1

Civil Surveying in Engineering:

Fundamentals of Surveying Lecture

Bryan James S. Mahinan

College of Engineering, UNP

BSCE 2D

Irish Dalis, EM

October 5, 2020
CIVIL SURVEYING IN ENGINEERING 2

Civil Surveying for Engineering

Efficiency, safeness, durability, quality and more are the basic necessities in erecting

buildings and infrastructures. It is important that these qualifications should be met, to ensure the

quality and safety procedure within: pre-construction; mid-construction; and post construction. In

consideration of its success, it is critical to conduct civil surveying. A land surveying expert is

called a land surveyor. They work with elements of geometry, trigonometry, regression analysis,

physics, engineering, metrology, and the law.

Surveying is a means of making relatively large-scale accurate measurement of the

Earth’s surface. It includes the determination of the measurement data, the reduction and

interpretation of the data to usable form, and conversely the establishment of relative position and

size according to given measurement requirements. (Lyman, Wright, & Wilfrid, 2019) It is the

technique of determining the positions of points on, above or beneath the surface of the Earth by

means of direct and indirect measurements of distance, direction and elevation.

Civil surveying is essential for the success of many construction projects, from residential

to commercial buildings to infrastructures. It gives project managers and engineers the

geographical information they need to build a structure that will stand up reliably in local terrain

and helps them map out how their project should unfold. (Tops Marketing, 2020)\

This is a very crucial branch of civil engineering. Depending on the requirement, various

types of surveying has been evolved. Surveying can mainly be classified into two groups i.e. (i)

plane surveying; and (ii) geodetic or trigonometric surveying.

CIVIL SURVEYING FOR ENGINEERING 3

Types of Surveying

Through considerations and genuine form of the earth, surveying is broadly categorized

into plane and geodetic. Plane surveying, basically assumes the area is entirely flat, while,

geodetic surveying takes the curvature of the earth into account. (see figure 1)

Figure 1: Plane surveying v.s. geodetic surveying

A) Plane Surveying- it is a specific type of surveying where the surface of the earth is

considered as plane and curvature of the earth is not taken into account. Curvature and

spheroidal shape of the earth is neglected. The line connecting any two points is a straight

line and the angles of polygons are plane angles. It is suitable for small and flat areas and

its degree of accuracy is comparatively low (Punmia, 2014). Plane surveying can be

further be subdivided in the following ways:

1) Chain Surveying- is the branch of surveying which only linear measurements are

made in the field. This is suitable for the survey of the small areas with simple

details and an area that is fairly flat. (Gichaba, 2019)

 Area to be surveyed is divided into a number of triangles

 The length of the sides are measured and the interior details recorded

 Whole are then plotted on a drawing sheet to a suitable scale to produce

the map
CIVIL SURVEYING IN ENGINEERING 4

2) Traverse Surveying- is a method in the field of surveying to establish control

networks. It is also used in geodesy. Traverse networks involve placing survey

stations along a line or path of travel and then using the previously used points as

a base for observing the next point (Jain, 2005). It has many advantages: (i) less

reconnaissance and organization needed; (ii) it can change to any shape and thus

can accommodate a great deal of varied terrains; (iii) only a few observations are

needed to be taken at each station; (iv) is free of the strength of figure

considerations that happen in a triangular system; (v) scale error does not add up,

Azimuth swing er rors can be also be reduced by increasing the distance

between station, and; (vi) it is more accurate than triangulation. (Chrzanowski &

Konecny, 1965)

3) Plane Table Surveying- is a graphical method of survey in which the field

observations and plotting are done simultaneously. It is simpler and cheaper than

Theodolite survey but it’s mostly suitable for small scale survey. An art paper or

sheet is fixed on a calibrated plane table. The field of observations are taken and

recorded side by side on the paper and eventually the map is prepared.

4) Ordinary Leveling- level surfaces at different elevations can be considered to be

parallel. A level datum is an arbitrary level surface to which elevations are

referred. A reduced level is the vertical distance between a survey point and the

adopted level datum (Pacific Island Hydrology Course, 2004). The elevations of

different points are determined and provide all the elevation data needed for

construction activities
CIVIL SURVEYING FOR ENGINEERING 5

B. Geodetic Surveying- deals with vast areas of the earth and curvature is a significant

element in this survey. This type of surveying is usually employed for large survey works.

It works up to 100 mi2 are treated as plane and beyond that are treated as geodetic

(Basak, 2014) . it can be divided in the following ways:

1) Triangulation- it is the process of determining the location of a point by forming

triangles to the point from known points. It involves only angle measurements at

known points, rather than measuring distances to the point directly as in

trilateration; the use of both angles and distance measurements is referred to as

triangulateration. Triangulation is a network of well-defined triangles is formed

on the plot of land to be surveyed. One of the lines is considered as the baseline

and all other lines and angles are then measured accordingly.

2) Astronomical Surveying- the meridian, azimuth, latitude, longitude, etc of the

plot to be surveyed is determined with the help of celestial bodies. It is a general

map or image of the sky that lacks specific observational target. Alternatively, an

astronomical survey may comprise a set of images, or other observations of

objects that share a common feature. Surveys are often restricted to one band of

the electromagnetic spectrum due to instrumental limitations, although multi-

wavelength surveys can be made by using multiple detectors, each sensitive to a

different bandwidth (Lacy, Riley, Waldram, McMahon, & Warner, 1995).

3) Photographic Surveying- also called photographic icing is a method of surveying

in which plans or maps are prepared from photographic taken at a suitable camera

stations or photographic is the science of making measurement from photographs.

The
CIVIL SURVEYING FOR ENGINEERING 6

output is a map, a drawing or a 3D model of some real-word scene or object (Jamal,

2017).

Purposes of Surveying

Surveying has been a significant part in the improvement of the human environment for

so many centuries that its importance is often forgotten. It is a primary phase in the preparation

and application of all construction sites.

Surveying was essential at the dawn of the history, and some of the most significant scientific

discoveries could never have been implemented were not for the contribution of surveying. Its

principal modern uses are in the fields of transportation, building, apportionment of land and

communications (Lyman, Wright, & Wilfrid, 2019).

Some purposes of surveying are as follows (Civil Today, 2015)

 Topographical maps showing hills, rivers, towns, villages, forests etc. are prepared by

surveying.

 For planning and estimating new engineering projects like water supply and irrigation

schemes, mines, railroads, bridges, transmission lines, buildings etc. surveying is

required.

 Cadastral Map showing the boundaries field houses and other properties are prepared by

surveying.

 Engineering map showing the position of engineering works like roads, railways,

buildings, dams, canals etc. are prepared through surveying.

CIVIL SURVEYING IN ENGINEERING 7

 To set out a work and transfer details from map to ground knowledge of surveying is

used.

 For planning navigation routes and harbours, marine and hydro-graphic surveying are

used.

 To help military strategic planning, military maps are prepared by surveying.

 For exploring mineral wealth, mine survey is necessary

 To determining different strata in the earth crust, geological surveys are required

 Archaeological surveys are used to unearth relics of antiquity.

Importance of Surveying

Engineering survey is an important technology applied in the quality management of

construction engineering. By conducting engineering survey, it can provide necessary data

support and measurement methods for the early exploration, mid-term construction, and later

acceptance quality management of construction engineering. In the process of construction

quality management, how to apply the engineering measurement technology reasonably

becomes an urgent problem to be solved (Liu & Zhang, 2020)

The first important role of engineering survey is to provide data guarantee for

construction engineering quality management. The preliminary survey of construction

engineering, the selection of construction material specifications, the arrangement of construction

progress, the position and height of load-bearing piles, the bearing capacity of the building. And

the construction conditions of soil all require data from engineering surveys (Chen, 2017).

Another important role of engineering survey is to provide monitoring and management

methods for the entire building construction. Quality management needs to be based on accurate
CIVIL SURVEYING FOR ENGINEERING 8

reference and standard data. Comparing the measurement data with the data specified in the

design plan, and check whether the error of the actual construction measurement and the ideal

data is within the allowable range. If the error is outside the allowable range, the management

personnel need to repair and remedy the problem accordingly to improve the quality as much as

possible (Sun, 2019).

CIVIL SURVEYING IN ENGINEERING 9

References

Civil Today. (2015, May 20). Retrieved from Civil Engineering:

https://civiltoday.com/surveying/88-uses-of-surveying

Basak, N. (2014). Surveying and Leveling.

Chen, J. (2017). Analysis of the Importance of Engineering Survey. S&T Innovation Guide, 34.

Chrzanowski, & Konecny. (1965). Traverse Surveying.

Gichaba, D. (2019). Chain Surveying.

Jain, A. K. (2005). Surveying. Firewall Media.

Jamal, H. (2017, March 29). Surveying and Leveling. Retrieved October 4, 2021, from
aboutcivil.com: https://www.aboutcivil.org/photographic-surveying-
photogrammetry.html

Lacy, M., Riley, J., Waldram, E., McMahon, R., & Warner, P. (1995). A radio-optical survey of
the North Ecliptic CAP. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Liu, L., & Zhang, C. (2020). Analysis of Importance of Engineering Survey in Construction
Engineering Quality Managment. 1.

Lyman, J., Wright, & Wilfrid, J. (2019, May 30). Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from
Surveying: https://www.britannica.com/technology/surveying

Pacific Island Hydrology Course. (2004). Leveling and Surveying. Fiji: NIWA.

Punmia, B. (2014). Surveying by BC Punmia.

Sun, L. (2019). Engineering Survey and Error Control Analysis in Construction.

Tops Marketing. (2020, February 21). TOPS: Take off Professionals. Retrieved from Surveying:
https://www.takeoffpros.com/2020/02/21/ypes-of-civil-surveying/