HOLY CROSS COLLEGE

Sta. Lucia, Sta. Ana, Pampanga

SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING, COMPUTER AND LIBRARY STUDIES
Institute of Civil Engineering
1

Course Description
This course will begin in recognizing the surveying terminologies and the survey
instruments starting from pre-historic times. The succeeding topics are: error and
precision, pacing, measurements or laying out distances or angles using tape, corrections
in taping, leveling which includes differential leveling, inverse leveling, angle conversion,
magnetic declination, traversing, computing the latitude and departure of a course,
adjustments of the traverse using Compass Rule and/or Transit Rule, area computation
using the DPD or the DMD, and area for a series of trapezoidal lots using Trapezoidal Rule
or Simpson’s One-Third Rule; general introduction to omitted measurements of a closed
traverse, subdivision of lots, principle of the stadia, contouring, hydrographic surveys
with area and volume computations, and astronomical observation.

Module 1: Chapter 4: Week 4

Objectives:
At the end of the chapter, the students would be able to:
• Discuss the meridians; units of angular measurement; designation of north points
• Discuss direction of lines; interior angles; bearings; azimuths
• Discuss the compass, magnetic declination
• Discuss the adjustment of a closed compass traverse
 HOLY CROSS COLLEGE
Sta. Lucia, Sta. Ana, Pampanga
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING, COMPUTER AND LIBRARY STUDIES
Institute of Civil Engineering
2

Module 1: Chapter 4
MEASUREMENT OF ANGLES AND DIRECTIONS

Meridians

The direction of a line is usually defined by the horizontal angle it makes with a fixed
reference line or meridian.

Four Types of Meridian:

• True Meridian
o Sometimes known as the astronomic or geographic meridian
o It is generally adapted reference line in surveying practice.
o This line passes through the geographic north and south poles of the earth
and the observer’s position.
• Assumed meridian
o Arbitrarily chosen fixed line of reference, which is taken for convenience.
• Magnetic meridian
o Fixed line of reference, which lies parallel with the magnetic lines of force
of the earth
o Defined by a freely suspended magnetic needle that is only influence by
the Earth’s magnetic field
• Grid meridian
o Fixed line of reference parallel to the central meridian of a system of plane
rectangular coordinates.

Units of Angular Measurement

• Degrees
o The sexagesimal system is used in which the circumference of a circle is
divided into 360 parts or degrees.
o The angle of one degree is defined as the angle, which requires 1/360 of
the rotation needed to obtain one complete revolution.
o The basic unit is the degree, which is further subdivided into 60 minutes and
the minute into 60 seconds.
• Grads
o Unit of measure in the centesimal system
o In this system the circumference of a circle is divided into 400 parts called
grads.
• Mils
o The circumference is divided into 6400 parts called mils, or 1600 mils is equal
to 90°.
o It is commonly used in military operations as in fire direction of artillery units.
• Radians
o The radian is another measure of angles used frequently for a host of
calculations.
o One radian is defined as angle subtended at the center of a circle by an
arc length exactly equal to the radius of the circle.
o One radian equals 180⁄𝜋 .
 HOLY CROSS COLLEGE
Sta. Lucia, Sta. Ana, Pampanga
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING, COMPUTER AND LIBRARY STUDIES
Institute of Civil Engineering
3

PROBLEM 1: Convert 70° into (a) grads, (b) mils, and (c) radians.

Solution:

360° = 400 𝑔 = 6400 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑠 = 2𝜋 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛𝑠

a) 70° to grads:
400 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑠
70° ( ) = 77.78 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑠
360°
b) 70° to mils:
6400 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑠
70° ( ) = 1244.44 𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑠
360°
c) 70° to radians:
2𝜋 𝑟𝑎𝑑
70° ( ) = 1.2217 𝑟𝑎𝑑
360°

Designation of North Points

• True North
o is the north point of the true meridian
o a star, an asterisk, or the letters TN symbolizes it.
• Magnetic North
o a north point that is established by means of a magnetized compass
needle when there are no local attractions affecting it
o the point is usually symbolized by a half arrowhead or the letters MN
• Grid North
o a north point, which is established by lines on a map, which are parallel to
a selected central meridian
o A full arrowhead or the letters GN symbolizes it.
• Assumed North
o is used to portray the location of any arbitrarily chosen north point. A small
blackened circle or the letters AN symbolizes it
 HOLY CROSS COLLEGE
Sta. Lucia, Sta. Ana, Pampanga
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING, COMPUTER AND LIBRARY STUDIES
Institute of Civil Engineering
4

Direction of Lines

The direction of a line is defined by the horizontal angle between the line and an
arbitrarily chosen reference line called a meridian.

Basic Requirements in Determining an Angle

 HOLY CROSS COLLEGE
Sta. Lucia, Sta. Ana, Pampanga
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING, COMPUTER AND LIBRARY STUDIES
Institute of Civil Engineering
5

• Interior Angles
o the angles between adjacent lines in a closed polygon.
• Angles to the Right
o angles to the right are measured clockwise from the preceding line to the
succeeding line.

Closed Polygon: Clockwise Interior Angles (ANGLES TO THE RIGHT)

Closed Polygon: Counterclockwise Interior Angles (ANGLES TO THE LEFT)

 HOLY CROSS COLLEGE
Sta. Lucia, Sta. Ana, Pampanga
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING, COMPUTER AND LIBRARY STUDIES
Institute of Civil Engineering
6

Kinds of Horizontal Angles

Deflection Angles - the angle between a line and the prolongation of the preceding line.

Bearing

• The bearing of a line is the acute horizontal angle between a reference meridian
and the line
• A quadrantal system is used to specify bearings such that a line may fall under
one of the following quadrants: NE, NW, SE, and SW.
• Each quadrant is numbered from 0 to 90° from either the north or south end of the
meridian to the east or west end of the reference parallel

Bearing Angles (𝑁 70° 𝐸, 𝑁 30° 𝑊, 𝑆 55° 𝑊, 𝑆 35° 𝐸, Due North, Due South, Due East, Due
West)

Azimuths

• The azimuth of a line is its direction as given by the angle between the meridian
and the line measured in a clockwise direction from either the north or south
branch of the meridian.
• It may range from 0 to 360° and letters are not required to identify quadrants.
 HOLY CROSS COLLEGE
Sta. Lucia, Sta. Ana, Pampanga
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING, COMPUTER AND LIBRARY STUDIES
Institute of Civil Engineering
7

Azimuth Observed from North

Comparison of Azimuths and Bearings

Azimuths Bearings
Vary from 0° to 360° Vary from 0° to 90°
Require two letters and a numerical
Require only a numerical value
value
May be geodetic, astronomic,
magnetic, grid, assumed, forward or Same as Azimuths
back
Are measured clockwise and
Are measured clockwise only
counterclockwise
Are measured either from North only,
or from South only on a particular Are measured from North and South
survey

Conversion of Azimuth to Bearing

Quadrant Azimuth from North Azimuth from South

I (NE) Bearing = Azimuth Bearing = Azimuth – 180°
II (NW) Bearing = 360° – Azimuth Bearing = 180° – Azimuth
III (SW) Bearing = Azimuth – 180° Bearing = Azimuth
IV (SE) Bearing = 180° – Azimuth Bearing = 360° – Azimuth
 HOLY CROSS COLLEGE
Sta. Lucia, Sta. Ana, Pampanga
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING, COMPUTER AND LIBRARY STUDIES
Institute of Civil Engineering
8

PROBLEM 2: If the bearing of line AB is given to be N 41°35’ E, determine the bearing of

lines BC, CD, DE, EF and FA given the interior angles as shown in the figure.

Solution:

Line Bearing
AB 𝑁 41°35′ 𝐸
BC 𝑁 9°14′ 𝑊
CD 𝑆 79°21′ 𝑊
DE 𝑆 31°51′ 𝑊
EF 𝑆 12 °27′ 𝐸
FA 𝑆 73°35′ 𝐸
 HOLY CROSS COLLEGE
Sta. Lucia, Sta. Ana, Pampanga
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING, COMPUTER AND LIBRARY STUDIES
Institute of Civil Engineering
9

Magnetic Declination

• The horizontal angle and direction by which the needle of a compass deflects
from the true meridian at any particular locality.
• Deflection of the needle may be eastward or westward of the true meridian.

PROBLEM 3: Assume the magnetic bearing of a property line was recorded as S 43°30' E
in 1862. At that time the magnetic declination at the survey location was 3°15’ W. What
true bearing is needed for a subdivision property plan?

Solution:

True Bearing:

𝛼 = 3°15′ + 43°30′ = 𝑆 46°45′ 𝐸

 HOLY CROSS COLLEGE
Sta. Lucia, Sta. Ana, Pampanga
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING, COMPUTER AND LIBRARY STUDIES
Institute of Civil Engineering
10

PROBLEM 4: Assume the magnetic bearing of line AB read in 1878 was N 26°15' E. The
declination at the time and place was 7°15’ W. In 2000, the declination was 4°30' E. The
magnetic bearing in 2000 is needed.

Solution:

True Bearing:

𝛼 = 26°15′ − 7°15′ = 𝑁 19° 𝐸

Magnetic Bearing at 2000:

𝛼 ′ = 19° − 4°30′ = 𝑁 14°30′ 𝐸