Engineering Surveying

Unit 1 Introduction to Surveying

 Definition

 Surveying: “the art of making measurements of the relative

positions of natural and man-made features on the earth’s surface
and the presentation of this information either graphically or
numerically” (Bannister, Raymond and Baker, 1992)

 Land surveying: the technique and science of accurately

determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional space position of
points and the distances and angles between them
Main types of Surveying
 Plane surveying is a type of surveying which considers the earth’s surface to
be flat. It considers relatively small areas and therefore takes the earth’s
surface as a horizontal plane.
 Geodetic surveying is a type of surveying which true shape (spheroid) of the
earth’s surface. It involves large areas of the earth’s surface and takes into
account the curvature of the earth.
Earth Shape:
Curvature
 Branches of Surveying (Surveys classified according to purpose)
 Control surveying: to establish horizontal and vertical positions of control
points to be used as reference points for other surveys.

 Land surveying or Planimetric survey: to determine the boundaries and

areas of parcels of land; also known as property survey, boundary survey or
cadastral survey
 Topographic survey: to prepare a plan/map of a region which includes
the natural, man-made and other features and their elevation
 Engineering survey: to collect required data for planning, design
and execution of engineering projects
 Construction survey: to establish points, lines, grades and for
staking out engineering works
 Mine surveys: to carry out surveying specifically for mining
purposes
 Plans and Maps
 Plans and maps of a particular area are established from the survey data collected. The map
shows the location of a specific establishment such as buildings, vegetation, roads, etc. A plan
accurately defines the widths of roads, sizes of buildings and other features in large scale. Figure
1-1 shows an example of a map (a) and a plan (b).
 Types of Maps

Maps are pictures or representations of the Earth’s surface. They show how places are related to each other by
distance, direction and size. Maps are a way of showing a part of the Earth’s surface on a flat piece of paper.

There are different types of maps varying according to their function or the type of information they show.
Four of the commonly-used types of maps include:

a. Physical map – shows the natural features of the earth like mountains, plateaus, plains, rivers, oceans, etc.
and are also known as relief map
 Types of Maps

b. Thematic map – represent a variety of information including things like climate, precipitation, vegetation,
elevation, population, life expectancy, etc. Given figure shows a thematic map showing the population density of
Oman per square kilometers in 1990.
c. Political map – shows the political boundaries of cities, towns and villages, states, and
countries. Figure shows the political map showing the different municipalities of Oman.
 Topographic Map: Figure include contour lines showing the shape and elevation of an
area. Lines that are close to each other indicate steep terrain while lines that are far apart
show flat terrain.
Types of Plans According to Purpose
 

Plans are produced to clearly illustrate the geometric features of a site or building. Its
presentation depends on its purpose. Plans can be categorized as follows:
 
ARCHITECTURAL PLAN: Example, site plan, floor plan, section drawing
STRUCTURAL PLAN: Example, column details, footing details, slab details
ARCHITECTURAL PLAN:
STRUCTURAL PLAN
  Fundamental Concepts
 Rounding OFF

RULE 1: If the highlighted digit is 1, 2, 3, 4 simply drop all digits to the right of rounding digit.

Example 1.1 ROUND OFF 3.423 to the nearest:

 Hundredths
 Tenths
 Units  
 RULE 2: If the highlighted digit is 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 add one to the rounding digit and drop all digits to the right of rounding digit.
 Exception to RULE 2: When the first digit dropped is 5 and there are no digits following or the digits following are zeros, make the
preceding digit even (i.e., round off to the nearest even digit).

Example 1.2

ROUND OFF 2.856 to the nearest:

 Hundredths 
 Tenths
 Units      
 Example 1.3
 ROUND OFF 2.315 and 2.325 to the nearest hundredths
 Units of measurement
Linear
Units of Measurement Commonly-used in Surveying

No. Item SI Unit English/US Units Conversion

Meter, m Feet, ft 1 m = 3.28 ft

Length/
1 Kilometer, km Yard, yd 1 in = 2.54 cm
Distance
Millimeter, mm Miles, mi 1 mi = 1.609 km

Square meters, m2 Square foot, ft2 1 acre = 4047 m2

2 Area
Hectares, ha Acre 1 ha = 10000 m2

Cubic meter, m3 Cubic foot, ft3 1 Li = 1000 cm3

3 Volume
Liters, Li Gallons, gal 1 gal = 4.546 Li

  Kilogram, kg 1 kg = 2.205 lb
4 Pound, lb
Mass/weight Newton, N 1 kg = 9.81 N
 Scaling

Methods of showing scale

 Expressing in words
 Drawn scale
 Representative fraction
Large Scale and Small Scale Map
Large Scale and Small Scale Map
 Obstacles to Measurement:

It sometimes happens that a survey line passes through some object such as a pond, a building, a river, a hedge

etc. which prevents the direct measurement of that part of the line which the object intersects. The interfering

object in such a case is called on obstacle.

It is necessary to overcome obstacles so that chaining may be continued in a straight line. The following

methods are, therefore, employed in measuring distances across the obstacles.