Bautista, Reina Mae A.

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Engr. Brylle Ephraiem Navarro

“Determining Your Pace Factor”

In the field of civil engineering, the engineers or the involved people in the project
must be creative or resourceful enough since there would always be unforeseen factors that
can affect a project. There are times that instruments are not present on the site, but the
surveyors need to begin the process unless they want to cause a delay. Due to this factor,
surveyors used the easiest and applicable method in measuring the distance. It is measuring
the distance with the use of their body. It is very convenient since they do not need anything,
instead, it just requires their own body. 1 One form of measurement using the body is called
pacing in which involves counting the number of steps that one can take in order to cover the
required distance.2
Pacing is very useful for anyone since it can be applied in different situations. This
method can also be understood easily by ordinary people not just by professionals in the field
of engineering.3 This can be simply used by anyone in narrating directions in which one can
tell the other person the number of paces to be able to go to their destination. Moreover, if
someone wants to plant trees in their backyard and they want these trees to have a certain
distance from each other, they can just use their paces to know the distances. Pacing is very
helpful in making estimations or rough sketches especially if it only comprises short
horizontal distances.
In the YouTube video of Rami Tamimi entitled “How to Pace in Land Surveying”, I
realized that pacing is really one of the simplest and easiest methods we can use in measuring
a distance. First, we just need to know the actual distance we are measuring through the use of
measuring tape. After determining the taped distance, we just need to walk the path the way
we normally walk in our daily living and count the steps we have done. We will keep walking
back and forth until we have at least five samples of our paces to have an accurate result. With
this data, we can now discover our pace factor. Pace factor pertains to the ratio of the taped
distance over the number of paces. 4
For example, after walking back and forth in a 225-meter distance, the number of
paces we gathered are 78, 79, 79, 80, 79 paces. To compute the pace factor, we need to first
find the mean number of paces by adding all the paces and divided it by the number of
samples. From the data, the mean is equal to 79. Now, we just need to divide the 225- meter
distance with 79 and our pace factor is equal to 2.85 meters/pace.
It is important to know our pace factor since as future engineers this will be a great
help for us in measuring distances. If we know our pace factor, we can easily determine the
paced distance from one point to another. Paced distance refers to the product of pace factor

Reina Mae A. Bautista

and number of paces. This paced distance would be the rough estimate of the actual distance
which we could use as we start a project. We all know that measuring distances would always
be part of the life of an engineer and instruments would not be always available, 2 so we need
an alternative way to measure distances and one of these is through pacing. Despite the lack
of equipment, we can still obtain the data that we need for a project. So, we can still
accomplish our tasks without sacrificing anything.
From the video, I also realize that even though pacing is one of the uncomplicated
methods of measuring distance and can be understood by anyone, it also requires great effort
since we need to walk the path. We need to walk again and again in which requires a lot of
energy especially during hot days and we really need to invest time to accomplish it. Also,
pacing can only be applied on straight horizontal distances and not on rocky surfaces or
inaccessible distances. 2 Furthermore, doing this method, we should be really careful as we
walk since there are factors that can affect the accuracy of the data such as not walking in a
straight path or we are too slow or too fast as we walk. Therefore, I suggest that if we want to
have an accurate result, we need to practice enough so we could get used to the process of
pacing. Another thing, we should wear clothes and shoes where we are comfortable. We
should also set in our mind that we should just walk naturally and try not to be too focused on
the distances of paces since it could lead to more mistakes. Even though it is quite simple, we
still need to be precise in measurements since even the slightest error can lead to huge
mistakes in the future.
Measuring the distances with the use of pacing is such an uncomplicated way of
measuring. It just proves that even without instruments, no one can stop an engineer from
doing their job. We just need to have our determination and commitment to work since pacing
needs a lot of effort and it is quite time-consuming. But knowing our pace factor is a great
advantage for us since we could use it in our daily living and be applied in different situations
like in simple rough sketches and for teaching directions. We just need to remind ourselves
that even it is just simple walking, we should not be careless for even the slightest error can
make the results unacceptable. If walking is already part of our everyday living so why don’t
we use it in the field of engineering?

Reina Mae A. Bautista

References:
[1] Chapter B. Pacing. (2020, September 27). https://www.jerrymahun.com/index.php/home/
open-access/distances/183-v-distance-measurement-methods-2?showall=1
[2] Progressive Gardening. (2021, July 31). Pacing - Agricultural Engineering .
https://www.progressivegardening.com/agricultural-engineering-2/pacing.html
[3] Ectin, S. (2020, March 11). Pace Factor: Calculating The Approximate Distance You’ve
Walked (Complete Tutorial And Calculations) - 1silvercoin.
https://www.1silvercoin.org/2020/03/pace-factor-tutorial.html
[4] Tamimi, R. (2020, September 08). How to Pace in Land Surveying [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_5eoA9bac8

Reina Mae A. Bautista