Electronic surveying equipment
Often more commonly referred to as EDMs and are used to accurately measure the distance between one point and another. This particular piece of electronic surveying equipment works by measuring how long it takes the laser to travel from the EDM to a prism placed at another location and then back to the EDM again. However before the invention of this particular piece of electronic equipment tapes or chains were used in order to provide accurate measurements of the distance between 2 points.