The Based Surveyor

Vol.1

A reference for site engineers, layout technicians and anyone who wants to understand total stations.

Brendan Gilligan
30-3-2023
The Based Surveyor

Contents
Errors in Total Station Measurements ...............................................................................................3
Putting it together................................................................................................................................7
Understanding Prisms & Reflective Tapes ......................................................................................9
Backsights ...............................................................................................................................................9
Prism Centring Accuracy ............................................................................................................. 10
Alignment Error .................................................................................................................................. 10
Combining the errors................................................................................................................... 11
Prism Poles........................................................................................................................................... 13
Reflective Tapes ................................................................................................................................. 13
What does it all mean? .................................................................................................................... 14
Four Decimal Places .............................................................................................................................. 17
Absolute & Relative Accuracy ....................................................................................................... 17
An Example ...................................................................................................................................... 19
Monitoring ....................................................................................................................................... 22
Measure Twice, Mark Once ................................................................................................................ 24
Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 24
Standard Deviation ........................................................................................................................... 25
Angle Measurements ....................................................................................................................... 26
Distance Measurements.................................................................................................................. 28
Standard Error / Confidence Interval ......................................................................................... 29
In Practice ............................................................................................................................................. 30
Understanding Resections ................................................................................................................. 31
Problems with a 2 point resection .............................................................................................. 32
Three Point Resection ...................................................................................................................... 33
Comparison of resection geometries ......................................................................................... 35
Community Notes ................................................................................................................................. 38

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Errors in Total Station Measurements

Lately I have seen heated discussion on LinkedIn about staking out in construction

(typically hold down bolts) with pictures of residuals at 0.000m and sometimes great
looking accessories to help with the prism stability. I'd like to share some thoughts on

a more fundamental level about measuring to tight tolerances using total stations
and maybe in future posts extend into my recommendations for high accuracy

staking out and total station calibration in particular.

The measurement of a total station is typically made up of two components:

1. The angular measurement

2. The distance measurement

The angular measurement, split into two components, the vertical angle and the

horizontal angle are governed by very fine angle encoders and typically the accuracy

is quoted in seconds. For example it is typical in a construction situation to procure a

’5 second’ instrument. This means that the angle measurement fed into the software

of a modern TPS resolves in 5 second increments. 0, 5, 10, 15 and so on.

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This is a simplification of what actually happens, different manufacturers have

different approaches, but let’s go on with this an analogy.

In real terms this means that assuming the distance measurement is perfect (we’ll

come to this later) that a granularity of 1mm can be achieved at a distance less than
or equal to 41m. If a survey manager was to specify that there should be no more

than 150m between control points on a job site, then assume that the instrument is
no more than 75m approx. from the controls, then the position can be resolved to

about 2mm if the distance is perfect. This is more than likely a suitable tolerance for
most construction projects, but let’s pay the upcharge to get to a 2 second

instrument for critical layout, and a 1 second instrument for a licensed surveyor.

Then we can say the following:

5” instrument = 1mm in 41m

2” instrument = 1mm in 104m

1” instrument = 1 mm in 206m

Leica Geosystems sells a TS60 instrument with 0.5” angular reading for those who
need even more precision.

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In my opinion, the distance measurement component is more critical and less

understood.

To understand this in a broad sense I will discuss two types of errors commonly

encountered (there are much more, but beyond the scope of this article).

These are :

1. Zero error

2. Cyclic error

Zero error or index error is a combination of the effect of the zero point of the

instrument being elsewhere than over the mark which the instrument has been
centered on, together with the reflector’s position being other than centered above

the mark at the other end of the line being measured. The offset will be constant for a
given model of reflector so this is usually accounted for in the reflector constant set

on the instrument.

Let’s say the erroneous zero position of a TPS is 5mm behind the centre of the

rotation. A point is measured facing west, this is 5mm longer that is should be, now
the TPS turns east and another point is measured, this is also 5mm long, but the tie

distance between the measured points is incorrect by 10mm! This is without any
dependence on distance, so a user could easily be shamed by someone with a

measuring tape.

In my career the worst TPS offender I came across had a zero error of -14mm.

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Figure 1:Zero error, exaggerated!

Short periodic error or cyclic errors may occur in EDM instruments that measure

using the phase measuring method. These are periodic errors with wavelengths equal
to the fine measuring unit length of the instrument and also can occur in the

harmonics of these wavelengths. These errors can be caused by electrical and / or

optical crosstalk or a systematic error in the phase measuring system.

Typically instruments with a shorter measuring wavelength will have a less

pronounced error. Instruments measuring with a pulse measurement are not affected

by this by design.

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Figure 2: Measurement wave

You can see that the error goes from +a to -a over the length of the measurement
wave.

In practice, this means an error can occur at a certain distance increment, at 10m it
may be a zero additional error, but at 10.2m it would mean an additional 1mm error,

and back to zero at 10.4m.

Putting it together
Not accounting for any errors in the control network and the setup of the total
station, let’s say our user has a 2” instrument and is staking out at a distance of 50m.

The angular errors should be mitigated, but what about the distance errors?

A surveyor who quantifies and accounts for these errors will reduce the risk they are

exposed to in the course of their day to day duties.

Consider for an example the very typical case of an engineering surveyor tasked with
the setting out of holding down bolts to be cast into concrete for the construction of

a structural steel building, with a typical spacing of 200 mm between bolts and a
construction tolerance of 5 mm. Equipped with (Redacted)*, any measurements taken

would be subject to a -3.5 mm zero error and a cyclic error of ± 0.9 mm. With the
cyclic error going from a maximum positive to a maximum negative over the distance
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of half a wavelength (185 mm) the error is setting these bolts could be as much as -

4.4 mm to -2.6 mm solely from the distance measuring errors of the EDM. This is
before any errors are accrued from angular readings, set up errors, errors of centering

of prisms, errors in the control network, meteorological conditions etc. With the
likelihood that the setup of the instrument being incorrect by the fact that distances

measured to resection points or known backsights are incorrect by -3.5 mm (± cyclic

errors) is becomes apparent that achieving an accuracy of position of these bolts to 5

mm is highly unlikely.

However if the surveyor knows that the zero error exists and adjust the prism

constant by this amount, then the magnitude of cyclic error present is small enough
that the construction tolerances can still be achieved. It can be argued that the three

or four hours required to perform a calibration once per year represent significant
value for money when weighed against the cost of any possible rework to rectify

poorly set bolts.

What calibration I can hear the comments say, well I’d like to write about that in a
separate post, but Leica Geosystems has you covered with the Gold CCP package,

where the instrument will be calibrated over the baseline** in the Rhine valley before
delivery.

* I have results of analysis of various total station makes and models but I will not
share the model here

** Baseline calibration is the best way to determine the zero error and the cyclic error

in my opinion.

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Understanding Prisms & Reflective

Tapes

In talking about prisms, I will make a distinction between prism configurations that
are used for traversing and setups, which I will refer to as Backsights, and prism

systems used for staking out, which I will refer to as Prism Poles (also called detail
poles).

Backsights

A typical backsight prism will consist of the prism, the prism carrier, the tribrach, the
tripod and all of these must align exactly over a control point.

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Figure 3: Backsight prism configuration

Systematic errors in reflectors including prism centring accuracy are unavoidable. You

will minimise these with planning and care in the measurement process.

Prism Centring Accuracy

This error is caused by any lack of precision relating to the manufacture of the prism.
i.e. the relationship of the optical centre point of the prism to the vertical centre of
the prism holder. This differs between makes and models of prism. This is important

to note when tight tolerances need to be maintained. For example; a Leica GPR121
circular prism has a centring accuracy of 1.0 mm but a Leica GPR111 circular prism

has a centring accuracy of 2.0 mm . This is not inclusive of centring error caused by
the prism carrier in the tribrach, and centring error of the tribrach over the point

being measured.

Alignment Error
The prism face must be aligned to face the instrument. Any misalignment can cause
errors in the horizontal angle measured. Particularly in the case of 360° prisms which
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are made up of several corner cube prisms. There are typically arrows on the top of

these prisms to show how to point towards the TPS. Errors can also be present in the
measurement of vertical angles. To overcome this, modern prisms have gunsights

above and below, to allow the prism to be sighted to the TPS.

Combining the errors

For high accuracy surveying, in particular the establishment of the control networks
required for these surveys, it is important to have backsights from a reputable

manufacturer who can supply you with a data sheet for each component.

Figure 4: Example Backsight

With the combination above, you can see the stated accuracies for components. With
this you can establish a value for the combined expected error at each measurement
line. This is a combination of total station measurement error and prism error. This

can be used in a least squares adjustment program to compute a traverse or prepare

a control network pre-analysis. I will use these data later to show a typical

measurement.

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So in summary, the error at the prism end of your measurement when performing a

resection will include;

• centring of the prism on the carrier

• centring of the carrier in the tribrach

• optical plummet alignment error over the point

• potential drift of these over the point due to the sturdiness of the tripod
• misalignment of the prism towards the TPS

Some of these errors could of course cancel each other out. Even so a surveyor

should understand that there is this source of error at each resection point.

With backsights, it is typically the case that the surveyor can measure each line

multiple times, and in both faces, so the integrity of that measurement line is
increased with averaging. With prism poles, this is likely not the case. Usually is it a

one shot on one face scenario. Taking care of the error on the backsight builds
confidence in your setups. That means if you cannot get the same accuracy at the

prism pole, at least you have worked to increase your absolute accuracy up to that
point.

A note on laser plummets. A former survey manager of mine disallowed the use of

these for surveyors performing traverses and this is a habit which I have kept. I
personally prefer to use the optical plummet. Ideally a prism carrier where the

plummet can be rotated to average the point centring from different orientations. If
you were to observe me setting a backsight, you would also see me bobbing my

head around whilst viewing the eyepiece. This is to try to reduce any parallax error
between the focus of the cross hairs and the focus of the objective.

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Prism Poles

The choice of prism pole depends on application, but for high accuracy staking out
tasks it is typically a mini prism on a pole. This should be mounted as low as possible.

There are less components here to stack error. There is a centring error, the Leica
GMP101 mini prism states a centring error of 1mm, and this is a high end mini prism.

The plate bubble should be checked and then the last error is the human factor of
holding the prism steady over the point.

There are many accessories available to increase the prism pole stability. So let's

assume the centring error of 1mm for a quality mini prism is present.

Reflective Tapes

Reflective tapes or "retros" are a double edged sword. On one hand they are
convenient and do not require levelling, centring and so on. On the other hand you
cannot occupy the tape point, hence you cannot traverse through it in the control

network.

The issue with that is then to calculate the tape position reliably, the only choice is to
take multiple readings to the tape from many different locations. This is confounded

by the fact that the tape has its highest accuracy when measuring to it
perpendicularly, and the measurement accuracy is reduced when the instrument is

measuring obliquely. Let's say that no more than +/-30 degrees from the
perpendicular should be observed (vertical and horizontal). This will start to rule out

occupying certain control points when observing the tape. This means that

realistically there are only a few viable measurements to a tape in a control network.
Hence these points will likely always have the largest error in the network.

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The temptation to set up the TPS and measure to three tapes and go to work is

strong. You avoid having to set up backsights, but then you are working to what are
likely the weakest points in your network.

What does it all mean?

Let's equip a theoretical surveyor, take a sample measurement and accrue the errors.

In this example we will use an iCON iCR80 with a backsight of a GPR111 round prism,

GRZ103 carrier, GDF311 tribrach on a wooden tripod. Additionally there is a GMP101

for stakeout.

Figure 5: iCR80 specification

The single measurement accuracy of the iCR80 is 1mm.

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Figure 6: Prism specifications

The centring error of a GPR111 is 2mm.

The centring error of a GRZ103 is 1mm, the plummet accuracy is 0.5mm at 1.5m.

The sum of errors at the back sight is (22 + 12 + 0.52)1/2 = 2.291mm

The sum of errors of TPS measurement and backsight is (12 + 2.2912)1/2 = 2.5mm.

So on a single shot to the backsight there is a distance measurement uncertainty of

2.5mm*, not including the errors discussed in the previous article, and not including
scale error, ATR calibration error or effects of temperature and pressure.

The same exercise to the prism pole would give an error of 2.23mm without any
shaky hands.

These error calculations are over simplified. You will reduce this error by taking the

average of multiple measurements. In that case the measured distance will trend
towards the actual distance.

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The conclusion is that there are errors in the measurements, the manufacturers state

so in the data sheets. The surveyor, if they know about these errors, can manage
these errors, but will find it difficult to establish the position of a holding down bolt

or similar to less than 1mm with these technologies. However, in a relative sense,
there are workflows where such precision can be obtained and I intend to cover that

later in this series.

*Repeating this exercise with a TS60 / GPH1P /GRZ3 /GDF321 combination gives an

error of 0.8mm.

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Four Decimal Places

In previous chapters, I covered some of the errors encountered whilst working with a

total station. I concluded that it is not practically possible to report the accuracy of
these measurements to 1mm. Why then can you set the distance measurement

display to 0.0001m in iCON and Captivate? Surely this is some nonsense? I will argue
that this is actually useable and present an example of a workflow where this can be

used.

Absolute & Relative Accuracy

The distance component of the total station measurement is more accurate than the
angular component. You can leverage this by recognising the possible errors in
distance measurement and finding strategies to minimise the angular errors.

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Figure 7: Error ellipse

In the image above, the measured point is somewhere inside an error ellipse. This

ellipse has a major axis of the angular error and a minor axis of the distance error.

Here are my ideas of absolute and relative accuracy in context.

Absolute accuracy refers to the position of a point independently in 3d space. If every

point had a perfect absolute accuracy then the relative distances between these

would also be perfect. Absolute accuracy is experienced when you set up a total
station on a resection and then stake out points anywhere in the work area. The

accuracy of the point is determined by all of the possible errors commingled.

Relative accuracy refers to the relationship between some points of interest, and not

about their exact position on the map or the globe. The relative distance between
points can be accurate and the distance from the point to the total station not quite

so accurate.

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An Example

A surveyor is setting up on a construction site. The setup is a resection. The task is

setting the holding down bolt locations for a piece of industrial equipment, which has
been made offsite. Assume that this module was fabricated in a factory environment

and checked with an absolute tracker*. It’s dimensions are given to 0.5mm accuracy.

We cannot establish the absolute position of a point to 1mm given all the errors we
can encounter. But it could be possible to establish the relative position of the points

of interest for this module to 0.5mm.

Figure 8: Example project

In the scenario above, the absolute accuracy between points staked on the module

location and the separate building will be 3mm (as per the equipment example in the
previous chapter). The relative accuracy of the module hold down bolts to each other

though could be sub millimetre. In this situation, the surveyor focuses on making sure

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that the module fits onto the bolts to 0.5mm. The surveyor is not concerned that the

module is 3mm closer to the separate building than specified.

Figure 9: Relative distances

To leverage the distance measurement accuracy of the total station, the surveyor can

set up in such a way as to mitigate the angular inaccuracy. In the image above, this
reduces to sighting straight down a group of bolts.

The advantages here are:

1. We remove the angular component of the error ellipse.

2. We remove the zero error and centring error of the total station, as we are only
interested in the distances 1➡2, 1➡3, 2➡3 and so on.

3. We can remove the centring error of the prism by hard mounting the prism to a

template or holding accessory.

You can see that here we reduce the errors so that we focus on only using the

distance measuring power of the total station. The positions of bolts 2 to 4 can be
placed relative to bolt 1 to less than 0.5mm. If the bolt pattern is a square of 4 bolts

then these can all be set within a small window of angular reading. Alternatively a
template could be used to position the two bolts which would be out of line.

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Cyclic error could be present in the above example. When I tested a Leica TS02 it

showed a cyclic error amplitude of 0.0001m, but a competitor instrument showed

0.0009m.

Figure 10: iCR80 specification

When we check the iCR80 distance accuracy we see that it is quoted as 1mm +

1.5ppm. This quote is made of the constant uncertainty (1mm) and the scale

uncertainty (1.5ppm). When we deal with the relative distances as above, the constant
uncertainty is taken out of the game. We are only left with the scale uncertainty. In

measurements of 100m of less, this is then negligible. Therefore we can get the full
use of the distance measurement capabilities of the total station.

The result is an absolute accuracy of the set of bolts to 3mm and a relative accuracy

to 0.5mm (or smaller). This means that the module will fit onto the foundation, but is
in a zone of uncertainty of 3mm to the next building.

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Figure 11: Grid of plinths

This strategy can also be used to set parallel sets of bolt relative to each other by

centring the total station axially between the rows, as shown above. This could

combine with another setup from the North-South direction to control the other
dimension more robustly.

Monitoring

Figure 12: Rare photo of the author on a monitoring project

This strategy is also widely used in monitoring. Often there is no need to know the

position of a point of interest in an absolute sense. Rather the key is to identify the
change in relative position of that point with respect to time. In such cases, the zero
error of the total station is not an issue, and it can be that the prism constant of the

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target does not need to be known either. Here you use the relative distance as a

quantification of the movement. As we have seen above, once the relative distance is
isolated, monitoring results can be reliably reported to four decimal places.

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Measure Twice, Mark Once

Introduction
Measure twice, cut once is the carpenter's axiom that was drilled into me from a

young age, and for good reason. It has saved my skin more than once. Could we have
a similar motto for engineering surveyors?

For most stakeout tasks in my career it has been enough to measure one distance on

one face and mark the point. I hope it’s the same for most readers. From time to time
a task has come along that required digging a bit deeper. For example setting the

location of an industrial component that has to run for an extended period. The type
of component that if it fails, a plant shutdown is required to repair it. In this scenario

it is necessary for the engineering surveyor to be able to defend the quality of the
staked positions if it ever comes to a blame game. A way to display your

measurement integrity is to report the measurement in terms of it’s mean, &

standard deviation (σ) or (my preference) mean and confidence interval (CI).

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An engineering surveyor does not need to be a statistician, so I only cover these

topics on a basic level.

Standard Deviation

When you take many measurements you can calculate and state the mean, along
with the associated standard deviation and confidence interval. In theory the
standard deviation of the measured data should be equal to or less than the

manufacturers specification.

Here is how I visualise standard deviations in an engineering surveying context.

Figure 13: Standard deviation

Green dots are measured points

The standard deviation is a measure of the spread of the data in relation to the mean.

The 1 sigma (or 1σ) can be considered as the radius of a circle where 68% of the
measured data will lie. 95% of the points lie in the circle with radius 2σ and then 98%
of the points lie in the outer circle of radius 3σ.

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You could also take this as a value of your precision. Below is how I visualise precision

and accuracy.

Figure 14: Accuracy and precision

When you buy your total station and accessories you have defined your precision.

You buy a 5” instrument or a 2”, 1”, or 0.5” instrument typically, and these may also

have different precision options in the distance measurement. You cannot increase
your precision any more, but you can put in work to get an increased confidence in

your mean accuracy.

Let's break the measurement down to angle and distance, and examine their standard
deviations.

Angle Measurements

The specification of the angular precision of an instrument is based on the standard

deviation of a two face measurement unless stated otherwise. I read a paper in an old

copy of Survey Review recently that stated that a single face measurement will have a
standard deviation that is approximately three times worse than a that of a two face

measurement (!). There are half the number of measurements, but also, the
calibration values have errors and these do not get to cancel out. So when measuring

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on a single face, you do not get the full precision of the manufacturer’s specification,

and you don’t even get half of that precision.

So, for high precision stakeout I recommend a two face measurement. Even better, a

set of rounds could be taken to a stakeout point.

Somewhere here there will be diminishing returns. The engineering surveyor should
categorise the stakeout tasks into tasks of varying precision specifications, and only

apply the extra time on critical tasks.

When measuring a point then, the size of the error ellipse is governed by the major

and minor axes. If the angle error is the major axis, then a single measurement of that
point is three times worse than the 1 σ. For a 5” instrument, that means 68% of single

face measurements could have a major axis of +/- 15” and 32% of measurements will
have a major axis of more than +/- 15”.

Figure 15: Typical error ellipse

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With a reference distance of 100m, this means the major axis of the error ellipse will

be 14.6mm (+/- 7.3mm). With a two face measurement this becomes 4.8mm (+/-
2.4mm)

For a 1” instrument this means a single shot major ellipse of 3mm (+/- 1.5mm) and a
two face accuracy axis of 1mm (+/- 0.5mm)

Distance Measurements

The distance measurement precision of a total station is specified as “a mm +b ppm”

as I have covered in previous articles. The standard deviation of this measured

distance is then denoted as

m = +/- (a2 + b2)1/2, which can be expanded with scale error distance ‘S’ to give

σs = +/- (a + b ppm * S).

Figure 16: iCR70-80 specifications

For iCR80 this is +/- (1 mm + 1.5 ppm) or +/- (1mm + 3x10^-6 x S). This is the same
for the Trimble SX10. The Topcon GT-1200 is 1mm + 2ppm.

For a distance of 100m then the standard deviation of a measured distance with an
iCR80 is
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σs = +/- (1mm + 3x10-6 x 0.1km) = +/- 1.15mm

This means that 68% of measurements will fall into a region of 1.15mm either side of
the mean. So 32% of the measurements are longer or shorter than the mean distance

by more than 1.15mm.

The standard deviation of the absolute distance will always be based on the
accumulated error values for all of the equipment involved in the measurement. If

you have accounted for all the errors that you can, your standard deviation of your
measured data could be lower than the standard deviation of the measurement

accuracy of the specified equipment.

Note that I have not accounted for all the errors that I have discussed in previous

posts

Standard Error / Confidence Interval

It is important to note that taking more measurements will not reduce the standard
deviation. The standard deviation is a measure of the spread of the data. With less

precise measurement practices, your standard deviation is higher and you cannot
reduce this with more measurements. You can however reduce your standard error

(SE) and subsequently your confidence interval (CI).

The Standard Error is the standard deviation divided by the square root of the

number of measurements.

SE = σ/√n

The confidence level is this, multiplied by a critical value. The critical value depends

on what confidence level you want to report.

90% confidence = +/- 1.64 * (σ/√n), 95% confidence = +/- 1.96 * (σ/√n)

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In Practice

Let’s say that you take many measurements and you want to report the mean as the
measured angle. You prove the integrity of this mean by stating the CI. Reduce the CI

by reducing the standard deviation, increasing the number of measurements, or both.

An example of the format; a 1" total station measures 4 rounds, gives a mean of
25.003 degrees with 95% CI of +/- 0.0003 degrees.

A 5" total station measures 12 rounds, gives a mean of 25.005 degrees with 95% CI of

+/- 0.0003 degrees.

A user with a 5” instrument can thus approach the angular precision of a 1”

instrument by taking more measurements, not efficient, but possible. This is

hampered by the fact that the CI is related to the square root of the number of

measurements.

This user will always have a higher standard deviation, but the mean of these
measurements can be reported to the same confidence as the 1” user, it just takes

more work.

Would you like us to make a stakeout tool in iCON that measures many times for one

point and states the mean and CI? Let me know in the comments!

*In some situations, e.g. a Leica TS60 at short range, the distance error can be the
major axis.

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Understanding Resections

Resection or Free Station is the most versatile setup method. There are some issues
though that can catch you out.

I like the resection setup as it allows you to set the total station where you want it on
the jobsite. The position of the station is determined by measuring angles and

distance to known points. The centring error of the total station is removed, as you
are no longer setting up over a known point.

The most basic type of resection will use two points. This can be acceptable in many

situations, but it does require some checks. A three point resection is preferrable as
now you are introducing some redundancy into the calculation. With an extra

measurement, the calculation becomes over determined, and now we can leverage
some statistics.

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Problems with a 2 point resection

With a 2 point resection there is no redundancy, so errors cannot be detected.

Consider the image below, where the TPS is measuring to two points A & B, with

similar heights.

Figure 17: 2 point resection

When measuring these points in the correct order, the setup is correct (position 1).

There will be no issue with the residuals. If the user enters the point IDs in the wrong
order by mistake, then the residuals will also be fine, but the TPS position is incorrect

(position 2). All measured points thereafter are also in the wrong positions.

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Figure 18: Problem of resection flipping

It can also be the case that when the points are swapped, the residuals are fine, but

the TPS software does not allow you to continue. Then it looks like something is
wrong in the software and I get a support case.

The error is detected the instant that a third point is added to the resection. If a third

point is not visible to add to the setup, then at least check a measured point to a
feature with a known location as a sanity check.

It is important to note that you might get zero for your residuals on a 2 point setup,
but this means nothing without more points to generate statistics.

Three Point Resection

There is one important issue to note with a three point resection. If your station
position and your three control points are arranged so that they are all on a circle, the
setup calculation can fail, as there are multiple solutions. This is the “danger circle”.
This can affect modern total stations. It is good practice to avoid the danger circle.
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Community Note:

“If you are able to use a least squares adjustment on your position, you will know
when you are on or near to the danger circle as the determinant of the normal matrix

will tend to be zero” –Joel van Cranenbroeck via LinkedIn

Figure 19: Danger circle

Three points in a resection will start to give you some reliable statistics. If you now

see a residual of 3mm compared to 0mm on a two point setup, you should actually
feel more confident. You know that there is always measurement error, so treat 0.000

with suspicion.

Adding more points to the resection brings diminishing returns. Using more than 4 or
five points in the setup brings only slight improvements (assuming all control points

are equally accurate).

I highly encourage you to measure more than one face on any resection setup.

Automated rounds is best if your instrument supports it. Remember that a 5"

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instrument will really only read as if it is a 15" instrument if you are taking one shot

on one face.

Comparison of resection geometries

You should always choose the station position with a view to get the best
measurement results in the area where you will measure. Not where the TPS is setup.
The setup is ideal when the points you want to measure are in the same conditions as

the control points. This means you work at the same distances at all times if possible.

The atmospheric conditions, scale errors and cyclic errors then are all the same
between setup and measured shots.

Any measurements outside this length then extrapolate the errors (making them

worse). Then any measurements inside this area should interpolate the errors. This
would mostly be true, the exception being the cyclic and zero errors.

Figure 20: 2 Point measurement area

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In the example above, the area in orange represents the area in which it is technically

correct to measure in. This assumes that the distance between the control points is
not too large. In my opinion it is also fine to measure inside the green area.

Figure 21: Setup inside a good network

The example above is a classic layout that has control points all around the work site.

In this case all of the errors are interpolated. Any measurements inside the area
should have less error than a shot on a control point.

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Figure 22: Setup outside to measure in

The image above shows my preferred type of resection. In this case the work area is
inside the orange area, but the TPS is outside. The total station can then measure

with less turning around, thus reducing the affects of angular errors.

In this setup above, the total station never turns 180 degrees, so any effects of zero

error are reduced. It is also much easier to find a lost prism by using a search inside a
defined window.

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Community Notes
Some input from experts in the LinkedIn community.

• Two face measurements will never eliminate the effects of instrumental errors
in the zenital observations. -- Joel van Cranenbroeck

• An angle measurement in 2 faces (result of 2 directions) with a 5" instrument

will lead to an angle of 10" in accuracy.
Manufacturer spec sheets refer to ISO 171238-3 which defines the angular
precision of one direction in both face – Pierre DeBlois

• A couple of notes on the accuracy of a Leica Geosystems total station.

o All values in the specifications are given as one sigma 68% probability
o The angles moves smoothly with no increments as you turn it.
o But if you measure a lot of times you may/should find a spread of the
angular values that should be within the specs.
o The angular uncertainty of a one second instrument is + - 1 second one
sigma (68%) if measured in two faces. A one face measurement will
increase the uncertainty value by square root of 2. (~1,41).
o Or - there is a 68% probability that a single angle measurement is what
you have recorded -+ the angular accuracy given in the manual.
o If this is two low a probability then go for two sigma (95,4 %) or even
better three (99.73%).
o The EDM will measure according to the specs, TS16 has -+ 1mm + 1.5
ppm (1.5 mm per kilometer) for a standard measurement. Do be aware
that continuous measurement, reflextape and reflectorless each have
their own accuracy.
-- Frederick Somerville
• You can really end up with very accurate results if the equipment being used is
selected carefully and the setup and measuring methods are taken care of
properly.
When you really wanna go crazy, then taking into account the power-on drift
of the EDM or tripod torsion buildup then you would get almost industrial
results. – Floris van den Hoeven

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