Visayas State University

DEPARTMENT OF FOREST SCIENCE

Visca, Baybay, Leyte

Name: Roi Andrei Caballes Date Performed: August 5, 2019

Course & Year: BS Forestry – 2 Date Submitted: August 19, 2019

Exercise No. 1

Pacing

I. Introduction:
Measuring distances, locating and verifying boundary lines, creating maps, and
determining the exact location of important features all of this is being done by surveyors,
and is needed in various fields such as engineering, construction, geology and even in
forestry (“Surveyors,” 2019). Although we have high-tech equipment now that can be
used in surveying such as surveying bipods, surveying tripods, GPS, and many more we
can’t still hide the fact that we should not always rely on these things even if they are
available now especially in getting accurate distances because there may be instances
that you may be needing to measure an area and you don’t have this equipment with you
during that time. That’s why using the techniques which we use before even these
technologies has been built will quite come in handy, such as pacing.

Pacing is the process of walking the distance and counting the number of steps
“paces” to cover the distance. The distance is determined by multiplying the number of
steps taken between two points by one’s pace factor. A person’s pace factor is
determined by pacing (walking) a measured distance, usually 300 to 500 ft, several times
and determining the average of the length of pace (step) (Barclay, 2019).
 II. Objectives:
1. To determine the length of a normal pace.
2. To determine the unknown distance or length.

III. Materials:

Steel tape Surveyor’s notebook Marker Chalk

IV. Procedure:
1. Prepare all the materials needed.

2. Go outside and find an area with a suitable level and sloping ground spot which
will be the location for your activity.

3. After finding a suitable spot, start first in the level ground area and use the steel
tape that you prepared and with it extend the tape until it reaches 50-meters then
put a mark on both ends.
50m
A B
4. After marking it you can then start doing the activity and to do so you should walk
five times back and forth. Remember, you should count the number of steps you
make as you walk along in each spot and record it onto the number of pace in
sloping ground on your surveyor’s notebook (if not available an ordinary notebook
will do). The same procedure also in getting the number of pace in sloping ground.

5. After getting the number of pace for each ground area you must get now the
average of it which will be needed in getting the pace factor later. To get it, you
just need to add all the number of pace that you’ve recorded for each trial in level
ground, then after getting the sum you shall now divide it to the total number of
trials and the result will be the average. The same process goes with getting the
average in sloping ground.
6. Now, you should take the pace factor using the formula below. To do this,
compute first the standard pace and then after getting the result you should now
proceed in computing the pace factor.

SP = Distance x 2
Average 1 + Average 2

PF = Distance
No. of pace

7. Your instructor will be choosing an area where you will be walking again for five
times (back and forth) with an unknown distance. Just like in procedure number
four, record the number of steps every time you arrive in each spot.

8. Get the total length for each trial. To do this, just multiply the pace factor to the
number of pace for an unknown distance in each trial. The result is the total
length.

9. Determine the average of the total length. To determine it, just do the same
process in procedure number five. The average that you have arrived with will be
the approximate distance that you will compare to the measured distance of your
instructor, to see whether you are far, near, or maybe you have gotten the exact
same distance as with your instructor.
V. Data:
Trials Line Tape No. of pace Pace factor Unknown
distance Distance
Level Sloping LG SG No. of Total
Ground Ground pace Length
1 A–B 50 m 66 67 0.78 0.78 31 24.18
2 B–A 50 m 64 63 0.78 0.78 32 24.96
3 A–B 50 m 63 61 0.78 0.78 32 24.96
4 B–A 50 m 65 63 0.78 0.78 32 24.96
5 A–B 50 m 67 63 0.78 0.78 32 24.96
6 B–A 50 m 63 63 0.78 0.78 32 24.96
7 A–B 50 m 66 63 0.78 0.78 33 25.74
8 B–A 50 m 63 64 0.78 0.78 31 24.18
9 A–B 50 m 64 63 0.78 0.78 32 24.96
10 B–A 50 m 64 62 0.78 0.78 32 24.96
Average 64.5 63.2 0.78 0.78 24.88

VI. Questions:
1. What are the factors affecting the pacing and explain each?
Length of a Person’s Leg
- the length of a person’s leg can affect their pacing, in a way that when
a person has a shorter leg it takes a lot more step for him to make
before he can cover a distance unlike when the person has a longer leg,
because it will only take lesser step for him to make to cover a distance.
 Nature of the Ground
- the nature of the ground is also a varying factor which affect one’s pace
because when the ground is flat it is much easier for a person to cover
a distance because it won’t take a lot more step for him to do that,
unlike when the ground is steep, slippery, or rocky it takes a lot more
step for him just to do it because these conditions somehow slows him.
Slope of the Landscape
- when a person is walking upward he’s pace is going to be slower
because he won’t be able to walk properly like he normally does due
to the presence of gravity which continually pulls him downward, after
all gravity pulls object to the center. Unlike when you are walking
downward your pace is getting faster and it is because as an object
falls, its speed will continually increase as Earth’s gravity continually
pulls it downward, basically just like walking downward.

2. When and where the pacing method is mostly applicable?

Pacing is mostly applicable when there is no present measuring instruments in
the area during the time when you are doing a survey, with it you can be able
to get a rough estimate of the area’s distance, and especially if you just want
to see a glimpse of the possible distance of the area that you may even possibly
work with in the future, but this should only be done in places with flat
surfaces because once you do it in areas with steep slopes, rocky areas, etc.
then getting a rough estimate which could somehow be near with the exact
distance will be impossible.
VII. Results and Discussion:

On the first part of the activity our instructor measured a distance of 50m using a
steel tape, after that we started collecting the number of paces in level ground for ten
trials by walking five times back and forth, the same process is also done in sloping
ground, but the number of paces for each person is somehow different from each other
and it is because of the varying factors that we have encountered. First and foremost, the
length of a person’s leg since if a person has a shorter leg then they tend to make a lot
more steps just to cover a distance, unlike for persons with longer legs because it will only
take much lesser steps for them to make it. Second, the nature of the ground because
although the surface is flat there are still some portions of it that’s uneven, that’s why the
person tends to make a few more steps because these condition somehow slows him.
Lastly, the slope of the ground since during the time that a person is walking upward he
tends to make a lot more steps just to manage reaching the next spot, and its due to the
presence of gravity which continually pulls him downward.

After that, we then determine our pace factor by first getting the average of the
level and sloping ground and after that is getting the average of the two averages that
we’ve arrived with for each ground. My pace factor is 0.78, although it is quite different
from the others still it is normal because the pace factor differs from person to person.

Having found out the pace factor, our instructor then chooses an area with an
unknown distance where we have walked again for five times (back and forth) so that
we’ll be able to find out the number of pace for each trial in an unknown distance. After
doing it we then multiply our pace factor with the number of paces in an unknown
distance so that we will be able to determine the total length for each trial. Lastly, we
then compute the average of all the total length in each trial so that we can then finally
determine the approximate distance that we will be comparing with our instructor. The
approximate distance that I have arrived with is 24.88 which is almost quite near with the
measured distance of our instructor that is 23.50.
VIII. Conclusion:

Therefore, I conclude that pacing is still quite reliable when it comes to estimating
the distance of an area especially when there is no equipment available when you’re
doing it but although it is easy, and quite reliable in estimating distances still we must not
rely on it all the time especially when getting the accurate measurement is our goal.

IX. References:

Surveyors. (2019). Retrieved from

https://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/surveyors.htm

Barclay C. (2019). Pacing. Retrieved from

https://www.progressivegardening.com/agricultural-engineering-
2/pacing.html