CE 230: Surveying

Civil Engineering Program

Al Ain University

Topic 2a:

Units and Significant Figures

Based on “Elementary Surveying: An Introduction to Geomatics, Pearson/Prentice Hall, 2014 edition, P.R. Wolf and C. D. Ghilani.
Introduction- Measurements in Surveying
Five types of observations:
(1) horizontal angles,
(2) horizontal distances,
(3) vertical (or zenith) angles,
(4) vertical distances, and
(5) slope distances.
 Units of Measurements
- Units used to measure length, area, volume, and angle.
- System of Units:
- British such as foot (ft) for length measurement
- Metric (SI). Length is measured by meter (m).
- In 1893 in the US:
39.37 inches = 1 meter
3.280833 ft = 1 meter
1 ft = 0.3048006 m (U.S. survey foot (sft))
 Units of Measurements
In 1959 in the US:
1 in = 2.54 cm
1 ft = 0.3048 m (international foot)

International foot differs from U.S. survey foot (ft vs. sft) in 1
part in 500,000 or 1 foot per 100 mi.
In other words sft is longer than ft by 1 ft/100 mile.
 Units of Measurements
English System:
Areas are given in square feet or square yards for small areas
or acres for large areas.
1 acre = Ten square chains (Gunter’s)
1 Gunter’s chain (ch) = 66 feet
(named after its inventor Edmund Gunter 1581-1626)

Volumes are in cubic feet or cubic yards for small volumes

acre-foot unit is used for large volumes
 Units of Measurements
English/British System:
1 Gunter’s chain (ch) = 66 feet = 22 yards
Chain has 100 links. Each line is 7.92 inches long.
At every tenth link is attached a distinctive tag or tally of brass represents its distance from
both ends of the chain.

Surveying tapes are often still called "chains"

Measuring with a tape is often called "chaining"
 Units of Measurements
Angels:
Degree is the unit of angles = 1/360 of a circle.
1 revolution = 360 degrees = 2 π radians
1 degree = 60 minutes (min)
1 min = 60 seconds (sec)
Divisions of Seconds are given in tenth, hundredths, and
thousandths.
Grad (gons) is unit of angles = 1/400 of a circle.
Mils is unit of angles = 1/6400 of a circle.
 Units of Measurements
Radian is the angle subtended by an arc of a circle having a
length equal to the radius of the circle.

2π rad = 360°,
1 rad ≈ 57° 17’44.8” ≈ 57.2958°,
0.01745 rad ≈ 1°, and
1 rad ≈ 206,264.8 ”
Conversion Factors
 Significant Figures
Angels:
Degree is the unit of angles = 1/360 of a circle.
1 degree = 60 minutes (min)
1 min = 60 seconds (sec)
Seconds are given in tenth, hundredths, and thousandths.
Radian is the angle subtended by an arc of a circle having a
length equal to the radius of the circle.
2π rad = 360°,
1 rad ≈ 57° 17’44.8” ≈ 57.2958°,
0.01745 rad ≈ 1°, and 1 rad ≈ 206,264.8 ”
 Significant Figures
Significant Figures are important in recording observations.
They are an indication of the accuracy attained is the number
of digits (significant figures) recorded.

Two significant figures: 24, 2.4, 0.24, 0.0024, 0.020

Three significant figures: 364, 36.4, 0.000364, 0.0240
Four significant figures: 7621, 76.21, 0.0007621, 24.00.
2400? 2.400 x 103
2.40 x 103
2.4 x 103
 Significant Figures
Addition and Subtraction:
(1) identify the rightmost significant digit in each number,
(2) perform the addition or subtraction, and
(3) round the answer so that its rightmost significant digit
occurs in the place (column) of the left-most column
identified in step (1).
Examples:
 Significant Figures
Multiplication
The number of significant figures in the answer is equal to
the least number of significant figures in any of the factors.
Example:
362.56 * 2.13 = 772.2528
The least number of significant figures = 3
The final answer is 772.
 Significant Figures
Division
The amount should be rounded off to contain only as many
significant figures as the least number of significant figures
in either the divisor or the dividend.

Example
45.2
= 7.109377
6.3578

The least number of significant figures = 3

The final answer is 7.11
 Significant Figures
Issues Related to Surveying
1) In an intermediate calculation, it is a common practice to
carry at least one more digit than required, and then
round off the final answer to the correct number of
significant figures.
2) Implied number of significant figures.
Length of a football field = 100 yd.
Is the distance measured to the nearest hundredth of a
foot or the nearest half-yard?
 Significant Figures (SF)
Issues Related to Surveying
3) Consider the impact of each factor on the variation of the
final answer. For example:
- Steel tape 100.00 ft long is to be corrected for a change
in temperature of 15°F using
Issue: one number has 5 SF and the other is 2 SF.
Should we round the answer to 2 or 5 SF?
Question: What is the impact of 15°F in temp changes
Answer: changes the tape length by only 0.01 ft.
Conclusion: 5 SF is warranted for this type of data
 Significant Figures (SF)
Example 2: computation of a slope distance from horizontal
and vertical distances as shown below:

Issue: V has 2 SF and H has 5 SF; should we round the S

to 2 or 5 SF?
Question: What is the impact of 8 ft on the slope
(S = 100.31948 ft)
Answer: changes the tape length by only 0.32 ft.
Conclusion: 5 SF is warranted for this type of data
 Significant Figures
Issues Related to Surveying
4) Unit Conversion: the answer must retain the number of
significant figures equal to those in the observed value.
Example 1
Convert 3273.027 m to U.S. survey feet.
39.37 𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 1 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓
3273.027 m ∗ ∗ = 10738.2560825 ft
1𝑚𝑚 12 𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖

The observed value significant figures = 7

The correct answer is 10738.26
Note that exact constant (12 in) and has no impact on the
number of significant figures
 Significant Figures
Example 2
Convert 178 ft 6-3/8 in. to meters.
First: express the value in its smallest units (1/8th in.)
178 ft 6-3/8 in. = (178 * 12 * 8) + (6 * 8) + 3 = 17,139 of
(1/8th in.) units.
1/8 𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 1 𝑚𝑚
17,139 (1/8th i𝑛𝑛) ∗ ∗ = 54.416 m
(1/8𝑡𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖) 39.37𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖

If you convert all numbers to feet, 178 ft 6-3/8 in. =

12 𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖 1𝑚𝑚
178.53125 ft * * = 54.41643 m
1 𝑓𝑓𝑓𝑓 39.37 𝑖𝑖𝑖𝑖
 Rounding off Numbers
1) When rounding off numbers to a certain number of significant
figures, do so to the nearest value.

Examples: 1) Round 2.3467 x 104 to 3 significant figures: 2.35 x 104

2) Round 78.378 to 4 significant figures: 78.38
3) Round 1.612 x 103 to 2 significant figures: 1.6 x 103
4) Round 78.3749 to 4 significant figures: 78.37

2) When the digit to be dropped is exactly 5, use the nearest even

number for the preceding digit.

Examples: 1) Round 78.375 to 4 significant figures: 78.38

2) Round 78.385 to 4 significant figures: 78.38
 Rounding off Numbers
3) It is an improper procedure to perform two-stage rounding.

Example: Round 78.3749 to 4 significant figures:

First round to 5 SF = 78.375
Second round to 4 SF = 78.38 X (wrong)
Answer: 78.37

4) Rounding should only occur with the final answer. Intermediate

computations should be done without rounding