Stadia & EDM

Stadia Principles

Stadia is a tachometric form of distance

measurement that relies on a fixed-angle
intercept to optically measure the distance
along the site path.
Stadia is used on topographic surveys where
limiting accuracy of 1/400 will be acceptable.
The transit cross-hair has in addition to the
normal cross hair two additional horizontal
hairs.

Stadia Principles

The distances can be determined simply

by sighting a rod with the telescope level
and determining the rod interval.
D = 100S

Stadia Principles

Elevation can be determined by stadia in

the manner illustrated in figure 7.4

Elevation of station A () + hi RR =
elevation of point B (rod)

Stadia Principles
Figure 7.4
Stadia Principles.
(a) Stadia hairs.
(b) Distance
determination
(c) Elevation
determination
(d) Angle
determination

Inclined Stadia
Measurements

The distance from the instrument

to the rod must be reduced from
slope to horizontal
The rod interval of a sloped
sighting must be reduced to what
the interval would have been if
the line of sight had been
perpendicular to the rod.

Inclined Stadia
Measurements

Figure 7.5 illustrates the previous

two considerations. The value of
hi and the rod reading (RR) have
been made equal to clarify the
sketch

Inclined Stadia
Measurements

The geometric relationships are as follows: (1) S is the rod

interval, (2) S is the rod of angle when the line of sight is
inclined by angle .
D = 100S (7.1) (Figure 7.4b)
S = S cos
(7.3) (Figure 7.5)
D = 100S cos (7.4) [from eqs. (7.1) and (7.3)]
H = D cos
(7.5) (Figure 7.5)
H = 100S cos2 (7.6) [from eqs. (7.4) and (7.5)]
V = D sin (7.7) (Figure 7.5)
D = 100 S cos (7.4)
V = 100 S cos sin
(7.8) [from eqs. (7.7) and
(7.4)]

Inclined Stadia
Measurements
Some theodolites will only read zenith
angels (90-), making it necessary to
modify eqs.(7.6) and (7.8).
H=100S Sin**2(90-)
V= 100S Sin(90-) cos(90-)
Equations (7.6) and (7.8) can be used in
computing the horizontal distance and
difference in elevation for any inclined
stadia measurement.

Inclined Stadia
Measurements

FIGUER 7.5

Inclined Stadia
Measurements
Figure 7.6 shows the general case of
an inclined stadia measurement which
can be stated as follows:
Elevation() station k= v RR=
elevation (rod) point M (7.9)
The relationship is valid for every
stadia measurement. If the hi and RR
are equal Eq. (7.9) becomes
Elevation station K = V = elevation
(rod) point M (7.10)

Examples of stadia
Measurements

1.

2.

3.

There are three basic variations to

a standard stadia measurement:
The rod reading is taken to be the
same as the hi.
The rod reading is not the same
as the hi
The telescope is horizontal

Precision of stadia
Measurements

Normal field practice permits accurate

rod reading of 0.01 ft or 0.003 m for
distance of 300ft or 100m.
If rod intervals are read accordingly
,horizontal distances (100s) can be
computed to the closest 1ft or 0.3m.
The maximum relative accuracy of
1/300 to 1/400

Precision of stadia
Measurements

Consistent reasoning indicates

that differences in elevation (v)
can be realistically computed to
the closest 0.1ft or 0.03m

Establishing control by stadia

methods

Stadia method can be used to

establish secondary points or to
establish closed traverses that will be
used for topographic stadia control
The double readings provide an
increase in precision which permits
stations so established to be used as
control for further stadia work

Establishing control by stadia

methods

Figure 7.12 illustrates as

extension of primary control to
the secondary control point K.
With the transit at 0+ 40 a
horizontal angle is turned (and
doubled) on to point K.
The hi, VCR, and rod interval are
determined in the usual manner.

Electronic surveying
measurement

Electronic distance measurement

(EDM) first introduced in the
1950s
Current EDM instrument use
infrared light laser light or
microwaves
See figure 7.1

Electronic angel
measurment

The electronic digital theodolite first

introduced in the late 1960s
When the electronic theodolite is used with
built in EDM or an add on interfaced EDM
A microprocessor automatically monitors in
the instruments operating status and
manages built in surveying programs and a
data collector that stores and processes
measurements and attribute data (total
station)
Figure 7.2

EDM Instrument
characteristic

Expensive instrument have longer

distance ranges and higher
precision
Distance range 800m to 1km
Short range EDM can be extended
to 1,300 m using 3 prism
Long range EDM can be extended
to 15 km using 11 prism

EDM Instrument
characteristics

Accuracy range +(-) (15mm +5ppm)For shortrange EDM

+(-) (3mm+1ppm) for long range EDM
Slope reaction manual or automatic
Average of repeated measurements available on
some models
Battery capability 1,400 to 4,200 measurements
Temperature range -20c to +50c
Nonprism ,measurements available on some
models distances from 100 to 350 m (3 to 5 km
with prism)

Prisms

Prisms are used with electro-optical

EDM instruments to reflect the
transmitted signal (figure 7.3)
A single reflector is a cube corner prism
that has the characteristic to reflecting
light rays precisely back to the emitting
EDM instrument
The quality of the prism is determined
by the flatness of the surface and the
perpendicularity of the 90 surface

Prisms

Prisms can be tribrach-mounted on a

tripod, centered by optical plummet or
attached to a prism pole held vertical on a
point with the aid of a bulls-eye level
In control surveys tribrach-mounted
prisms can be detached from their
tribrachs and the interchanged with
theodolite
This interchangeability of prism and
theodolite speeds up the work because
the tribrach mounted on the tripod is
centered and leveled only once

EDM instrument operation

1.Set up
EDM instruments are inserted in to the
tribrach
Set over the point by means of the optical
plummet
Prisms are set over the remote station
point
The EDM turned on
The height of the prism and the EDM
should me measured

EDM instrument
operation
2.Aim
The EDM is aimed at the prism by using either
the built-in sighting devices on the EDM
Telescope (yoke-mount EDMs) will have the
optical line of sight a bit lower than the
electronic signal
When the cross hair is sight on target the
electronic signal will be maximized at the
center of the prism
Set the electronic signal precisely on the
prism center

EDM instrument
operation
3. Measure
The slope measurement is accomplished by
simply pressing the measure button
The displays are either liquid crystal (LCD) or
light emitting diode (LED)
The measurements is shown in two decimals
of a foot or three decimals of a meter
EDM with built in calculators can now be
used to compute horizontal and vertical
distances, coordinate, atmosphiric,curveture
and prism constant corrections

EDM instrument
operation
4. Record
The measured data can be recorded in
the field note format
Can be entered manually into electronic
data collector
The distance data must be
accompanied by all relevant
atmospheric and instrumental
correction factors