SCHOOL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

Course Code : BCE01T3303     Course Name: Surveying

ERRORS IN SURVEYING
PRESENTED BY:
1. Vishwa Anand [21SOCE1010010]
2. Varun Srivastav [22SOCE1010002]
3. Yuvraj Singh [21SOCE1010015]
 CONTENTS
Causes of Errors
Explanation of Causes of Errors
Types of Errors
 CAUSES OF ERROR
(i) Natural causes
(ii) Instrumental imperfections
(iii)Personal Limitations
 Explanation
(i) Natural causes: Examples of natural causes are variation in speed of wind,
temperature, humidity, refraction, gravity and magnetic. Declination
ii) Instrumental imperfections: However sophisticated an instrument may be, it is
never perfect. Graduations of the horizontal circle of a theodolite or on a levelling
rod may not be perfectly spaced and this may lead to errors
(iii) Personal Limitations:There are limitations of the human senses of sight and
touch. However much we may try it is difficult to bisect exactly a rod while taking
measurements of an -angle.
 Types of errors
(a) Systematic or cumulative.
(b) Accidental, random or compensating.
The third type (Personal errors), i.e. mistake or blunder cannot be classified
under any category of error because they are due to carelessness or callousness
on the part of the observer, mistake can be corrected only if discovered.
Comparing several measurements of the same quantity is one of the best ways of
isolating mistakes
Systematic Errors
Systematic errors are caused by the surveying equipment, observation methods, and
certain environmental factors. Under the same measurement conditions, these errors will
have the same magnitude and direction (positive or negative). Because systematic errors
are repetitive and tend to accumulate in a series of measurements, they are also referred
to as cumulative errors.
Although some systematic errors are difficult to detect, the surveyor must recognize the
conditions that cause such errors. The following list includes several examples of
systematic errors
 Using incorrect temperature and/or pressure observations.
 Not applying curvature and refraction constants.
 Using incorrect instrument heights and/or target heights.
 Using an incorrect prism offset.
 Using an imperfectly adjusted instrument.
The effect of these errors can be minimized by:
 Properly leveling the survey instrument and targets.
 Balancing foresight and backsight observations.
 Entering the appropriate environmental correction factors in the data collector.
 Entering the correct instrument heights, targets heights, and prism offset in the data
collector.
 Periodically calibrating the surveying equipment
If appropriate corrections are not made, these errors can accumulate and cause
significant discrepancies between measured values. By keeping equipment in proper
working orderand following established surveying procedures, many of the
systematic errors can be eliminated.
Random Error
Accidental, random or compensating ErrorsAccidental. random or
compensating errors are subject to chance and hence follow the laws of
probability, The magnitude and sign of errors are not definitely known.
They are sometimes positive. sometimes negative, by taking a large
number of observations we can make an estimate of magnitude of the
error likely to be involved