Surveying I Notes

Chapter One
Introduction to Surveying
Definition
Surveying is the science and art of determining the positions of various points above, on or
below the surface of the earth. The relative positions are determined by measuring horizontal
distance, vertical distance (elevations), horizontal angle, and vertical angle accurately using
various surveying instruments. After taking the measurements in the field, computations are done
and the plans and maps are prepared in the office. These plans and maps are used for planning of
engineering works, making of boundaries, computations of area and volumes, and various other
purposes. Surveying also includes the art of setting out or locating the points on the ground from
the plan or map.

The first stage in all the big projects is generally to survey the area and to prepare plans. These
plans are used in the preparation of the detailed drawing, design, and estimate of the project.
After finalizing the drawings, setting out is done by establishing the various points and lines on
the ground from the drawing.
Surveying although simple in concept, it requires great skill and practice for doing the work
accurately and economically. It requires basic knowledge of various disciplines such as
mathematics, physics, geodesy and astronomy. The need for accurate surveying is increasing
rapidly with the development in the technology. The construction of modern buildings, high
ways, railways, high dams, long bridges, and tunnels requires accurate surveying. As the cost the
of land and property is increasing rapidly, high accuracy is required in making the boundaries
and land subdivisions

In order to gain a clear understanding of the procedures for making surveying measurements on
earth’s surface, it is necessary to be familiar with the meanings of certain basic terms.

Vertical line: - it is the line that follows the direction of gravity at a point on the earth’s surface.
At a point there is only one (single) vertical line.

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 Surveying I Notes

Vertical plane: - any plane that contains the vertical line at the point on the surface of the earth.
There are unlimited numbers of vertical planes at a given point.

Horizontal line: - It is any line that is perpendicular to the vertical line at a point on the earth's
surface. At a point there are an unlimited number of horizontal lines.
Horizontal plane: - at a point on the earth's surface, the plane that is perpendicular to the
vertical line at that point is known as horizontal plane. There is only one horizontal plane
through a given point.
A vertical angle: - is an angle measured in a vertical plane.
A Horizontal angle: - is an angle measured in a horizontal plane between two vertical planes.
Elevation of a point is its vertical distance above or below a given reference level surface. The
difference in elevation between two points is vertical distances between two level surfaces
contain the two points.
i. Need for surveying
Though it is impossible to predict when surveying started it is possible to assume surely that it
was as old as early civilization. Because every type of construction needs surveying as a
prerequisite whatever may be its type.
All types of engineers, as well as architectures, foresters, and hydrologists, are concerned with
surveying as a means of planning and laying out their projects, surveying is needed for
subdivisions, buildings, bridges, highways, railroads canals, piers, wharves, dams, irrigation and
drainage networks, and many other projects. In addition it is required for lying out of industrial
equipment setting machinery, holding tolerances in ships and air lines, preparing forestry and
geological maps.
ii. primary division of surveying
Primary division of surveying is made on the basis of whether the curvature of the earth is
considered or assumed to be flat plane. The shape of the earth is an oblate spheroid. It is an
ellipsoid revolution, flattened at the poles and bulging at the equator. The length of the polar axis
is about 12713.168km and that of equatorial axis is about 12756.602km.Thus the polar axis
shorter than the equatorial axis by about 43.43km.
Because of the curvature of the earth's surface the measured distances on the earth are actually
curved. However, when the distances are small, compared with the radius of the earth, there is no

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 Surveying I Notes

significant difference between the curved distance and the corresponding straight line distance
and the curvature of the earth can be neglected.
Surveying is thus divided into two types
1. Plane surveying
2. Geodetic surveying
1. Plane surveying
It is the type of surveying in which the curvature of the earth is neglected and it is assumed to be
flat surface. All distance and horizontal angles are assumed to be projected on to a horizontal
plane.
Plane surveying can safely be used when one is concerned with small portion of the earth's
surface and areas involved are less than 250sq.km or so. It is worth noting that the difference
between an arc distance of 18.5km on the earth's surface and the corresponding chord distance is
less than 10mm. Further the difference between the sum of the angles of a spherical triangle
having an area of 200sq.km on the earth's surface and that of the corresponding angles of a plane
triangle is only 1second. In plane surveying the angled of polygons are considered as plane
angles.
2. Geodetic surveying
It is the type of surveying in which the curvature of the earth is taken into consideration, and a
very standard of accuracy is maintained. The main objective of geodetic surveying is to
determine the precise location of a system of widely spaced points on the surface of the earth.
iii. Classification of surveying based on purpose
Most of these types of survey are planning type surveying.
1. Control survey: - is a survey made to establish the horizontal or vertical positions of an
arbitrary point.
2. Topographic Survey is a survey conducted to determine the configuration of the ground
and all the features on it (man made or natural)
3. Construction Survey: - Surveys performed to locate or layout engineering works.
4. Cadastral Survey: - us a survey made to determine the lengths and directions of
boundary lines and the area of the tract bounded by these lines. Or it is simply a survey
made to establish the positions of boundary lines on the ground.

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 Surveying I Notes

5. Hydrographic Survey: - is a survey conducted to determine the configuration of the

bottom of the body of water.
6. Route Survey: - involves the determination of the relief and the location of natural and
artificial objects along a proposed route for high– way, railroad, canal, pipeline, power
line or other utilities. The may also involve the calculation of earthwork quantities.
7. Arial survey (or photogram metric survey): - a survey conducted by means of Arial
photography.
iv. Classification of survey based on instruments used
Based On the instruments used surveying can be classified as under:
1. Chain surveying: This is the simplest type of surveying in which only linear measurements
are taken with a chain or tape.
2. Compass surveying: In compass surveying, the horizontal angles are measured with the help
of a magnetic compass, in addition to the linear measurements with a chain or a tape.
3. Level1ing: this is a type of surveying in which a leveling instrument is used for
determinations of vertical elevations (levels) of various points in the vertical plane.
4. Plane table surveying: In plane table surveying, a map is prepared in the field while viewing
the terrain after determining the directions of various lines and taking the linear
measurements with telescopic alidade.
5. Theodolite surveying: theodolite is a very precise instrument for measuring horizontal and
vertical angles. The theodolite surveys can be broadly classified in two types:
 Traversing
 Triangulation.
6. Tacheometric surveying: a tacheometric is a special type of theodolite that is fitted with a
Stadia diaphragm having two horizontal cross hairs in addition to the central horizontal hair.
in tacheometric surveying horizontal angles, horizontal distances and elevations are
measured with a tacheometr.
7. Photogrametric surveying: Photogrammetry is a science of taking measurements with the
help of photographs. Photogrametric surveying are generally used for topographic mapping
of vast areas.

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 Surveying I Notes

8. EDM Surveying: Trilateration is a type of triangulation in which all the three sides of a
triangle are measured accurately with EDM instruments. The angles are computed indirectly
from the known sides of the triangles. Thus all the sides and angles are determined.
vi. Basic measurements in surveying
Surveying basically consists of the following four measurements.
1. Horizontal distance: A horizontal distance is measured in a horizontal plane. If a distance is
measured along a slope, it is reduced to the horizontal equivalent.
2. Vertical distances: A vertical distance is measured along the direction of gravity at that point.
The vertical distances are measured to determine the difference in elevations height of the
various points.
3. Horizontal ang1e: A horizontal angle is measured between two lines in a plane that is
horizontal at that point.
4 Vertical angles: Vertical angle is measured between two lines in a plane that is vertical at a
point.
vii. Sources of Error, precision and Accuracy
Errors and Mistakes
No one is perfect in nature while measuring any quantity and there is no perfect instrument with
which to do the measuring. Thus the results of all measurements are imperfect and this
imperfectness is the results of errors and/or mistakes
Errors: - are inaccuracies in measurement caused by the types of equipment used for by the way
in which the equipments are used. In other words it is the difference from the true value due to
personal or instrumental imperfectness.
Errors cannot be eliminated but they can be minimized to some degree by careful work
combined with the application of certain numerical corrections.
Mistakes: - (or blunders) are inaccuracies in measurement occurring because of some part of the
surveying operation are performed improperly (i.e. carelessness of the surveyor). They are the
difference from the true value caused by the inattention of the survey or for example, he/she may
read a number as 6 when it is actually 9 and record the wrong quantity.
Mistakes are also known as gross error and can be eliminated by adopting standard methods of
observation, booting and checking. They are random in nature.

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 Surveying I Notes

Sources of error
In general there are three sources of error: people, instruments and nature. So, from this point of
view the sources of error may be summarized as follows.
1. Personal Errors: - cased by the inability of the individual to make exact observation due
to the limitations of human sight, touch and hearing. For example in estimating the
fractional part of a scale a person cannot read it perfectly and the reading will always be
either a little large or a little small.
2. Instrumental Errors: - Occur because of imperfect production of parts of the instrument
cannot be adjusted exactly with respect to each other. More over with time the wear and
tear of the instrument cause errors. These can be minimized or even eliminated by proper
design and adjustment of instrument.
3. Natural Errors: - Caused by the variations in one or more of the natural variables like
temperature, wind, moisture, magnetic variations and so on.
Types of errors
Errors are said to be systematic or accidental based on their occurrence and sources
1. Systematic Error; -are also known as cumulative error. These arise from the methods of
measurements, the instruments used and the physical conditions at the time of measurement
must all be considered in the respect.
Expansion of steel tapes, frequency changes in electromagnetic distance measure (EDM)
instruments and collimation in a level are jest few examples of possible sources of systematic
errors. Though they are cumulative in nature some of them can be eliminated and some may
be minimized.
2. Accidental Errors: - (Random Errors) they are excess of systematic errors. They are beyond
the control of the observer and are random in nature.
Accuracy and Precision
As discussed earlier any measurement cannot exactly be perfect, due to errors or/and mistakes.
Hence a major concern in surveying is the precision of the work and the objective of the
surveyor is to make measurements that are both precise and accurate. The terms accuracy and
precision are constantly used in surveying & yet their correct meanings are a little difficult to
grasp.

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 Surveying I Notes

Accuracy denotes the closeness of a given measurement to the true value. It is the degree of
perfection achieved in measurement.
Precision or apparent accuracy is the degree of refinement with which a given quantity
measured. In other words, it is the closeness of one measurement to another. If a quantity is
measured several times and the values obtained are very close to each other, the precision is said
to be high. It doesn’t necessarily follow that better precision means better accuracy.
Example: - consider the case with which two parties record the length of a line
having 50.357m.
1st team: 50.370m, 50.360m, 50.355m…………Avg. = 50.362m
2nd team: 50.355m, 50.356mm, 50.358m …… Avg. = 50.356m
From the above results one can conclude the following
The first team is less accurate and less precise and second team is more accurate and more
precise. Therefore a measurement that is precise will always be accurate if it contains no errors.
In measuring distance precision is defined as the ratio of the error of the measurement to the
distance measured and it is reduced to fraction having a numerator of unity.
Example: - If the distance of 210m is measured and the error is later estimated to equal
0.35m, the precision of measurement is 0.35/210 = 1/ 600. This means for every 600m
measurement there is an error of 1m if the work were done with same degree of precision.
Precision and accuracy can be illustrated diagrammatically as shown below

Compiled by Mohammed H.