Plane table

History

The earliest mention of a plane table dates to 1551 in Abel Foullon's "Usage et description de l'holomètre", published in Paris. However, since Foullon's description was of a complete, fully developed instrument, it must have been invented earlier.

A brief description was also added to the 1591 edition of Digge's Pantometria. The first mention of the device in English was by Cyprian Lucar in 1590.

The Swiss instrument maker Leonhard Zubler published an account of the plane table in Novum instrumentum geometricum, 1607. He used the term Instrumentum Chorographicum crediting its invention to Philipp Eberhard, a fellow Swiss instrument maker based in Zurich.

Some have credited Johann Richter, also known as Johannes Praetorius, a Nuremberg mathematician, in 1610 with the first plane table, but this appears to be incorrect.

The plane table became a popular instrument for surveying. Its use was widely taught. Some considered it a substandard instrument compared to other devices such as the theodolite, since it was relatively easy to use. By allowing the use of graphical methods rather than mathematical calculations, it could be used by those with less education than other instruments. The addition of a camera to the plane table, as was done from 1890 by Sebastian Finsterwalder in conjunction with a phototheodolite, established photogrammetry in spatial and temporal surveying.