University of Technology Sarawak

School of Engineering and Technology

Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

GENERAL REQUIREMENT FOR SURVEY CAMP

1. Students are to bring their own laptop installed with AutoCad / AutoCad Civil 3D for
potting purposes and presentation on the last day.
2. Students are to prepare themselves physically and mentally for the survey camp.
3. Students are to study beforehand on the required surveying methods as no teaching and
supervision will be given during the survey camp.
4. The method detailed in this manual may not be the only way to do the survey work, as
various different method exist and their usage is up to the team to be decided.
5. Students should bring sufficient clothing, personal medications, and etc., for the whole 5
days (4 nights) of the camp.
6. It is highly advisable to carry your own hats, caps, or any shading equipment as the site
will probably be very hot and direct sun exposure is to be expected.
7. Student must follow all the instructions given by the lecturer/technician on site.
8. Slippers are not allowed throughout the survey camp when the survey equipment is
being handled.
9. Students must handle their given equipment with care and protect their equipment from
water/rain and direct sunlight.
10. Student are to submit their report before the presentation on the last day of the survey
camp.

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 University of Technology Sarawak
School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

1.0 TRAVERSE SURVEYING

1.1 Task:

Students are to establish the control points which have been pegged by using the Bearing
Method based on the given baseline. All data is to be booked / recorded into the fieldbook
(refer to Figure 2) and the finalized value in Table 1. Identify the Area of the traverse and
plotted it using AutoCad / AutoCad Civil 3D.

1.2 Equipment:

1 unit of Total Station, 1 unit of Tripod, 1 set of prism pole, and 1 unit Equipment Shade

1.3 Fieldwork Guide

The procedure in measuring a zenith angle is as follows:

1. Set the theodolite to face left.
2. Release the vertical and horizontal clamps.
3. Sight the target using the finder sight and lock the clamps.
4. Focus the telescope on the target. The cross-hairs will not be on the target, but should
be close. Use the slow motion screws to bisect the target accurately. The horizontal hair
is the important one for measuring vertical angles.
5. Change the instrument to face right and repeat operations 2, 3 & 4.
6. Measuring the clockwise horizontal angle between adjacent lines, using a theodolite or
total station instrument,
7. Obtaining the bearing, i.e. the direction relative to north of one line of the traverse.

The processing of the fieldwork results consists of measuring by using EDM:

1. The horizontal length of every line of the traverse and vertical difference between each
station,

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

2. The bearing of every line of the traverse from a known bearing or observed bearing and
the horizontal angles,
3. The rectangular coordinates of each station of the traverse relative to the survey origin.
4. The vertical height differences between the stations to be measured for computing the
reduced levels.
5. Correction is done using Bowditch Method (Figure 2)

Figure 2: Bowditch Equation

1.4 Good Practices

It is good practice in traversing to close the survey, but in order to facilitate an understanding
of the basic principles of traversing, an example is given in the appendix.

Four or five persons in a group are required to conduct a survey. Their duties are:
1. to select suitable stations,
2. to measure the distances between the stations,
3. to erect, attend and move the sighting targets from station to station,
4. to measure and record the angles,
5. to record the data of each stations for further use.

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

The positions of the stations are governed by following factors:

a. Easy measuring conditions

Since the angles can be measured accurately with theodolite or total station, the linear
measurement must be made with comparable accuracy.
If EDM is the chosen method of measuring. 1, ground conditions are irrelevant, since the
instrument can measure over any terrain.

b. Avoidance of short lines

Short lines should be avoided wherever possible. Angular errors are introduced when targets
at short range not accurately bisected. For example, taking a sight which is off target by 2 mm
at 10 m range is equivalent to sighting 40 mm off target at 200 m range.

c. Sighting the actual station point

The actual station point should be visible for sighting if interchangeable tripods or EDM tripod
targets are not available.

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 University of Technology Sarawak
School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

FIELD BOOK
Station
H.I
R.L

Backsight Foresight
H.i H.i
R.L R.L
CL CL
CR CR
Average Average

From stn To stn Measured distance Vertical distance

1 1
2 2
3 3
average average

RL (stn ..) :

Figure 1: Field book

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

Table 1
To Observed Bearing Final Measured final
At STN Correction Easting Northing Height Remark
STN bearings Adjustment bearing distance distance
TBM … … … … … … … … … …
A
B … … … … … … … … … …
A … … … …
B … … … …
C … … … … … …
B … … … …
C … … … …
D … … … … … …
C … … … …
D … … … …
E … … … … … …
values to be filled in : …

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 University of Technology Sarawak
School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

1.5 Example

Example:

Table
Observation Target Face left Face right
station station reading reading

TBM 20 185d 35' 20” 5d 35' 10”

STG 4248
PKT M 239d 00' 50” 59d 00' 30”

Adopted Bearing

TBM 20 185d 35' 15”

STG 4248
PKT M 239d 00' 40”
(a more detailed example is in the appendix)

The average bearing shall be the only data to be recorded from the fieldbook into the traverse
table, as shown in the above example. This bearing shall be recorded as the observed bearing
in the spreadsheet, for later computation of the traverse.
Along which linear measurements are made using the EDM. The height difference are used
to compute the reduced levels of the traversed stations.

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 University of Technology Sarawak
School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

2.0 LEVELING

2.1 Task

Students are to do leveling of the given site, using both the Height of Collimation and Rise and
Fall Method, on the pegged points. Tabulate the data in Table 1a for the Rise and Fall Method
while Table 1b for the Height of Collimation Method.

Table 2a
BS IS FS Rise Fall RL Adj. Adj. RL Remarks

Table 2b
BS IS FS HPC RL Adj. Adj. RL Remarks

2.2 Equipment:

1 unit of Total Station, 1 unit of Tripod, 1 set of prism pole, 1 unit of equipment shade

2.3 Fieldwork Guide

The procedure for levelling is as follows;

1. Set the total station/auto level on the station and sight the backsight.
2. Sight the target using the finder sight and lock the clamps.
4. Focus the telescope on the target. The cross-hairs will not be on the target, but should be
close. Use the slow motion screws to bisect the target accurately.
5. Now sight the foresight and repeat step 4.
6. From now on, repeat step 1 to step 5 until the loop is closed.

2.4 Good Practices

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 University of Technology Sarawak
School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

Four or five persons in a group are required to conduct a survey. Their duties are:
1. to select suitable stations,
2. to erect, attend and move the sighting targets from station to station,
3. to measure and record the level,
4. to record the data of each stations for further use.

2.5 Example

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

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 University of Technology Sarawak
School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

3.0 CONTOURING: GRID METHOD

3.1 Task

A grid of a minimum 20 m interval is to be produced at the given location within the pegged
area. Methods to be used for the data tabulation is either the Rise and Fall Method or the
Height of Collimation Method using the same Table 1a and Table 1b from the previous section.
Plotting is done either using manual drawing or AutoCad.

3.2 Equipment:

1 unit of Total Station, 1 unit of Tripod, 1 set of prism pole, 1 unit of Equipment Shade

3.3 Fieldwork Guide

This method consists of covering the area to be contoured with a system of grid
squares. The sides of a grid square may vary from 5 m to 30 m, depending upon the nature
of the ground, the contour interval and the scale of the plan. The squares may not be of the
same size throughout the entire surveying but may vary according to the requirement of the
map. The corners of the squares are marked on the ground and the spot levels of these points
are obtained from the normal method of leveling.

Special care has to be taken to the salient features of the ground such as hill tips,
deepest points of the depression and etc. The spot levels and the horizontal distance of these
points from respective corners of the squares should be noted.

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School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

The best method of doing this is to run a series of lines at the site, and place pegs at
the required grid interval along each line so that the staffman can line himself up on any point
on the grid by means of ranging rods. The grid spacing will be determined by the nature of the
site and the required accuracy of the contours, common values being 3 m, 5 m, 10 m, 20 m
and 30 m.

The dumpy level, staff, chain and ranging rods and a supply of pegs are commonly
used, with perhaps a theodolite for setting out the right angles. It is most suited to small
construction sites especially where the earthwork volumes have to be determined as well,
since the grid squares are useful for this purpose.

The squares are plotted on the desired scale on the plan and reduced levels of the
corners as well as that of the salient features are entered. The contours of desired heights are
then interpolated.

3.4 Good Practices

Four or five persons in a group are required to conduct a contour survey. Their duties are:
1. To select suitable stations,
2. To erect, attend and move the sighting targets from station to station,
3. To measure and record the level,
4. To record the data of each stations for further use.
5. To make sure that any significant rise/fall on the topography, is plotted into the contour.

3.5 Example
--refer to levelling example, as it has the same procedures.

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University of Technology Sarawak
School of Engineering and Technology
Civil Engineering Department

SURVEY CAMP MANUAL

Appendix

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