Overview of development of electronic tachymeters leica geosystems

This article is a chronological overview of the development of tachymeters, instruments for measuring angles and distances, of the manufacturer Leica Geosystems.The choice of manufacturer was made in order to show the stages of the development of the technology for acquiring the primary geodetic measurement data (angles and distances).Leica Goesystems is the successor to Wild; by joining some other high-tech companies, it has become a kind of heir to the history of the development of the best surveying measuring equipment.Leica's technological solutions represent milestones in the progress of the development of total stations -milestone that have only been followed by other manufacturers.This review is based on describing the various models of total stations, which over the years has allowed more precise measurement to be captured within shorter times and high-level post-processing on the field.In addition, the development of the systems for the preparation of a total station for measuring, for sighting, for reading measuring values, for storing measurement data, and communicating with external processing units is examined.Emphasis is also given to its integration with the modern technology of satellite positioning, which currently represents a kind of standard as well as future development in geodesy.