He was largely responsible for completing the section of the Great Trigonometric Survey of India along the meridian arc from southern India extending north to Nepal, a distance of about . This survey was started by William Lambton in 1806 and it lasted for several decades. In 1865, Mount Everest was named in his honour despite his objections by the Royal Geographical Society. This enormous peak was surveyed by Everest's successor, Andrew Scott Waugh, in his role as the Surveyor-General of India.