Computation of Area

Engr. Ibrar Ahmed Khattak

Civil Engineering Department
Army Public College of Management
&Sciences, Rawalpindi
Course learning outcome

CLO: 1 Gain the ability to describe the modern survey equipment & Explain
various classification and Methods of surveying.

CLO: 2 Analyzing of different methods of angles, distance & levelling to calculate

area and volume from the traverse or map.
 The term ‘area’ in the context of surveying refers to the
area of the tract of the land projected upon the horizontal
plane, and not to the actual area of the land surface.

 Area may be expressed in the following units:

1. Square meter
2. Hectares (1 hectare = 10,000 m²)
3. Square feet
4. Acre (1 acre = 4840 sq.yd = 43560 sq.ft)

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 The following is the hierarchical representation of
the various methods of computation of area.
Area

A. Graphical method B. Instrumental method

From field notes From plotted plan

Entire Area Boundary Area

Mid-ordinate Average Trapezoidal Simpson’s

rule ordinate rule Rule Rule
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 Computation of area from field notes
 It is done in two steps.

Step 1 In cross staff survey, the area can be

directly calculate from field notes. During survey
work the whole area is divided into some
geometrical figures, such as triangles, squares and
trapezium and then the area is calculated as
follows:

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1. Area of triangle =
where a, b and c are the sides
and
Area of triangle = ½ × b × h
where b = base
and h = altitude
2 . Area of rectangle = a × b
where a and b are the sides
3 . Area of square = a²
where a is the side of the square
4 . Area of trapezium = ½ (a + b) × d
where a and b are the parallel sides, and d is the
perpendicular distance between them.
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 Step 2 the area along the boundaries is
calculated as follows

o1,o2 = ordinates
x1,x2 = chainages
area of shaded portion = o1+o2 x (x2-x1)
2

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 Similarly, the areas between all pairs of ordinates
are calculated and added to obtain the total
boundary area.

 Hence
Total area of field = Area of geometrical figure + Boundary area
(step 1+ step 2)
= Area of ABCD + Area of ABEFA

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 Problem
Question: A page of the field book of a cross-
staff survey is given in fig. Plot the required
figure and calculate the relevant area.

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 Problem
Question: Figure shows the page of field book of a
cross staff survey .Plot the required figure and
calculate the area of the trapezium ABCDEFA.

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. . . . . . . . . .

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Computation of Area from Plotted Plan

Case1 Considering the entire area:

The entire area is divided into
regions of a convenient shape, and
calculated as follows .

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(a) By Dividing the Area into Triangles
 The triangles are so
drawn as to equalize the
irregular boundary line.
Then the base and
altitude of the triangles
are determined according
to the scale to which the
plan was drawn. After
this, the area of these
triangles are calculated.
The areas are then added
to obtain the total area.
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(b) By Dividing the Area into Squares
 In this method, squares of
equal size are ruled out
on a piece of tracing
paper. Each square
represents a unit area,
which could be 1 cm² or 1
m².The tracing paper is
placed over the plan and
the number of full squares
are counted. The total
area is then calculated by
multiplying the number of
squares by the unit area
of each square.

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 (c) By Drawing parallel lines and converting them
into Rectangles
In this method, a series of Then,
equidistant parallel lines are Required area =
drawn on a tracing paper. The
∑ length of rectangles
constant distance represents a
meter or centimeter. The tracing x constant distance
paper is placed over the plan in
such a way that the area is
enclosed between the two parallel
lines at the top and bottom. Thus
the area is divided into a numbers
of strips. The curved ends of the
strip are replaced by
perpendicular lines (by give and
take principle) and a number of
rectangles are formed. The sum
of the lengths of the triangles
are calculated .
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 Case II
In this method, a large
square or rectangle is
formed within the area in
the plan. Then ordinates
are drawn at regular
intervals from the sides of
the square to the curved
boundary. The middle
area is calculated in the
usual way. The boundary
area is calculated
according to one of the
following rules

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1. The mid-ordinate rule

2. The average ordinate rule

3. The trapezoidal rule

4. Simpson's rule

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 The Mid-ordinate Rule
Considering the figure

Let, O1,O2,O3, . . . . , On = ordinates at equal intervals

l = length of base line
d = common distance between ordinates
h1,h2, h3 , . . . . , hn = mid – ordinates
Area of Plot = h1×d+h2×d+h3×d, . . . . , hn ×d
= d(h1+h2+h3 + . . . . +hn )
= common distance × ∑ mid- ordinates
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 The Average ordinate Rule
According to the figure

let, o1,o2, . . . . . , on = ordinate or offsets at regular intervals

l = length of base line
n = number of divisions
n+1= number of ordinates
Area = o1+o2+o3+o4+ . . . . +on x l
n+1
Area = sum of ordinates x length of base line
no. of ordinates
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 The Trapezoidal Rule
While Applying the trapezoidal rule, boundaries between
the ends of ordinates are assumed to be straight. Thus
the areas enclosed between the base line and the
irregular boundary line are considered as trapezoids.

let, o1,o2, . . . . . , on = ordinate at equal intervals

d = common distance

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1st Area = o1+o2 xd
2
2nd Area = o2+o3 xd
2
3rd Area = o3+o4 xd
2
.
.
.

Last Area = on-1+on xd

2

Total area = {o1+2o2+2o3+2o4. . . . . +2on-1+on }

= common distance {(∑1st & last ordinate)+2(∑ intermediate ordinates)}

2
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Thus, the trapezoidal rule may be stated as follows:

“To the sum of the first and the last ordinates,

twice the sum of intermediate ordinates is added.
The total sum is multiplied by the common
distance. Half of this product is required area.”

Limitation: There is no limitation for this rule. This

can be applied for any number of ordinates.

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 Simpson’s Rule
In this rule, the boundaries between the end of the
ordinates are assumed to form an arc of a
parabola. Hence Simpson’s rule is sometime called
as parabola rule.

o1, o2, o3 = three consecutive ordinates

d = common distance between the ordinates
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Area AFeDC = area of trapezium AFDC
+ area of segment FeDEF
Here,

o1+o3 x
Area of trapezium = 2d
2
Area of segment = 2/3 x area of parallelogram FfdD
= 2/3 x Ee x 2d
o1+o3
= 2/3 x { – o2 } 2x 2d
So, the area between the first two divisions,
o1+o3 x 2d + 2 o o1+o3
∆1 = 2 { 3- 2 }2 x 2d
d
= (o31 + 4o2 + o3)
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 ∆2 = d (o3 + o4 + o5 ) and so on.
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d
Total area = 3 (o1 +4o2 +2o3 + 4o4 +. . . . . .+on)

d
= 3 {o1+on+4(o2+o4+. . . .)+2(o3+o5+. . . . )}

= common distance {(1st ordinate +last ordinate)

3
+ 4 (∑ even ordinates )

+ 2 (∑ odd ordinates )}

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Thus, the rule may be states as follows.

“To the sum of first and last ordinates,

four times the sum of even ordinates and
twice the sum of odd ordinates are added.
This total sum is multiplied by the common
distance. One third of this product is the
required area.”

Limitation: This rule is applied only when the

number of divisions is even i.e. the number of
ordinates is odd.

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 Trapezoidal Rule Simpson's Rule
1. The boundary between ordinate 1. The boundary between the
is considered to be straight. ordinates is considered to be an
arc of a parabola.
2. There is no limitation. It can be 2. To apply this rule, the number of
applied for any number of ordinates must be odd. That is the
ordinates. number of division must be even.
3. It gives an approximate result. 3. It gives a more accurate result.

Note: sometimes one, one or both, of the end ordinates may be zero.
However, hay must be taken into account while applying the rule

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Coordinate Method of Finding Area
When offset are taken at very irregular
intervals, then the application of the
trapezoidal rule and Simpson's rule is very
difficult. in such a case, the coordinate
method is the best.
Procedure:
From the given distance and offsets, a
point is selected as the as the origin. The
coordinate of all other points are arranged
with reference to the origin.

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Taking ‘g’ as the origin, the coordinates of all other points
are arranged as follows

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The coordinates are arranged in determinant form as
follows:
a b c d e f g a

y0 y1 y2 y3 y4 y0 0 0
0 x1 x2 x3 x4 x4 0 0

Sum of product among the solid line,

∑P = (y0x1+y1x2+y2x3+……… 0.0)
Sum of product among the dotted line,
∑Q = (0.y1+x1y2+x2y3+………0.y0)

Required Area = ½(∑P- ∑Q) 33

Thanks
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