CE-106 Geomatics - I

MEASUREMENT OF DISTANCE - I
by

Jayanta Kumar Ghosh, Ph.D.

Geomatics Engineering Group
Civil Engineering Department
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee
Roorkee Uttarakhand 247667 INDIA
gjkfumfce@iitr.ernet.in
 CONTENTS
• INTRODUCTION
• SALIENT METHODS OF MEASUREMENT OF
DISTANCE
• DIRECT METHOD
– ERRORS & CORRECTION
– REDUCTION TO MEAN SEA LEVEL
• OPTICAL METHOD
• SUMMARY
• REVIEW QUESTIONS
• FURTHER READING

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 INTRODUCTION
• One of the fundamental operations involved in surveying is to find
out distance (on the surface of the earth).
• In order to prepare plan or map of the area surveyed, the
horizontal distance between points, projected onto a horizontal
plane on level surface, is required.
• In plane surveying distance means spatial separation of points
projected on a horizontal plane.
• The objective of this lesson is to discuss the fundamentals of
determining the horizontal distance between two stations.
• Different methods for measurement of distances are - Direct
method, Optical methods; and Electronic method.
• choice of a method depends on many factors like field condition,
accuracy required, availability of resources (instruments, time,
skill, fund etc).
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 Salient Methods for Measurement of Distance

Met
Instrument Required Relative Precision Use
hod
(A) Direct Measurement of distance
Tapi Tape, pegs, plumb 1 / 3000 to Traverse for land surveys and topographic surveys and
ng bob 1 / 5000 during combustion.
(B) Optical Measurement of distance
Stadi Location of detail for topographic mapping, rough
Tacheometer 1 / 300 to 1 / 2000
a traverse, checkingmore amount measurement.
(C) Electromagnetic measurement of Distance

Traverse, Triangulation and trilateration for control

surveys of all relative precision is defend as the ratio of
EDM EDM Equipment 0.2 mm ± 1 ppm
the type anf for allowed stand and deviations to the
distance type and for contraction surveys.

Table summarizes the principal methods, instrument required,

precision, use, errors of measurement of distance.
 Direct Measurement
• distance between points / stations are measured
directly.
• Taping is the direct measurement using tape.
• designated (nominal) lengths of tape are 20m, 30m or
50m.
• Taping involves measurement of the distance with
tapes (steel/linen), either by placing it on the ground
between points.
• Mistakes in Taping : Adding or dropping a full length of tape,
Adding or dropping a part of the length of tape, Order points
incorrectly taken as 0 or 30 meter marks on tape, Reading
numbers incorrectly, Calling numbers incorrectly or not clearly.
 ERROR & CORRECTION
• The precision of distance measured with tapes
depends upon the degree of refinement with
which measurements are taken.
• Designated (nominal) length of a tape rarely
equals to the true distance.
• Difference between the measured (designated)
length and true distance and is known as error
due to standard length (of tape).
• Correction for absolute length of tape,
Cd = true length – nominal length
Reduction to Mean Sea level : In plane surveying,
horizontal distances are reduced to sea level when it is
required to count them into equivalent distance at
another elevation.

where,
D is the measured
distance on the
surface of the
earth;
R is the mean
radius of the earth;
h is the mean
height of the terrain
above the msl.
 Optical Distance Measurement
There is a large family of instruments, methods
and procedures generally classified for optical
distance measurement. With the advent of
Electromagnetic distance measurement
techniques and their versatility, tachometry is
the only optical method that is being widely
prevalent in measurement of horizontal
distance. Details of this method will be
discussed in future lesson.
Summary

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 Review Questions
Example: The length of a survey line was
measured with a tape having nominal length 20
m and was found to be 236.4 meter. As a check
the length was again measured with a 30 m
tape and was found to 240.5 meter. On testing,
it was found that the 20 meter tape is 6 cm too
short. Estimate the true length of 30 m tape.
Exercies: A building 25 m by 60 m is to be laid
with a 20 m tape which is 0.02 m too long. What
ground measurement should be made? Answer:
24.975 m by 59.940 m.
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 Further reading
1. Surveying for Engineers (2006) by J. Uren &
W.F.Price
2. Elementary Surveying – An introduction to
Geomatics(2012) By C.D.Ghilani & P.R.Wolf.

Next Class
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Thanking You