LEVELLING AND

INSTRUMENT
 LEVELING:
• It is a vital operation in producing necessary data
for mapping, engineering design, and construction.
• Leveling results are used to
• (1) design highways, railroads, canals, sewers,
water supply systems, and other facilities having
grade lines that best conform to existing
topography;
• (2) lay out construction projects according to
planned elevations;
• (3) calculate volumes of earthwork and other
materials;
• (4) investigate drainage characteristics of an
area;
• (5) develop maps showing general ground
configurations; and
• (6) study earth subsidence and crustal motion.
DIFFERENTIAL LEVELING: add/subtract
vertical distance from instr. level plane

DEFINITIONS:
1. ELEVATION – vertical distance above a
zero datum (MSL or assumed)
2. BENCHMARK (BM) – permanent, solid
point of known elevation
3. BACKSIGHT (BS) – rod reading on known
point (+)
 DEFINITIONS CONT.
4. HEIGHT OF INSTRUMENT (HI) – the
elevation of the instr. line of sight
5. FORESIGHT (FS) – rod reading on
unknown point (-)
6. TURNING POINT (TP) – rod point used to
transfer elevation to next setup
7. CLOSED LOOP – return to BM or some
other known elevation in the same network
(always, always, always…)
 LEVELING:
THEORY OF LEVELLING LEVELLING
PROCESS:
1. SET UP ABOVE POINTS
2. SOLID, WIDE SETUP
3. FOCUS: eliminate parallax
objective focus
crosshair focus
4. BALANCE FORESIGHTS AND
BACKSIGHTS (step 3)
LEVEL BUBBLE INSTRUMENTS
1. Automatic Compensator Levels
2. Theodolites as Levels
LEVEL RODS
1. FEET / INCH
2. FEET / DECIMAL (ENGINEERS)
3. METRIC
4. DIRECT READING

ROD LEVELS
FIELD EXERCISE #1
ASSIGNMENT #6, page A-7