AKSUM UNIVERISTY

COLLEAGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHONLOGY

School of Mines
Department of Civil Engineering
Chapter one: Basic Surveying Concepts

• Definition: Surveying is the art of measuring distances,

angles and positions of points on, above or below the surface of
the earth relative to some reference system.

• More precisely, Surveying can be defined as the art and science of

determining the relative positions of various points.
• Surveying is an Art: Because only a surveyor who has full
understanding of surveying techniques will be able to determine
the most efficient methods required to obtain optimal results over
a wide variety of surveying problems.

• Surveying is a science: Because it uses mathematical techniques

to analyze field data. Accuracy and reliability depends on
understanding scientific principles underlying and affecting survey
measurement.

• It also involves in staking out the lines and grades needed for the
construction of buildings, roads, dams, and other Engineering
structures.
• Additionally it includes the processing of converting the

measurements in to positional information such as maps and

coordinates.

• In addition to the field measurements, surveying includes the

computation of areas, volumes, and other quantities, as well as the

preparation of necessary maps and diagrams. Surveying has many

industrial applications: for example, setting equipment’s,

assembling air crafts, laying out assembly lines, and so on.

• Generally, the practice of surveying is an art, because it is
dependent upon the skill, judgment, and experience of the
surveyor and an applied science, because field and office
procedures rely up on a systematic body of knowledge,
related primarily to mathematics and physics.
• 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: - is the line that follows the direction of gravity
at a point on surface of the earth. At a point there is only one
(single) vertical line.
• Vertical plane: - at a point is any plane that contains the vertical
line at the point. There are unlimited numbers of vertical planes
at a given point.

• Horizontal line: - at a point is any line that is perpendicular to

the vertical line at that point. At a point there are an unlimited
number of horizontal lines.

• Horizontal plane: - at a point is the line that is perpendicular to

the vertical line at the point. There is only one horizontal plane
through a given point.
• Vertical angle: - is an angle measured in a vertical plane.

Figure 1.1 Terms used in surveying

• Horizontal angle: is an angle measured in a horizontal plane
between two vertical planes.

Figure 1.2 Horizontal angles

• Elevation: Elevation of a points is its vertical distance above or
below a given reference level surface. The difference in elevation
between two points is called change in elevation.

– Primary division of surveying

• Primary divisions of surveying are divided in to two on the basis

of whether the curvature of the earth is considered or the earth is
assumed to be a flat plane.
• A. Geodetic surveying

• The study of size and shape of the earth and its

gravity field is known as geodesy. Therefore,
geodetic surveying is a type of surveying in
which the curvature of the earth is considered.
Large areas of the earth’s surface are involved
and it requires high degree of precisions.
• Satellite positioning system, which can obtain the three-
dimensional coordinates of any point, is considered in this
method.

B. Plane Surveying

• A type of surveying in which the curvature of the earth is

not considered and relatively small areas are under
considers and, assumed that the earth’s surface is flat, i.e. it
gives a horizontal plane. Measurements plotted will
represent the projection on the horizontal plane of the actual
field measurements.
• Plane surveys are the most commonly practiced method of
surveying and treat the earth as a flat or "plane" surface. Good
enough for small-scale surveys in limited areas, the curvature of
the earth has no effect on the results, thus the computations and
results can be referenced to a plane or flat surface.
• 1.3 Need for surveying
• 1.4 Classification Surveying

• 1.4.1 Based on its purpose

• Control survey: - is a survey made to establish the horizontal or

vertical positions of points.

• Topographic Survey is a survey conducted to determine the

configuration of the ground and all the features on it (man-made or
natural).

• Construction Survey: - Surveys performed to locate or layout

engineering works. It is also called lay out survey.
• Cadastral Survey: - is 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.

• Hydrographic Survey: is the survey conducted to determine the

depth and terrain configurations of the bottom of water bodies.

• Route Survey: - involves the determination of the relief and the

location of natural and artificial objects along a proposed route
for highway, railroad, canal, pipeline, power line or other
utilities. It may also involve the calculation of earthwork
quantities.
• Arial survey (photogrammetric survey): Aerial surveys are
accomplished using either photogrammetry or remote sensing.
Photogrammetry uses cameras that are carried usually in airplanes
to obtain images, whereas remote sensing employs cameras and
other types of sensors that can be transported in either aircraft or
satellites.

Based on instrument used

• Based on various types of instruments used, surveying can be

classified into six types.
• Chain surveying: Chain survey is the simplest method of
surveying. In this survey only measurements are taken in the
field, and the rest work, such as plotting calculation etc. are done
in the office. This is most suitable adapted to small plane areas
with very few details.

• Compass surveying: Compass surveying can be defined as the

method of surveying in which the directions of the survey lines is
determined by means of a compass and also by using tape or a
chain.
• Theodolite surveying: A theodolite is a precision instrument used for measuring

angles both horizontally and vertically. Theodolites can rotate along their

horizontal axis as well as their vertical axis.

• Tacheometric surveying: it is a method of angular surveying in which the

horizontal distance from the instrument to the staff stations are determined from

instrumental observations only.

• Photographic surveying: photographic surveying of a locality from the air by

means of a special-purpose aerial camera mounted on an airplane, helicopter,

dirigible, artificial earth satellite, or rocket....In certain cases the photography

is carried out on a cylindrical surface or with a rotating objective (panoramic

scan aerial surveying).

• Principle of Surveying:

• Two basic principle of Surveying are:

1.Always work from whole to part

According to the first principle the whole survey area is first

enclosed by main survey stations (control stations) and main survey
lines. The area is then divided into a number of divisions by
forming well-conditioned triangles.

2. To locate a new station by at least two measurements (linear and

Angular) from fixed reference points.
• According to second principles the points are located by linear or
angular measurements or by both in Surveying. If two control
points are established first, then the new station can be located by
linear measurement.
1.4 Sources of Error:
precision and Accuracy
Errors and Mistakes

• No one is perfect in nature while measuring any quantity and

there are no perfect instruments with which to do the measuring.
Thus the results of all measurements are imperfect and this
imperfection is the results of errors or mistakes.
• Errors: - are inaccuracies in measurement caused by the types of
equipment used for and the way in which the equipment’s are
used. In other words it is the difference from the true value due to
personal or instrumental imperfection.

• 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 survey or).
• They are the difference from the true value caused by the
inattention of the surveyor for example, he may read a number as I
when it is actually and record the wrong quantity.

• Mistakes are also known as gross error and can be eliminated by

using standard methods of observation and checking. They are

random in nature.

Sources of error in surveying measurement

• 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.
• 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
of person cannot read it perfectly and the reading will always be
either a little large or a little small.
• 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 hole of the
instrument cause errors. These can be minimized or even
eliminated by proper design and adjustment of instrument at the
time production.
•
• Natural Errors: - Caused by the variations in one or
more of the natural variables like temperature, wind,
moisture, 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 just few examples of possible sources of systematic errors.
Though they are cumulative in nature some of them can be
eliminated and some and some may be minimized.

• 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 be exactly perfect,

due to errors or/and mistakes. Hence a major concern of 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.
• Accuracy: denotes the closeness of a given measurement to the
true value. It is the degree of perfection achieved in
measurement.

• Precision: denotes the degree of closeness to another

measurement of the same quantity. If a quantity is measured
several times and the value obtained are very close to one another
might not close to the true value. A measurement can be precise
without being accurate.
Example: - consider the case with which two parties record the length
of a line having 50m.

• 1st team: 50.01m, 50.03m, 49.99m………….Avg. = 50.01m

• 2nd team: 51.01m, 51.02m, 51m …… ……...Avg. = 51.01m

• From the above results one can conclude the following

• The first team is more accurate but less precise and second team is
less accurate but 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 unit.

• 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.
Figure 1.3 examples of accuracy and precision
• In the above figure

• (a) is precise but not accurate

• (b) is neither accurate nor precise

• (c) is both precise and accurate