peculiar velocity field one can determine the distribution of mass and measure the parameter $\beta=\Omega^{0.6}/b$ by comparing the reconstructed density field with that observed for galaxies or by comparing the measured velocity field with the predicted gravity field generated by fluctuations of the galaxy density field.

These simple ideas have been the underlying motivation for the major wide-angle redshift surveys of optical and infrared galaxies and the Tully-Fisher (TF) and $D_n-\sigma$ redshift-distance surveys conducted over the past two decades. In this contribution we review all of these efforts, giving special emphasis to the results obtained from recently completed redshift-distance surveys. In section \[z\], we briefly mention the redshift surveys that have contributed to our understanding of the local galaxy distribution and those which have played a major role in the analysis of peculiar velocity data. In Section \[zv\], we review the redshift-distance surveys and the peculiar velocity catalogs that have been used to map the peculiar velocity field in the nearby universe. In section \[results\], the most recent surveys are used to reconstruct the velocity and density fields and to measure $\beta$. These results are also compared with those obtained in earlier works. Finally, in Section \[summary\] we briefly summarize 