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Chapter 1 Introduction

This document introduces standards and procedures for surveying projects for the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT). It outlines the purpose of surveying for civil engineering and transportation projects, which is to precisely determine geospatial locations and elevations of terrain features. The purpose of this manual is to establish consistent standards for accuracy and reliability when conducting surveys for NYSDOT. It provides guidelines for measurement units, procedures, and references to ensure quality control and compliance with regulations.

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45 views4 pages

Chapter 1 Introduction

This document introduces standards and procedures for surveying projects for the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT). It outlines the purpose of surveying for civil engineering and transportation projects, which is to precisely determine geospatial locations and elevations of terrain features. The purpose of this manual is to establish consistent standards for accuracy and reliability when conducting surveys for NYSDOT. It provides guidelines for measurement units, procedures, and references to ensure quality control and compliance with regulations.

Uploaded by

andika christian
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1.

INTRODUCTION

2/4/2009 1-11
1.1 PURPOSE

Surveying is a basic element of all civil engineering projects. Surveying is “the science
of making precise measurements between known and unknown points, applying the
principals of mathematics to determine positional locations at a required accuracy, and
the art of publishing mapping products which meet the needs of the customer”.
Surveying determines the geospatial locations of points or objects (features) on or near
the surface of the earth, for the purpose of graphically portraying the relative positions of
terrain data and geometrically calculating their coordinates and elevations.

In transportation engineering, surveying provides the foundation and continuity for route
location, land appropriation, and design and construction of capital projects. Surveys
establish a basic "network" of horizontal and vertical control which are valuable in the
stakeout of proposed engineered designs during the construction, and for any future re-
establishment of that terrain or highway right of way.

The purpose of this manual is to describe the required standards, accepted procedures
and performance criteria to be used by the New York State Department of
Transportation (NYSDOT) and its agents when conducting surveys. Survey standards,
procedures and performance criteria provide consistency of survey accuracy and
reliability of mapping products for the customer.

The information included in this manual has been developed in conformance with
applicable department directives, policies and procedures, as well as nationally accepted
geodetic surveying standards and practices. This manual is neither a textbook nor a
substitute for surveying knowledge, experience or professional judgment. It is intended
to establish minimum NYSDOT surveying standards, provide uniform procedures for
implementing survey best practices, assure quality and continuity in collection of survey
data, and assure compliance with Federal and State performance criteria.

NYSDOT has produced different manuals during its history relating to Surveying. An
earlier publication entitled “General Specifications for Surveying & Mapping for Highway
Purposes” was published in 1967. A draft “Surveying Manual” was written in 1974-75,
but not published. The first version of the “Surveying Standards & Procedures Manual”
was published in 1994, and was revised in 1996. The current version of the “Land
Surveying and Procedures Manual” was first published in 2005.

This 2009 version includes both metric and US customary units, updates procedures for
use of RTK GPS, and updates the required coordinate system datums and reference
network.

This revised manual requires the use of the NYS Spatial Reference Network (NYSNet).
NYSNet is a spatial reference network of continuously operating Global Positioning
System (GPS), reference stations (CORS) throughout NYS that can be used for
differential GPS applications.

2/4/2009 1-13
1.2 STANDARDS

The standards specified in this manual were selected to assure a consistent precision
and accuracy in all of the measurements, coordinates, elevations, base mapping, digital
terrain models (DTM) and survey reports upon which design engineering and ROW
mapping are based. The surveyor shall certify that the required standards and
specifications have been achieved.

*Beginning in 2009 the department is transitioning to US customary units (USC). During


this transition, units will be determined on a project basis. The regional land surveyor
should be consulted to determine whether a specific project is designated a metric or US
customary project. During this transition, US customary units have been added to this
manual.

The following measurement unit conventions shall be used on all NYSDOT surveys:
Length or distance measurements shall be in US survey feet (formerly meters).
Area units shall be described in square feet (formerly square meters).
Angular measurements shall be in degrees, minutes, seconds.
Control line & boundary line directions shall be described by bearings.

Geodetic Surveying standards have been traditionally expressed in meters. Where


geodetic surveying standards within this manual make reference to federal standards,
they may continue to be expressed in metric units.

1.3 PROCEDURES

The recommended procedures are those that adequately support conformance to the
established standards.

All survey equipment, including tripods, tribrachs, prisms, etc. shall be properly
maintained and calibrated according to manufacturers’ guidelines. The National
Geodetic Survey (NGS) calibration baselines, established specifically for the checking of
Electronic Distance Measuring Instruments (EDMI) may be used for checking the
calibration of EDM’s. Equipment calibration records and reports (not exceeding one
year) shall be maintained by the surveyor and submitted to the Department as
requested.

Whenever a surveyor faces a unique situation which warrants departure from the
procedures described in this manual, the proposed alternative procedures need to be
documented and submitted to the Regional Land Surveyor for review and approval.
Documentation shall include testing and reporting of the resulting positional accuracy
according to the Spatial Positioning Accuracy Standards Chapter of this manual.

1.4 REFERENCES
1. NYSDOT ROW Mapping and Procedure Manual
2. NYSDOT CADD Standards and Procedure Manual
3. Calibration Baselines in NYS http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/CBLINES/BASELINES/ny
1-14 2/4/2009

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