Levelling

Surveying
 Definition
• Levelling is a branch of surveying to measure levels of different points with
respect to a fixed point such as elevation of a building , height of one point
from ground
 Principle of Levelling
The principle of levelling is to obtain horizontal
line of sight with respect to which vertical
distances of the points above or below this line of
sight
IMPORTANT TERMS
a)DATUM – or Datum plane is an arbitrarily assumed level surface or line with
reference to which level of other line or surface are calculated.

b)LINE OF COLLIMATION- - the line which passes through the Intersection of

the cross hairs of the eye piece and optical centre of the objective and its continuation
is called as line of collimation. This is also known as line of sight.

c)REDUCED LEVEL (RL) – Height or depth of a point above or below the assumed
datum is called Reduced level.
d) BENCH MARK – (BM) – B.M. is a fixed reference point of
known elevation. It may be of the following types.
i) GTS Bench mark (Geodetic Triangulation Survey) : These Bench
marks are established by national agency like Survey of
India.They are established with highest precision.Their position
and elevation above MSL is given in a special catalogue known
as GTS Maps ( 100km. interval).
e)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.MSL adopted by Survey of
India is now Bombay which was Karachi earlier.
f)Level Surface :The surface which is parallel to the mean sphereoidal
surface of the earth is known as level surface.

g)Line of Collimation :It is the 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.
•h) Height of Instrument (HI) : The elevation of the line of sight with respect to assumed
datum is known as HI.

•i) 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.
•j) Fore Sight : (F.S.) – It is the last staff reading taken from a setting of the level. It is

also termed as minus sight.

•Fore sight is the sight taken on a levelling staff held at a point of unknown elevation
to ascertain the amount by
•which the point is above or below the line of sight. This is also called minus sight as
the foresight reading is always subtracted from height of Instrument.
k)Change Point (CP) :The point on which both the foresight and
back sight are taken during the operation of levelling is called
change point.

l) Intermediate Sight (IS) :The foresight taken on a levelling staff held at a

point between two turning points, to determine the elevation of that point,
is known as intermediate sight.
AUTO LEVEL
LEVELLING STAFF
VIDEO LINK
• https://youtu.be/bru-lpQtodg

• https://youtu.be/_SiSn_tcXZASiSn_tcXZA