UNIT III

LEVELLING AND ITS APPLICATION

 WHAT IS LEVELLING?
1. A measurement process whereby the difference in height between
two or more points can be determined.

BS FS

Difference in height
H=BS-FS
 TERMS USED IN LEVELING
a) Datum: datum is an arbitrarily assumed level surface or line with reference to
. which level of other line or surface are calculated
b) Reduced level (RL):is the vertical distance between a survey point and the adopted
level datum.
c) Bench mark (BM):B.M. is a fixed reference point of known elevation. It may be
of the following types.
1.Permanent Bench Mark: They are fixed points of reference establish with
reference to mean sea level
2.Arbitrary Bench Mark: These are reference points whose elevations are
arbitrarily assumed.
d) Mean Sea Level (M.S.L.) : M.S.L. is obtained by making hourly observations of
the tides at any place over a period of 19 years.
e) Level Surface : The surface which is a surface, all points on which are normal to
the pull of gravity.
f) Line of Collimation : The line of collimation is the imaginary line joining the
intersection of the cross hair and the optical center of the objective and its
extensions, it is also called line of sight or collimation.
g) Height of Instrument (HI) : The elevation of the line of sight with respect to
assumed datum is known as HI.
 h) Back sight(B.S.): The first sight taken on a levelling staff held at a point of known
elevation. B.S. enables the surveyor to obtain HI +sight i.e. Height of Instrument or line of
sight.
i) Fore Sight(F.S.): It is the last staff reading taken from a setting of the level.. This is also
called minus sight as the foresight reading is always subtracted from height of Instrument.
j) Change Point(CP): The point on which both the foresight and back sight are taken during
the operation of levelling is called change point.
k) Intermediate Sight(IS) : Any levelling sight which is neither BS nor a FS, is known as
intermediate sight.
It may be noted that for one setting of a level, there will be only one back sight and one
foresight but there can be any number of intermediate sights.
 LEVELLING DEFINITIONS
1. Level Surface: A level surface is a surface, all points of which are normal to the pull
of gravity. I.e. a line at right angles to the string line on a freely suspended plumb bob.
The open sea provides a good example of a level surface.
2. Horizontal Surface: A horizontal surface is one which passes through a point at right
angles to the pull of gravity at that point.
3.Datum surface:The reference plane used in surveying is called a DATUM. In this
country the main datum surface is the mean sea level at Newllyn in Cornwall and
heights above this plane are referred to as being above ordnance.
4. Back sight (BS)
The first reading from a new instrument stand point (i.e. take the height to the
instrument)
5. Fore sight (FS)
The last reading from the current instrument station (i.e. give the height to a
benchmark)
6. Intermediate sight (IS)
Any sighting that is not a back sight or fore sight
 BASIC RULES FOR LEVELING
1. Always start and finish a leveling run on a Benchmark (BM or TGBM) and close the
loops
2. Keep fore sight and back sight distances as equal as possible
3.Keep lines of sight short (normally < 50m)
4.Never read below 0.5m on a staff (refraction)
5.Use stable, well defined change points
6.Beware of shadowing effects and crossing waters
 EQUIPMENT
1.Level Instrument
2.Tripod
3.Staff/Pole
4.Change plate (German: Frog/Frosch)
5.Pole staff bubble (bull eye)
6.Marker
 PRINCIPLES OF LEVELLING
a) Simple levelling: The operation of levelling for determining the difference in elevation, if
not too great between two points visible from single position of the level is known as simple
levelling.
Procedure : Following steps are involved.
1. Level the instrument correctly
2. Direct the telescope towards the staff held
3. Take the reading of Central, horizontal hair of the diaphram, where it appears to cut the
staff ensuring that the bubble is central.
4. Send the staff to next point
5. Direct the telescope towards C and focus it again
6. Check up the bubble if central, if not bring it to the Central position by the foot screw
nearest to the telescope.
7. Take the reading of Central Horizontal cross hair
 PRINCIPLES OF LEVELLING
b) Differential levelling or fly levelling
This method is used in order to find the difference in elevation between two points.
i) If they are too far apart
ii) if the difference in elevation between them is too great.
iii) If there are obstacles intervening. In such case it is necessary to set up the level in
several positions and to work in series of stages.
 PROCEDURE OF LEVELING
The instrument must be check before use! (see lecture)
1. The bubble tube must be leveled before the reading
• Beware of sun exposure (will wander)
• Ensure the instruments pendulum is in-limit
2. The instrument must be set up in the middle between two staffs
• Prevents curvature effects
• If impossible, use the same distances, but opposite for the next readings
3.You must not use the parallax screw between the back sight and foresight readings
 PROCEDURE OF LEVELING
4. Readings must be taken 30-50 cm above the ground
• Surface refractions
• Beware also of temperature gradients (inside/outside buildings) !!!!
5. Staff should be set up vertically
6. A change plate should be used
7. Leveling must be done in two opposite directions but the same line (beware of gravity
gradients)
8. Staff should be calibrated, especially if INVAR
9. Be careful when crossing rivers (large water surfaces)
• Use “same-time” (mutual) observations
• Repeat it during different times of the day
The difference of level of the points A&B is equal to the algebraic sum of these
difference between the sum of back sights and sum of the fore sights i.e. Σ BS - Σ FS
Booking and reduction of the levels may be done by following 2 methods.

i) Rise and fall method

ii) Height of collimation method

Rise and fall method:

In this method, the difference of level between two consecutive points for
each setting of the instrument is obtained by comparing their staff readings.
The difference between their staff readings indicates a rise if back sight is
more than foresight and a fall if it is less than foresight.
The Rise and Fall worked out for all the points given the vertical distances
of each point relative to the proceeding one.
If the RL of the Back staff point is known, then RL of the following staff
point may be obtained by adding its rise or subtracting fall from the RL of preceding
point.
Height of Collimation Method:
In this method Height of Instrument (H.I) is calculated for each setting
of the instrument by adding the back sight (B.S) to the elevation of B.M.

Height of instrument (H.I) = R.L of B.M+ B.S

Adjustment of level:
i) Temporarily Adjustments – adjustments which are made for every setting of a level.
ii) Permanent adjustments- required if some error is there in instrument.
i) Temporary Adjustments : includes
a) setting up the level
b) levelling up
c) elimination of parallax
 FLY LEVELLING PRACTICE

• Fly levelling is used when the reduced level of a point is to be found from another
point of known reduced level.
• Used to determine a tbm from a obm or mbm
• Consists of a series of b.s and f.s only
• Should always “close” the survey back onto the starting point or another obm
• Bs is back sight and is the initial staff reading with the staff on a known level
(e.g. Obm or change point)
• Fs is fore sight and is the staff reading with the staff on a point whose levels you
wish to determine.
 FIRST STAFF POSITION
NOTE:
Position of staff is
Levelling Staff important.
2 2
Position of
2 1
instrument is only for
(2.195) convenience
Line of Sight View through
eye piece

2.195

A
21.000m

This first staff reading onto a known level is termed the

BACKSIGHT (BS) reading
 NEXT STAFF POSITION

3 2

3 1

Levelling Staff
View through (23.195)
eye piece
Line of Sight
(3.195)

3.195

This staff reading onto the point whose desired level is required is
termed the FORESIGHT reading (FS).
 INTERMEDIATE STAFF READINGS
1.Intermediate staff readings are those staff readings taken after a back sight is read and
before a foresight.
2. Each reading in turn is subtracted from the collimation level (HPC) to deduce the
reduced level of the point
3.The problem with intermediate sights is that the arithmetic check will only relate to the
back sight and the fore-sight
Hence any arithmetic error could go unnoticed
4.Systematic errors due to mal-adjustment of the instrument cannot be eliminated as in
flying levelling where the equal fore-sight distance and back sight distance
compensated for the mal-adjustment errors
5. Instrumental errors of this nature can be eliminated by the use of a reversible level.
 ERRORS IN LEVELING
1. Collimation, Parallax
2. Change point / staff instability
3. Instrument or Benchmark instability
4. Refraction
5. Uncalibrated staff or levels
6. Reading, booking, or computation errors
7. Fore- and backsight distances different
 SYSTEMATIC AND RANDOM ERRORS

1. Earth curvature
2. Refraction
3. Collimation errors

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Sea Level Training
 EFFECT OF EARTH CURVATURE

Horizontal Level

(r +h)2 = r2 + s2
=>
h  s2/(2r)

Distance (s) in m 10 20 50 100 1000

Effect (h) in mm 0,008 0,03 0,2 0,8 80

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ODINAFRICA/GLOSS
Sea Level Training
 REFRACTION

Mean Gradient: 0,2 °C / m

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Sea Level Training
 COLLIMATION ERROR
1. Occurs when the line of sight (as defined by the lens axis and cross-hairs) is not
horizontal
2. Leads to an incorrect staff reading

error

horizontal line

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Sea Level Training