Area Mapping On Foot

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Jinumon

Thanks so much for the breakdown!

Keep in mind that my estimates for time and personnel needed are guesses. In particular, formal long-distance surveying expeditions into wilderness terrain could involve hundreds of people.

The five men and a wagon estimate is based on surveys of the U.S. Great Plains in the late 19th century. The crew consisted of the lead surveyor and several men to handle the chains and rods as well as someone to look after the horses while the surveyors were busy.

It might be possible to do surveying "in parallel" with different teams working in different areas, but it would require someone overseeing the project with Administration and suitably high Surveying skills. Add Leadership if conditions are difficult and Cartography if the master surveyor is making formal maps as the expedition proceeds.

Other folks have given you search engines other than Google. I'll add Archive.org which has scans of lots of interesting old books, although getting useful info is a bit of a hassle. Notable "heroic" surveyors were the men who mapped India and the American West in the 19th century. The latter group includes explorers such as Lewis & Clark and John Wesley Powell. Their exploits might make good GURPS campaigns.