132
J. T. COOPER
had contours. A few areas, such as Kwun Tong and Tsuen Wan, had been mapped with 20 ft. contours on a scale of 200 ft. to 1 inch.
In the New Territories, where land administration is the responsibility of the District Commissioner, the only large-scale plans were the old D.D. (Demarcation District) Sheets, surveyed in 1899-1904 by Indian surveyors seconded from the Survey of India. These sheets were at scales of 16 and 32 inches to one mile, i.e. multiples of the 1 inch to one mile series used in India. They had never been revised and were mostly in a very tattered state; several had been lost during the war. They were purely cadastral plans, i.e. they showed property boundaries but not topographical detail.
In the early fifties, it was decided to have the developed and cultivated areas of the New Territories re-mapped at a scale of 1/1200 (100 ft. to 1 inch). The undersigned was recruited to take charge of this project, which was commenced in 1954. The traditional method of plane-table survey was used, and no contours were surveyed, since the primary object of the new survey was to replace the old D.D. cadastral sheets for land administration. It was intended that the staff of the New Territories Administration should reconcile the property boundaries on the new plans with the old title plans (based on the D.D. Sheets) and the old land records.
Difficulties and delays in recruiting and training local staff, and in retaining them once they had been trained, slowed the mapping programme, and after a couple of years, it was evident that the task of mapping the New Territories by such methods would require at least eight years. In the meantime, accurate contoured plans were urgently needed for the many large projects which were planned both in New Kowloon and the New Territories.
After investigations into the feasibility and cost of mapping the whole Colony at large scales from air photography, tenders were called for in 1962. Bids were received from several international firms, and the contract was let in December 1962 to Hunting Surveys Ltd., a very experienced English firm. It was estimated that the whole project would take five or six years to complete.
The contract called for:
(1) mapping at a scale of 50 ft. to 1 inch all areas of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and New Kowloon where plans
132
J. T. COOPER
had contours. A few areas, such as Kwun Tong and Tsuen Wan, had been mapped with 20 ft. contours on a scale of 200 ft. to 1 inch.
In the New Territories, where land administration is the re- sponsibility of the District Commissioner, the only large-scale plans were the old D.D. (Demarcation District) Sheets, surveyed in 1899 - 1904 by Indian surveyors seconded from the Survey of India. These sheets were at scales of 16 and 32 inches to one mile,i.e. multiples of the 1 inch to one mile series used in India. They had never been revised and were mostly in a very tattered state; several had been lost during the war. They were purely cadastral plans i.e. they showed property boundaries but not topographical detail.
In the early fifties it was decided to have the developed and cultivated areas of the New Territories re-mapped at a scale of 1/1200, (100 ft. to 1 inch). The undersigned was recruited to take charge of this project which was commenced in 1954. The tradi- tional method of plane-table survey was used and no contours were surveyed, since the primary object of the new survey was to replace the old D.D. cadastral sheets for land administration. It was intended that the staff of the New Territories Administration should reconcile the property boundaries on the new plans with the old title plans (based on the D.D. Sheets) and the old land records.
Difficulties and delays in recruiting and training local staff, and in retaining them once they had been trained, slowed the mapping programme and after a couple of years it was evident that the task of mapping the New Territories by such methods would require at least eight years. In the meantime, accurate contoured plans were urgently needed for the many large projects which were planned both in New Kowloon and the New Territories.
After investigations into the feasibility and cost of mapping the whole Colony at large scales from air photography, tenders were called for in 1962. Bids were received from several interna- tional firms and the contract was let in December 1962 to Hunting Surveys Ltd. a very experienced English firm. It was estimated that the whole project would take five or six years to complete.
The contract called for:
(1) mapping at a scale of 50 ft. to 1 inch all areas of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and New Kowloon where plans
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.