How does land surveying work?
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- čas přidán 25. 07. 2017
- A primer on one of the most important companions to civil engineering: land surveyors.
Conventional measurement tools like a tape measure and protractor don't work for large civil structures and public works projects. Surveying is essentially the science of measuring big stuff. In this video I give a quick explanation of how surveying works and show a few ways you can do your own leveling survey at home. No sines, cosines, or tangents required!
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Best line ever: “Or maybe you wanna exercise your God-given right to take measurements of stuff, and write those measurements down on a clipboard. That’s my idea of a recreational activity.”
I thought that was the best one too
I thought the same.
.........and then make a pointless spreadsheet with you data..........
lol. my thoughts exactly!
Second best: Behind every wonder of the ancient world was a geometry nerd who laid out the angles and alignments during construction.
My dad passed away years ago. But he and I loved watching stuff like this together and I know he would have just loved this channel.
my dad also passed away this january. he was a cartographer and a surveyor here in the philippines. now i miss him so much because he taught me all about surveying. Now im a Licensed Geodetic Engineer here and practicing my profession. thanks pa! Hope you are proud of me.
@@johnpaulbaguia1150 So sorry for your loss, how do you like geodesy?
I lost my dad also... sorry bud. Be careful, he is watching and smiling, laughing, watching, loving you ALWAYS. I believe he IS a good man. m
My dad was a mover and a janitor but he always taught me to enjoy stuff like this. He always taught me random facts and whatnot. He and I used to play the Atari 2600 version of Combat when he brought home a VCS from a thrift store and fixed the broken solder traces. I miss my dad lots. He was a smart guy, and I hope just some of what he knew implanted on me.
From a Land Surveyor I must say, Great Job! Very good explanation for the lay person. Unfortunately you mentioned but did not discuss the most important role of a land surveyor; the legal part. Measuring and cartography is a great skill but the reason Surveyors need to be licensed is because the establishment of land boundaries from antiquated, conflicting records and never adequate control points is complicated. Laws, codes, customs, and court cases means a surveyor must use experience and good judgement when determining the best location for the property corners. This is why surveying is called an art and not a science. Of course explaining that would take longer than a six minute video.
Keep up the good work!
Would totally watch a detailed video on this
As a professional land surveyor I can say if you think you can survey a property by watching a CZcams video, then you can defend yourself in court by watching a CZcams video too.
Sounds fascinating and exhausting at the same time
And the fun part is when the county map online shows an obviously wrong length for one side of your property. Google maps allowed me to verify the 200' error. The description in the metes and bounds agreed with the Google measurements. And then the metes and bounds for a roadway that's part of my property described an angle of 39 degrees which was in reality more like 26 degrees. There was another lot nearby that had the 39 degree angle so I think the surveyor was overworked the day he wrote down the angle and used the 39 degrees from the other property to describe the angle of my road. And don't get me started on the well drillers that put in the GPS coordinates and when you look them up they are 30 miles away... sheesh!
@@dustinwilton5343 I get what your saying but some people have done just that and been successful CZcams is no different from a library now you see prisoners teach themselves law and get out of jail all the time does it take a special dedicated person absolutely
Years ago I saw a photo of Mount Rushmore in a surveyor's office that had a caption that read, "Three land surveyors and some other guy." Much respect for this profession.
As a surveyor i get asked at least 5 times a day "what are you doing"? ....... i usually answer with "oh we are building a walmart right here". 😂😂😂😂😂
Lol
john adams we are always building a roundabout or in residential areas a new 4 lane Road.
Lukas Kociok haha good one. 👍
I've noticed the questions are a little on the dumb side. lol Watcha' doin'? Surveyin'? Why no ma'am, I'm just running around with this rod for no reason whatsoever!
john adams i answer with, "I've been doing this for 10 years and I'm still not sure."
How does Land Surveying work? Easy. Set up a total station, then spend the next 8 hours explaining you are not a) taking pictures of people walking past or b) a speed camera.
hey try surveying in the city... ull spend most of the time protecting your leveled setup from people as they pass u by, or spot the prism through a endless forest of cars and infrastructure :) how many times we had the prism at 7 meters XD
lol
Haha for real, not sure why 90% of people think the total station is a camera.
True. I do this in my country. People is so anoying here. Some times they even call the police
here i never saw people think that way about it
mb bc they are often visible doing that before a piping project or something
Having been part of a survey crew 40 years ago, a lot has changed. Back in the day, we had 4 man crews. Today, I see 1 person survey crews out in the field doing the same work as the original 4 man crew. Thanks for the trip back through memory lane
Just a guy and his GPS nowadays.
It's nice to hear surveyors described as you have done in this video. We (surveyors) are the first on site doing topographic surveys. During the life of the project, we return to lay out features and structures. Then when it's done we perform "As-built" surveys.
as a land surveyor theres a few things id like to say to people.
1.you can pretty much always cross in front of our total station. it will pretty much never screw up anything and worst case scenario we have to press a button again. but thanks for being polite and standing there waiting for us to tell you you can go.
2. there are a lot of things we can't figure out on the field...don't expect us to know exactly where the boundaries of everything are we probably don't know more than you at this point. but we usually have a good idea of wether something will cause legal problems in the future so feel free to ask about that.
3.if you ever feel like a land surveyor is on your property and you think he shouldnt be there. well he's probably there because more data over more area makes it much much easier to come up with a precise answer so having data from places were not working on helps a lot in positioning the places we are working on. and at the end of the day surveryors usually have a little card that gives them the right to go on your property if they need to so what they are doing is perfectly legal plus most of the time they will be on the part you think is your property that actually belongs to the government.
4.we try to be precise...if you see us verifying things constantly that doesnt mean were doing our job wrong and were making a ton of mistakes. you want the surveyor that double or triple checks everything.
5.if we ever need to go in your apartment or something like that we will likely have to open every closet....so for the love of god don't just hide all of your mess in there because its going to be awkward.
I always hated the going in the closets part. Though I would plan it for afternoon and TRY to give them a tasteful warning "I'm going to lunch now, I'll need to go in the closets when I get back in an hour, if there's anything that needs to be done between now and then I will not be here to see it...". Often they would be oblivious until after I found their big box o' porn or sex toy collection. Then they try to sneak in and hide the stuff when I'm out getting a battery or something. Like was there a bunch of dildos here a second ago or was that my imagination?
DIVAD291 what's the schooling and requirements for surveying
Just out of curiosity, why would you need to go into every closet in an apartment?
I thought you guys stuck to the outside? Why in closets and such?
Go through closets? I don't think so....
Well, look what CZcams recommended. Perfect, since I just bought two books about historical surveying.
The first is, "The Measure of all Things" by Ken Alder about the seven year survey from Dunkirk to Barcelona that was the basis for the meter.. The second is, "Measure of the Earth" by Larrie Fereiro about the eight year French survey expedition to South America to determine whether Newton was right and the earth was longer around the Equator than from pole to pole.
Those 18th century French surveyors went through hell to do their jobs. They were true adventurers and heroes.
I am a high school teacher in Australia and teach mathematics. It is very difficult to find videos that show applications of the mathematics we teach in high school in an accessible, informative way that doesn't require an interest in mathematics to appreciate. However, these videos include enough links to mathematical concepts without the audience requiring much knowledge of those concepts. This is a perfect video to answer the ubiquitous "when will we need this?" question before it is asked, as it is neither superficial nor a cop-out. I am planning on using this at the beginning of the Trigonometry topic in my Year 9 class, without the need to simplify or clarify anything in the video.
Applications of Robotics like Robotic arms also uses trigonometry extensively))
The most important member of a construction site, the first person to get blamed, and the lowest paid. Love it.
It hurts to get paid less than the flagger.
Great channel! FYI, as a tile setter of 26 years and the owner of at least 8 laser levels of one form or another, I can tell you with complete confidence that the water level is absolutely the most accurate.
I recently found this out. The laser itself is pretty accurate, but the company that set them in the level body is slightly off or something.
Excellent comment!
Gotta say the laser 'level' he had was one of those cheap harbor freight chinese lasers. I wouldn't trust them to cast a 'level' line more than 20 feet. You have to look at the accuracy of the bubble to 'level' it up.
@@tubedude54 it’s a Bosch laser? Pretty standard laser I’d say
I always asked myself how these things work, now I finally know!
AirCannonChannel
And knowing is half the battle..
Me too, so I choose it, to be my career. It's amazingly interesting. And Grady made a really good job at this video.
Nice presentation, although, like he said, just a scratch of the whole thing.
tripleflip7 BECAUSE KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!
G.I. JOOOOOEEE!!!
Did you tell you?
I always asked myself how these things work, now I finally realized that I have to ask someone else.
I really had a nice time 2 summers ago when I worked part-time assisting a Surveyor at a construction site. I enjoyed working with the Theodolite and other measuring equipment. 24 months later, the $12 million apartment project is over and wow, I am so happy to have made my contribution. And it's the largest project I have worked on. Hoping for more to come. #HappyEngineering #HappySurveying.
I’m a surveyor for the Army and we use total stations and survey rods. We also use GPS survey equipment
In 1970 I was an electrical engineering student at Michigan Tech. We were the brains on campus. I would see the surveying students all over campus with their sticks and tripods. I thought "how quaint, and worthless". Later I learned how important their job was. For example, I was struggling to hang a suspended ceiling in my basement. Measuring from the floor was not working. It was not level. A surveyor friend showed me the water in the rubber tube trick. Easy-peasy! He explained all the geometry and sundry mental gymnastics he used to do his job. I wish I had learned to circularize terra firma as well. Love your channel!
Michigan Tech alum as well, I then did grad school in Tennessee and taught the surveying lab for a professor having never learned it in undergrad. It's a skill that has come in handy half a dozen times since then.
Hey thanks for throwing us Surveyors some love sometimes we get forgotten about in the big construction industry.
I've worked construction all my life. One thing we did as a crew, was on occasion to check and compare our tape measures. They varied sometimes, alot!
I've been a surveyor doing all aspects of highway surveying for 30 years. I've had a dozen ways of explaining what we do. This video is one of the best I've seen, certainly in the 5 1/2 minutes it takes to explain it. I had a drainage issue at my house a couple of years ago. I used just about the same laser level to put in a 4" drain pipe that totaled about 100' long at 1% grade (1 1/4" per 10'). That was a perfect example of how you can do some basic construction surveying yourself. A well equipped survey crew will roll out with $150k equipment in their truck, but sometimes, a $50 laser and a pocket tape is the right tool!
Check your math Dave.
@@dennybrenk3836 1 1/4" is approximately 0.10 foot. That is 1% of 10 feet. If you disagree please elaborate.
I did some "old school" land surveying on a class trip when I was in HS back in the 70s. Was rather satisfying to complete a small topographic map.
This channel continues to teach me things that I didn't even know I wanted to learn, but end up being fascinated by. Keep it up Grady!
Crazy interesting video, thanks! I once got to be the "prism stick holder" for a surveyor who was making a topographical survey for a new bridge in some indigenous regions of Costa Rica. He explained a lot to me as we were working. Super interesting work. I just walked around wherever he told me to and just stood there with the stick, but it was still tons of fun.
During the first summer after I graduated from high school in 1979, I helped a carpenter build a house. He used and was very happy with a water line level that he had just purchased.
I picked up a "water level" at a hardware store that was cleaning out a lot of dusty "new, old stock" and found it interesting. I'll use it one day for something.
FYI: The annual flooding of the Nile river in ancient Egypt would wipe out most of the border markers of the farms along the fertile river. This fostered the creation of a method (geometry) to re-establish the borders with just the remaining few markers to work from.
That's pretty cool !
Agree 100 %
also quadratic equations came out of this
Also, the Egyptian priests had secret pipes leading from the Nile into the temples to measure the water level more accurately than the eye alone could see. For a few sacrifices they would “confer with the gods” and tell the Pharaoh when to expect the annual flood. Historians call these pipes Nilometers.
Lovely factoid
One of my favorite little measurment factoids is that with 4 static points and a measuring tape you can find the exact location of literally anything and, by proxy, find the relationships between all those objects. All you need to do is find the distances between each of your static points, then measure your desired object from each of your points. A little trig is all it takes (or you can let CAD software do the heavy lifting).
It's great to see a Civil engineering /Surveying channel , these subjects usually boring but you found a way to make them fun
Boring idiots find it boring. These subjects are fascinating, regardless of how he portrays it
@@JMRabil675 no. even interesting things can be boring if it didn't get portrayed right
I remember a crew using the water tube method to check the level of one of Australia`s largest offshore oil/gas platforms straight after they set it down on the seabed about 300 feet below the measurement point . Simple and it yielded the information.
i did surveying for four summers but my Dad never let me use total station, all we were allowed to use was rod, level, measuring tape and legal plan. Wanted me to be able to go anywhere and know the fundamentals. Was able to lay out curb and gutters, roads and underground infrastructure.
You must have a lot of pride for that.
That's a good memory to have
I can only assume your dad made up all the lost profit from using this slow method out of your meager paycheck.
@@dash4800 Nope. His dad paid for the proper education of his son.
Awesome stuff dude. Long time fan
My father retired from the photogrammetry department of a civil engineering firm. Started his career as a field surveyor, tromping up the down the back woods of Kentucky and mountains of New England. He later worked on the plotters, marking x,y,z points on the ground on aerial photographs. He did the analytical triangulation on the aerial photgraphs, which is the first step needed to tie all the photographs into one big strip of photographs that the computers can understand, up until he retired. I myself spend about three years, working in the same department, doing the CAD editing of the files the plotters created, as a 'temporary job' after college. My sister worked at the same company as well, in the IT department. She met her husband at work as well, he is a civil engineer, doing roads and bridges.
photoggrammetry department? do you mean taking pictures 360 deg and make a 3D model of it?
And now most of that can be done by a reasonably talented highschooler with a weeks training...
@@Bocbo especially with photogrammetry software nowadays. The computer can auto recognise the points for you, just take a good set of photos with enough overlap place some control marks and/or a scale bar then the rest is elementary.
Nothing is ever built without a surveyor. Not a road, bridge, building, wall, fence, lights, powerlines, etc, etc/EVERYTHING.
here's a great demo of modern photogrammetry hardware and software czcams.com/video/PjA7XxYsGeI/video.html
Thank you Grady, for a nice and simple video. After 11 years of land surveying school and BSc in Geodesy I still learned something new and refreshing, after watching your video.
Thanks and please, continue with good work.
In 1961 my first job was the pole man surveying the coal pile at RL Hearn generating station to determine inventory. This doesn't mean you just stand holding the pole upright, as it could be held at a slight angle, which leads to the wrong elevation. I was told to slowly move the pole forward and backward, the highest observed level as the pole travels its arc is the correct level.
Nope, that's backward. When rocking the rod the lowest reading is correct.
@@markwyatt3088 Thanks for your correction if i had a little common sense it would have overcome a bad memory. its not the only thing you lose in your 80's
I recall that method. Then realized with my hard hat and military boots at heels touching, resting the rod against my hard hat and centered between open V of boots (tip of toes) would get me plumb without need for a plumb rod. We only had to do 3rd order work for combat engineering, but I always strived to give it my best.
I've done some surveying to help with improving farm fields, adjusting for flood irrigation and such. The tool we used was a laser on a tripod in the middle of the field, and a receiver on the surveying pole. The receiver had a special window on it to receive the laser, and would beep when it saw the laser. The closer you were to center, the faster it would beep until it produced a steady tone. The survey rod had a tape with the measurements, so when you slid it up and down, the tape would move and give you a much greater range. Pretty boring for the average person, but very fun if you like data!
I've seen grading machines with laser detectors on them so they know whether to scrape or to dump soil in their current location.
@@massimookissed1023 they are pretty remarkable. I still observe surveyors and heavy equipment and have seen the leveling equipment on graders tied into the graders mechanics, and the operator just had to steer. Blade went up and down as needed. Sure beat pounding “ grade stakes” in and redoing it every few hours. 😵💫
When I was in undergrad Biology and Physics, I meandered into the civil engineering department and found some people learning to use theodolites...the ones from 1990...
It's cool to see the new and modern types.
Thanks for making this video. Great way to nourish the brains of nerds.
czcams.com/video/UziOrJ-VeTU/video.htmlsub_confirmation=1
An entire semester of class all done in a couple of minutes.
I did 2 years in one for this profession, still probably learnt more from this video...
Poncio powa My professor just gave us all A's regardless of our survey reports or midterms lol
lol I had better grades in the second year part because the first year teacher isn't good and teaches and makes nonsense useless things(like a math competition without calculator where the best gets a good grade(not the highest) and the other get a bad one, even tho everyone ends up with the right result. And I can say that because I did highschool too before that. I always tried to get a middle grade not to put the others in a bad position.
That sounds a lot worse than mine. We did the first half of the semester with PowerPoints class and after the midterm we did surveying labs. It was difficult because we didn't do labs coinciding with when we learned it due to the cold weather preventing us from going outside. I basically had to relearn all of the vocab and procedures when we finally got to go outside after spring break.
Kyle S what school did you attend?
Thank you for this video. This has topped my list of "things I don't understand but always forgot to look up" for many years. I'm so satisfied to finally kinda get how surveying works.
I was always curious about this field. In university with a totally unrelated major, I took a civil engineering course "Introduction To Land Surveying" as a free elective. I loved learning about it, and the knowledge has made me knowledgeable and conversant in my personal dealings with real estate and construction.
Do you need a level head to do that job?
No. After cutting line all day in the swamps of florida, you are far from level headed. ;)
Paul R Blackberry Bushes in washington are worse. There is almost nothing that can conquer them, and they are the most painful vile plants ever.
Mattofcolumbia1783 agreed. I surveyed in the Vancouver area for two years before I had enough. Hate those plants!
Mattofcolumbia1783 you must not have met devils club.
Grant Jones oh no i have. I havent ever encountered it as thick as blackberries though. Definitely sucks more to grab onto.
When the locals asks me what for am i doing taking the measurements ,I always reply... "Were relocating the landfill here."
I have been surveying since 1983 when we measured everything by hand. One thing we did not mention in the video is "slope distance" which is longer than horizontal distance. The total station will record anything you tell it to. For example there is point codes and point numbers. A point code for example let's say a tree, we could name it any code we want to. Tree=1, top of curb, pt. 2, a dandelion, pt.3 (just kidding), center line of a street, pt. 4. Now point numbers are 1,2,3,4 and on and on it goes. As we progress the "data collector" is a kinda of a memory box which retains information. Make sure it is charged. We then take it into the office and a very smart man downloads into his computer and proceeds to produce a topographical map, or done in reverse he gives us information that we apply to the field. Sounds complex but it is very fun. Now let's get into something that is really interesting. Have you ever noticed as you drive around a large curve on a road. If we look at it, we will notice that the inside of the curve is lower than the outside of the curve. We do that for centrifugal force, we don't want you flying off the outside of the curve, if you are not my ex-wife. Just kidding. Be as it may, the outside of the curved road is higher in elevation, and the distance is greater, the lower side is, or inside of the curve is of lower elevation and of shorter distance. 2 different diameters. There is also vertical curves, up and down. There are compound curves, combination of two or more different curves, like Marylyn Monroe, and combine vertical, horizontal etc. In conclusion, in all my years as a rod man, project inspector, material testing tech. there is nothing like standing on a finished street, road and say to myself, "I helped build this." Disclaimer, I hope I was correct in my rambling. I am an old man now, I truly wish I could get back into the field.
I recently began surveying as a second career after retiring from the Corps. Today we use GPS and Total Station. Although I know about pulling chain and tape as well.
@@tiredoldman Thank you Bill. Have you ever surveyed a beach. ;) m
Thank you for this message, was very interesting to read!
I have always wanted to do proper work like this.
I grew up on a farm in South Africa, my parents still own it.
They still flood irrigate the fields, so slope of the ground is important on large fields.
Someone gave my dad an old theodolite, which projected the image upside down (unless we were using it wrong, haha) so he would stand with the measuring rod, and i would write down the measurements. My eyesight and patience a bit better back then. We would then subtract the difference to calculate how much of a slope there was, and possibly where more topsoil should be placed to fill in holes and ease the slope.
It was little things like this, which i experienced as a child, which gives me great appreciation for many different aspects of engineering.
Mans life is too short to fully enjoy and learn all these grand things.
I am still a young man, and would love to sit around a fire with you and would learn so much!
Thank you for your input.
Greetings
JG
@@Jaguartmb You are most welcome, sorry I cannot afford to go to S. Africa, but I would love to. m
If I recall the slope around the curves was referred to as “ super elevation”. We calculated for design speed and expectations on traffic. I did a few miles of roads while in the Navy in early 80s and visiting the bases 30 years later and seeing the roads and structures I laid out still there and in use is a good feeling. 12 weeks of school and hit the ground running.
Most frustrating was working near a runway and had an F16 start to taxi next to us. We were awes by the jet we didn’t give any thought to the setup behind us. Pilot got his ok- started up engines , we sAluted him and he took off like a bat out of hell and thrust sent our equipment flying (Sooo worth the a$$ chewing ). We had another one. I really enjoyed it. Especially designing co pound curves and setting crowns. Then we got to help lay concrete or place asphalt depending on what we were doing. ( this case, 9” concrete road for jet engine testing.
Good times back in Sicily in those days. 😏
Excellent job on this video Grady, this is such a fascinating and varied subject it must have been hard to trim it down, but you did awesome, love yer stuff.
Thanks for the cool video.
My Dad was a civil engineer. He started off leading topographical surveys in the Alps for the Corps of Engineers. When he got out of the service, he lead the condemnation survey for I-68 in western Maryland. He got his PE and worked on I-70 and I-495 on the Maryland side.
I still have a lot of his surveying equipment in the basement, including his theodolite. All I need is a stadia rod and I'm good to go.
James D That's exactly what I have. I brought it up from the basement and the leather strap broke. Oh well, it is over 50 years old. The rest of it is still in pretty good shape though.
Bernarr Coletta
A K+E Paragon is a an American transit, 0 on the vertical scale is horizontal.
@@jamesd4846 that’s what I learned on in my school in the Navy. Some memories. Wooden box and leather case and fixed tripods back then.
Iv'e always been fascinated by surveying, but never knew exactly how it was done. Thanks for the explanation, Grady!
As the son and brother of land surveyors, I have been holding a plumb-bob over nails in roads since elementary school so when this popped up on my CZcams screen I jumped at it. I'd say this is quite a brief explanation of surveying. I've been asked countless times on urban streets to "take my picture mister" once I mastered the theodolite, had the tripod bumped by passers by, pulled ticks off me, had my clothes ripped to shreds in thickets, been threatened by neighboring homeowners because of where I was setting property corners, you name it. And I still kick myself for not taking the NJ test to be licensed. Land Surveyors deserve mad respect! (3 of the men on Mount Rushmore were surveyors!!)
A simple hello from a surveyor in Switzerland, thank you for your videos
"First get a buddy or spouse ..."
Not for me then
for you, it could be a garden gnome.
bright side: you get to buy a laser level before you have a spouse telling you it's too expensive
Even the Earths original satellite has a moon, we don't talk about it/you, or do/are we?
Moon Moon . This guy is not a surveyor if that’s who he thinks is a chairman.
not only a spouse, it should be a willing spouse
Greattttt video thanks so much for this. Surveying was my entry and segway into civil engineering, so there's a soft spot in my heart for the field. Cheers !!
Hah hah... Got into civil engineering but side tracked to surveying :)
I’m 18 in Ontario canada. I started surveying after highschool and I’m taking civil next year then becoming a surveyor once it’s done. Great job that will never not exist. I’m in the woods about two thirds of the time and I love every minute of it
I found your channel last week. I’m hooked! All kinds of interesting stuff I always wanted to know. Thank you!
I led a Land Survey crew for a decade. I loved it. It's just too hot in the Texas summers. You hit the main thrust of surveying pretty well though.
Steven Stark here in Florida it's just humid and hot...
Steven Stark sir, do recommend it and why did you stop?... I am also from Texas
Thank you, I love science and I love architecture (I am an architect) really appreciate your videos. Greetings from Guatemala!
I’m a 50 yr old mom and trying to refresh my memory of the “old days” when i worked for our County survey crew for a summer when i was 19 yrs old, and the work i did a few summers later for a GC (General Contractor- roads) where i began as “Flagger” (how I initially got hired) but got hired on after that as a “Grade Checker”, and eventually taught to also operate the road prep and grading machinery. I remember a lot of parts of it all but wish i knew exactly my process and why. Part of the problem was that when i was a summer hire for the County, i was not soley responsible for all parts of the survey - and i did both “corner crew” (finding ancient property lines and markers, and resetting them as needed), then later got switched to the County “Construction/ Road Survey” dpt. When i worked for them as an 18 yr old i mostly would just hold the receiving tape or the end of a metal tape. I was aware of the goal and why but wish i had asked, or been shown, all of the numbers and measurements taken and what exactly we were doing with them. I also wish i would have been shown the papers (if i was i don’t remember) that had the mapping or construction data we were using to find our targets…or in the case of the construction survey crew i would have liked to have seen the engineering design data they were most likely using from their “known markers (or Points of Interest with known location values) to go set points from there….i was only there for a few weeks so honestly i dont even remember what we were doing with those main roads and if we were just checking for proper slopes and distances already put in, or if we were the ones setting them to start with for either new roads or road work repairs (where maybe a main utility line was being dug up, repaired or replaced).
I also remember hammering in a lot of hubs for the contractor then instructing the blade operators how much to “cut or fill” (they were SO amazingly skilled! I loved those guys!). I think i had to do some multiple times depending on HOW MUCH the grade of the road was changing. There would always be a large marking stake with numbers / measurement data on it, with a mark. Those would not be the hubs themselves but what i would use to set them. What i dont remember exactly is HOW i set the hubs or what i used in addition to these marks and “notes” written on marker sticks. I also can not remember for somereason if they set these marking sticks on BOTH sides of the road, or if it was just one side? Actually as i think about it, i THINK they were located on BOTH sides of the proposed road because i dont recall using a compass to determine the center hub (usually the high point of the road for adequate drainage). So i must have used those marker sticks to measure with a tape measure, the distance the marker said i needed to go to put the hub and it’s corresponding “elevation”.
Anyway im now trying to build a large driveway so we can have the school bus come again (city removed the bus turnaround thats been here over 20+ years due to a new development!), and id also like to mark out our landscape / terrain for future home planning and landscape architecture as we are on about .83 acres with sloping elevation towards the Columbia River).
After taking a couple of classes myself in college before backing out and shifting my classes elsewhere, I understand how important this field really is. I was fascinated by what I learned but also realized how there was no way I was gonna finish.
1. I still have no idea what it looks like to look through a theodolite. Can you post a video where you show us exactly what you are looking at and how you translate that to a map?
2. The great trigonometrical survey of India sounds fascinating. Can we get an episode on that please?
It's basically just a scope with a cross hair; if you've ever fired a rifle with a scope it's awfully similar.
U Wot M8 lol yeah ive been a surveyor for bot 3 years. Its nothing special bro
"Any height" you say? Test at 400 km (the height at which the ISS orbits) and I bet you will see some curvature.
Mostly we use total station, the theodolite are kinda out of date.
U Wot M8 A typical theodolite or transit, (not a total station) and other instruments, such as alidades, wye levels, and dumpy levels, are telescopes with a magnification factor that is typically around 30X, or 30 power. They also typically have one vertical hair, and three cross hairs as the reticle. There will be two separate knobs for focusing. One for the field of view, one for the reticle.
The top and bottom cross hairs are called stadia hairs, and are placed the same distance above and below the center cross hair, but that distance is such that they can give you the range to the rod, or what is called stadiometric ranging. Most instruments with a stadia type reticle, have a stadia constant of 100. (a very convenient number, as you'll see below)
Here's an example of sighting a target rod with your instrument perfectly leveled, and at an unknown distance:
Top stadia hair is on the 7 foot mark on the rod.
Bottom stadia hair is on the 3 foot mark on the rod.
The difference (7 minus 3) is 4 feet, so multiplying the difference times the stadia constant, (100), gives you the distance to the rod, which is 400 feet.
However, thanks to some funky stuff going on inside the telescope, each instrument will have its own instrument constant, which normally ranges from 8" to 12", (think of it as the distance from the objective lens to the reticle, but it's more complex than that) depending on the size and design of the instrument, so the instrument constant needs to be added to the stadia range.
If the instrument constant is 12", the distance to the target would be 401 feet in the example.
If the target, and therefore the rod, is at a different elevation than the instrument, some trigonometry will be involved in ascertaining the true horizontal distance. The formulae are easy to use, but difficult to memorize. (at least for me)
In forestry school we had a forest surveying class. I really like the PLSS. And I used it working for the US Forest Service in timber cruising. I had a border collie who really needed to get out a lot. So she and I hunted for section corners and accessories, evenings and weekends. Those were good outings.
The pooch is gone now. But my sister who married into a ranch family, wants to learn some basics. We will be on ranch property. But I intend to start her out like this. I have a 300' tape, four traffic cones and a Silva Ranger compass. My intent is to have her help me lay out a square acre. 208.7' on a side. Then we will talk about the shapes in which you may find 43,560 square feet. So then she will have an idea what an acre looks like; and distance, angle, and different ways to divide a foot. If it goes well we will talk about chain measurement.
I have a question if you please. Assuming you know about K-tags, where can I find info about them or an equivalent? I am very pleased to say I was just given a 1973 Manual. But I can't find this forestry surveying accessory in the book.
Thank you. Good video. I am a subscriber. :-)
Great explanation. The survey is married to civil projects and very important part of the process. It's amazing how accurate they can be in tunneling projects.
Never would have thought of the water tube level. Genius and simple.
I'm majoring in Civil Engineering in college. I am excited about the job opportunities and this channel really scratches my itch
Work in the field as a rodman during summers and you will learn real application faster. You will be more knowledgeable when classes resume.
Thank You. I am just getting started learning about surveying. I may potentially have a job doing this, and thought that it would be smart to learn a little about it before I went any further. This video was the perfect primer for me to begin this journey. I'm going to subscribe to your channel so I can look around later and see if it's valuable to me. Again, Thank You.
For a drainage project, I used a laser level to map out the slope of the yard where I needed to bury a drainpipe, and a spreadsheet to map out the depth the bottom of the pipe had to be, starting at a fixed depth at one end (going under a wall) and arriving at the surface at the other. I calculated the depth of the trench every two feet, accounting for the varying slope of the yard above and the necessary slope of the pipe below, and dug the trench to those depths. Worked like a charm.
I've always been amazed at the concept of surveying and never really knew how it was done. With modern technology (GPS, lasers, etc.), it was easy for me to see how it currently is accomplished, but I'm astounded at the fact it was done throughout history (and still rather accurately) without those helps.
There's even a historical marker near where I live that talks about the survey of the Virginia / North Carolina border from the Atlantic Ocean "to a point 220 miles west of here." (The marker is several miles inland.) The thought that people could accurately survey 300+ years ago just blows my mind.
Thank you for the video to help explain a little bit of how it can be done without fancy modern technology.
Surveyors prove the earth is not spherical every day
The water level only works if the water is at the same temperature in both vertical arms because the density of water varies with temperature. I fell into this trap once with one end in hot sun and the other in the shade. It took me a while to figure out why the reading kept changing.
LOL :-D how much off was it though? I'd expect maybe 2-3cm per 10m of tube...
KohuGaly .....and you're about right!
I always wondered why they are not more popular, this might be why.
@@KohuGaly possibly several tenths of an inch per 2 foot elevation.
@@raykent3211 _liquids with small coefficient of thermal expansion have entered the chat_
Your video popped up among CZcams’s suggestions and I’m obviously late to the party. Thank you for posting it. Personally, I love water levels for their amazing accuracy and use one as often as I can find an excuse. Your ease of use will increase dramatically if you build yourself a “pro-grade” model which adds a five gallon bucket as a reservoir and a fitting to connect the tube to the side of the bucket. A small through-hull fitting works well for this task. Add a few drops of food coloring to the water and you are set to go.
Good video!
That was a great map of the "Great Trigonometric Survey of India", showing the dozens of triangles used in the survey!
always enjoyable!
Not as much as your machining videos. 😉
Gman tony it's always great to see all practical based channels banding together you never know who you can trust in these lawless bad lands
@@damson4480 Anyone with flawless edits and dad jokes, or a safety tie...
Ayyy! My man!
a comment from This Old Tony is seal of approval
Surveying alnost killed me. It took 40 years for me to figure out you can't work outside in Texas forever. Nice job on the video.
Clean Steve After 40 years you should be nearing retirement age anyway 🙂
Clean Steve LOL, toughest job ever.
you could attach an umbrella on top of that tripod and the sun wont bother you no more
Texas....outside = lightning and tornadoes. You should get hazardous duty pay.
I did forty years in Florida. I had to give it up a couple years back, a whole day working outside in the summer would damn near wipe me out. So now I'm in the air-conditioned office all day long, and when the field crews come staggering in at the end of the day I feel that sort of guilt rear-echelon soldiers feel when they meet guys coming back from the front lines.
On the other hand, in January when Florida weather is absolutely wonderful they come in and say stuff like "Wow, wasn't it a beautiful day outside? oh I guess you wouldn't know, your cubicle doesn't even have a window..."
I am currently in school for land surveying right now! Seems like its going to be a wonderful career.
"why are you taking photos? " I always get this one on any job
i remember when i first became an i man. like week 3 i was working in a city and i accidentally stared into the sun reflecting off this one guys windshield and i made the driver laugh because my party chief was like "whats wrong?" to which i replied "just for your info, i think i burned my cornea staring into the magnified eyes of the sun god on this guys windshield" lol good times. that night i drank a bottle of whiskey in 30 minutes and the hangover the next day burned the knowledge that Wednesdays are trash day in Round Rock, Texas.
youtube still have nice content...
good video. thank you sir....
Don't be fooled, people. It's not as easy as it looks. Just placing the theodolite *exactly* above a point of reference (called centering) requires a LOT of time and effort. The first time we tried this in college, it took 3 of us about an hour to get it right. And that was before we even took any measurements. You have to measure each angle and distance twice, then add them up and correct errors. Man, that was a lot of work.
As an artillery gunnery sergeant I had to set up and level a manual aiming circle (surveyors instrument) and use a stringed plumb bob that had to be within 1 inch of a survey point. All in under 2 minutes. Harder than it sounds indeed.
Trying to level the total station was hard enough 😂
an hour to center?? Even without a laser plummet, any garden variety plumb bob without the interference of harsh wind should line you up pretty damn quick
Theodolite? Is this the dark ages? Get a robotics station. And a data collector. Preferable the Tsc7. Why bang your head and not use the technology at hand.
Not many young surveyors know how to use a level or even how to take level notes much less reduce them.
For a guy who has surveyed for 33 years.
@@TM-qj6io i must say here in Europe, Romania to be exact , we are using theodolites from 1980 , using the level and so on. the university is basing a lot on taking notes and doing everything manually , and I don't really take that as a no go, it's seems pretty fair imo to know how to do such things . anyways, have any tips for year 1 student ? ty!!
I have done lot of survey work with Wild T1,Wild T2 and Lieca total,stations from Dubai dry dock and Qatar LNG storage tank setting out jobs. I Worley close to 2 mm accuracy in setting out Tank alignment and other important aspects of the shell tank .
It so refreshing to watch your videos.
You are touching all aspects of civil engineering. Waiting for some on thermodynamics and heat engines
You have the best voice for CZcams. Thanks for your hard work, I love your content!
That’s one of the questions that have been bugging me for years, but I was too lazy to find an answer. Thank you.
Love this channel. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us and helping us expand our minds.
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im mechanical and electrical engineer in construction, this video are great at some point that before u ask your colleague some dumb question, u can learn some basic here, understand aspect of others work and lastly utilizing their profession. keep up the great work dude 👍
I just gotta say, you have a very good narrating voice. It's pleasant to listen to your explanations! :)
I’ve had farms I’ve owned surveyed. I’ve also had surveyors who were also civil engineers calculate the amount of water that might flow into different lakes I was planning to build. They looked at a topographical map and were able to calculate weather or not it would fill.
I am really impressed. You had since the start of your chanel a high standard of production and you kept that. Not many can do that. Your video are informative and interesting. Great Job. I would support you on patreon but since I am a non working student I sadly can't. Great work nevertheless ;)
Kenny Maccormac. Just talk to them. Ask if you're okay to go or not
The speaker in the video clearly has very high iq. Humans like that earn respect.
It's not the IQ that earns him my respect, its the hard work he put into studying and understanding these complicated topics. It's the time and effort he put into making concise, well produced and easy to understand educational videos. IQ is overrated (sure it's a factor but overrated nonetheless). Knowledge, experience and hard work is where it's at.
Agreed, respect has to be earned not given and he has certainly earned it through hard work.
Kenny Maccormac he is passionate about the subject that it leads him to teach it to others
'Way back when asked what I wanted to do on growing up, surveyor was right near the top. Never did it as a pro, but like you, a water-level helped plan a lot of work on my property.
I'm an undergraduate surveying student in Kenya. feels nice watching this, i hope to do this in abroad in future
Thank you so much. I am a Surveyor and proud of my job. Seeing it on CZcams was really neat. And these comments are hilarious. Also accurate to our industry.
Which country are you at
I worked in the support administration (office services) for a civil engineering firm with a fully staffed land surveyor department. The aspects of both professions were interesting, and from what I observed and overheard in the workplace, I learned a lot, which came in handy when it came to the sale of my parents' property and when seeking a new residential area to buy a home.
This is great. My dad is a retired land surveyor. I used to help him during my teens and 20s. Now i am looking to become a surveyor myself!
czcams.com/video/UziOrJ-VeTU/video.htmlsub_confirmation=1
Thank you sir for all your videos. Through these videos everyone can come to know the basic knowledge & greatness of civil engineering. Thank you for that.
And also thanks for mentioning about Great Trigonometric Survey of India. Regards from India🙏🙏
Members of my family have been surveyers. Recent improvements in drones in this field allowed two people, in 45 minutes to complete what would once require twenty men two weeks. The European satilite positioning system missed out on a development that could position to within milimetres. No drone needed.
When I was a little kid, "the man who holds the pole for a surveyor" was on my list of possible career choices. :/
In U.K. we call him the “Chain Man”
😂
It might have surprised you to have learned that usually it was the actual surveyor who held the "pole" and the assistant who followed his movements through the scope and took the readings.
Deciding where (and how) to position the pole is the most demanding part of the actual measurement.
Rod Man.
We call him Stooge !!!
The water leveling around corners is a simple genius idea. Thanks for sharing.
Cool video! The first time I ever used surveying equipment I was doing construction, the city implemented a rule that stated that rainwater must be kept on property for either 24 or 48 hours after it rains, dont remember exactly which. We dug a hole, must have been 10 or 12 feet to put a pipe at the bottom for the runoff, and other filler to temporarily hold water without it becoming stagnant. Was 3 connected townhomes, 3 stories each, 3 swimming pools. 3 million each. Huh, they really like the number 3. Anyways, that survey equipment was so cool because I could hold the scale and in seconds we would know exactly how deep the hole was. Good stuff
I came across an elevation measuring device called a zip level (ziplevel.com), from a foundation repair company checking out an erosion problem in my yard. It works on the same principal a the hose level in your video excepts the hose is filled with a gas and uses a pressure sensor to measure pressure differences between elevation points. You don't need to have line of sight. It is pretty cool, but a little pricey for DIY yard work. Thanks for the great video
Suggestion, when using a spirit or water level put some food dye in it so it's easier to see against a white background.
good advice
Great conversation, glad to have this talk.
Thanks for bringing up the topic "nobody thinks about" and also having the sponsor at the end :-)
Also great practical "individual-level" tips: clear hose, liquid, and some tape measures (cheap!) - or get a laser level (and still apply tape measures to sticks... pipes if fancy!).
I am a surveyor, and this is the first time I've ever seen that water level.
It only works over short distances so probably less than your level of surveying. It's hard to get a mile long tube of water and the atmospheric air pressure between 2 points a mile away could be enough to distort the level beyond acceptable margins of error.
What do you use instead?
Ben Madrid there's other ways?
That is a millwright method, not a surveyor method, not sure why he included it in this video.
i've never seen a water level on a survey truck, they usually carry better ways of leveling. they are really handy for home leveling jobs and can by accurate to about 1/16" (half a hundredth). you should always read them at the center of the meniscus, where surface tension is least affected by the hose.
Just came home after studying the whole day for my exam in "Basics of surveying" on friday so i can leave my most hated course behind and get on with my cicil engineering courses , just want to chill and watch some youtube and now this -TRIGGERED! ;)
Surveyors dread dealing with survey ignorant Civil Engineers. You'll go much farther with a better understanding of Surveying.
William Irving yeah i guess youre right. But doing all the calculations by hand is just so tedious and boring.. makes me feel like a robot and one error and you can basically start again
You will probably never need that, but if you can do them you will impress any surveyor and possibly win them over (we are crusty and sometimes grumpy). I actually use basic trig, and algebra fairly frequently in the field. Law of cosines is worth memorizing. Keep chugging away and you'll prevail, good luck.
From an actual lay person who barely understands what you're talking about, this was an excellent video! 🎉
As a surveyor in IN, this was a very quick and accurate description. Surveyors are really needed, as the average age of a survyor is like 55. If you like a mix of technology, computers, fieldwork and history, consider surveying!
"exercising their god-given right to measure things" Love it!
Be careful with 'water levels', I found out the hard way that if one end of the plastic tube is in shade and the other end has been sitting in the sun for a while you can get a one to two inch height difference between the levels at each end
I have fond memories of studying surveying when I was in college working toward a degree in Landscape Architecture, or Civil Engineering. That led to Summer jobs working in field performing surveying. Back in the day, we used 100' steel chains. EDM was just coming out, and would save the day a year later when doing working in Seattle on busy streets. Can't tell how many steel chains got busted by traffic. One Summer, I was finding old monuments in National Forest. Last survey was in mid 1800's. The old survey was remarkably accurate for the equipment used; actual chain, and a compass. One corner was off and after correction, a National Forest Sign made from wood and rock was off by 15 feet and had be torn down and re-built. In town we had to deal with barking dogs, nosy neighbors, and traffic. In the forest we had to deal with bugs, snakes, and hornets. One of our jobs in Forest was to clear property lines of brush and trees. Anything bigger than 6" we cut with chainsaw. Smaller stuff cut with machete. On fire danger days, no chainsaw, all by axe, and hand saws.
great content with simple description. many thanks.
Im Land Surveyor and I'm proud of that!!! Greetings from Brazil to Everyone!!!
i am a geomatic engineer but i hate my job. regards from Republic of Turkiye.
What are you doing in Brazil?, the land I need surveyed is in Ohio.
Dear sir,
Aapko gps chaiye 1 meter accuracy or 60cm accuracy ka. Ye high grade technology device h. please contact me. Sainimanju941@gmail.com.