The three dimensional maps of galaxy positions provided by large surveys encode information about the physics of the Universe in a number of ways. The relative amplitude of clustering on small and large scales can be used to measure the summed mass of the neutrino species, the matter and baryon densities, and the spectrum of primordial perturbations. Baryon Acoustic Oscillations, patterns of galaxies resulting from pressure waves in the early Universe, can be used as standard rulers to measure the expansion history of the Universe, setting constraints on its current acceleration, and the "Dark Energy" driving it. Apparent distortions caused by co-moving galaxy velocities depend on the rate of structure growth, allowing tests of General Relativity to be performed on the largest possible scales. Care needs to be taken to extract this physical information, as we do not observe the matter in the Universe directly, but only through galaxies, which are biased tracers of the matter field. In this talk I will show how we can still make robust measurements, highlighting recent work in which I have been involved. I will then introduce a number of ongoing surveys, the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) and the Dark Energy Survey (DES), and proposed next generation surveys BigBOSS and Euclid.