UNITED NATIONS OFFICE FOR PROJECT SERVICES

Sudan Office

Up-Grading of the Vocational Training Center in Jabra, Khartoum, Sudan

TOPOGRAPHIC SURVEY REPORT

SHOURACONSULT

November 8, 2021

Shoura Tower, Africa Street

P.O. Box 12891, Khartoum 11111, Sudan. Tel: +249 (1) 83403112/3, Fax: +249 (1) 83403114

Email: shouraconsult@gmail.com - Web site: www.shouraconsult.com

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................... 3
1.1 Background................................................................................................................................... 3
1.2 Scope of the Assignment.............................................................................................................. 3
1.3 Special Note........................................................................................................................................ 3
2 METHODOLOGY.................................................................................................................................... 4
2.1 Establishment of the Reference Bench Mark.................................................................................... 4
2.2 Topographic Survey Equipment......................................................................................................... 4
2.3 Topographic Survey Procedure.......................................................................................................... 5
2.4 Establishment of Permanent Ground Markers (PGM)...................................................................... 6
2.5 Production of Contour Maps ............................................................................................................. 6

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 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
Shouraconsult was assigned by UNOPS Sudan Office to conduct detailed
topographic survey for the Vocational Training Center in Jebra district of
Khartoum city. The assignment was an integral part of a bigger contract for
upgrading and renovating the training Center that included geotechnical
investigations and environmental and social impact assessment.
The Center is on one of the busiest streets in Khartoum, Fig. 1.1, with a total
area of about 18200 m2. The Center buildings include lecture rooms,
workshops, offices and other amenities in addition to large open space areas.

Fig. 1.1 Location of the Center in Jebra District, Khartoum

1.2 Scope of the Assignment
As stated in the bidding Terms of Reference, the assignment scope include
a) Demarcation of the land borders.
b) Setting Bench Marks.
c) Assigning the natural land levels and prepare contour Maps.
d) Showing the existing natural and artificial features. (Manhole locations
and inverted level).
1.3 Special Note
Shouraconsult conducted this assignment during a time (October 2021) that
witnessed political turmoil in the country where there were demonstrations on
the streets and most of the streets were blocked against traffic for considerable
time. Despite of these hurdles, Shouraconsult was able to conduct the field
survey on a reasonable time as planned.

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 2 METHODOLOGY
2.1 Establishment of the Reference Bench Mark
First and most importantly, our team identified the nearest established Bench
Mark (BM) in order to reference any topographic survey to this particular BM.
The reference BM has the following global coordinates and reduced level:

Easting: 447247.591, Northing: 1716357.503 and Reduced Level: 384.487m

2.2 Topographic Survey Equipment

Shouraconsult deployed modern survey equipment for the topographic survey.
Trimble is a survey device that establishes coordinates from orbiting satellites
using sophisticated software. Trimble is a real time GPS which receives signals
from orbiting satellites to establish x, y and z coordinates for each point in a
grid covering the whole site, Fig. 2.1.

Fig. 2.1 Trimble Survey equipment at the Center

Trimble consists of stationary and moving stations (at the back are the
receiving antenna and the stationary station while at the front is the roving

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 station front in Fig. 2.1). The antenna and stationary station are connected
together by a short cable. The receiving antenna receives signals from a cluster
of 24 orbiting satellites to determine very accurately the location of the station.
Spinning lasers on the stationary station emit a rotating 3600 beam of light to
establish a horizontal reference datum for accurate determination of
differential vertical levels and distances. The beam of light is received by the
roving station to establish levels, distances and topography. Sophisticated
software is used to extract and process data from the device.
Trimble in the hands of well trained and experienced hands (or survey team)
can easily achieve and surpass the required accuracy as set in the Terms of
Reference.
2.3 Topographic Survey Procedure
The procedure includes the following steps
I. Walk through the site to observe its general features
II. Establish a BM at the site relative to the Reference BM
III. Establish grid lines 10×10m covering the whole area
IV. Using Trimble, take x, y and z coordinates at each grid point
V. Take also coordinates of existing artificial features e.g. manholes, electric
poles etc., Fig. 2.2.
VI. Store the collected data for later processing and checking
VII. Generate topographic contour maps

Fig. 2.2 Establishment of coordinates and level of a manhole

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2.4 Establishment of Permanent Ground Markers (PGM)
It is also required to establish 8 base control points (permanent ground
markers, PGM) at already defined locations: 7 on the inner side of the Centre
perimeter and one outside. The PGMs were casted from concrete and then
allowed to set before taking their coordinates, Fig. 2.3.

Fig. 2.3 Taking coordinates and level of a typical casted PGM

2.5 Production of Contour Maps
The main product of this survey work is the development and production of
accurate and detailed contour map(s) showing the topographic and other
features of the site. The maps were generated from the topographic survey
data using well recognized and established software. Typical generated map for
the Center is shown on Fig. 2.4. The area is almost flat with maximum
differential levels within 0.5m from south of the workshop building to the north
east of the Center.

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Fig. 2.4 Contour map superimposed on existing buildings of the Center