Introduction to

Theodolite
Kathmandu University, Department of civil Engineering
 Introduction
▪ Theodolite is an instrument designed for the measurement of
horizontal and vertical angles.
▪ It is the most precise instrument available for such
observations, and is of wide applicability in surveying.
▪ The line of sight of a theodolite is provided by a telescope to
sight the target object from the instrument station.
▪ For setting of points at different elevations, and for
measurement of vertical angles, the telescope must be capable
of rotation about a horizontal axis and for measurement of
horizontal angles, the instrument must be rotated about a
vertical axis.

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Uses of theodolite
▪ Mapping and in the construction industry
▪ Measurement of Horizontal and vertical angle
▪ Measurement of magnetic bearing of lines
▪ Locating points on line
▪ Prolonging survey lines
▪ Determining difference in elevation
▪ Setting out curves
▪ Aligning tunnels, roads
▪ Mining works etc.

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 Classification of theodolite
A. Based on the movement of the telescope on the horizontal axis in a vertical plane
(a) Transit theodolite
In the case of a Transit theodolite , the line of sight can be reversed by revolving
the telescope about horizontal axis through 180° in the vertical plane.
(b) non-transit theodolite.
In the case of non-transit theodolite, the telescope cannot be revolved around the
horizontal axis in a vertical plane completely.
B. Based on an arrangement to measure the angles
(i) Vernier theodolite,
(ii) Micrometer theodolite
(iii) Digital theodolite.
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A typical type of vernier theodolite

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Digital Theodolite

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 Parts of transit theodolite
1. Levelling head
2. Lower plate(scale plate) Vertical circle
3. Upper plate
4. The standards
5. T-frame
6. Plate level
7. Telescope
8. Vertical circle
9. Horizontal circle Optical plumate
10. Upper main and tangential screw
11. Lower main and tangential screw
12. Vertical screw
13. Optical plumate

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 Technical terms used in theodolite
▪ Vertical axis: The axis about which the theodolite, may be rotated in a horizontal
plane, is called vertical axis. Both upper and lower plates may be rotated about
vertical axis.
▪ Horizontal axis: The axis about which the telescope along with the vertical circle
of a theodolite, may be rotated in vertical plane, is called horizontal axis. It is also
called as Trunnion axis, or Transverse axis.
▪ Line of collimation: The line, which passes through the intersection of the cross
hairs of the eye-piece and optical center of the objective and its continuation, is
called line of collimation. The angle between the line of collimation and the plane
perpendicular to the horizontal axis, is called error of collimation.

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▪ Line of sight: The line passing through the eye-piece and any point
on the objective, is called line of sight.
▪ Axis of telescope: The axis about which the telescope may be
rotated, is called axis of telescope.
▪ Axis of level tube: The straight line, which is tangential to
longitudinal curve of the level tube at its center is called axis of
level tube. When the bubble of the level tube is central, the axis of
the level tube becomes horizontal.
▪ Centering
The process of setting of theodolite exactly over the ground station
mark is known as centering.
▪ Transiting: The process of turning the telescope in vertical plane
through 180° about its horizontal axis, is called transiting. It is also
called as reversing or plunging.

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▪ Swing : A rotation of the telescope about the vertical axis in
horizontal plane is called swing. The swing may be either
direction i.e. right or left. If the rotation is in right (clockwise)
direction, it is called as right swing. If it is left
(anticlockwise) direction, it is called as left swing.
▪ Face left and face right observations
When the vertical circle is on the left side of the telescope at
the time of observations, then the observations are known as
Face left observations. If the vertical circle is on the right
side of the telescope, then the observations are called as Face
right observations.
▪ Changing face
It is the process of changing the face of the telescope from left
to right and vice versa.
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▪ Telescope Normal: The telescope is said to be normal or direct when its vertical circle is to the left of
the observer and the bubble is up.
▪ Telescope Inverted: The telescope is said to be inverted when its vertical circle is to the right of the
observer and the bubble is down.

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 Temporary adjustment of theodolite
▪ The adjustments that are required to be made at every instrument station before
making observations are known as temporary adjustments. The temporary adjustment
of the theodolite consists of the following operations:
▪ Setting over the station
▪ Leveling up,
▪ Focusing and elimination of parallax.

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▪ Setting over the station:
 The top of the peg is normally marked with a cross by permanent paint. In normal
theodolites, a hook is placed in the centre of tripod stand representing the position
of vertical axis of the instrument. A plumb bob is suspended from this hook with
the help of a strong thread.
 This operation includes both centering the axis of the instrument vertically over
the station mark and approximately leveling by manipulation of the tripod.
 The legs are then moved sideways and/or radially to bring plumb bob exactly over
the cross junction on peg while maintaining tribach horizontal. In more refined
theodolites, optical plummet is used for centering in place of plumb bob assembly
for better accuracy. A centering plate mounted on tripod can also be used for
rapidly centering the instruments.

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▪ Levelling up:
The operation of making the vertical axis of the instrument truly vertical is knwon as
leveling of the theodolite. After making the instrument tentatively level and accurately
centered over the ground station, accurate leveling is done with help of the plate level.
There are three screw and four screw instruments for leveling the instrument.
Leveling up is the simple and rapid operation if carried out systematically.

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▪ Ellimination of parallax:
If the image of the object does not fall on the plane of the cross hair, parallax
error exists and can only be removed by focusing objective and eye piece
focussing.
It is important for the surveyor to note that the focusing of the object and the
focusing of the cross-lines are completely independent operations.

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Fundamental lines of theodolite
1. Vertical axis
2. The line of collimation
3. Horizontal axis or trunion axis
4. The axis of plate bubble
5. The bubble line of telescope

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 Relation between fundamental lines of theodolite

▪ The axis of plate level must lie on the plane perpendicular

to the vertical axis.
▪ The line of collimation must be perpendicular to the
vertical axis.
▪ Horizontal axis must be perpendicular to the vertical axis.
▪ Axis of altitude level should be parallel to line of
collimation.
▪ Vertical circle reading must be zero when line of
collimation is horizontal.

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 Measurement of horizontal angle

• Direct method of measuring the angle

• The angle by method of repetition
• Horizontal angles by reiteration method

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 Measurement of horizontal angles
1. Direct method of measuring the angle :
A. Set up, centre and level the theodolite over the ground point B.
B. Loosen the upper plate, set the vernier to read zero and clamp
the upper plate.
C. Loosen the lower plate and swing the telescope until the left
point A is sighted. Tighten the lower clamp. Accurate bisection of
the arrow held on station A is done by using the lower tangent
screw. Read both the verniers and take the mean of the
readings.
D. Unclamp the upper plate and swing the telescope in clockwise
direction until point C is brought in the field of view. Tighten the
upper clamp and bisect the arrow on station C accurately, using
the upper tangent screw.

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 Measurement of horizontal angles

▪ Read both the verniers and take the mean of the readings. The difference of
the means of the readings to stations C and A, is the required angle ABC.
▪ Change the face of the instrument and repeat the whole procedure. The
measure of the angle is again obtained by taking the difference of the means of
the readings to C and A on face right.
▪ The mean of two measures of the angle ABC on two faces, is the required value
of the angle ABC.

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 Measurement of horizontal angles

2. To measure the angle by method of repetition

This method is used to measure a horizontal angle to a finer degree of accuracy. Numbers of repetition
depends upon the accuracy desired and the least count of the instrument.

To measure a small horizontal angel ABC, proceed as follows:

▪ Keeping the face of the instrument left, centre and level it
accurately over the ground point B.
▪ Set the vernier to read zero. Loosen the lower plate and swing the
telescope in azimuth to sight the left hand point A. Using lower
tangent screw, bisect the point A accurately. Tighten the lower
clamp
▪ Read both the verniers and take the mean of two readings.
▪ Loosen the upper plate and swing the telescope in clockwise
direction until point C is brought in the field of view. Using the upper
tangent screw, bisect the mark C accurately.

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 Measurement of horizontal angles
▪ Read both the verniers and take the mean of the
readings. The difference of the mean readings of points C
and A, gives the approximate value of the angle. Let it be
3° 45′ 20′′.
▪ Unclamp the lower plate and turn the telescope in
clockwise direction until point A is again sighted. Clamp it
and bisect the station mark accurately with the help of the
lower tangent screw, ensuring that the vernier readings do
not change.
▪ Loosen the upper plate and swing the telescope in
clockwise direction and again bisect C exactly by using
upper tangent screw. The verniers will now read double
the value of the angle ABC.
▪ Repeat the process until the angle ABC is repeated by
the required number of times, say 5.
▪ Read both the verniers. The final reading after 5
repetitions should be approximately equal to 5 times the
approximate value of the angle. In this case, say 5 × (3°
45′ 20′′) + index error if any. Take the mean of the two
vernier readings
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 Measurement of horizontal angles

Lower clamp screw upper clamp screw

▪ Lower tangent screw ▪ upper tangent screw

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 Measurement of horizontal angles

3. To measure horizontal angles by reiteration method.

▪ When several angles having a common vertex, are
to be measured, the reiteration method is generally
adopted.
▪ In this method angles are measured successively,
starting from a reference station and finally closing
on the same station.
▪ The operation of making last observation on the
starting station, is known as closing horizon.
▪ Making observations on the starting station twice
provides a check on the sum of all angles around a
station.
▪ The sum should invariably be equal to 360°,
provided the instrument is not disturbed during
observations

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 Measurement of horizontal angles
PROCEDURE
Let the instrument station be O whereas A, B, C, D and E are
the stations sighted for measuring the angles AOB, BOC, COD,
DOE and EOA. To measure the angles by reiteration method,
the following steps are involved
▪ Centre the theodolite accurately over the ground station mark
O and level it.
▪ Bisect a well defined distant station (say A) using the lower
clamp and make the vernier to read zero degree, few minutes
and few seconds. Clamp the upper and lower plates. Read
both the verniers and take the mean of the readings.
▪ Unclamp the upper plate, swing the theodolite clockwise and
bisect B accurately, using the upper tangent screw.
▪ Read both the verniers and take the mean of the readings.
▪ Similarly, bisect stations C, D, E, etc. successively and finally
the starting station A. In each case, read both the verniers and
take the mean of the readings.

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CONTINUE..
Measurement of horizontal angles

▪ Calculate the included angles by taking the differences between two consecutive
readings, i.e., mean reading of B minus mean reading of A; mean reading of C minus
mean reading of B, etc.
▪ Transit the telescope, swing the instrument in an anticlockwise direction and make
observations on the face right to get the measure of each angle.
▪ The mean of two measures of each angle, is accepted as the correct value of the angle

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Measurement of horizontal angles

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 Vertical angle measurement
Vertical
clamp

▪ The vertical angle is the angle made by the inclined

line of sight with the horizontal. It may be angle of
elevation or angle of depression depending upon
whether the object is above or below the horizontal
plane passing through the horizontal axis of the
instrument.
▪

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 Set up the theodolite over the ground station mark A. Level it
accurately by using the altitude bubble
 Set the zero of the vertical vernier exactly in coincidence with the
zero of the vertical scale using vertical clamp and vertical tangent
screw. Check up whether the bubble of the altitude level is central of
its run. If not, bring it to the centre of its run by means of the clip screw.
In this position, the line of collimation of the telescope is
horizontal and the verniers read zero.
 Loosen the vertical circle clamp and move the telescope in vertical
plane until the station B is brought in field of view. Use vertical circle
tangent screw for accurate bisection both the verniers of the vertical
circle. The mean of two vernier readings gives the value of the vertical
angle.
 Change the face of the instrument and make the observations exactly
in similar way as on the face left.
 The average of two values of the vertical angle is the required value of 31
the vertical angle.
Measurement of deflection angles
▪ The angle which any survey line makes with the prolongation of the preceding
line, is called deflection angle. Its value may vary from 0° to 180° and is
designated as right deflection angle if it is measured in clockwise direction and as
left deflection angle if it is measured in an anticlockwise direction

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▪ Procedure. To measure the deflection angle α at station B, proceed as under :
1. Set up, centre and level the instrument over station B carefully.
2. Make the verniers to read zero. Take a back sight station A and clamp both the plates.
3. Transit the telescope so that the line of sight is in the direction of AB produced. The verniers
should still read zero.
4. Unclamp the upper plate and swing the telescope in an anticlockwise direction to sight
station C. Read both the verniers.

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5. Unclamp the lower plate and swing the telescope to sight A again. Ensure that readings of
verniers have not changed. Clamp the lower plate and transit the telescope.
6. Loosen the upper clamp and swing the telescope to sight C in an anticlockwise direction.
Bisect the mark at C accurately using the upper tangent screw. Read both the verniers.
7. Deflection angle has been doubled by making observations on both faces. Half of the final reading
is the required deflection angle at B.

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Sources of errors in Theodolite
▪ Instrumental Errors
 Error due to imperfect adjustment of the plate level in Horizontal angles
 Error in Vertical angles due to imperfect adjustment of the plate level
 Error due to line of Collimation not being perpendicular to horizontal axis
 Error due to Horizontal axis not being perpendicular to the Vertical axis
 Other Instrumental Errors

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▪ Personal Errors
 Error in setting up of the Instrument
 Error in centering of the Instrument
 Errors in setting and reading the Vernier
 Error in ranging pole location or Staff Station
 Error in Focusing (parallax)

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Natural Errors
▪ Error due to settlement of the tripod stand / leg
▪ Error due to atmospheric condition

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NUMERICALS

DIRECT REVERSE
STATTION SIGHTED TO
D M S D M S

A C 0 0 10 180 0 0

B 30 0 20 210 0 0

B A 0 0 0 180 0 20

C 60 0 0 240 0 10

C B 0 0 10 180 0 0

A 90 0 5 270 0 10

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 HORIZONTAL ANGLE MEASUREMENT
SIGHTED
ST FACE OBSERVED HZ ANGLE HZ ANGLE AVERAGE HZ ANGLE
TO
D M S D M S D M S
A C L 0 0 10
B L 30 0 20 30 0 10
C R 180 0 0 30 0 5
B R 210 0 0 30 0 0

B A L 0 0 0
C L 60 0 0 60 0 0
A R 180 0 20 59 59 55
C R 240 0 10 59 59 50

C B L 0 0 10
A L 90 0 5 89 59 55
B R 180 0 0 90 0 2.5
A R 270 0 10 90 0 10

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OBSERVED SUM OF INTERIOR ANGLE: D M S
180 0 2.5

Theoritical sum of interior angle D M S

180 0 0
error D M S
0 0 -2.5

CORRECTION D M S
0 0 0.83

CORRECTION TO BE MADE
COORECTION
ANGLE
D M S
A 0 0 0.5
B 0 0 1
C 0 0 1

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 HORIZONTAL ANGLE MEASUREMENT CORRECTED
SIGHTE OBSERVED HZ AVERAGE HZ CORRECTION
ST FACE ANGLE
D TO ANGLE HZ ANGLE ANGLE
D M S D M S D M S D M S D M S
A C L 0 0 10
B L 30 0 20 30 0 10
C R 180 0 0 30 0 5 0 0 0.5 30 0 4.5
B R 210 0 0 30 0 0

B A L 0 0 0
C L 60 0 0 60 0 0
A R 180 0 20 59 59 55 0 0 1 59 59 54
C R 240 0 10 59 59 50

C B L 0 0 10
A L 90 0 5 89 59 55
B R 180 0 0 90 0 2.5 0 0 1 90 0 1.5
A R 270 0 10 90 0 10

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