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Traverse Survey PDF
Traverse Survey PDF
4 Survey
LEARNING OUTCOMES
By the end of this topic, you should be able to:
1. Outline the basic components of a theodolite;
2. Carry out temporary adjustments of a theodolite;
3. Compute and adjust a theodolite traverse;
4. Compute coordinates for traversing; and
5. Determine the nature of errors affecting the traverse work.
INTRODUCTION
Traversing is a form of a control survey that requires the establishment of a series
of stations that are linked together by angles and distances. The angles are
measured by theodolites, and the distances are measured conventionally by tapes
or electronic distance measuring equipment. The use of theodolite in traversing
surveys is very fundamental and has become one of the most common methods in
geomatic engineering work such as:
general purpose angle measurement;
provision of control surveys;
contour and detail mapping; and
setting out and construction work.
This topic will describe the construction and use of the theodolite in traversing. It
will explain the traverse design and the procedures of computing and adjusting a
TOPIC 4 TRAVERSE SURVEY 51
traverse. The application of coordinates for point location will also be covered in
this topic which will be very useful in civil engineering project.
Horizontal angles are required to obtain the relative direction to a survey control
station or points of detail.
Basically there are two types of modern theodolite which are in use today. These
are the:
(i) Optical theodolite; and
(ii) Electronic Digital theodolite.
Both types of instrument can be made to read to the nearest whole 1 which is
considered accurate enough for most engineering purposes. With the advancement
of modern electronics, most of the theodolites made today are of the electronic
digital type. But the older optical types are still being used except that it will take
longer time to read the angles than with an electronic one. The value of the angle
observed however will be the same. Electronic theodolites are more versatile than
52 TOPIC 4 TRAVERSE SURVEY
the optical type. Useful features in the form of software can be added to an
electronic theodolite. Thus modern instruments can be used in a variety of
surveying situations.
EXERCISE 4.1
What is the major difference between the optical and the electronic
theodolite? Differentiate between each type in terms of its construction.
1. A Tribrach
Allows the instrument to be connected to the top of a tripod and also allows
the instrument to be levelled with respect to a plate bubble.
20 or 10 markings ached into its surface. Both circles are read through the
microscopes. The grading of the horizontal circle increases from 0 degree
clockwise to 360 degrees.
4. If the theodolite is viewed with the eyepiece towards you and the vertical
circle [VC] is to the left of the telescope, the theodolite is defined as being in
the Face Left. If the vertical circle [VC] is to the right of the telescope then
it is in the Face Right position.
5. The grading of the vertical circle is such that when in Face Left with the
telescope being horizontal, the zero (0) degree marking is vertically above
the horizontal axis H. The grading increases from the zero mark in the
direction of the eyepiece (90) with 180 vertically below H and 270 at the
object-lens.
EXERCISE 4.2
For this study it is appropriate to know only the basic requirements for permanent
adjustments. The steps in carrying out the adjustments should be handled by the
qualified person at the laboratory.
EXERCISE 4.3
In both systems a pattern is etched into the glass circles and these are read
and scanned electronically. The final reading is converted to a series of
figures which are then displayed. Thus because the display is free from
misreading errors, it is in a form which is suitable for automatic recording
and data processing.
1. Setup the theodolite and center the instrument on station B. The theodolite
instrument has two faces; Face left or Face right.
2. Starting from the face left, the telescope is pointed at station A. The
horizontal reading is then noted. E.g. 25 30 00.
Note that changing the face will change the readings by 180. This gives a check
on the observations and ensures that reading errors can be eliminated. If there is a
great difference in the two readings, the observations are repeated until readings
agree.
2. When the telescope is pointed up [elevated], then the vertical angle increases
from zero and the reading is a positive (+ve) vertical angle [known as angle
of elevation]. The reading increase from 0 to +90 when the telescope is
pointed straight up.
3. If the telescope is depressed [pointed down], then the angle reading will
increase in numerical value. The depressed telescope reading indicates
that it is below the horizontal plane and the reading is a negative (ve)
vertical angle or [known as angle of depression]. These numerical values
increase from 0 to 90 when the telescope is pointed straight down.
EXERCISE 4.4
Assume that the axes of a graph are referred to as North, South, East and West as
shown in Figure 4.9.
In the above Figure, Point A is at (1,2) and Point B is at (9,5). The referencing
used is that the x-axis is known as EASTINGS and the y-axis is known as
NORTHINGS.
If R is the origin and P is the reference object, then point P can be located by
its polar coordinates of angle and distance i.e. and D, where D is the
distance from the origin and is a clockwise angle between R and P.
Coordinates of this type are often used in survey calculations when fixing
and plotting detail, especially when setting out data on the ground.
Northing
P [ Reference Object ]
EXERCISE 4.5
4.3.3 Northing
There are three (3) reference directions [or datum meridian] that are used as
traverse reference we should be associated with. They are:
Magnetic North;
Grid North; and
True North.
64 TOPIC 4 TRAVERSE SURVEY
The magnetic north moves about the central axis of the earth. This variation
is known as Magnetic Declination. Magnetic Declination is the angular
difference between the true Whole Circle Bearing (WCB) (measured relative
to true north) and magnetic WCB (measured relative to magnetic north).
Magnetic declination varies according to the observers position relative to
its distance to the pole.
East and West directions are never used as reference lines, but they are
included since they indicate direction either east or west of the line from grid
north.
66 TOPIC 4 TRAVERSE SURVEY
From To
Station Station Face Left Face Right Angle Mean
A 00000 1800000 30 2620
B 30 2630
C 302620 2102640 30 2640
From To
Station Station Face Left Face Right Mean Angle
A 452020 2252025 452022.5
B
C 1052540 2852547 1052543.5 600521
For improved precision the angle measurement can be repeated any number of
times. The number of face left observations must equal the number of face right
observations.
EXERCISE 4.6
1. Name the FOUR quadrant bearings by referring to the North and
South directions.
2. The whole circle bearing (WCB) of a traverse line is 115 30.
What will be the value if it is described in quadrant bearing?
3. What is the relation between magnetic declination and magnetic
north?
4. Explain in detail the procedure and booking method of angular
observation in theodolite traverse.
TOPIC 4 TRAVERSE SURVEY 69
Tripod with targets is set up at Stations A and C. Theodolite or total station is set
up on station B. Linear measurement or distance to BA and BC are taken and
recorded. The tripod is then moved from station A to station D. The theodolite is
removed from station B and set up at station C. Targets will be set up at station B
and D simultaneously. Finally, distance CD is measured and recorded.
If the process of linear measurement requires the use of steel tape, spring balance
is required for applying tension, vertical angle must be taken for slope correction,
and thermometer required for temperature correction.
If the traverse is a closed loop type, then the internal angles should sum to:
(2n 4) 90;
where n is the number of stations.
70 TOPIC 4 TRAVERSE SURVEY
In the following example [Figure 4.16], the traverse have five sides with five
internal angles. The sum of internal angles was found to be 5395900, whereas
the sum should be (2 5 4) 90 = 5400000. The angular misclosure is
+01 00 or 60. Therefore the correction to be applied is 60/5 = +12 per angle.
The value of the misclosure lies within acceptable limits such as those for a
second order traverse i.e. 20 5 45 . Since all the angles were measured with
the same degree of accuracy, then each angle can be adjusted equally because they
were all equally liable to error. The distribution of error equally to all angles to
adjust out error is shown in Table 4.3.
Table 4.3: Adjustment to Internal Angles
The calculated bearings of sides from the internal angles are described in
Table 4.4 and Figure 4.17.
Table 4.4: Bearing Calculations
Bearing AB 512200(given)
Bearing BA [180 + 512200] 2312200
Angle B 1491312
Bearing BC [2312200 149312] 820848
Bearing CB [180 + 820848] 2620848
Angle C 805842
Bearing CD [2620848 805842] 181006
Bearing DC [1811006 180] 1006
Angle D 116 1912
Bearing DE 360 + [11006] 1161912 2445054
Bearing ED [2445054 180] 645054
Angle E 920442
Bearing EA 360 + [645054] 920442 3324612
Bearing AE 3324612 180 1524612
Angle A 1012412
Bearing AB 1524612 1012412 512200
On the last line the calculation [AB] comes back to the starting bearing, providing
a check on the work.
72 TOPIC 4 TRAVERSE SURVEY
E 2 N 2 / L 0.0562 / 2081.19
0.483 / 2081.19
1: 4325.
4. Linear misclosure is acceptable for second order engineering traverse
[Acceptable misclosure is greater than 1:4000 for 2nd class traverse].
TOPIC 4 TRAVERSE SURVEY 73
Once the linear misclosure is accepted, the partial coordinates of the traverse
stations can be calculated. The coordinates for the traverse stations are derived
from easting and northing differences. Thus the next step is to calculate the partial
coordinates for each line in the traverse. The partial coordinates can be obtained
from the two equations below:
Departure E = Horizontal Length L * sin WCB [ ]
Latitude N = Horizontal Length L * cos WCB [ ]
E
E d
d
2. Adjustment for partial northings [N] for a given line is:
N
N d
d
Adjust traverse by Bowditch Rule. The corrections to the delta eastings and delta
northings are proportional to the lengths of the traverse sides.
E' = E + E and N' = N + N
For a closed line type traverse, the traverse will finish on a point of known
coordinates. By summing the partial coordinates for both eastings and northings, a
determination of the coordinates for the closing station can be obtained. In this
case, the coordinates should be the same as those given for this closing
coordinates [Table 4.7].
Coordinates
Corrected East North
E N 10,000.000 20,000.000 A
313.604 250.731 10,313.604 20,250.731 B
378.527 52.233 10,692.131 20,302.964 C
7.593 368.193 10,684.538 19,934.771 D
524.264 246.081 10,160.274 19,688.690 E
160.274 311.310 10,000.000 20,000.000 A
If the misclosure in eastings and northings are given as E and N and there are
n legs in the traverse, then for each leg of the traverse, the adjustment to both
partial eastings and northings is given by:
E = E + E /n and
N = N + N/n
where E and N are the differences in eastings and northings as obtained in the
preliminary calculations.
76 TOPIC 4 TRAVERSE SURVEY
Work Example 1
Distan
Bearing
ce
12 10608'50" 50.502
23 14222'40" 16.341
34 18614'30'' 26.236
45 26727'50'' 36.454
56 27947'40" 25.034
67 34921'10" 30.974
71 2910'50" 22.892
The table above shows a simple traverse booking by whole circle bearing
[WCB] method. Your task is to carry out the necessary traverse adjustment to
determine the correct coordinates of each station. Coordinate of station is given
1 as E.5000 N.5000
Solution
E
E d and N N d
d d
E' = E + E and N' = N + N
TOPIC 4 TRAVERSE SURVEY 77
Step 3 Calculate the final coordinates of Easting and Northing for all the
traverse stations
Present all your calculation in a tabular form as shown:
(i) Linear misclosure and partial coordinates
d Easting Northing Corrections
Station Bearing
(Meters) E N E N
0.000 0.000
78 TOPIC 4 TRAVERSE SURVEY
Repeat the field procedure so that two complete sets of horizontal and vertical
readings are obtained. This will allow check to be made in the field, in case of
gross reading errors.
Ensure that all the required information has been obtained before the instrument is
moved. When the leader and the booker are satisfied that all the information has
been recorded then only the instrument is moved to the next station.
1. Centering
It is important to ensure that the theodolite instrument and targets are
centered correctly over each survey station. Remember that angles and
distances may be required from or to a known station. This will not be the
case if the theodolite or targets are not centered correctly.
80 TOPIC 4 TRAVERSE SURVEY
2. Angles
When clamping the instrument, apply light clamp to the vertical and
horizontal locks. Hard clamping can affect the pointing of the instrument
and is not necessary. Failure to eliminate parallax and poor focusing can
affect accurate pointing. Always keep the target in the center of the field of
view. All movement of the theodolite should be kept as smooth as possible
and all movement around the instrument should be kept to a minimum.
3. Distances
When recording these, all distances should be obtained to 3 decimal places
and three readings should be taken and the mean calculated.
There is a possibility that that some of the errors outlined below will occur from
time to time, so be aware of them. Dont rush and hopefully you will not forget to
record any information which is required.
Turning the wrong screw.
Sighting the wrong target.
Using the stadia instead of the cross-hairs.
Forgetting to set the micrometer reading before taking a reading.
Misreading the circles.
Transposing the figures when booking the data.
EXERCISE 4.7
Basically there are two types of modern theodolite i.e. the optical theodolite
and electronic digital theodolite. But both have the same common features in
terms of their construction.
Angles must be read in both the face left and face right positions to
eliminate most instrumental errors.
Horizontal angle readings on face left and face right will be 180 different.
Vertical angle reading (zenith angles), face left and face right should sum to
360.
Adjustments to angles, and to bearings and distances are made only when the
error is within the expected tolerance.