GEOM 2015

Geomatics for Civil & Environmental

Engineers
1. Introduction to Surveying

Dr Charisse Griffith-Charles
Department of Geomatics Engineering & Land Management
1
Course Structure
 Credits : 2 credit hours

 Lectures : 2 hrs per week

 Schedule: Mondays 10:00am to 12:00pm

 Labs : 3 hrs per week

 Schedule: Fridays 1:00 to 4:00 pm

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Course Objective
 To give students an appreciation of
Engineering Surveying principles and
techniques with respect to the following:
◦ Coordinate Geometry
◦ Distances
◦ Angles
◦ Levels
◦ Control Surveys
◦ Errors
◦ Maps/Plans
◦ Curves
◦ Cut and Fill/Earthworks

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Assessments
 Laboratory exercises : 30%
 In-Course exam : 5%
 Quizzes : 5%
 Final Examination : 60%

 Plagiarism will not be tolerated

 Assignments must be submitted completed

and submitted on time

 Students must adhere to H&S at all times
 For Labs should have appropriate footwear

(no slipper, sandals, open-toed...)

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Learning Outcomes
The Student should be able to:
 Explain the fundamental concepts of survey techniques,
measurement, instrumentation, and errors.
 Explain the principles of angular, height, and distance
measurement, along with the related instruments and
associated calibration procedures.
 Apply calculations for corrections to survey observations with
an analysis of survey quality.
 Apply survey techniques and computations to perform basic
2-D and 3-D topographic mapping exercises.
 Evaluate the different types of coordinate systems and
procedures to be able to determine an appropriate
methodology to perform coordinate, areas and volumes
computations with basic adjustments.

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Course Outline
 Week 1 - Sept. 04th : Introduction to Surveying
 Week 2 – Sept. 11th : Errors, Uncertainty and Distances
 Week 3 – Sept. 18th : Levelling and Vertical Control, Angle
Measurements
 Week 4 – Sept. 25th : Republic Day
 Week 5 – Oct. 02nd : Control Surveys and Computations
 Week 6 – Oct. 09th : Mid Term Exam
 Week 7 – Oct. 16th : Detail Surveys and Mapping
 Week 8 – Oct. 23rd : Curves and Setting-out
 Week 9 - Oct. 30th : Earth Works and Cross Sections
 Week 10 – Nov. 06th : Earth Works and Cross Sections
 Week 11 – Nov. 13th : Projections and Datums
 Week 12 – Nov. 20th : Global Positioning Systems

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Books
 Readings:
 1. Schofield, W., and Mark Breach. 2007.
Engineering surveying. Oxford; Burlington, MA:
Butterworth-Heinemann.
 2. Sterling, M. 2005. Trigonometry Workbook for
Dummies. Wiley Publications Inc.
 3. Shepherd, F. A. 1968. Surveying problems and
solutions. London: Edward Arnold.
 4. Kavanagh, B. F. 2014. Surveying with
Construction Applications. Pearson

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What is Surveying

◦ The Science of determining the three

dimensional position of natural and man-
made features, on or beneath the surface
of the earth. (Schofield and Breach 2007)
◦ Geomatics - the branch of science that
deals with the collection, analysis, and
interpretation of data relating to the
earth's surface. – (Oxford dictionary)

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Why Survey?

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Types of Surveys
May be:
 Geodetic Surveying,
 Topographic Surveying,
 Photogrammetry,
 Hydrographic Surveying,
 Cadastral Surveying,
 Engineering Surveying

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Surveying in Engineering
 Surveying is important to projects for:

◦ Planning

◦ Design

◦ Construction

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Responsibility of the Engineer
 Must have an understanding of the:
 Data Required
 Limitations of Measurement Tasks
 Limitations of Instruments
 Limitations of Techniques
 Limitation of Time
 Health and Safety
 Economics of surveys
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Basic Principles
 1. Control
◦ Framework of well defined coordinated (X,
Y and/or Z) stations.
◦ Coordinates have been obtained using
precise and rigorous methods to achieve
defined levels of accuracy
◦ Coordinates include information about the
precision and reliability of the values
◦ Coordinate determination uses operations
that ‘work from the whole to the part’
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Basic Principles
 2. Economy of Accuracy
◦ You cannot set-out 5mm steel works
using 2cm control, but you also cannot
always use the best equipment and/or
take too many excess readings
◦ "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything
that can be counted counts." - Albert Einstein

◦ Define Job Standards

◦ Use the optimal instrumentation
◦ Use the optimal techniques and methods

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Basic Principles
 3. Consistency
◦ A chain is only as strong as its weakest link similarly Information
is only as good as the weakest data used to interpret it

◦ Survey data must be derived using

consistent instrumentation and
methodologies
◦ Otherwise accuracies must be clearly
stated

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Basic Principles
 4. Independent Checks
◦ Every human activity should be duplicated
if it is not self checking. Systems must be
used to check that no errors exist. Where
errors exist, there must be ways of finding
them.
◦ Applied at all stages of a survey
◦ Guards against blunders and gross errors

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Basic Principles
 5. Safeguard
◦ Data without notes are just numbers. Data is not
information, and interpreting wrongly can help
you make some bad decisions.
◦ Ensure records are written in permanent ink
◦ Records should be legible, unambiguous, easily
understood and duplicated
◦ Protect survey monument

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Pre-Survey: Reconnaissance
 Determine Specifications for Survey,
Instrumentation and Data to be
collected
 Review the Site

◦ Obtain any previous data and information

relevant to the site and environment
 Determine the most economical
methodology for meeting
specifications
◦ Choice of Equipment/Instruments
◦ Choice of Survey Method
◦ Choice of Features Observed
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Field Measurements
 Angles and Bearings
◦ Bearings are usually computed based on angles
 Distances
◦ Horizontal distances are computed from
measured slope distances and vertical angles
 Coordinates
◦ Traditionally computed from angles, bearings and
distances. Modern instruments allow for direct
coordinate output
 Elevations
◦ Computed based on height differences.

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Geometry - Surveying

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Geometry - Surveying

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Geometry - Surveying

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Geometry - Review
Pythagorean theorem

c2 = a2 + b2

Similar Triangles

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Geometry - Review
Law of cosines

a2 = b2 + c2 – 2bccosA
b2 = a2 + c2 – 2accosB
c2 = a2 + b2 – 2abcosC

Law of sines

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Geometry - Review

A sledding hill has a slope of 40 degrees on one side and a slope of 20

degrees on the other side (see the figure). The 40 degree slope is 100
metres long. How long is the other slope?

metres

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Geometry - Review

If PQ is Parallel to RS then
1=2=5=6
3=4=7=8
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Geometry - Review
x = 180o – 150o = 30o
y = 180o – x – 65o = 85o

Φ=180-β
β
α=180+β

α β is the Bearing
α is called the back bearing

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Geometry - Review
Find the length of a lake if, from a point in
the distance, the north end of the lake is
1,300 metres away, the south end of the
lake is 1,000 metres away, and the angle
formed by sighting those two points is 45
degrees (see the figure).

x = 923 m

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Geometry - Review

m
m

metre

metre

x = 14 metre

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 Geometry - Review
Rotation

Full rotation = 360 degrees

Two rotations = 720 degrees

One rotation + 140 degrees

= 500 degrees

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Geometry - Review
 How many minutes in a degree? 60

 How many seconds in a minute? 60

 How many seconds in a degree? 3600

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 Geometry - Review
Clockwise Rotation from
North = Bearing

60 degrees

Bearings are always:

0≤β<360

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 What is the size of the angle AOB in the
Figure in degrees, minutes, and seconds if
the bearing of line OA is 45° 22' 32"and the
bearing of line OB is 121° 12' 09"?
North
A

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 Cartesian coordinates in two
dimensions

2
β
Β = atan(5/2) = 680

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Cartesian coordinates in two
dimensions

5.5

3.5

Β = 180 + α
= 180+ atan(3.5/5.5)
= 2120 30’

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Scales
A scale model is a physical model, a representation
or copy of an object that is larger or smaller than
the actual size of the object, which seeks to
maintain the relative proportions (the scale factor)
of the physical size of the original object.
A linear scale, also called a bar scale, scale bar,
graphic scale, or graphical scale, is a means of
visually showing the scale of a map, nautical chart,
engineering drawing, or architectural drawing.

Wikipedia

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Maps

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Engineering Plans

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 GEOM 2015
Geomatics for Civil & Environmental
Engineers
1. Introduction to Surveying

Dr Charisse Griffith-Charles
Department of Geomatics Engineering & Land Management
40