The

Civil Engineering Students

Year (1)
Second semester Phase II

Traverse

Dr. Kamal M. Ahmed

Surveying Measurements
Surveyors, regardless of how complicated the
technology, measure two quantities: angle and
distances.
They do two things: map or set-out
Angles are measured in horizontal or vertical planes
only to produce horizontal angles and vertical angles.
Distances are measured in the horizontal, the vertical,
or sloped directions.
Our calculations are usually in a horizontal or a
vertical plane for simplicity, sloped values can be
calculated if needed.

 For example: maps are horizontal projections of

data, distances are horizontal on a map and so
are the angles.
Assume that you are given the horizontal
coordinates X (E), and Y (N) of two points A
and B: (20,20) and (30, 40). If you measure the
horizontal angle CBA and the horizontal
distance AC, found them to be: 110 and 15m,
then the coordinates of C can easily be
computed, here is how:
C
Calculate the azimuth of AB, then BC
Calculate (E, N) for BC
Calculate (E, N) for C

 But, if you were given a slope distance or a

slope angle, you wont be able to compute the
location (Coordinates) of C.
What we did was to map point C, we
found out its coordinates, now you plot it on a
piece of paper, a map is a large number of
points such as C, a building is four points, and
so on.
Now, if point was a column and we
wanted to set it out , then we know the
coordinates of C from the map:

 Calculate the angle ABC and the length of BC

Setup the instrument ,such as a theodolite, on B,
aim at A
Rotate the instrument the angle ABC, measure a distance
BC, mark the point.

You set out a point, then you can set out a project.
In both cases, you need two known points such as A
and B to map or set out point C
We call precisely known points such as A and B
control points
In horizontal, we do a traverse to construct
new control points based on given points.
You need at least two points given in horizontal ( or
one and direction) and one in vertical to begin your
project

 Definition:

Traversing

A traverse is a series of consecutive lines whose

lengths and directions have been measured.

Why?
The purpose of establishing a traverse is to extend
the horizontal control. A survey usually begins with
one given vertical control and two ( or one and
direction) given in horizontal
You need more than two points to control the
project, have enough known points to map any
point, and set-out any object any where in a large
project.

Procedure
Assume that you wanted to
map calculate coordinates
A
of the building, trees, and
the fence in the
drawing, you are given
points A and B only, cannot
measure angle and distance B
to corner F or the trees!!
You need to construct new
control points points of
known precise coordinates
such as C, D, and E to
measure from.
You do that with a traverse

F
Grass

Procedure
1. Walk around and decide
which are the best locationsA
to have new control points
2. Construct the points, nails
on asphalt, concrete and
bolts, etc.
3. Measure all the angles and B
all the lengths of the
traverse
4. Check if the angles and
lengths are accepted
5. If rejected, re-do the work
6. If accepted, adjust the errors
and compute coordinates.

D
Grass

Coordinate Computations
Assume that we were given a site to map, and
the coordinates of one point (A), and the
azimuth of the line (AB), we need more known
(control stations)
We marked three more points around the site,
the four points make rectangle.
We then measured all the internal angles and
the length of all the sides (lines).
Using the given azimuth of AB and all angles,
we computed the azimuth of all the sides, we
get the following table:

Coordinate Computations
Point

Line

Azimuth
E =
N =
Length
() d sin( )
d cos( )

200.00 350.00
AB

100.10

0 00' 00''

0.00

110.00

200.00 450.10
BC

100.00 90 00' 00" 100.00

0.00

300.00 450.10
CD

100.00 18000'00" 0.00

-100.00

300.00 350.10
DA

99.70 27000'00

- 99.70

0.00

A
Sum

200.30 350.10
399.80

0.30

0.10