MAPUA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

SCHOOL OF CIVIL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND GEOLOGICAL ENGINEERING

SURVEYING 1
Field Work 1
PACING ON LEVEL GROUND
COURSE AND SECTION:

CE 120-0 / A2

SUBMITTED BY:
Name: DUGUIANG, MARC RAINIER B.
Group No: 4

DATE OF FIELD WORK: 02/03/2015

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 02/10/2015

SUBMITTED TO:

ENGR. BIENVENIDO CERVANTES

GRADE

Objectives:
1. To develop the skills in determining the area of a polygon field
using the tape only by dividing the area into triangles.
Instruments:

1. 2 range poles

2. Chalk

3. 50 meter tape

4. Plumb

Discussion:

bob

The field work was conducted by measuring 5 lines to form a

pentagon in the field using tape and range poles. In measuring the
distances, the tape must no touch the ground since we are not sure if its
leveled or not and what we need to find is its horizontal distance. In
surveying, to measure horizontal distances, we must take note of slopes
and obstacles that make our measurement inaccurate. This is why we must
use range poles and plumb bobs in order to lift the tape and measure it at
an elevation but we must make sure the pole stands straight and the tape
is perpendicular to the pole.
While other members hold the equipment, another looks at a short
distance to make sure that the tape is perpendicular to the range pole. We
also measured diagonals from different points using the same method. In
order to measure for the area of the pentagon, we divided it into three
triangles. And using methods in surveying, we got the altitude of each
triangle and also their interior angles.
To compute the area of the pentagon, we used three different
methods.

We

1
A= absin ,
2

used
and

Herons

formula A= s(sa)(sb)(sc) ,

1
finally A= 2 bh .

To

test

the

accuracy

of

then
our

measurements, we compared the areas computed using each methods.

And as a result, the areas were all precise.

Conclusion:
There are many ways to measure the area of a polygon. One of the
most convenient way is to divide it into triangles then get the area of each
and then get the sum. In this activity, we used three methods to get the
area of the pentagon. As we compared the results, we found out that the
measurements were accurate and the computed areas were precise.
The tricky part of this activity was to determine the horizontal
distances for each points including the diagonals since sloping distance
might occur when we place the tape on the ground. Therefore, in
surveying, measuring horizontal distances using tape requires the workers
to lift the tape and put it in perpendicular to straight standing poles. When
proper set up of equipment is observed, it is the right time to get the
reading from the tape.
Since the gathered results are precise and accurate, we can
conclude that using tape is an easy method to get area of a polygon. But its
accuracy is only limited by the size of the area, therefore other methods are
required when handling measurements of bigger fields.

FINAL DATA SHEET

FIELD WORK 4

DETERMINING THE AREA OF A POLYGONAL FIELD

USING ONLY THE TAPE
DATE: February 3, 2014
TIME: 7:30AM - 12:00NN
WEATHER: SUNNY

GROUP NO. 4
LOCATION: Intramuros
PROFESSOR: Engr. B. Cervantes

1ST METHOD: BY BASE AND ALTITUDE METHOD

A.
TRIANGL
E
1
2
3

BASE

ALTITUDE

AREA

1.3m

3.003

4.39m
1.69m
TOTAL

7.463
4.056
14.522

4.62
m
3.4m
4.8m

B. 2ND METHOD: BY TWO SIDES AND THE INCLUDED ANGLE

TRIANGLE
1
2
3

ANGLE
in degrees
25.97
66.44
70.81

SIDES
a
4.62
3.4
3.2

B
2.97
4.8
2.69
TOTAL

AREA
3.004
7.48
4.065
14.55

C. 3RD METHOD: BY THREE SIDES (HERONS FORMULA)

TRIANGL
E
1
2
3

SIDES
a
2.97
4.62
4.8

b
2.34
3.4
3.2

c
4.62
4.8
2.69

HALF
PERIMETER
S
4.965
6.41
5.345
TOTAL

AREA
2.99
7.45
4.07
14.51

Research
Measuring the polygonal field with different sides are called measuring of
irregular polygons. An irregular polygon is any polygon that is not a regular
polygon. It can have sides of any length and each interior angle can be any
measure. They can be convex or concave, but all concave polygons are
irregular since the interior angles cannot all be the same. If you drew a
polygon at random, it would probably be irregular. Specific irregular
polygons such as a parallelogram have some interesting properties and
have their own web pages.
One approach is to break the shape up into pieces that you can solve
usually triangles, since there are many ways to calculate the area of
triangles. Exactly how you do it depends on what you are given to start.
Since this is highly variable there is no easy rule for how to do it.
The examples below give you some basic approaches to try:
1. Break into triangles, and then add

In the figure on the right, the polygon can be broken up into triangles
by drawing all the diagonals from one of the vertices. If you know enough
sides and angles to find the area of each, then you can simply add them up
to find the total. Do not be afraid to draw extra lines anywhere if they will

help find shapes you can solve. Here, the irregular hexagon is divided in to
4 triangles by the addition of the red lines.
2. Find missing triangles, then subtract

In the figure on the left, the overall shape is a regular hexagon, but there is
a triangular piece missing. We know how to find the area of a regular
polygon so we just subtract the area of the 'missing' triangle created by
drawing the red line.

3. Consider other shapes

In the figure on the right, the shape is an irregular hexagon, but it has a
symmetry that lets us break it into two parallelograms by drawing the red
dotted line.