Post #1528535
2026-04-20 19:22 UTC
it's not just in oilfields. surveyors use decimal feet (and decimal "US survey feet" which are different) and that's almost certainly a surveyor's tape.
decimal feet used to be somewhat common in all kinds of engineering, but it seems to have stuck around longest in civil engineering.
CC: @neauoire@merveilles.town
Replies (3)
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@blakecoverett@hachyderm.io 2026-04-20 19:26
@khm @neauoire Fascinating. Thank you. That does track. I was vaguely aware of the "US survey feet" thing and clearly have a new Wikipedia rabbit hole to explore now.
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@clew@ecoevo.social 2026-04-20 20:05
I find decimal feet easy to work with — squaring up a plot using Pythagoras’ theorem, etc — BUT the only un-cursed way to make those tapes is to print a decimal point before *every* tenth of a foot. 1 .1 .2 .3 .4 .5 .6 .7 .8 .9 2 So when you read it off or copy it down, you naturally include the “point 3”, etc. @khm @blakecoverett @neauoire
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@occult@vox.ominous.net 2026-04-20 21:09
@khm @blakecoverett @neauoire yeah I was about to say it's a decimal feet tape measure for like, surveying purposes. That's pretty hilarious though.