Land Surveying Definitions

 Land surveying is the science of determining the

dimensions and shape of natural or man made features
or three dimensional characteristics of the earth surface
by measurements of distance, directions and elevations.
 Land surveying is the art of making such measurement
of relative positions of points on the surface of the
earth, drawing them to scale whether natural or
artificial features.
 Land surveying is also the art and science of making
field measurements on or near the surface of the
earth’s. Survey field measurements include horizontal,
slope, and vertical distance and also horizontal and
vertical angles.

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Objectives of Surveying

 Preparation of maps, plans, sections etc

the determination of relative positions of natural and artificial
features on the earth surface, so that correctly represented on
maps, plans or sections.
 Setting out
is the process to transfer information from plan to the ground
using surveying instruments.
 Computation areas and volumes
the execution of calculations for land areas, earthworks volume
are based on field measurements or measurement exstracted
from maps, plans and sections.

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Surveying Classification

 Plane Surveying
Where surveys cover such a small parts of the earth’s surface
that the curvature of the earth can be ignored, then the
operations are termed plane surveying.

 Geodetic Surveying
Where measurements cover such a large part of the earth
surface like the whole country or continental, that the curvature
of the earth cannot be ignored, then the operation termed
geodetic surveying.

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 Types of surveys

Cadastral/Title Engineering Geodetic

Topographical Land Surveying Hydrographic

GIS
Photogrammetry

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Classification according to the techniques used

 Off-set survey
 Traverse survey
 Tacheometry survey
 Triangulation
 Trilateration
 Air survey or photogrammetry

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Classification by the instrument used

 Theodolite survey
 Compass survey
 Chain survey
 Tapes survey
 GPS survey
 Plane table survey

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 4 Basic Principles of Survey

Line ties Off-set

A
A

D
C
C

Traverse Intersection & Resection

A A

C
B C
θ

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Errors in surveying
 Sources of errors
i. Natural or nature eg. Temperature, air pressure, humidity,
winds
ii. Instrumental eg. Chain used is not standard whether longer
or shorter than the standard
iii. Personal or human being eg. Wrong reading 88 instead of
58, wrong writing, wrong calculation

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Three types of errors
 Mistakes (blunders or gross errors)
-cause by human being or surveyor
-mistakes can happen at early stage, middle or at the end of
the survey
-anybody can do mistakes, boys or girls, young or old,
professional or not professional.
-to overcome mistakes, check the reading, read more than one
time, read by another person

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Three types of errors(cont…)
 Systematic or cumulative error
-due to the instrument used not standard
-consistent characteristic
-value of the error can be determined
-these error can be eliminated by applying correction
 Random or accidental error
-cause by different capabilities of the instrument used and the
surveyor
-the remaining error after all mistakes and systematic errors
eliminated is call random
-these error are small, and they cannot be eliminated

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Characteristic of random errors
 Small error occur more often than large one
 Positive and negative error are equally alike
 Very large error seldom occur
 The distribution of the errors approximate closely to the normal
distribution curve
 Examples:
 1/8000 for linear accuracy ratio
 1’ 10” for angular mis-closure

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Accuracy and Precision
 Accuracy
Is the relationship between the value of a measurement and the
true value of dimension being measured
The accuracy ratio of a measurement or series of
measurements is the ratio of error to the overall value of
measurement, expressed as with a fraction with a numerator of
1 and a denominator rounded to the closest 100 units. Example,
an error of 0.01 ft in 30 ft would result in an accuracy ratio of
1 : 3000
 Precision
Is the refinement of the measuring process and the ability to
repeat the same measurement with consistently small variations
in the measurements

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 Relationship between Accuracy and Precision

Sight Aligned Sight Misalinged

(high Accuracy) (Low Accuracy)

Shortgun
(Low Precision)

Rifle
(High Precision)

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Guideline to carry-out survey work
 Control – each survey should be provided with an accurate
control framework, normally the lower order being fitted to
control framework with higher order
 Economical – the accuracy aimed should be appropriate to the
needs of the particular task. As a general rule, the higher the
accuracy then the higher the cost
 Independent check – every survey operation should either be
self checking or independent check
 Field data – the results of a survey should be write follow
survey regulation and field documents should be kept for future
use

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Some Survey Instruments

Ordinary Tape
Fiberglass Tape

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Some Survey Instruments

Compass

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Some Survey Instruments

Survey Chain

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 Some Survey Instruments

Precise Level Instrument Rotating Laser Instrument

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Some Survey Instruments

Automatic Level

Theodolite

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Some Survey Instruments

Doing Survey Work

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