WHAT IS A BEARING?
• BEARING IS THE HORIZONTAL ANGLE MEASURED BETWEEN A REFERENCE DIRECTION (USUALLY THE
NORTH OR SOUTH) AND THE LINE OF INTEREST.
• BEARINGS ARE USED TO REPRESENT THE DIRECTION OF A SURVEY LINE.
WHAT IS MERIDIAN?
• MERIDIAN IS A REFERENCE LINE USED TO MEASURE DIRECTIONS. IT REPRESENTS A FIXED LINE ON THE
EARTH’S SURFACE THAT SERVES AS A BASELINE FOR DETERMINING THE DIRECTION OF SURVEY LINES
TYPES OF BEARINGS AND MERIDIANS
• TRUE MERIDIAN:-
THE LINE PASSING THROUGH THE NORTH POLE AND
SOUTH POLE AT ANY POINT ON THE SURFACE OF EARTH. IT IS
ALSO CALLED AS GEOGRAPHICAL MERIDIAN .
• TRUE BEARING:-
THE HORIZONTAL ANGLE MEASURED CLOCKWISE FROM
THE TRUE NORTH TO A SURVEY LINE.
• MAGNETIC MERIDIAN:-
THE DIRECTION INDICATED BY A FREELY SUSPENDED
MAGNETIC NEEDLE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF EARTH’S MAGNETIC
FIELD.
• MAGNETIC BEARING:-
THE HORIZONTAL ANGLE MEASURED CLOCKWISE FROM THE
MAGNETIC NORTH TO A SURVEY LINE.
MEASUREMENTS OF BEARINGS
THESE ARE TWO TYPES:
1. WHOLE CIRCLE BEARING
(WCB)
2. REDUCED BEARING (RB) OR
QUADLENTRAL BEARING (QB)
1. WHOLE CIRCLE BEARING (WCB)
• THE ANGLE MEASURED CLOCKWISE FROM THE NORTH DIRECTION,
RANGING FROM 0° TO 360°.
• USED IN PRISMATIC COMPASS
• THE QUADRANT START FROM NORTH AN PROGRESS IN CLOCKWISE
DIRECTION OF FIRST QUADRANT 0 TO 90 , 2ND FROM 90 TO 180, 3RD
FROM 180 TO 270 AND 4TH QUADRENT FROM 270 TO 360.
REDUCED BEARING OR QUADRANTAL
BEARING
• THE ANGLE IS MEASURED FROM THE NORTH OR SOUTH
TOWARDS THE EAST OR WEST, RANGING FROM 0° TO 90°.
• IT IS EXPRESSED IN THE FORMAT:
N Θ E, S Θ E, S Θ W, N Θ W.
EXAMPLE PROBLEM :-
1. Convert 240° wcb into reduced bearing.
Ans)
• The value 240° lies between 180° and 270°, which places it
in the third quadrant.
• In the third quadrant, the RB is measured from South towards
West.
• RB = wcb – 180°
RB = 240° - 180°
Since the direction is from South towards West, the Reduced
Bearing is: s 60° w
CONVERSION OF RB INTO WCB
1. S 43°15’ E
ANS)
• SINCE THE BEARING IS MEASURED FROM SOUTH TOWARDS EAST,
• WCB = 180° - RB
WCB = 180° - 43°15’
WCB = 136°45’
