CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

Lecture – Traversing Text Chapters 9, 10

Traversing – What is it?

 Determining a traverse, i.e., measuring a series of consecutive lines

in terms of lengths and directions

 Why does this matter?

o Defining boundaries for surveys

-control, construction, property, topographic, route layout

 Closed Traverses – Have a known point for checking

 See Figure 9.1

o (a) – start and finish at same point (polygon traverse)

o (b) – finish at different point, but still at some known location

(link traverse)

o Note this is similar to what we discussed with leveling…

o Open traverses should be avoided – no way to check work

 Read over different techniques for measuring angles

o Interior angles

o Angles to the right

o Deflection angles – must indicate right or left

CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

o Azimuths – See Figure 9.3

 The key is to know how the angles are defined and to be consistent

Measuring Traverses

 Could use theodolites, tapes, level rods, etc.

 Total stations generally used, obtain both angles and distances with
one setup

General Notes…again read the chapter for more details

 Always walk the site before surveying

 Observe lines of sight, good locations for staking, etc.

 Let me digress….Actually, always try to get on the site for which

you’re doing any site design or engineering work

Example Soil Testing and GW Modeling:

CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes
CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

Plan View

Elevation (East-West cross-section)

The point is, all of this work could really have been done without actually
going to the field

However, you lose a sense of perspective

CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

Moreover, by going to the field first, you can observe details that may
affect your work

Back to traversing…

 Referencing Traverse Stations

o Once you set up a traverse, you want to preserve the work to

make sure you (or someone else) can come back to it

o See Figure 9.4

o Mark off location of part of traverse by at least three reference

points

o If no natural or existing features are available, use a straddle

hub

o See Figure 9.5

 Traverse field notes

o See Figure 9.6 (on your own)

o Notice Direct (D) and Reverse (R) angle measurements

 This involves rotating the instrument 180o about its

horizontal axis
 We will get to this in the lab
 See p. 198 of text for details

 Angle Misclosure
CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

-For a closed traverse:

Where n = the number of angles or sides

-therefore, a triangle should have 180o, a pentagon should have 540o

-compare this to what the traverse computations predict

-For a link traverse:

-compare the computed line to the known value (again, still requires you
have a known location)

Allowable Misclosure:

According to the Federal Geodetic Control Subcommittee (FGCS):

Where:

c = allowable misclosure (in seconds)

n = number of angles measured

K = constant, depending on the class of traversing:

No. Description K Value

CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

1 First order 1.7”

2 Second order, Class I 3.0”
3 Second order, Class II 4.5”
4 Third order, Class I 10”
5 Third order, Class II 12”

Example – If the traverse in Figure 9.1(a) was being done to Second order
Class II standards:

-There are five setups

Other notes from Ch. 9:

 Read Section 9.8 – Traversing with total station

 Radial Traversing – See Figure 9.7

o See Example (again) with the test pads:

Layout of test pads, use of total station and reflector (summer of 2003)
CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

Traverse Computations…Ch. 10

Basic Steps:

1. Adjust angles to some fixed geometric conditions

2. Determine preliminary azimuths or bearings of the traverse lines

3. Calculate departures and latitudes, compute misclosure and

relative precision

4. Compute rectangular coordinates of stations

5. Calculate the lengths and azimuths or bearings of the adjusted

traverse lines

Balancing Angles, Two methods:

1. Apply average correction to each angle

-assumes the conditions were the same for each measurement

2. Make larger corrections to angles where the measuring conditions

were known to be poor

Start Here 3/14/06

See Example 10.1

CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

 Correction would be 2.2”, but keep to a multiple of 1”, since that’s

the accuracy of the measured values

 Round values and record “successive differences”

 Note top of p. 243: “adjustments applied to angles are independent

of the size of an angle”

 “Method 2” is an example of distributing the error according to field

judgment

 In Method 2, notice the correction is larger for the shorter sights

 “A little over 30 years ago, when I started my first surveying job,

one of the first things that my party chief drilled into me was that
angles to short sights were “no damn good,” something to be
avoided at all costs. Over the course of my career, I have found that
I can not always avoid short sights, but they are in fact weaker than
the long sights in the same traverse.” -Roger A. Frank, LS (source:
http://www.profsurv.com/ps_scripts/article.idc?id=86)

 The basic concern is that with short sights, it may be difficult to

center on the actual point, because its too close

 Your text, p. 208, recommends using string instead of a prism pole

for short sites

Preliminary Azimuths or Bearings

 After balancing the angles, the next step is to compute preliminary

azimuths and bearings

 This is the same process we discussed in Chapter 7

 Must use adjusted angles, not originally measured angles

 Their “preliminary” because they will change once the traverse is

adjusted…separate from what we just did when balancing angles
CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

 See Figure 10.1 and Example 10.2

Departures and Latitudes (Basically X and Y components)

 Departure = L sin  = X (also known as Easting/Westing)

 Latitude = L cos  = Y (also known as Northings/Southing)

 L = Horizontal length

  = azimuth

 See Figure 10.2

Closure Requirements for Latitudes and Departures:

 For a closed polygon traverse, you finish where you started, so there
should be no “net” movement

  X = 0

  Y = 0

 Similarly, for a closed link traverse, the sum should equal the total
difference between where you started and finished, i.e., between your
two control points

 Ahh, but alas we have errors

CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

See Example 10.3

Traverse Adjustment

 The linear misclosure must now be distributed through the lengths

of the traverse

 Common methods include the Compass Rule and Least Squares

Method

 Least Squares is discussed in detail in Ch. 15, and will be

discussed later

 The Compass (Bowditch) Rule is presented below:

*Note that we use the opposite sign (-) when calculating the correction

See Example 10.4

Rectangular Coordinates

 We can now define our individual stations in terms of coordinate pairs

 This is useful for input with AutoCAD or other desktop software

CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

 Useful in calculations of area, volume, etc.

 The usual basis in a given location is given by State Plane

Coordinates (Ch. 20)

 For now, we can just use arbitrarily defined locations, and reference
accordingly

 Given starting coordinates, the coordinates of subsequent stations is

given by adding the corresponding latitudes and departures

o XB = XA + Departure AB

o YB = YA + Latitude AB

 See Rightmost column in Table 10.4 (Example 10.5)

Computation of Final Azimuths (or Bearings)

“Inversing”

See Example 10.8

CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

 Note, to get the final azimuth:

Departure Latitude Quadrant Add this to get

X Y azimuth
+ + NE 0o
+ - SE 180o
- - SW 180o
- + NW 360o

In Class Exercise 10

Start Here 3/21/06

-review overall procedure and finish in-class exercise 10, part d

-review Table 10.4

-review inversing

Homework 6

Alternate Methods of Balancing Traverses

Remember what we just summarized:

1. Balance (adjust) measured angles by geometry

2. Compute preliminary azimuths
3. Compute latitudes and departures
4. Compute misclosure / relative precision
5. Compute balanced latitudes and departures
6. Compute final coordinate locations
7. Compute final azimuths
CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

Alternate Method:

1. Do not adjust measured angles

2. Compute azimuths from measured angles
3. Balance (adjust) azimuths = preliminary azimuths

And then the same…

4. Compute latitudes and departures

5. Compute misclosure / relative precision
6. Compute balanced latitudes and departures
7. Compute final coordinate locations
8. Compute final azimuths

See Example 10.6

 Notice the corrections are cumulative with the azimuth corrections

 The corrected azimuths are still preliminary, subsequent calculations

would be made to find final azimuths

Another Alternate Method:

1. Either balance the angles or the azimuths as shown previously

2. Determine preliminary azimuths
3. Compute latitudes and departures

4. Do not compute misclosure just yet….

5. Compute “Preliminary” Coordinates
6. Compare preliminary coordinates to known coordinates, compute
misclosure
7. Make corrections, compute balanced coordinates

See Example 10.7

CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

 Note that correction is made as done for latitudes and departures

 Note that the corrections are cumulative…for example

XC = 14354.446 + (-0.048) + (-0.046)

XC = 14354.446 + (-0.094)

XC = 14354.35

 Note that final coordinates are rounded to same significant digits as

originally measured lengths.

Start Here 3/23/06

Exam 3 – Date Changed to 4/27/06

Review Example 10.9 on your own

(this reviews how to convert from coordinates to azimuths and lengths)

Book shows calculation for AB, the rest are given in Table 10.8

-Azimuths

-Lengths
CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

Example, to get azimuth BC:

 Remember, from previous table in these notes, if “SE” then add

180…

Coordinate Computations

 We can use coordinates to give us needed azimuths and bearings of

otherwise inaccessible locations

 Global Positioning Systems (Ch. 13-14) are also used for this
purpose

 Still, its useful to know how to make such measurements when GPS
is not available

See Figure 10.4 and Example 10.10

 Points P and Q are inaccessible as part of a continuous traverse

 Substitute points are noted instead (B and C)

 The relationship between the substitute points and the desired points
is then determined through coordinate calculations

See Figure 10.5 and Example 10.11

CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

 Desire the length and deflection angle of AE

 Obtain by going around through available right-of-way instead of

dense forest

o Given measured angles, compute azimuths

o Compute departures and latitudes

o Determine coordinates

o Use coordinate equations to obtain line AE

Locating Traverse Blunders

 Check to see how “off” the results are….on the order of minutes?

 See Figure 10.7

o Distance Mistake

 the azimuth misclosure will be almost the same as the

azimuth of course with the error

o Angular Mistake

 Perpendicular bisector to linear misclosure points to

station where angle was measured incorrectly
CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

Using WolfPack for Traverse Computations:

 First prepare Input file – a listing of the given information

 Check Help file, and follow screen captures below:

CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

 Use Notepad or Wordpad to create a .dat file

 Example below for Figure 10.1 (also see Figure 10.6)

CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

 Then, Open WolfPack and select Traverse Computations:

CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

 Select Traverse Type:

 Select your previously completed input file:

CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

 The results are then immediately displayed (partially shown here):

 To see the full output, see Figure 10.6

 Similar process for “Link Traverses”

 The Help File explains where the individual angles and lengths are
placed in the input file
CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

 Input file for Figure 9-1(b), Example 10-6 and 10-7:

CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

 The Resulting Output file looks like:

CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

 Or to see the full results, we can “insert the file” into MS Word:
CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Traverse Computation ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Title: Link Traverse for Figure 9-1b Type: Link traverse

Angle Summary
Station Unadj. Angle Adj. Angle
---------------------------------------
1 283°50'10.0" 283°50'08.0"
2 256°17'18.0" 256°17'16.0"
3 98°12'36.0" 98°12'34.0"
4 103°30'34.0" 103°30'32.0"
5 285°24'34.0" 285°24'32.0"

Angular misclosure (sec): 10"

Unbalanced
Course Length Azimuth Dep Lat
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1-2 1,045.50 62°55'53.0" 930.978 475.762
2-3 1,007.38 139°13'09.0" 657.988 -762.802
3-4 897.81 57°25'43.0" 756.604 483.336
4-5 960.66 340°56'15.0" -313.751 907.980
---------- --------- ---------
Sum = 3,911.35 2031.819 1104.277

Misclosure in Departure = 2,031.819 - 2,031.640 = 0.179

Misclosure in Latitude = 1,104.277 - 1,104.300 = -0.023

Balanced Coordinates
Dep Lat Point X Y
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
930.931 475.768 1 12,765.48 43,280.21
657.942 -762.796 2 13,696.41 43,755.98
756.563 483.341 3 14,354.35 42,993.18
-313.795 907.986 4 15,110.91 43,476.52
5 14,797.12 44,384.51

Linear misclosure = 0.180

Relative Precision = 1 in 21,700

Adjusted Observations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Course Distance Azimuth Point Angle
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1-2 1045.46 62°55'48" 1 283°50'03"
2-3 1007.35 139°13'15" 2 256°17'28"
3-4 897.78 57°25'37" 3 98°12'22"
4-5 960.68 340°56'06" 4 103°30'30"
5 285°24'32"
CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

Now, lets look at Using AutoCad to enter coordinates and angles, etc.

 Use AutoCAD to draw Figure 10.1.

 Select AutoCAD 2004 from Mosaic

 Set Drawing limits

CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

 Enter lower left and upper right drawing limits

 For example, 15,000, 15,000 to accommodate the coordinates in

Table 10.4
CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

 Draw line (click on line toolbar or type in “line”)

CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

 Enter starting coordinates and follow through with remaining

coordinates until finished:
CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

 Compute area

 Type area command

 Select corners of traverse

 After selecting all corners, hit enter

CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

History copied below….for your interest

Regenerating model.

AutoCAD Express Tools Copyright © 2002-2003 Autodesk, Inc.

AutoCAD menu utilities loaded.

Reset Model space limits:

Specify lower left corner or [ON/OFF] <0.0000,0.0000>:

Command: '_limits

Reset Model space limits:

Specify lower left corner or [ON/OFF] <0.0000,0.0000>:

Specify upper right corner <12.0000,9.0000>: 15000,15000

CEGR 2104 Surveying and Site Design Spring 2006 - Lecture Notes

Command: _line Specify first point: 10000,5000

Specify next point or [Undo]: 10517.44,4611.16

Specify next point or [Undo]: 10523.41,4408.22

Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: 10716.29,5102.24

Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: 10125.72,5255.93

Specify next point or [Close/Undo]: 10000,5000

Command: area

Specify first corner point or [Object/Add/Subtract]:

Specify next corner point or press ENTER for total:
Specify next corner point or press ENTER for total:
Specify next corner point or press ENTER for total:
Specify next corner point or press ENTER for total:
Specify next corner point or press ENTER for total:

Area = 272589.0614, Perimeter = 2465.9900 (units were entered in feet)

Command:

See HW 7