Physical survey:

Traverse survey

Traverse Surveying
A traverse is a number of straight lines of known lengths and
making known angles with each other. Traverses are of two types:

1. Open traverse
2. Close traverse

Traverse Surveying
1. Open traverse
In an open traverse the end point of the last line will
not meet the starting point of the first line

Traverse Surveying
2. Close traverse
In closed traverse a complete circuit is made

Traverse Surveying
instruments
Angular instruments are used together with those in
chain survey to carry out the traversing. Common
angular instruments are:
1. Compass
2. Theodolite
Theodolite generally give more accurate and
reliable results than the compass. There are two
types of compass:
a) Prismatic compass
b) Surveyors compass

a) Prismatic compass:

a) Prismatic compass:
) The graduated ring remains stationary as it is
attached to magnetic needle. While the compass
needle and the eye sight vane can be rotated
)
)

Sighting of the object and the taking of reading is

done simultaneously
Prismatic compass can be used without a tripod

b)Surveyors compass
The graduated ring being attached to the
compass moves with sights. But needle remains
stationary when box is rotated

Sighting the object is done first. Then the reading

is to be taken with naked eye by looking above
the needle point

Surveyor's compass cannot be used without a

tripod

Theodolite:
Atheodoliteis a precision instrument for
measuringanglesin the horizontal and vertical planes.
Theodolites are used mainly forsurveyingapplications,
and have been adapted for specialized purposes in fields
likemeteorologyandrocket launch technology.
A modern theodolite consists of a movable telescope
mounted within two perpendicular axesthe horizontal
and the vertical axis.
When the telescope is pointed at a target object, the
angle of each of these axes can be measured with great
precision

Bearing:
The bearing of a line is the angle which the line makes
with a reference direction or meridian in the clock-wise direction. The
meridian may be (a) true meridian, (b) magnetic meridian or (c)
arbitrary meridian.
(a)True Meridian : Line or plane passing through geographical north
pole and south pole.
(b)Magnetic Meridian:When the magnetic needle is suspended freely
and Balanced properly unaffected by magnetic substances it indicates
a direction which is known as magnetic meridian .The angle between
the magnetic meridian and a line is known as magnetic bearing.

(c)Arbitrary Meridian :
For
a
small
survey work
sometimes
the first line of the survey
or any
convenient
direction may be taken as a meridian which is
known as
arbitrary meridian.
The angle between this meridian and..
a line is known as arbitrary bearing of the line.

3-5

Types of Bearings :

The bearing of a line is the-angle which the line makes with the
reference line-B( Magnetic Meridian ) and is always measured in
wise direction. In Fig, N-S indicates the North-South line which
reference line. The angle a measured in clockwise direction from
line up to AB is known as the bearing of the line AB.
N

y
B

a
x a
A

fixed
clockis the
North

Forward Bearing (F.B.) Bearing in the direction of progress of surve

ckward Bearing (B.B.) Bearing in the reverse direction of progress

rvey .
(c)Whole Circle Bearing(W.C.B.) The magnetic bearing of the
line measured clockwise from the north pole to the line,varies
0-360

(d) Reduced Bearing (-R.B)

Either from north or south either clockwise or anti-clock wise the value
does not exceed 90 ,

 Secular Variation:
The geographical poles
are fixed but the
magnetic poles are Continually changing their positions with respect
to the geographical poles. This variation observed after a number
of years is known as secular variation.
Diurnal Variation : This is variation of the declination in 24 hours.
This is affected by the locality, season of the year, altitudes etc.
It is generally 2 to
10 minutes. It is greater during day than
night, greater in
summer than in other seasons and greater at
high altitudes than at the equator.
Annual Variation : This is the
is generally 2 to 3 minutes.

variation of declination in a year which

Irregular Variation : This is due to magnetic storms, sun spots

and earthquakes which
displace the magnetic needle through an
amount in the extent of l to 2

Field Procedure:

Field Procedure :
First the reconnaissance of the plot to be traversed and the fixation of
stations on the same should be done as in the case of chain survey.
When stations are fixed, the compass is placed over the station A ( Fig)
and leveled by properly setting the ball and socket joints and the legs of
the tripod stand.
The centre of the compass and that of the station should be on the
same vertical line and this is checked by dropping a plumb bob from the
hook attached to the bottom centre of
the compass. Now the sight
vane of the compass is turned towards the ranging rod at stations B
and the forward bearing of the line AB is taken and the length of AB is
measured. Simultaneously offsets are taken on both sides with the help
of chains, tapes and optical squares as in case of chain survey.
The
compass is now shifted to station B and leveled.
Now turning the sight vane towards station A, the bearing of BA is
taken. This angle is the forward bearing of BA and back bearing of AB.
In this way the F.B. and B.B. and lengths taking offsets of all the lines
are measured. To minimize the errors in readings of the angles, at least
three readings of a line from the same station should be taken and
their mean will be the correct bearing.
The field book to record all the details of the plot to be traversed, is
the same as in chain survey except that the forward and backward
bearings of each line should be recorded. To avoid any confusion
afterwards the backward bearing of the previous line and the forward

Plotting of a Compass Traverse : The following-steps

should be considered before plotting a traverse :
Selection of a suitable scale.
A rough sketch of the traverse to an approximate scale to see
as to how best way the sides can be arranged, on drawing
sheets.
Correction of observed bearings.
(a)
By of
parallel
meridians
through are
Method
Plotting:
The following
each station : Station A IS-first fixed on the
methods:
drawing sheet and then a line NS
representing the magnetic meridian is drawn
through it. The bearing of the line AB is
drawn with a protractor and its length is
taken from the chosen scale. The station B is
now located. Now through B again magnetic
meridian NS is drawn. The bearing and the
length of the line BC are drawn in the same
way as A3. The same procedure is followed
for the stations,

the different

(b) By Included Angles : This method consists in

drawing a magnetic meridian NS through the starting
station A, The bearing of the line AB is drawn by a
protractor and its length is measured from
the
chosen Scale. The station. B is now fixed. Now
the included angle ABC at B which was calculated
from bearings of AB is drawn . The length BC is
taken from the chosen scale and the station C is
fixed. At C, D and E the same procedure is followed

(C)

By Rectangular Co-ordinates:

In this method every station is

plotted with
reference to two lines drawn at right angles through
some convenient point or the starting station A (Fig).The
reference axis are generally the magnetic meridian NS
and the East- West line (EW) perpendicular to it at A, If
the bearing and length of the line AB are known, its
projection on the line parallel to the magnetic meridian
NS and on the line perpendicular to it i.e., EW may be
obtained. the station can be easily located by
determining the sin and cos values of the hypotenuse.
Similarly, stations C, D and E can be located.

OB= OP sina
OC=OP cosa
C

Closing Error :
In a closed traverse, the end of last line should
meet the starting point. But while plotting, it will be
observed that the last line dose not generally end at
the starting point
This discrepancy is termed as
closing error. This error is due to incorrect
measurements of angles and sides in the field. In
compass survey the permissible error per bearing
should not be more than 15 minutes because the
least value that can be read in the graduated scale is
15 minutes.

B
D

A
E

Adjustment of
Angular Error : In a closed traverse the sum of included
angles must be equal to
(2N4) x right angles, or ( N-2)
where N is the number of sides. But in practical cases there
is always angular error. This error can be corrected by the
following method.
If the total angular error in a traverse of 5 sides is 20 then
the correction at the starting station will be 20 divided by 5,
i.e. 4. The corrections in angles at the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th
stations are 8, 12, 16 and 20 respectively.