A Radial Land Survey

This resource was written by Derek Smith with the support of CASIO New Zealand. It may be
freely distributed but remains the intellectual property of the author and CASIO.

Radial surveys are surveys in which arbitrary points (vertices) are to be located
and connected to a control point. It is assumed that the accuracy of the
survey technique is sufficient to locate any points with acceptable accuracy.
This type of survey is used for general land and seafloor mapping.

Useful Formulae
Sine Rule:
a
sin A
=
b
sin B
=
c
sin C

Cosine Rule: cosC =
a
2
+ b
2
c
2
2ab

Area of a Triangle: A =
1
2
absin C
Cosine Rule: C ab b a c cos 2
2 2 2
+ =
1. Go to the area you are going to measure. Mark a central point on the ground, it will be
labelled A on your ClassPad300. Using an alidade (or compass) to help you draw out radial
lines (spokes), measure the bearings (or angles) from A towards each corner of the area that
you are surveying.
2. Name each corner with a different letter B, C, D,
3. Use the long tape (or accurate, consistent pacing) measure the distance from your central point
A to each vertex. AB, AC, AD,
4. Record these measurements on your ClassPad300
5. You will need to measure and record the sizes of the angles (or bearings), BAC, CAD,
DAE, .
6. Subdivide the area on the diagram into triangles.
7. Calculate the areas of each triangle and confirm lengths of BC, CD, DE, by using of the
Cosine or Sine Rules or Area of a Triangle formulae.
8. Confirm the areas of the triangles formed in the surveyed area when added together equal the
total area.
9. Find distances between opposite vertices.

Example:
Find the area of a piece of the school grounds, labelled ABCDEF (refer to the example sketch shown
below). The following measurements have been collected from a flat area of land:
Length Bearing
AB 25 040
AC 35 100
AD 30 150
AE 33 235
AF 40 265
AG 20 335




Enter this data in to the geometry menu on your ClassPad300, firstly crating the radial lines from
point A and then fixing the lengths and angles by tapping on the attributes you want to fix and
typing in the required measurement and then tapping in the icon so that its background is shaded.
The line AH is illustrating the direction of North so that bearings can also be used (or found).

Practice: Find the area of an irregularly shaped hexagon or other polygon.. Taking appropriate
measurements to calculate lengths and angles in order to find the total area and perimeter of the
hexagonal (or other polygon ) shape.
















Point A is located on the geometry page. Form the radial lines required for the hexagon
construction. Tap on the arrow icon (top right) to open page 2.














Tap on the line segment AB and the Classpad300 will display the length in the work box. Enter in
25 and tap on the icon so that its background is shaded, this constrains the length to 25 units.
[Note: You may have to Zoom to fit to see the diagram that you are creating.] See the screensnap
below to alter this window.





Next, begin to set the bearings (or angles) by selecting the radial arms and again changing the
angles displayed in the work box to continue the construction of the hexagon. Displayed below is
the setting of AB to a bearing of 040 by selecting AH and AB. Complete the hexagon by creating
the edges BC, CD, , GB.






Completed hexagon
based on the given
measurements.




Using the geometry tools on page 2 you can find the lengths angles and areas of any aspect of this
constructed hexagon. Some examples are illustrated below.












The total area. Area ABG Area ABC

Fixing the line AH to be
vertical.

Lengths between vertices Selected angles:











CF CE BCD BAD

There are many more pieces of information that you can extract from this radial survey by viewing
the drop down menu on the left on page 2. You can copy and paste or drag and drop the
constructions into the Main icon with the use of the split screen. Have fun!





















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