In the days before GPS, land surveyors often used the observed positions of stars and planets to determine geographic location.
The brighter planets and stars can be seen using the small aperture telescope used in surveying instruments, although atmospheric pollution is making this more difficult in modern times.
The Star Almanac for Land Surveyors contained sun and star ephemeris information for position calculations. Moon and planet data could be found in the Nautical Almanac.
The two biggest problems with daytime observations are finding the object and avoiding looking at the sun.
http://www.transitofvenus.com.au/Res...yingManual.pdf
The direct sunlight on a telescope will cause nasty tube currents. Some form of shade will help. The following paper describes a test of the 200" Hale telescope for daytime observations.
http://trs-new.jpl.nasa.gov/dspace/b.../1/06-0218.pdf
This telescope actually worked better after a bake in the sunlight.
A long dew shield will improve telescope views by reducing scattered light. A long cardboard tube on the finder will make is easier to locate targets.