a [hopefully] small triangle known as 'the triangle of error' in which it can be assumed the point is located, therefore to be theoretically accurate to within 3 feet the longest side of 'the triangle of error' should be no more that that. It's most basic form is using a simple magnetic compass to obtain bearings to 3 distant hilltops or other prominent local features which have known GRs or coords, but of course precise accuracy is not important to a temporarily disorientated bushwalker who only wants to check his/her position to within a couple of hundred feet or so [or even just know which ridge he or she's standing on]. You won't get the degree of accuracy you're wanting using a handheld compass, even a very accurate military one. However, you may not need to pay a qualified surveyor with a high-tech theodolite either.
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