SURVEYING FOR ENGINEERS

CEVB 213

Introduction to
Surveying

WHAT IS SURVEYING

Objectives
Understand the fundamental principles and
methodology of surveying.
Perform basic surveying skills such as leveling,
traversing and tacheometry.

Some Insights
Principles of engineering survey
Surveying instruments
Scales
Production of drawing

Principles of leveling

Instruments
Field practice and recording/booking
Calculation of reduced levels
Error and accuracy
Contouring and production of contour maps

Some Insights
Distance measurement

Tapes
Chaining
Stadia methods and electromagnetic instruments
Error and accuracy, correction

Theodolites
Uses
Features
Measurement of horizontal and vertical angles

Some Insights
Traversing and triangulation

Principles
Close, open and link traverse
Use of level
Baseline and angle instrument
Triangulation computation

Tacheometry

Introduction (stadia method, EDM method, substance

method, optical wedge method)
Calculation of levels and distance by stadia and EDM
methods.
Field practice and booking
contouring

Some Insights
Earthwork Computation
Computation of areas
Computation of volumes of earthworks
Mass Haul diagrams

Setting out
Introduction
Standard procedures of setting out for building, roads, etc
Positioning techniques

Surveying Engineering Definition

Surveying can be defined as the art and
science of making measurements of the
relative positions of natural and manmade
features on the earths surface, and
presentation of this information either
graphically (in the form of a map or plan) or
numerically.

Surveying Engineering Definition

A surveyor is a professional person with the academic
qualifications and technical expertise to conduct one, or
more, of the following activities
to determine, measure and represent the land, threedimensional objects, point-fields, and trajectories;
to assemble and interpret land and geographically
related information;
to use that information for the planning and efficient
administration of the land, the sea and any structures
thereon; and
to conduct research into the above practices and to
develop them.

Surveying Engineering Definition

Surveying engineering can be divided into
three subsections:
Surveying learning how to carry out survey
and recording the details and then present
them in the form of a plan or map.
Setting out points/stations marking of the
project on the site i.e. transfer the design
details to the site.
Data processing areas and volume
measurement, corrections of the data.

Principle of Surveying
1. Compliance with design
2. Legal responsibility

3. Contractual requirement
4. Structural accuracy

5. Plant and equipment location

6. Safety

7. Interface with existing features

8. Recording of existing condition

Compliance with design

Siting of the building
Footings
Aesthetics
Town Planning
Functionality (especially re levels)
Integration of specialist equipment

Legal responsibility
Site / building ownership & titles
Council requirements, Planning & Building
Approvals
Easements and covenants
Height restrictions
Set backs
Boundaries & encroachments

Contractual requirements
Certify that building is within boundaries

Building tolerances
Leases & tenancy area surveys
Owners reliance on built area for income
Strata title and Agreement to Lease requirements

Structural accuracy
Structure is designed to support loads

Eccentricity of loadings
Building stability & deflection
Shop drawings & details

Plant & equipment locations

Temporary plant
Temporary accesses

Permanent equipment
Lifts, escalators, substations, etc

Safety
In ground services:
Electricity, water, Foundation design, footings and
support

Bridges, roads & civil engineering structures

Interface with existing features

Extensions to existing buildings

Existing structural grids & structural capacity

Record of existing conditions

As built drawings
Historical records
Monitor movements of historic structures
As built surveys
Locating in ground services
Repairs & maintenance

Outputs from surveys

Title Survey

Site Plan
Setout Plans

Grid Establishment Plan

Detailed Plans, Sections, Elevations

As Built Surveys

Type of survey

 Geodetic surveying
Measurements take into account of the curvature of the
earth
Plane surveying
Assumed the earths surface is flat
Topographical surveys
Locating objects and measuring the relief, roughness, or
three-dimensional variations of the earths surface.

 Engineering or site survey

Embrace all the survey work required before, during and
after any engineering work (such as route, dam, power
plant, building, airport, etc.)
Cadastral survey
Survey undertaken to define and record the boundaries of
properties, legislative areas and countries.

 Photogrammetric surveys
Photographs (aerial and close range) are used in
conjunction with limited ground surveys
Remote Sensing
Another type of aerial survey. It makes use of cameras or
sensors which can be transported either in aircraft or in
artificial satellites

 Geographical Information Systems (GIS)

is an information management process for organising
spatially related data so that it can be analysed and
displayed
Global Positioning System (GPS)
Satellites positioning

 Hydrographic survey
pertain to lakes, streams, and other bodies of water.
Shorelines are chartered, shapes of areas beneath water
surfaces are determined, water flow of streams is
estimated, and other information needed relative to
navigation, flood control, and development of water
resources is obtained.

SURVEYING INSTRUMENTS

 Something to measure directions or angles, both

horizontal and vertical.
Something to measure distances.
Depending on the job this can range from a compass.
To a total station with prisms.

Theodolite
An instrument for measuring directions
Can be optical where glass circles are used to
measure directions
Usually these days they are digital

Target

Total station
EDM can be integral to total station or a separate
device

A digital theodolite with in built EDM and

provision to store observations

Prism
The surveying prism is a piece of
optical glass in the shape of the
corner of a cube.
It has 3 perpendicular sides so that
any incident beam is returned
parallel.

Prism pole

Automatic level
Measure height of 2 points on the ground.

Nilkon automatic levels AC-2S

Pentax automatic levels C32

Tribrach
Designed so that different instruments can be
mounted in EXACTLY the same location
No need to set up tripod again
Reduces plumbing and plummet errors

Substantially reduces random error in traverses

TRIPOD

The Surveyors Band and Tape

The chain and tape are still very useful distance
measuring instruments

Prismatic Compass

Scale factor

Metric scale
Are the absolute scale.
1:1,000 mm means 1mm in the drawing/plan
represent 1m.
small scale represent large fraction i.e. 1/10000,
1/50000, etc.
large scale represent small fraction i.e. 1/10,
1/20, 1/100, etc.
For engineering drawing the scale 1/500 is normally
used.

Unit measurement

Linear
1 meter =
1 ft
=
1 km
=
1 rod

=
=

Area
1 acre

3.281 feet
0.3408 m
1000 m
20.11678249 meter
66.00316633 feet

=
=
1 hectare =

0.40469 hectare
4046.86 m2
9999.7976 m2

1 hectare =
1 sq feet =

2.471 acre
0.092903 m2

Question
Calculate the area in ACRES -- ( 1 acre =4046.86m2)

329.2 m

150.32 m
AREA of the lot = 329.2 * 150.32

= 49485.34 m2
49485.34 m2 = 49485.34 m2 / 4046.86 m2
= 12.23 acres

 Transform the following to sq feet.

21110 m2
1 sq feet = 0.092903 m2

Answer
1 sq feet = 0.092903 m2
21110m2 = 21110m2 /0.092903 m2
= 227226.2467 ft2

Production of drawing

 Surveyors main objectives is to achieve accuracy in

field operation.
The final outputs are drawing plan and maps.

Autocad

 Cadastral plan and engineering plan.

Large scale map 1:10000

1:25,000 map

Small scale map 1:50,000 with contour

THE END